Does anyone know of a good place to find out information about delays in manga releases? Amazon is still listing Lucky Star vol. 2 with a release date of 9/23, but it isn’t shipping. The official site is useless and I can’t find anything helpful on Google. A couple other series I follow haven’t had their next volumes put up on Amazon either. Is there a site somewhere that keeps track of things like this?
Lucky Star isn’t the only one, GetBackers has been on hold for more than half a year now.
I don’t know of a site that lists delays, but then few companies seem to note when a manga is intentionally delayed or even cancelled. I have noticed that many of the non-“mainstream” titles have been given longer “inactive” periods between releases. If it isn’t name Naruto, Inuyasha, or Bleach it has probably been pushed back a bit.
I have not found it much of an issue since most of the ongoing US releases that I purchase have remained on schedule (Rosario + Vampire, Pastel, Suzuka, and Gacha Gacha)… I just wish that it was more than twice a year for most of those titles. Even with only 6 volumes left on two of them (Suzuka and Gacha Gacha) it will still be 3 years before I have purchased all the volumes.
Suzuka and Pastel are actually the others I’m concerned about. Volume 13 of Suzuka hasn’t shown up for pre-order yet, even though volume 12 shipped a month ago, and Pastel 15 has gone from pre-order to unavailable with a listed release date of October 2010.
I am not as worried about cancellation on those titles. They might be delayed during the translation process, but seeing as how both are far along and Del Rey is nowhere near as bad as Tokyopop… I don’t see them dropping the titles completely. I think the reason there is little word about those two is simply being too early into the process to give an accurate release date. Instead of placing a date that could be pushed back more than once, they are probably just going to wait until they are certain the release will be met.
My only issue with Del Rey is that they don’t update their schedules on their website. I believe both verions are last year’s schedules.
I hope you’re right. I was concerned since I’ve been following them for awhile and I’ve never not been able to find the next volume by the time I got the current one before.
Yes, updated schedules would be nice.
If I remember right, there was a short lag in listing the date for Suzuka’s last volume and even Gacha Gacha latest volume. Pastel has a listing on Amazon currently but no listing with Del Rey itself that I have seen.
Pastel’s latest just disappeared from Amazon entirely. Does not bode well, methinks.
Tokyopop and Kodansha had a falling out. Kodansha has pulled their licenses. They plan to start doing it themselves, but of course, there will be delay.
Well, crap. 
I expect a slightly longer delay with most non-“mainstream” titles. If I had to guess, I would expect the business to begin picking up by July at the earliest and possibly early 2011.
However, these companies must be careful that they do not push their customers into online “scanlations” during the delay and at least inform the consumer of the delay. Most people would be willing to wait as long as they know it is still a viable product that is simply been delayed.
Luckily for me, the Rosario + Vampire series is a consistent best-seller and I have at least one manga that I don’t have to worry about.
One Piece is being ramped up far beyond even Naruto though.
That seems wierd considering that Naruto seems to be more known in the US.
Well, maybe tastes have shifted and people grew sick of Naruto like they did Dragonball. Bleach is really the only “long winded” shonen title that I truly enjoy.
On a side note: due to the anime, I started to read the Tsubasa manga. That gets awfully complicated and seems less stream-lined than the anime counterpart.
Had to raise this thread from the dead for this little ray of hope… Del Ray online has Suzuka volumes 13-15, as a set it seems, available for pre-order. August 2010!
Trying to keep my hopes down so they aren’t shattered, but still… yay!
I’ll always be astonished by the number of english translations that go under hiatus…
(at least it’s not like that with the french releases).
I buy a few US manga (those I can’t find in french) : Doujin Work, Enchanter, Tears of lamb, Judah, My dearest devil (definitively on hiatus), …
I’m still waiting for Enchanter vol 11…
Same problem with the novels… I guess it’s over for Full metal panic. I just hope Kieli and Spice & Wolf will be translated untill the end.
Tokyopop announced recently that the delayed series will continue with a better pace… I’d really like to see a new volume of BECK!
Lucky Star vol 2 just came out, or at least, I just got it into my inventory.
From what I understand, Tokyopop wasn’t delaying Beck MCS, they dropped it entirely. Which sucks, considering I’m 12 volumes into it. Sure, I’ve read the rest, but I’d like to actually own the US release. They also seemed to drop Samurai Deeper Kyo, but Del Rey picked it up and released a double volume of 35/36.
They did pick up Mirai Nikki/ Future Diary though. The first 4 volumes are out as of now.
First Spice and Wolf novel is out, bad part about it, at least from my perspective is that they’ve decided to translate Horo as Holo. It takes some getting used to.
Excel Saga vol 20 just came out this week as well, even though I know no one asked about it, it’s a personal favorite and deserves some mention.
Now if only Highschool of the Dead would come off infinite hiatus and start releasing again, I’d be happy.
Yuno. That is all.
Agreed. But I don’t think this hiatus was like Rozen Maiden.
Actually, volume 3 is out also. There was a very short interval between 2 and 3, so hopefully future volumes will remain on schedule.
Really? Have to go check that out.