Good news for manga: Kodansha opening a US branch

The other day I mentioned that TokyoPop was closing its US branch, something that I'm still pretty sad over. However, I've also heard something that I'm also pretty pleased to mention, something that's pretty old news as far as the manga industry goes. (My head's been stuck in books & I haven't been as news savvy as I usually am as far as manga goes.)

Kodansha is opening a branch here in the US, which means that there's a very good chance that any of the Kodansha titles that were translated by TokyoPop will see new life with this company. They've already announced plans for two titles that are incredibly popular here in the US, one of which is incredibly exciting for myself personally. Those two titles? Sailor Moon & Love Hina.




That's right, after being out of print for many years the series is now going to be reprinted in the US. This is good news for those of you who didn't have the money to plunk down for the Mixx versions of the manga. (However it also means that the value of the Mixx manga on eBay will plummet because now it'll only have value for collectors, but that's a downfall I'm willing to embrace.)

If that's not good enough then you'll also be happy to know that the Sailor V series will also be seeing an English translation. This is the manga series that started it all for Takeuchi & I'll admit that I'm really curious to read it. Hopefully this also means that we'll see some of Takeuchi's other work come to the US markets as well.

Fans of other series such as The Wallflower will be glad to know that Kodansha will continue to publish this series (starting with 25 & presumably going back to re-issue previous volumes) as well as other popular series that were published by other companies.

Here's a list of some of the manga you can expect to see: (but by no means the complete listing)

Until the Full Moon
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney
Negima?!
Negima?! Neo
Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei
Shugo Chara!
I am Here!
Air Gear
Cage of Eden
Bloody Monday
And more!

What this means is that perhaps the future of English language manga isn't as dim as I was previously thinking it might be. It's not a clear future but it does give me some hope that it won't go back to the old days of 1-2 titles on the average bookstore shelf & special orders from the comic book stores. (Not that there's anything wrong with going to the comic book stores, but I'm spoiled by being able to go to work & see manga everywhere.)

Now if I could only get someone to pick up the manga Saint Marie then I'd be a happy camper!


Expect to see Sailor Moon & Sailor V on the shelves this September!