Kodansha letting Tokyopop licenses expire
Posted by Richard Brownell
at 08:37:02 PM EST on 9.3.2009.
American publisher Tokyopop confirmed this week that Japanese publisher Kodansha will be letting its licenses with Tokyopop expire. This means that several currently unfinished series will never be finished by Tokyopop. Also, all existing Kodansha properties will not be reprinted.
The licenses affected by this news include Chobits, Love Hina, Samurai Deeper Kyo, Rave Master, Initial D, Kindaichi, Life, GetBackers, and Love Attack, among others. A list of all affected titles can be found at Precocious Curmudgeon. Tokyopop also has an official Out of Print list which also includes non-Tokyopop titles.
The Germany branch of Tokyopop has also stated that their licenses with Kodansha are expiring with no chance of renewal.
Kodansha isn't pulling out of the international publishing entirely. Kodansha will be self-publishing many of their titles, using Random House as a distributor. Random House's subsidiary Del Ray has existing publishing agreements with Kodansha for titles like Samurai Deeper Kyo. These appear to be safe for now.
