Kodansha Comics announced its first season's offerings yesterday, and it looks like the lineup is a mix of old and new, including several series that have already been published in the U.S. by other publishers. The good news for many fans is that most of the manga published by Del Rey, which Kodansha is more or less taking over, will continue under the new imprint.
The new titles are
- Monster Hunter Orage, by Fairy Tail creator Hiro Mashima
- Deltora Quest, the anime version of which is currently playing on The Hub
- The Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
- Mardock Scramble, a sci-fi manga that is also an anime
- Animal Land, by Zatch Bell creator Makoto Raiku, which "tells the hilarious and heartwarming story of a baby raised by animals"
- Bloody Monday, a thriller about a computer hacker racing to stop a terrorist plot
- Cage of Eden, which they describe as "Battle Royale meets Lost by way of Negima!"
- A new Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney manga series
In addition, they will be reviving Gon, the wordless dinosaur manga, which was originally published by CMX, and Until the Full Moon, by Fake creator Sanami Matoh, which was originally published by Broccoli.
Del Rey series that will be continuing under the Kodansh imprint include
- Air Gear
- Arisa
- Fairy Tail
- I am Here!
- Negima!
- Negima?!
- Ninja Girls
- Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei
- Shugo Chara!
- The Wallflower
In addition, Kodansha will publish the Rave Master final-volume omnibus, which had been announced by Del Rey and then postponed, and the CLAMP series xxxHolic and Tsubasa will continue under the Del Rey imprint, according to a Tweet by Scott VonSchilling, who attended the event. The list of missing and unaccounted for Del Rey manga includes Nodame Cantabile, a romance about classical music students that got good marks from critics but apparently doesn't sell very well, and Moyashimon, which mixes microorganisms with college life and won a Kodansha Award in Japan. Attendees at yesterday's event were told that Del Rey titles that weren't mentioned were not necessarily cancelled, just not on the schedule yet, but of course, some may never make it onto the schedule.
Sean Gaffney has a good overview of the whole line and what it means at his blog, A Case Suitable for Treatment. My own observation is that this is a very aggressive schedule—they are going to put out a lot of books in four months—which is refreshing after Del Rey's period of relative inactivity.