Variety’s Tom McLean turns the spotlight on Tokyopop with a profile of founder Stu Levy and an overview of the company’s recent expansion into animation and digital media:
In bringing manga to America, Tokyopop has adapted its dominant role in Japanese pop culture into the “manga lifestyle.” Defined by Levy as “an appreciation for things that are from that East-West connection,” the manga lifestyle has evolved from traditional anime fans to a wide array of people the company reaches out to through original manga, animation and fan-created content on its website and MySpace page as well as cell phones.
“You have some people that are really serious about manga as literature; other people that are really into the look and style, the visual element of it; you have people that like something that’s different; and then you have people who are appreciating the storytelling and the risk-taking aspects of manga as an entertainment form,” says Levy, who spearheaded original manga format comics by Western artists in 2003 and co-created the company’s signature character, Princess Ai, with rocker Courtney Love.
The coverage also includes a Tokyopop photo gallery.
