Me: First of all I would like to thank Jake Forbes for taking some time out of his busy schedule to do this interview with me. Mr. Forbes, would you mind telling everyone a little bit about yourself and what you do?

Jake: I’m one of the few lucky American’s who’s been able to make his entire career working in manga. After working at TOKYOPOP for just over four years, I’ve recently switched to a freelance regimen of odd hours, home-brewed coffee and sporadic showers.


Me: What are some of the things you did before you joined Tokyopop?

Jake: My pre-TOKYOPOP career isn’t all that interesting, as honestly, I didn’t really have one yet. I graduated from USC in 1999 with a degree in Film and Television production. Before that, I worked in a wonderful used book store from the age of 13 where I developed my appreciation for books—not just as a reader, but as a collector and future-editor.


Me: When did you join Tokyopop?

Jake: Back in spring of 2000, after about 6 months of part time retail, script reading and job hunting in the cutthroat world of feature film development, I got a phone call from some company named TOKYOPOP.com. Back then, the company insisted on being called tokyopop.COM. When I went in for my interview, I assumed it was one of those cushy jobs involving nerf guns, razor scooters and LAN games… and maybe some writing. Turns out it was a work-intensive production/editorial job working exclusively on manga. Honestly, at the time my only exposure to manga had been a few issues of Ranma ½ and Akira. I was a big anime buff, though, having attended my local college’s anime club throughout high school (this was before high school’s had anime clubs of their own :P), and a comics reader. These qualities were enough to get me in the door, and the rest is history…albeit very recent history of interest to few.


Me: What was the first series you oversaw?

Jake: When I first joined the company there was just one other editor, and the two of us worked on every single series. All six of them! The first book I felt responsible for was Rayearth vol. 4 (aka Rayearth II, vol. 1)For the next two years, as I worked my way up from associate editor to Senior Editor, I was always involved with every series. It wasn’t until February 2002 that I really had series of my own. Chobits, Ragnarok and Marmalade Boy were some of the first series I really felt proud of my work on (although looking back, there’s so much I’d do differently!)


Me: What series have been the most successful for Tokyopop?

Jake: Sailor Moon was the first early success. In a lot of ways, TOKYOPOP’s success is closely tied to Sailor Moon, both in that it was such a profitable series, allowing the company to take risks with other great series, and that it paved the way for a new generation of manga readers, in which girls are the driving force. Of the more recent success stories, Love Hina and Chobits have been phenonmenal sellers for the past 3 years. Of the last year, .hack, Fruits Basket and D*N*Angel are tops.

Me: Due you know whether or not Tokyopop is interested in doing a re-release of the "Sailor Moon" manga with unflipped artwork, original character names, and better translation?

Believe me, they would love to! But as many fans know, Takeuchi-sensei was involved in a long dispute with her publisher that froze any chances for a re-release. She’s been working on the Japanese 2^nd edition versions for a while now, so there is some movement, but these things take time. You’ll have to check with TOKYOPOP to find out when the stars are back in alignment.


Me: Is there any particular reason you left Tokyopop?

Jake: I love manga, and I love editing, but I’ve always wanted to work on stories of my own. I’m still working with TOKYOPOP as a freelancer, but I’m also making time to work on my own projects.

Me: Several years ago Tokyopop (when they were known as Mixx) released the manga/magazine book “Mixxine,” which later become “Smile,” and then Tokyopop decided that having magazines with a little bit on manga in them was (from what I understand) a waste of time and money when you could just release the graphic novels which sold better and would allow Tokyopop to finish the series faster. However a little over a year ago Viz released the monthly manga anthology “Shonen Jump,” which has been a huge success for them so far. Do you know why Tokyopop didn’t take advantage of this success and release a shoujo manga anthology in response to “Shonen Jump?”

Jake: I’m sure some US publisher will do a true shoujo anthology in the tradition of Jump (like Ribon, Nakayoshi or Best Friend in Japan), perhaps even TOKYOPOP, but the truth is, the US manga market has been built on books. Fans are used to getting their manga fix in 200 page installments at around $9.99. If you serialize that book over 4-6 months, it’s not as appealing to those readers as other series that come out twice as fast. Add to that the fact that magazines are more expensive to produce than translated manga books, requiring more staff and dedicated business relationships unique to that market—all for a product that sells at half the retail price of a book—and you start to see why more people don’t do it.


Me: What is your favorite manga series?

Jake: So hard to pick just one! I’d say my top five are: Nausicaa, Adolph, Chobits, Fruits Basket and Uzumaki… and Sgt. Frog! Sorry, that’s six. All across the spectrum, huh?

Me: What is the one manga series that you feel doesn't get the attaintion is deserves (AKA, highly overlooked)?

Jake: Seinen and kodomo manga are definitely the most overlooked categories. I admire Viz for supporting seinen as much as they do, even if it’s just a trickle. I would have said that the works of Urasawa Naoki were the most overlooked—but maybe that’s starting to change.

Me: Is there any particular manga series that you would like to see licensed someday?

Jake: I’d love to see more seinen manga licensed. I’ve read Blackjack ni Yoroshiku and 20^th Century Boys in scanlation and I loved them. Master Keaton and Zipangu, too. I guess I should put my money where my mouth is and support Monster, huh? From working on Rave Master as editor and now as the English adaptation writer, I fell in love with Mashima-sensei’s sense of humor. I’d like to see his bizarre comedy shorts brought over. And I’d love to read the spin-off series to Sgt. Frog, currently appearing in Asuka magazine.

Me: Do you watch anime?

Jake: Truth be told, I don’t watch much anymore, but I used to watch it weekly, back when you had to work hard to find it! These days I mostly just watch anime movies or adaptations of manga I like.

Me: What is your favorite anime?

Jake: Since most of my fondest anime memories are from about 10-15 years ago, my favorites are from back then and are mostly sci-fi. Top five: Gunbuster, Giant Robo, Wings of Honneamise, Macross Plus, and Angel’s Egg.

Me: Do you have some non-work related friends who enjoy manga, or do you only know co-workers who love manga?

Jake: I’ve worked with many manga fans over the years. As far as my friends go, I’ve made friends through manga, and I’ve introduced a lot of friends to manga.

Me: Can you tell us a little bit about Seven Seas?

Jake: Seven Seas is a publisher of original manga from around the world. The company’s first four titles launch in February, but in the meantime, you can read them at www.gomanga.com.


Me: What will your main duty's at Seven Seas be?

Jake: Right now I am working as a freelancer to supervise and maintain the website (www.gomanga.com). I’ll be writing and editing articles, conducting interviews, and maintaining the forums. My goal is to make the website a daily destination for fans with interesting content, and the most active forum for serious discussion of manga.

Me: What is Seven Seas ultimate goal?

Jake: To sell a lot of books! But what makes Seven Seas unique is that they are taking the globalization of manga to the next level. Ultimately, they hope to publish manga where country of origin is irrelevant, and have that manga sell in markets around the world.

Me: Recently Barnes & Noble have been releasing certain Dark Horse series like *drool* "Akira" and "Trigun" in hardcover formatt. Do you think that as time goes on we may see more manga being released in hardcover formatt and feature such oddities as slip covers and color pages in the future?

Jake: The Barnes & Noble press editions are anomalies, but the fact that Barnes and Noble would be interested in sublicensing manga shows just how much recognition the category is getting at the highest levels of publishing. I’m sure there will be more premium editions of manga in the future. Several companies already support color in many of their releases, but having been on the inside budget-conscious side of this issue, I don’t think fans realize just how expensive a feature color can be. If the market continues to grow, color will become a more feasible feature. As for hardcovers and slipcases, these are rare even in Japan. Most readers read a lot of manga and I think would rather keep prices down, not pay twice as much, but I do think there’s always room for a few extra-premium editions. I fought to create the Shirahime-syo hardover (which wasn’t even released in hardcover in Japan!) and the end result is a beautiful book. It’s selling to a smaller market than the softcover books that cost half as much, but it’s one of my favorite books in my library.


Me: Do have any idea’s of where manga will be in 5 to 10 years?

Jake: Beginning in 2005, Manga will be changing from a strictly “from Japan” concept to something truly global. There’s a whole generation of readers in North American and abroad who have grown up reading manga, and many of these fans hope to create manga of their own someday. It’s going to take a few years for the talent pool to grow in size (and grow up to working age!) and publishers have a lot to learn about how to produce and sell these books effectively, but I believe that within a few years we’ll start seeing books that are every bit as “manga” as anything from Japan. Already, series like No Man’s Land from Seven Seas and Yonen Buzz from TOKYOPOP Germany look as good as just about anything coming out of Japan. Maybe in another 5 years, Western creators will even be published in the Japanese magazines that inspired them. It’s finally happening with Korean manwha—an industry that was scorned by Japanese publishers for years, but is now being mined for talent. In 10 years, I imagine that manga will truly be an international artform.

As for trends in Japanese manga, hm… With the rising popularity of goth style and “Moe” teen nudity, if these trends continue, I’m guessing that Zombie Babies Gone Wild! will be the most popular series of 2007. I also predict that CLAMP will give up making manga outright without completing any of their ongoing series, instead focusing on a career in the fashion world--but don’t tell them I said that (I don’t want to give them any ideas before they finish Tsubasa!).


Me: After learning of all you've accomplished in your career are there any future projects you have planned that you would like to share with us?

Jake: I’m continuing to do the English adaptaion for Fruits Basket, Rave Master and the Tamayo Akiyama series. Additionally, I’m doing the same for a couple of series for DC’s CMX line, including the upcoming Monster Collection (Pokemon with hardcore fan service—yeah!).

On the writing side, I contributed a story to TOKYOPOP’s upcoming Star Trek anthology. It’s a holodeck story in which Worf gets a lesson in Bushido from Keiko O’Brien and ends up in an anime-inspired duel to the death. I hope both manga fans and Trek fans will enjoy it! I’m also writing for the gomanga.com website, the home of Seven Seas Entertainment. I hope I have more exciting news to share soon!

The above interview is © Kevin T. Rodriguez, and the interview cannot be reprinted in whole or in part without permission.
All rights reserved.