Just last week, some folks noticed that a number of Del Rey titles had disappeared from Amazon and Previews, and we started speculating that a big announcement might be in the offing (as often happens before a big comic convention). Turns out we were right: Kodansha is, as they say, shifting from a licensing model to a distribution model with Random House, the parent company of Del Rey manga. Basically, Kodansha will be taking over as publisher of a number of Del Rey series (not every series will continue, I gather), while Random House will provide help with editing, production, and distribution of the books. Editor Dallas Middaugh stays on under the new regime, but the fate of the rest of the group is not yet clear. Also, Del Rey may continue to publish non-manga graphic novels under that name. I posted the full press release at Robot 6, and you should also check out PW’s story on the move, which includes a few more details.
This will only be good news if they pick up Nodame Cantabile, which is a national treasure in Japan, so they better!!!