Kodansha cancels Tokyopop contracts

[Project Akira]

This is some pretty huge news. Tokyopop, who isn't exactly the manga translation powerhouse that they formerly were, just lost a huge chunk of it's business. This doesn't bode well for the company who frankly have seen better days. This however seems like a huge step for Kodansha who are rumored to be starting a US publishing outfit. Anyone have thoughts on this?

[dheu]

Tokyopop would be more of a translation powerhouse again if they could just finish a series. Most of their titles end up drifting off into the ether after a handful of volumes, with no conclusion in sight.

I think this really bodes poorly for Tokyopop, although I'm not surprised this happened. Maybe with those series out of their inventory, they can release more of the other series they've been sitting on.

Either that, or they'll fold completely.

I just hope they keep releasing the 12 Kingdoms novel series still.