Responding to an increasingly global demand for Japanese pop culture, the Kodansha comic book publishing firm is to debut a web version of K Manga, its recently-launched U.S. serialization app.
The storied firm will mark the launch of the ‘browser version’ of K Manga with a June 22 online party that is held in Japan, but hosted in English and targets manga (comics) and anime (animation) fans in the U.S.
With a theme of “The Stories Behind the Stories,” the event will take multiple behind-the-scenes peeks at manga production and include fan greetings from more than a dozen manga creators.
Highlights include: a live drawing session with Mashima Hiro, the artist behind “Fairy Tail”; a live talk with Miyajima Reiji, behind “Rent-A-Girlfriend”; an interview session with the manga artist behind hit “Attack on Titan” Isayama Hajime; and a session with Terayama Koji, Kodansha editor.
Kodansha is publisher of many of the best-known manga titles in history including “Attack on Titan” and “Ghost in the Shell.” These and some 400 others were available at the launch of the K Manga platform. Its roster includes approximately 70 titles of ongoing manga currently in serialization and span genres including action, thriller, isekai (speculative fiction), romance, and fantasy.
Users have access to K Manga’s library and are able to read limited chapters of some manga free of charge.
Anime and manga are currently hugely popular and have been boosted by the operations of global video streaming platforms which are competing for content and are able to distribute globally. Sony, which acquired the Crunchyroll streaming platform, recently reported record levels of international anime consumption. Kodansha says that its manga sales in the U.S. tripled in 2022, to an all-time company record level. Its digital book platform, Magapoke was launched in July 2015 and to date has been downloaded nearly 20 million times.
The launch of the K Manga digital platform may help Kodansha keep pace with changes in the market, notably the explosive success of Korean webtoons which are digital native products and have rapidly-evolving business models in international territories outside Korea and Japan.
Localization and solving language issues is also key. “K Manga will deliver official translations by industry professionals familiar with each manga,” the company has said.
Along with graphic novels, manga and webtoons have fueled a myriad of page to screen adaptations as well as further adaptations from series to feature film.
