Kodansha USA Publishing, LLC is a publishing company based in New York, USA, and a

subsidiary A subsidiary, subsidiary company or daughter company is a company owned or controlled by another company, which is called the parent company or holding company. Two or more subsidiaries that either belong to the same parent company or having a ...

of Japan's largest publishing company

Kodansha is a Japanese privately-held publishing company headquartered in Bunkyō, Tokyo. Kodansha is the largest Japanese publishing company, and it produces the manga magazines ''Nakayoshi'', '' Afternoon'', '' Evening'', ''Weekly Shōnen Magazine'' ...

. Established in July 2008, Kodansha USA publishes books relating to Japan, Japanese culture, and

manga Manga ( Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is ...

, the latter under their Kodansha Manga

imprint Imprint or imprinting may refer to: Entertainment * ''Imprint'' (TV series), Canadian television series * "Imprint" (''Masters of Horror''), episode of TV show ''Masters of Horror'' * ''Imprint'' (film), a 2007 independent drama/thriller film ...

(formerly Kodansha Comics). In 2020, Kodansha announced that it had consolidated Kodansha Advanced Media and Vertical into Kodansha USA Publishing, with Kodansha Advanced Media general manager Alvin Lu becoming the President and CEO of Kodansha USA Publishing. On March 9, 2021, Kodansha USA Publishing announced it had rebranded and relaunched its website, and unified Kodansha Comics, Kodansha USA International, and Vertical under the Kodansha name, and Kodansha Comics being renamed Kodansha Manga.

Kodansha Comics

Kodansha Comics is an imprint of Kodansha USA Publishing who are responsible for the localization and publication of Kodansha manga. Established in 2009, the imprint was established to coincide with the 100th anniversary of Kodansha. The imprint's launching titles were '' Ghost in the Shell'' by Masamune Shirow and '' Akira'' by

Katsuhiro Otomo is a Japanese manga artist, screenwriter, animator and film director. He is best known as the creator of '' Akira'', in terms of both the original 1982 manga series and the 1988 animated film adaptation. He was decorated a ''Chevalier'' of t ...

, both of which were previously published in English by

Dark Horse Comics Dark Horse Comics is an American comic book, graphic novel, and manga publisher founded in Milwaukie, Oregon by Mike Richardson in 1986. The company was created using funds earned from Richardson's chain of Portland, Oregon comic book shops know ...

. Kodansha Comics later began to acquire series that were previously published by

Tokyopop Tokyopop (styled TOKYOPOP; formerly known as Mixx Entertainment) is an American distributor, licensor and publisher of anime, manga, manhwa and Western manga-style works. The German publishing division produces German translations of licensed ...

, after their licenses were made to expire by Kodansha. Although bearing the Kodansha name, Kodansha Comics was not intended to be the sole distributor of Kodansha titles, with

Del Rey Manga Del Rey Manga was the manga-publishing imprint of Del Rey Books, a branch of Ballantine Books, which in turn is part of Random House, the publishing division of Bertelsmann. History Del Rey Manga was formed as part of a cross-publishing relation ...

publishing many of Kodansha's titles until the company was shut down in 2010. After the shut down of Del Rey Manga on October 4, 2010, Kodansha Comics gradually began to publish some Del Rey Manga titles, with

Random House Random House is an American book publisher and the largest general-interest paperback publisher in the world. The company has several independently managed subsidiaries around the world. It is part of Penguin Random House, which is owned by Germ ...

acting as the distributor for the imprint.

Kodansha Advanced Media

Kodansha Advanced Media LLC was an American distribution company, based in San Francisco, and established in December 4, 2014. The company was a subsidiary of

, and a sister company of Kodansha USA Publishing. Kodansha Advanced Media handled the digital distribution of Kodansha Comics manga, as well as digital distribution of select Vertical titles. Kodansha Advanced Media also maintained the Kodansha Comics website. Kodansha Advanced Media was established in 2014 with funding from Kodansha USA Publishing in order to handle the digital distribution of Kodansha Comics' manga titles in English. In February 2015, Kodansha and Digital Garage announced a joint venture to distribute manga digitally in North America, establishing a Japanese-based joint venture company to invest in digital distribution services, and using Kodansha Advanced Media to distribute manga via websites and smartphone apps. Kodansha Advanced Media is also responsible for handling film releases and events, and in 2015, were responsible for releasing an app for '' Yamada-kun and the Seven Witches'' for English-speaking audiences. In response to piracy, Kodansha Advanced Media simul-translated and simul-published Kodansha Comics titles, as well as released certain titles on digital platforms prior to physical printing. In December 2015, Kodansha Advanced Media announced that they had made Kodansha Comics titles available in North American public libraries digitally through

OverDrive Overdrive may refer to: Organizations * OverDrive, Inc., a digital distributor of entertainment media ** OverDrive Media Console, a media player developed by OverDrive, Inc. * Overdrive PC, a subsidiary of Velocity Micro Technology * Overdrive ...

References

External links

* * {{Comic book publishers in North America navbox American subsidiaries of foreign companies Publishing companies established in 2008 Kodansha Manga distributors Publishing companies of the United States American companies established in 2008