Well, the rumours that have been circulating for a while turned out to be true. Kodansha has come to America, and is scheduled to start releasing in September, though no titles have been announced yet.

Brigid over at MangaBlog was where I first read of it, and some of the comments made by others got me thinking, and thus lead to this post.

gia Says:
July 1st, 2008 at 12:17 pm

@Tiamat’s Disciple: On the other hand, Del Rey has been publishing some of Kodansha’s biggest series (xXxHolic, Tsubasa, Negima, Nodame Cantabile, etc). Doesn’t it seem likely that Kodansha would want to withhold future series of that caliber in favor of publishing it themselves?

Not that I’m inclined to start panicking; I’m optimistic about the possibilities, but I’m reserving judgment until more details become available.

This is true, Del Rey have some of Kodansha’s biggest titles, however those are the biggest titles over here. Kodansha has a trove of titles that could easily equal the likes of xXxHolic or Tsubasa if given the chance. I can see them being a bit more stringent with Del Rey and other licensors about what they let go, however given the amount of titles they have, I can’t see it becoming a problem….yet.

Sabrina Says:
July 1st, 2008 at 12:20 pm

I think that Kodansha publishing directly in the U.S. is just what this market needs. The current audience is wanting more varied licenses than are currently on the market, and a direct link to a Japanese company could be amazing.

I think Del Rey will be alright. I doubt Kodansha would withhold all their licenses from them just because they’re setting up shop in the U.S.

Again I agree, on both comments. Kodansha coming over will (I hope) breath life into the stagnating manga industry. The fans want more manga, we want quality manga and varied manga. However the current publishers aren’t willing to take risks on new titles as much as they used to be. Many publishers are actually cutting back on releases and dropping titles. Also it’s just a matter of time now before we start losing some of the small publishers such as Infinity Studios, or Seven Seas.

I also think Del Rey will be fine for a few years. Kodansha are not going to cut off a guaranteed source of income until they’re sure that the new venture is viable. When they established however it’ll be a different matter, and I can see them slowing the number of licenses they give out.

Ryan Says:
July 1st, 2008 at 12:20 pm

From Chris at comics212,

“I can also confirm that Dark Horse no longer has the license for AKIRA (licensed from Kodansha) and that Tokyopop has canceled Beck: Mongolian Chop Squad volumes 13 and 14, and this is a Kodansha-licensed title as well, so it looks like they might have lost that license”

No idea about AKIRA, but Beck was cancelled because of lack of sales, not because they lost the license. It’s been struggling the past few volumes with sales under-performing, and it was listed as one of the titles likely to be dropped in the recent TP restructuring. Now it may be true they lost the license, but I don’t think so, I think it’s more a case of they mutually agreed to drop it.

John Thomas Says:
July 1st, 2008 at 1:38 pm

I will reserve judgement. Although they have a ton of great titles, this is an intereting time to jumping into the American manga publishing market.

I will just say the western market and fan is very different than the Japanese one, and I hope Kodansha understands that Del Rey and Dark Horse understand that market.

Now, I actually think this is the perfect time for Kodansha to jump into the market. Kodansha are huge, they have the mega bucks behind them to come into the market and grab a huge chunk of it for themselves. The reason being other publishers are running scared of the economy. All most every publisher are slowing and cancelling titles. Any new publisher that comes in now, with the cash and the guts to press forward has the potential to seize a huge market share.

I don’t see Japanese fans and western fans being all that different to be honest, with the exception of how much of a fanatic we can be. However even that can be proven false at times. Both of us, Japanese and western, want manga, that is the only thing that matters, and Kodansha has the skills and ability to fill that demand.

Yes the method of delivery is different between japan and the west, however if Kodansha have any brains they would of studied up on just what the difference in delivery is. However, even if they were to try and introduce the manga using the same methods as they do in japan, I can see it being accepted. It’ll go through a rough patch at first, but I think in time fans will adapt and get used to it.

I disagree however that Del Rey and Dark Horse understand the market. Like all manga publishers around today, they’ve gone a long and hard road to get where they are. Sure they’re among the better publishers, but they’re far from being great. Although in a way I suppose it depends on how you define ‘market’. For me, I think they have a long way to go yet, and an even longer way to go to say they understand the the fans. It’s true they listen, but they’re slow to implement what they hear.

With Kodansha coming into the market the competition could liven up the industry again. With publishers listening to the fans more and more, and giving us what we want.

I also don’t think Kodansha will be alone in this venture. I can see Shogakukan and Shueisha coming in through the back door, either taking over Viz fully, or spring out from them, as well as a other publishers.

It’s been common knowledge for a while now that several Japanese publishers have wanted to spread out into the western market directly, since this would increase their profits, rather than just relying on royalties.

I think the next year will be really interesting in the publishing market as we see more and more western publishers closing up shop, and Japanese publishers coming across.