Crunchyroll And Azuki Forced To Drop Kodansha Manga Series After Publisher Announces End Of Simulpub Services
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On January 12th, 2023, online manga distribution platforms Azuki and Crunchyroll manga broke the unfortunate news to their subscribers that Kodansha has decided to end their popular manga simulpub partnership program.
Sakura Kinomoto and Syaoran Li in Cardcaptor Sakura – Clear Card Arc Chapter 64 (2022), Kodansha. Words and Art by CLAMP via Digital Issue
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This news was first revealed by the Azuki, who in a January 12th blog post announced that they would be removing a number of chapters from various Kodansha series due to the development.
“We sincerely apologize to the fans of these series, but this is a policy change on Kodansha’s end that affects all of the platforms they distribute on, not just Azuki,” wrote the service’s administrative team.
The Edens Zero Crew in Edens Zero Chapter 165 “Fork in the Road” (2021), Kodansha. Words and Art by Hiro Mashima via Digital Issue
As per Azuki, the full list of series and chapters on their platform set to be affected by this change include:
- A Sign of Affection Chapters 20ex-32
- Attack on Titan Chapters 131-139
- Cardcaptor Sakura – Clear Card Arc Chapters 50-69
- Drifting Dragons Chapters 57-78
- Edens Zero Chapters 132-222
- Space Brothers Chapters 377-395
- The Ghost in the Shell: The Human Algorithm Chapters 20-54
- The World of Summoning Chapters 1-11
- To Your Eternity Chapters 147-165.2
- Toppu GP Chapters 29-79
- UQ Holder! Chapters 181-192
- Wave, Listen to Me! Chapters 65-86
Attack on Titan Volume 31 (2020), Kodansha. Art by Hajime Isayama via digital issue
However, while Azuki will still have earlier chapters from the aforementioned titles available for readers, Kodansha’s change-up will require Crunchyroll to outright remove a number of series from their manga app.
- A Sign of Affection by suu Morishita
- Cardcaptor Sakura – Clear Card Arc by CLAMP
- Drifting Dragons by Taku Kuwabara
- Edens Zero and Fairy Tail by Hiro Mashima
- Farewell, My Dear Cramer by Naoshi Arakawa
- Fire Force by Ohtsuki Ohkubo
Crunchyroll Hime Travels for us – Spain (2020), Crunchyroll
- Space Brothers By Chuya Koyama
- That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime by Kawakami Taiki
- The Ghost in the Shell: The Human Algorithm by Shirow Masamune, Junichi Fujisaku, Yuki Yoshimoto
- The World of Summoning by Yuuki Kodama
- To Your Eternity by Yoshitoki Oima
- Toppu GP by Kosuke Fujishima
- UQ Holder! by Ken Akamatsu
- Wave, Listen To Me! by Hiroaki Samura
Rimuru Painting in That Time I Got Reincarnated As A Slime Chapter 103 “Fairy of the Labyrinth” (2022), Kodansha. Words and Art by Taiki Kawakami via Digital Issue
According to a statement that Crunchyroll received from Kodansha, the reason behind the publisher’s decision to end their popular long running manga simulpub program seems to be based on their upcoming plans to update to their distribution program.
“Due to forthcoming changes in Kodansha’ simulpub distribution program, we are suspending simulpub updates until further notice.” Kodansha reportedly announced. “For now, the best way to keep up with your favorite series will be by following the collected volumes.”
“We at Kodansha are deeply sorry to those of you who have kept up-to-date through the simulpub format,” they concluded. “And while we can’t divulge any details at the moment, we have exciting announcements to make about simulpubs in the coming months.”
Kodansha’s Fairy Tail’s Sting depicted by Hiro Mashima via Twitter
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