Manga outperform other graphic novels in U.S.
Plus: A new manga app for the international market; Considering generative AI for manga creation; France honors a celebrated manga author; and more
This is the weekly newsletter of Animenomics, covering the business of anime and manga. Today is Wednesday, April 12, 2023, and this is our first issue on the manga industry.
In case you missed it: Amazon is shutting down Book Depository, a service popular with buyers of English-language books and manga around the world.
Manga titles dominate U.S. graphic novel retail sales
Manga sold more copies in the United States last year than any other type of graphic novels, according to a survey of data from NPD BookScan, which account for about 85 percent of retail book sales. An analysis by The Beat also found the total retail value of manga sold exceeded US$246 million.
Why it matters: Manga sales are now the primary driver of growth in the U.S. comics market, especially with the decline in sales of western graphic novels.
The total retail value of manga sold exceeded the total retail value of western graphic novels for the first time since 2008.
Chainsaw Man was the best-selling title of the year, followed by Spy × Family, Demon Slayer, Jujutsu Kaisen, and My Hero Academia.
Viz Media publishes all five series in North America and is the dominant manga publisher with a 60-percent market share by quantity.
Important to note: Manga’s performance is tied to the performance of series—instead of individual publications—and is also dependent on strong anime releases.
Kodansha joins the market for international manga apps
Kodansha, Japan’s second-largest publishing company by sales, will launch a manga distribution platform called K MANGA, encompassing both a digital store and a reading application. Service is scheduled to begin in the United States in May.
Why it matters: Each of Japan’s three largest publishers will now have its own manga publishing platform for international markets. Shueisha started MANGA Plus in 2019, while KADOKAWA has operated BookWalker Global since 2014.
Kodansha’s decision appears to have been partially influenced by the success of MANGA Plus, writes the Animation Business Journal.
As of October 2022, MANGA Plus had 6 million monthly active users, with the largest readership located the United States.
Kodansha already has a manga app for the domestic market that sees 5.3 million monthly active users, compared to 6.5 million for Shueisha’s domestic app.
The details: At launch, K MANGA will have 400 titles in its catalog, including 70 that are currently in serialization, such as Rent-A-Girlfriend and Blue Lock.
Earlier this year, Kodansha ended distribution of its simultaneously-published manga chapters on third-party platforms.
Clippings: Coming-of-age manga wins Cartoon Grand Prize
Shogakukan’s Draw This, Then Die! has been awarded the 2023 Cartoon Grand Prize, or “Manga Taishō”, by a panel of 102 bookstore employees and manga enthusiasts. The work by Minoru Toyoda is a coming-of-age drama about high school students who form a manga study group. (Press release)
Artificial intelligence tools like ChatGPT and image generation AI have the potential to benefit manga artists, says the editor-in-chief for Shueisha’s Shonen Jump+ manga app. (JBpress Digital Innovation Review, registration required)
“These AI systems depend on the quality of the prompt, but inserting rough drafts as prompts and letting them draw pictures as desired are areas that manga artists specialize in, isn’t it? I think that the creativity of writers will surely increase, so I’m very excited about how far AI will evolve.”
— Shuhei Hosono, Shonen Jump+ editor-in-chief
Culture Entertainment, a sister company of the TSUTAYA chain of bookstores, is establishing a joint venture with two South Korean companies to produce and distribute Korean-style webtoons in Japan. (PR Times)
French government confers honors on Rumiko Takahashi
Manga author Rumiko Takahashi has been named a Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters by the French ministry of culture. The order, established in 1957, recognizes individuals who have contributed significantly to furthering the arts in France and throughout the world.
The details: Takahashi created Urusei Yatsura, Ranma½, and Inuyasha, and is one of Japan’s most-celebrated manga artists.
Ranma½ was translated into French in 1994 by comics publisher Glénat and was one of the first manga series to receive widespread publication in France.
Takahashi previously received the highest award in the world of French comics, the Grand Prix at the Angoulême International Comics Festival, in 2019.
“I am very delighted that people in France enjoy my works that depict everyday life in Japan,” she wrote in a statement provided by her publisher. “I am inspired to continue to work hard drawing manga.”
Other manga authors who have been inducted into the order include Jiro Taniguchi, Go Nagai, Leiji Matsumoto, Akira Toriyama, and Katsuhiro Otomo.
That wraps up this week’s newsletter. Look forward to the return of the anime edition next week. Until then, send us any questions, ideas, and feedback.