Tokyopop Loses Kodansha Titles
As reported by Brigid at MangaBlog, Tokyopop has announced that its license to print titles from Kodansha has expired and will not be renewed. That means that they will not continue with new volumes or reprint previous volumes (after they have sold out) in the affected series. A full list of Kodansha Tokyopop books can be found at David Welsh’s blog.
Some CLAMP series — Cardcaptor Sakura, Chobits, Clover — have already been announced as coming in new omnibus editions from Dark Horse. Del Rey has taken over Parasyte and Samurai Deeper Kyo.
The books I’ll miss most are these:
Several of those were approachable titles with wide appeal. If you’re interested in any of these titles, order them now.
Deb Aoki has further analysis (link no longer available), breaking out the list into titles that won’t complete in the US, complete with last publish dates. As she says,
You’ll also notice that many of the series left in limbo are quite long — several are 20 or more volumes in their entirety. If you’ve ever wondered why manga publishers aren’t picking up many epic series of this length anymore, this might give you a clue.
No reason was given for this decision. Earlier, rumors circulated that Kodansha wanted to start their own US publishing arm, but no definite news has been heard on that front.
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