hoopla Digital Inks Deal with Celebrated Manga Publisher Kodansha USA Publishing

Digital service for libraries expands manga offering with latest partnership

HOLLAND, Ohio, Oct. 10, 2023 /PRNewswire/ — hoopla Digital, the only all in one media app for public libraries, today announced its new partnership with Kodansha USA Publishing, English-language publisher of some of the world’s most recognizable manga properties like Attack on Titan, FAIRY TAIL, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex & more. Library patrons will now have access to a Kodansha manga catalog of more than 1,200 titles on hoopla. The agreement encompasses a deep array of English-translated content from one of the largest manga publishers in Japan and marks an advanced investment in expanding hoopla’s manga collection which had a celebrated launch earlier this summer.

“hoopla received a glowing response to the manga experience we developed and launched this year, and we are thrilled to expand the offering with one of the most renowned manga publishers, Kodansha,” said hoopla Comics and Graphic Novels Marketing Lead Ray Barry. “When we launched manga, we pledged to continue building the category on our service and this new agreement adds some of the best-known manga titles to our existing offering. With Kodansha, hoopla continues to entrench our position as a home for manga enthusiasts and those who want to explore the category.”

The launch of Kodansha’s content on hoopla includes a distinct offering of popular series including:

• Attack on Titan by Hajime Isayama – An award-winning and New York Times-bestselling series that is the manga hit of the decade! Spawning the monster hit anime TV series of the same name, Attack on Titan has become a pop culture sensation.
• FAIRY TAIL by Hiro Mashima – A manga series that follows the adventures of Natsu Dragneel, a member of the popular wizard guild Fairy Tail, as he searches the fictional world of Earth-land for the dragon Igneel.
• Battle Angel Alita by Yukito Kishiro – The iconic manga series is now available again for the first time in nearly a decade, in a stunning new translation. Kishiro’s post-apocalyptic science fiction story about an amnesiac cyborg named Alita.
• BLAME! by Tsutomu Nihei – This breakthrough science-fiction masterpiece takes readers to a future version of Earth, where there is a city that’s grown so chaotically massive that its inhabitants no longer recall what “land” is.
• The Knights of Sidonia by Tsutomu Nihei – An award-wining manga series that tells the story of Nagate Tanikaze, who has lived in the underground layer of Sidonia, a massive starship, since birth. Following the death of his grandfather, Nagate travels to the surface and is selected as a Garde pilot, just as Sidonia is once again threatened by the Gauna, a hostile alien species.

“hoopla has developed a digital experience that is true to the art and storytelling of the manga craft, and we are committed to this partnership and service to the public library market,” said Alvin Lu, of President and CEO of Kodansha USA. “This partnership will fuel wider access to our manga titles and the category at large, while inviting new readers to the manga vertical.”

Kodansha titles will be found in hoopla’s expansive comics section featuring various other collections of comics, graphic novels, and manga from renowned publishers. Recognizing the significance of the manga experience, hoopla has updated its exclusive ActionView functionality, enabling readers to become fully immersed in the unfolding narrative in the traditional order, right-to-left and back-to-front sequence. hoopla’s unique ActionView brings content to life by taking the reader through the story panel-by-panel, allowing them to fully view and appreciate the intricacies of the art and take in the story at their own pace.

hoopla’s manga offering from Kodansha will continue to grow, with more titles expected by the end of the year as well as continued new partnerships with other prominent manga publishers.

hoopla offers 24/7 access to borrow, download, and stream more than 1.4 million eBooks, audiobooks, comics, movies, music albums, television episodes, and more through hoopla BingePass, all with a valid library card from a participating public library. Librarians interested in offering hoopla to patrons should contact 800-875-2785 (US), 866-698-2231 (Canada), or (02) 4732-3480 (Australia and New Zealand). 

To access content on hoopla, cardholders of participating libraries can download the free hoopla mobile app on their Android or iOS device or visit hoopladigital.com. hoopla is in more than 10,000 public libraries across the U.S., Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, including Chicago Public Library, San Francisco Public Library and Los Angeles Public Library. Visit hoopladigital.com to find out if your library partners with hoopla. 

About hoopla Digital
hoopla is a category-creating service that partners with public libraries across North America, Australia, and New Zealand to provide online and mobile access to thousands of movies, TV shows, music albums, eBooks, audiobooks, and comics. With hoopla Digital, patrons can borrow, instantly stream, and download dynamic content with a valid library card. All content is accessible via hoopla Digital’s mobile app and online at hoopladigital.com. hoopla Digital is a service of Midwest Tape, a trusted partner to public libraries for over 30 years. 

About Kodansha USA Publishing, LLC
A subsidiary of Kodansha, Japan’s largest publisher, Kodansha USA Publishing is the English-language publisher of some of the world’s most recognizable manga properties, including Katsuhiro Otomo’s AKIRA and Naoko Takeuchi’s Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon, along with a robust catalog of English-language Japanese novels, cookbooks, craft guides, historical and cultural literature, and more. Today, thanks to recent fan-favorite and critically acclaimed hits like Attack on Titan, Battle Angel Alita, Witch Hat Atelier, and the popular MONOGATARI novels, Kodansha USA Publishing is one of the best-selling manga publishers in the United States. Kodansha USA Publishing’s print offerings are distributed by Penguin Random House Publisher Services, and their digital manga and select digital books are available across a number of digital comics, manga, and book vendors. For more information visit kodansha.us.

SOURCE hoopla Digital