The Importance and Influence of Global Manga is Not Slowing Down!

As an art form and commercial product, manga’s influence has continued to grow beyond Japan. This influence has grown worldwide, despite global releases of chapters and volumes for manga often lagging behind the original Japanese releases. However, there have been various recent initiatives to provide these manga stories to a more global audience alongside Japanese audiences in real time. Apps like MANGA Plus, Manga UP!, and K manga have all contributed to this initiative in some way. At New York Comic Con, I was able to attend a panel featuring speakers who represented these platforms—including Yūta Momiyama of MANGA Plus, Nobuhiko Muranaka of Manga UP!, and Yuta Hiraoka of K manga. Together, the three answered questions about this growing global interest in Japanese manga.

One of the most significant changes and benefits of these online manga reading apps is the sense of immediate feedback. According to Hiraoka, originally creators would have to go through licensing teams in order to understand what fans outside of Japan thought about their series. But now a lot of these apps feature comment sections where anybody can leave feedback in real time that can immediately be checked out by publishers and creators. Muranaka even commented how this is very motivating for the creators themselves while also providing a lot of immediate data on what is popular globally. Momiyama commented on how manga has the potential to rally a movement of people, even without an anime adaptation, pointing to shows like SPY x FAMILY and Kaiju No. 8, which were already significantly popular before their anime aired. The ability of these online apps to bring more fans together has only strengthened that rallying power. Hiraoka commented that this is probably due to the fact that manga is always better when everyone is reading it together because it facilitates conversations between fans. The shorter the gap between a Japanese and global release of a manga chapter, the better.

When asked if the sudden influx in global attention has affected what genres are popular, Muranaka commented that there isn’t much difference compared to how things used to be. He noted that Americans seemed to like the same things that are usually popular in Japan, and the three of them agree that some things are just sort of universally beloved, sort of like how Spider-Man is held as one of the most popular superheroes in the West and is also extremely popular in Japan. Hiraoka commented that there might be some minor differences in appeal depending on genre, like how gag manga in particular might be difficult to translate to a global audience, whereas some series like Black Torch might be a bit more popular in America compared to Japan. But overall, there has not been a significant shift in what publishers are seeing as popular despite the larger audience pool.

However, the three also made it clear that these apps aren’t just about putting out more manga that’s already been created; they’re also about fostering new talent. Kodansha‘s Manga Academy and other programs where people from all over can apply with their own series are set up in order to encourage more sparks of creativity. All three speakers emphasized the fact that they want to see more manga creators outside of Japan because they are always looking for a new series that can appeal to as many people as possible. While Hiraoka points out that the industry is not quite at a point where a manga can get serialized without it first being popular in Japan, they will always prioritize a series’ art and ability to reach people above all else. Muranaka says that there might be more manga readers in America than in Japan in the next ten years, given how significantly bigger America is compared to Japan, and Momiyama would love to see more manga creators going to the States. There was a general air of excitement during the panel about how all of these changes are only scratching the surface of how much further this industry can go. There is a lot of amazing potential out there. It’s only a matter of time before everyone is able to fully capitalize on and appreciate it.