Kodansha USA Publishing, comprised of both Kodansha Comics and Vertical publishing, has recently announced the delay of several announced titles’ publication dates from spring and summer to later this year. However, the delay will only affect the physical editions of these releases, as Kodansha’s titles will retain their digital on-sale dates and can still be purchased across nearly every digital comic platform.

From Alvin Lu, Kodansha USA Publishing President and CEO: “We’re very, very lucky to be working with incredibly resilient and resourceful retail partners and our fantastic distribution partner at Penguin Random House, who are stepping up and keeping the essential lifeline of books open during an unprecedented disruption to our day-to-day business. Getting manga to readers is the top and only priority for us at Kodansha USA Publishing, which we will continue to do during this extraordinary time.”

Additionally, the publishing house has announced that it will continue to fulfill backlist orders through Penguin Random House and is pushing ahead with several of its high demand frontlist releases. These titles include the debut of the anticipated Wave, Listen to Me! as well as returning favorites like Drifting Dragons and Tales of Berseria. Truthfully, it doesn’t seem like much has been pushed back, and if you read any of Kodansha’s titles digitally you likely won’t notice any delays whatsoever. For updates on Kodansha’s titles and to track their release dates, you can view their new releases page.

As the COVID-19 crisis continues expect announcements like these to continue hand in hand, at least from publishers in serialized mediums like comics and manga. It doesn’t make much sense to produce physical copies of these items during the quarantine. That said, most comic and manga readers can easily switch to digital reading platforms if they haven’t already, and it seems the trend will be for publishers to continue their releases unabated across those platforms.