Following the recent growing trend of simulcasts of anime and online publishing of manga, Kodansha has announced that it will add all of its magazines to the ever growing list of online magazines. Reportedly, the digital simultaneous publications will begin with the 2015 issue of Young Magazine, set for release on January 5.

Fan reactions to the news that Kodansha would be publishing their magazines digitally as well as in print have been mostly positive:

"I think that's a smart move, it'll allow them to reach more people at lower cost," said Hameyadea in an ANN forum.

"Awesome! Just hope they don't charge for digital issues. I love Comic Avarus' change to digital. Free chapters every month," explained Mewpudding101.

"Good news, then," commented Ajr.

Anime News Network reports that Kodansha plans to produce digital editions of all of its magazines by June of this year. In addition Young Magazine, Monthly Shonen Magazine and Weekly Shonen Magazine will begin the simultaneous publications.

The official 567 Kodansha Japanese website began a countdown to the simultaneous publications featuring characters from manga that appears in several different Kodansha publications. The number 5 depicts Meiko Shiraki from "Prison School" by Akira Hiramoto. The number 6 depicts Tsukumo Mutsu from "Shura no Mon" by Masatoshi Kawahara. Finally, the number 7 depicts Natsu from "Fairy Tail" by Hiro Mashima.

As for what the move to digital simultaneous publications, perhaps it is a sign of increasing manga fans both in Japan and worldwide. Whether or not that's ultimately true, according to the head of Kodansha's Digital Business, the main goal is to make Kodansha the lead company in this particular type of content:

"Our rivals are not just other publishers, but also videos and games. I want to come up with a way to get [audiences] to choose [our content] from among all the ordinary content." (via Anime News Network)