Companies to close transaction in 2nd half of 2025
© HarperCollins
Publisher HarperCollins announced on Wednesday that it is planning to acquire Crunchyroll‘s manga publishing operations in France and Germany. The companies are scheduled to close the transaction in the second half of 2025, subject to regulatory approval.
Hideki Iyama-Desseigne will lead the team following the acquisition and will report to Chantal Restivo-Alessi, the CEO of International Foreign Language Publishing at HarperCollins.
HarperCollins‘ HarperVia imprint released Shion Miura‘s Run with the Wind (Kaze ga Tsuyoku Fuiteiru) novel in English in October 2024. HarperVia has previously published such novels as The Tatami Galaxy, The Tatami Time Machine Blues, and Park Seolyeon’s A Magical Girl Retires novel in English on April 30
HarperCollins Japan is releasing e-books of fantasy and romance manga to the North American market. The company stated it will offer 13 manga titles each month via Amazon and other e-book retailers under its “BisouBisou Comics” label.
HarperCollins Japan will also release Matsuri Akino‘s Pet Shop of Horrors manga in English digitally in late 2024. Seven Seas announced in August that it will release the Pet Shop of Horrors: Collector’s Edition manga starting in February 2025 with an all-new translation.
© Crunchyroll
Crunchyroll will launch a new manga app named Crunchyroll Manga later this year as a premium add-on to its subscription service. The app will initially launch in English in the United States and Canada, with plans for additional language options and web browser integration.
This is not the first time Crunchyroll has offered manga; the company launched the first Crunchyroll Manga service in October 2013. Crunchyroll ended its first Crunchyroll Manga service in December 2023. The service was simultaneously publishing (simulpub) titles from Kodansha USA Publishing in over 170 countries. Crunchyroll removed 14 simulpub titles in February 2018 and removed 10 catalog titles in March 2018. Kodansha USA Publishing then removed a number of its manga titles from Crunchyroll in January 2023 prior to launching its K MANGA service that year.
Crunchyroll and Viz Media Europe closed the deal for Crunchyroll to become the majority owner of Viz Media Europe Group in December 2019. The companies announced the agreement in September 2019. Viz Media Europe Group was comprised of Viz Media Europe Group, AV Visionen, Anime Versand, VIZ Media Switzerland, KAZÉ, KAZÉ Manga, Anime on Demand, and Anime Digital Network (in partnership with the Média-Participations subsidiary Citel and Eye See Movies).
Source: HarperCollins