Site Critique: Tokyopop

http://www.tokyopop.com

Tokyopop is an American publisher which specializes in ‘manga,’ Japanese comic books. Most of their sales come from translating popular Japanese series and selling them stateside. They also have published work by American artists who use the manga style. Only some of what they do actually shows through on their site because most of it is devoted to social networking around the series they publish. Tokyopop has become a “MySpace,” or more accurately, a “MangaSpace.”

The home page is crammed with update information from “New Releases” to the “Fan of the Day” to a “Top Manga” section. Some of these links are self-explanatory, but “Top Manga” is actually the highest voted user-written manga, not their top sellers. Otherwise, there is a main menu at the top, and a corporate information menu at the bottom. This system clearly focuses on the user-generated content. “Shop” is a small link at the end of the main menu. While the navigation never disappears, the categories can be vague. Submenus appear on rollover. While the manga section is nicely divided between “Tokyopop Titles” and “Fan-Created Titles,” the user section has “Creators,” “Fans,” “Revolutionaries,” and “Rising Stars.” Each series the company publishes has a user profile, which makes no sense because a manga series cannot be a website user.

As the viewer travels, the layout switches between one, two, and three columns. Boxes with rounded corners are used to divide content and sometimes lead to a cluttered feel. A site with so many graphics should rely more on negative space. Just like many other sites I have reviewed, the main color is red because it matches the robot fish logo. The font is black on white, easy to read but sometimes gets lost among the graphics.

I think the most effective selling tool is actually the manga previewer which lets you read chapters before you buy. Many people purchase manga based on artwork, so this is very enticing for people looking for new series. Also, it allows for quick and frequent updates. Also, their rating system is a convenient way to gather data and possibly locate talented American artists.

In all honesty, this site shows how badly some businesses can get caught up in technology trends. Not everything needs “social networking,” “Web 2.0,” “User-Generated Content.” A site about comic books does not need to host user videos. Despite all the activity the site gets, I expect a large portion of revenue is being lost simply because of the minimal product information.