This is going to break the internet forums, isn’t it…

Evil… The Beat has been teasing insider rumors and creator testimonies about the internal state of Tokyopop, promising a story so big that moutains will crumble, rivers will run backwards, and continents will split apart when she’s ready to break it…

Oh crap, Tokyopop itself may have beaten her to it!

Tokyopop has issued a press statement to ANN that it is spinning off its multimedia division into a new company, Tokyopop Media LLC.  Tokyopop Inc., the publishing arm, will cut releases by 50%, reducing its schedule to 200+ books from original plans of 500+.  39 employees will be laid off.  ICv2 also has a report with less enthusiastic cheerleading than the PR.

Okay, I’m not sure if this is the bad news The Beat alluded to, though on the surface most will interpret a reduction in publishing plus layoffs as an ill omen.  But there is potential upside with regard to the contract debacle from a few days ago… now that publishing and multimedia development are separate, in theory creators should also be able to negotiate subsidiary rights in separate contracts, which in my opinion is the way it always ought to be.  And Tokyopop Inc. can go back to concentrating solely on what it’s supposed to do… publishing books.

Expect this story to potentially develop in more interesting ways once we begin to learn just which 39 positions (my condolences) were cut.

Edit: Coverage, analysis, discussion, and predictions as I find them:

• Publishers Weekly’s article.
• ANN forum pegs total Tokyopop work force at 100 before the layoff.
• A Geek by Any Other Name thinks TP will focus even more on OEL.
• Prevailing sentiment on AnimeOnDVD forum: no one seems sure what Tokyopop’s media side actually does.

Edit 2: Respondents at MangaBlog share their pre-emptive anger at Tokyopop, in case the company is giving serious thought to conceding the import manga business in favor of their original products and multimedia development.  Trimming down 50% of their titles from the print schedule means that their import manga catalog will feel some, if not most of the fallout… there aren’t that many OEL and photo books.  But it’s still too early to make a call here whether Tokyopop is moving towards OEL… or returning to their old bread and butter, for that matter.  This split may even come down to internal strife; two opposing camps within Tokyopop wanting to go in different directions, and each not wanting one to burden the other (I love starting unsubstantiated rumors).  Again, this question may be answered when we learn the positions of the 39 former employees, which would give us a better idea of just where the company felt it needed to trim some fat.

Edit 3: Translator Peter Ahlstrom, who appears to be among the 39 handed a pink slip by Tokyopop, ranks titles on likelihood of hiatus/cancellation.

Shuchaku East feels this was a long-overdue pruning.  That reminds me, I should deadhead some spent flowers this weekend.

Some hate is directed at OEL and other non-import books in Japanator’s comments section.  I would caution against faulting OEL for any problem Tokyopop may or may not be facing… sales and profitability are two different things.  And this may be a little cynical, but the various non-manga programs were in part a response to being outpointed by the likes of Viz and Del Rey in the licensing game.  So problems (again, which they may or may not be facing) relating to their licensed foreign manga is more due to competition amidst faltering bookstore chains, than working on original material.

Edit 4: Once again, Comics212 comes through to lay the smack down on everyone.

Mr. Butcher is also not optimistic that the division would benefit artists submitting original material to Tokyopop.  Now, I read the restructuring as Tokyopop Inc. would work solely on books, including original material, while Tokyopop Media would focus on developing multimedia ventures.  But, if the division actually ends up being more along the lines of licensed material versus submitted material, with Tokyopop Media getting all the OEL submissions, and if it is run by the same people who want to rename french fries into freedom fries, then I prostrate myself to Mr. Butcher and his cynicism… because he’d be totally right.

Edit 5: Be sure to check out the comments section of this post for Toren’s take on the manga situation both here and across the pond.  Now excuse me as I put REM’s It’s the End of the World as We Know It on repeat and sulk in a corner.

Edit 6: ComicSnob breaks down the good and the bad, but still thinks the biggest reason for the internal split is to limit liability (which means this may even be investor-driven).  So which one is the kid with the measles?

Edit 7: Finally, reaction from the artist’s point of view… International Manga Award winner Madeleine Rosca (published through Seven Seas) thinks the Tokyopop “apple” for OEL creators may be much smaller now.

And at Tokyopop’s yaoi imprint BLU, a second person has revealed that s/he was laid off.  I don’t know the position “midorihebi” held, but it’s really surprising that TP would be making any cuts at all at BLU, an imprint which seems to have been a consistent performer for the company.

Good luck…

Edit 8: Further updates to this story made here.