It’s finally happening! After plenty of rumors and theories, we have been given confirmation that Kodansha Comics is bringing its manga to fans in an all-new way. Today, the publisher announced the launch of an online manga library for readers in the United States, and it will go live in a matter of months.
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“We are excited to announce the launch of K MANGA, the Official Manga Service by Kodansha coming in This Year May 2023! Enjoy Simultaneously-Released Manga at K MANGA,” the publisher shared.
According to the K MANGA website, the service will feature 400 titles at launch including popular series like Fairy Tail, Attack on Titan, Ghost in the Shell, Tokyo Revengers, and more. Obviously, more series will be added as K MANGA expands, so readers can keep an eye on their favorite series. After all, Kodansha oversees hits like Blue Lock, and you know fans will want to read the manga online ASAP.
K MANGA has also confirmed it will have an allotment of free chapters for fans to read. The number of chapters users can read for free daily will be capped, but right now, we don’t know what that number will be. K MANGA also says the number of free chapters for each series will be different. And at the time of this article’s publication, K MANGA has yet to announce service pricing. The library could require users to pay for volumes individual like Manga Plus or sign up for a paid subscription like the Shonen Jump app.
As you can imagine, this announcement is a big one for manga readers in the United States, and fans began speculating about Kodansha’s online push months ago. Rumors began when the publisher pulled its manga titles from Crunchyroll’s manga library. Now, K MANGA will fill the void for fans, and it plans to launch on May 10th.
If you cannot wait until May to check out some of Kodansha’s best manga, there are ways to find it online right now. The publisher has been in the digital trade game for ages, so you can find any number of series on Amazon or Comixology. As for other online manga libraries, Manga Plus and the Shonen Jump app cover everything Shueisha. Other sites like Manga Planet offer access to series online, and soon, K MANGA will join that list.ย
Will you be subscribing to this manga service? Share your thoughts with us in the comments section below or hit me up on Twitter @MeganPetersCB.
