You may have heard that there’s been some changes happening at Kodansha Comics and its subsidiaries. So let’s take a look at where Kodansha has been and where they’re going.
History of Kodansha Comics
While VIZ Media Manga tend to dominate the manga bestseller charts in the US, it was Kodansha manga that really helped propel the boom. Thanks to titles like Sailor Moon, which targeted girls, and Love Hina, released in the original Japanese right-to-left reading order, TOKYOPOP managed to become a dominating force for graphic novels and helped create manga as a distinct genre in stores.
Eventually, though, Kodansha decided to team up with Random House, one of the largest book publishers in the United States. Manga were released under the Del Rey imprint, and it launched in 2004 with four series that all had authors or related series formerly published by TOKYOPOP. The loss of Kodansha manga in 2009 was one of the reasons TOKYOPOP stopped releasing manga in the US for years. About the same time, Kodansha decided to start skipping the middleman and began releasing manga like Akira under their own brand. About a year later, Kodansha ended its licensing agreement with Random House but kept them as their distributor and as support. Del Rey Manga’s titles were either moved over to Kodansha’s USA branch or dropped entirely.
In 2011, Kodansha bought a small US publisher called Vertical, Inc., which had released books — including manga — from several different Japanese publishers, including Kodansha (for example, Chi’s Sweet Home).
In 2014, Kodansha established Kodansha Advanced Media with a San Fransisco incubation company. This subsidiary concentrated on digital distribution. Today, they have quite a list of “digital-first” manga, with some getting physical versions through Kodansha Comics.
Now, Publishers Weekly revealed that Kodansha USA is doing some restructuring: Kodansha Advanced Media and Vertical are now officially under Kodansha USA’s umbrella. The consolidation of these two under Kodansha USA also meant some personnel changes and promotions. Among them is the former PR and Events Specialist for Comixology, Ivan Salazar, joining Kodansha USA as senior marketing director. According to Publishers Weekly, “In his former role at Comixology, Salazar worked closely with [new Kodansha USA president/CEO] Lu to choose popular Kodansha manga series (among them, BECK, Initial D and Drops of God) to distribute in the U.S. market via the Comixology Originals line of exclusive digital content.”
The Future
So…does any of this mean anything to readers, or is all this just corporate shuffling that pretty much only affects naming and who is at the top?
Well, signs have been there for a while now. Ed Chavez, who was an integral part of Vertical, Inc., left in early 2017. Search for “Vertical Inc” or “Vertical manga” on Google and the first results will send you to an old site or blog that haven’t been updated since 2019 instead of the current version. Meanwhile, Kodansha Comics’ site includes upcoming schedules and first chapter previews. Kodansha Advanced Media has been very active, licensing both current/upcoming hits and popular completed series. They run Kodansha Comics’ website and have also teamed up with ComiXology. And finally, more Vertical titles have been getting digital versions, like the upcoming After the Rain. More sales at booksellers are Kodansha-Vertical than just Vertical alone.
So by consolidating, there could be some benefits for all three. Kodansha Advanced Media can perhaps improve Vertical, Inc.’s website, or maybe include Vertical titles right on Kodansha Comics’ page. They could also help get and/or release digital versions of Vertical manga and light novels around the same time as physical versions instead of sometimes months/years later. Meanwhile, Kodansha Advanced Media being under Kodansha USA means that the physical and digital divisions are even more connected. Perhaps more of their digital-first manga can be just that: digital first, not digital only. Currently, maybe about 15% have gone to print? Out of over 150 manga? That’s a lot of manga waiting to expand their audience. I’m sure out there right now are joining me in chants of “Chihayafuru! Pick Chihayafuru!“
Of course, corporate change-ups are often accompanied by bad news. Maybe not now, but it’s possible that the Vertical name may eventually be discontinued. Unlike some of the other manga publishers, Kodansha Comics isn’t big on different names/labels (VIZ Media/Shonen Jump/Shojo Beat, Seven Seas/Ghost Ship, etc.). Maybe some positions will be made redundant if Vertical, Inc., stops existing as an independent line, which is always rough for the people involved.
Also, since Salazar has left ComiXology, will Kodansha USA and ComiXology keep teaming up with new manga? This partnership helped rescue several TOKYOPOP titles. Yes, Kodansha Comics could do so on their own, but this allowed members of Amazon Prime, Kindle Unlimited, or ComiXology Unlimited to read them for free. I’m sure even for the ones where they reused TOKYOPOP’s translation, having these manga for free to the millions of members of Amazon’s programs helped pay for the license. I mean, MARS is still one of my top favorite manga even after all these years, but it’s asking a lot for people to pay for 15 volumes of a 25-year-old shoujo series. But if it’s available for free to read, then I’m sure audiences will give it a chance.
I’m sure many manga fans would love to see manga like LIFE be given another life (pun intended). But with so many new titles coming out and deluxe editions of hits like Sailor Moon, I don’t know if manga like that would be feasible without Amazon’s financial involvement. I hope Salazar’s moving to Kodansha USA hasn’t left a void in regards to this partnership, because I would hate to see it end.
Still, as I said earlier, with Vertical, Inc. losing some of its individual identity and cozying up even more to its co-owner and Kodansha Advanced Media having a licensing boom these past couple of years, restructuring wasn’t unexpected. And no matter what happens, let’s cross our fingers this leads to more manga — with digital and physical versions!