Anime Vice Anime/Manga News

Keen-eyed reader paploo points to his new blog, complete with a post featuring some interesting findings on Amazon.ca: Akira and Ghost in the Shell, both volumes one.

“Big deal!” you might say. “Dark Horse has had those for ages.” Ahhh, but there you would be missing the key: both titles are listed as being due from Kodansha Comics on October 13, 2009.

I haven't found any such Kodansha titles on Amazon USA, but things have been known to appear on the Canadian site first in the past. Could it be that Dark Horse's licenses are expiring? I rushed to my phone to try and call my contacts there before the work day was over at 5.

Marketing Coordinator Aaron Colter informed that while he couldn't comment on any license expiration, he could confirm that Dark Horse wouldn't be publishing either of those titles in the future, so if Kodansha says they're reprinting them, then they probably are.

Of course, it's not anywhere near business hours for Kodansha's USA office in New York, so I'll have to wait until tomorrow to get any comment from them. If any is to be had.

Very interesting, my friends. Very interesting indeed. Guess we'll see if/when some press releases start floating about.