Japanese Manga volumes have become a far more common sight on the shelves of book retailers and independent bookshops in recent years across the country but why does the publishing industry still hold them in such low regard?

Academic John Dyck has a potential answer: “They are not sophisticated, skillful, or self-aware.”[1] He argues that Graphic products like manga and comic strips are so devalued because they are simpler in terms of narrative and exist merely to entertain and be taken at face value. Because of this, academics and reviewers are not usually interested in them which means a publisher does not acquire the same prestige they would if they, for example, published only literary classics.

Of course, a loss of prestige could easily be avoided with a new imprint but there are more troublesome reasons why manga is so neglected.

One such reason is Piracy.

Pretty much every manga pirate website carries all Viz Media (Shogakukan-Shueisha) and Yen Press (Hachette) titles, available to download for free and some even translate the Japanese texts before any official translation is commissioned. These two imprints account for almost all English translated products. According to an ABJ, an association of publishers based in the Bunkyo ward of Tokyo, report on the Nikkei website the industry lost out on 381 billion yen (£1.9 billion) due to piracy in 2023 [2] out of a total market value of 20.3 trillion yen (£10.38 billion) [3]. This is a significant chunk of revenue to lose and with most of the piracy coming from neglected markets such as India and China according to the report. Expanding foreign operations may then seem like a pointless task to these publishers. However Viz media are currently moving into India with the same cautious strategy they still use for the British and other western European markets. The strategy involves drip-feeding individual volumes from popular series every few months which results in a longer gap between translated titles and their Japanese counterparts. This drip-feeding method has given Viz media and other imitators of their strategy a small but steady stream of income in the UK, however with volumes being released at such long intervals (currently every three months excluding delays) and having a reading time of only about two hours for a standard 192-page Tankobon, will readers wait for an official release when they could get almost the same thing faster and for free? Probably not.

[4] A graph showing the size of the Manga market from 2020-22 and its projected growth to 2030

However, despite the threats from pirates and snobby critics the manga industry continues to thrive in Britain. In the graphic above by Grandview research[4], we can see that the industry is projected to grow by an astonishing 20.6% every year in Great Britain until at least 2030. The graphic also shows the industry’s previous growth during the coronavirus pandemic of an average of 19% each year when the wider publishing industry as a whole grew less than 0.1% over the same period [5]. This suggests that if the major players such as Viz Media or Yen press committed more resources with less caution to the UK market there would likely be a bigger reward waiting for them.

This wouldn’t be a simple task as the English imprints would have to convince their home-focused, mostly Japanese parents that to fund such a costly move would be worthwhile.

References

[1] Dyck, John, (2024), Trash art and the Comics, Canadian Journal of Philosophy, [online] May, P. 1, Available at: [https://www-cambridge-org.napier.idm.oclc.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/CB555F2EB059A0C739B28437751DE649/S0045509124000158a.pdf/trash-art-and-the-comics.pdf], (last used 8.10.24)

[2] ABJ, (2023), Just Reading Pirated Manga Caused 381 Billion Yen Worth of Damage, Private Survey, Available at: [https://www.nikkei.com/article/DGXZQOUC0650J0W4A200C2000000/], (last used 9.10.24)

[3] Polaris Marketing research, (2023), Manga Market Share, Size, Trends, Industry Analysis Report, By Content Type (Printed, Digital); By Distribution Channel; By Genre; By Audience; By Region; Segment Forecast, 2024- 2032, Available at: [https://www.polarismarketresearch.com/industry-analysis/manga-market#:~:text=Report%20Outlook,16.5%25%20during%20the%20forecast%20period.], (Last used, 9.10.24)

[4] Grandview Research Team, (2024), Europe Manga Market Size and Trends, Available at:[https://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/europe-manga-market-report], (Last Used 9.10.24)

[5] IBIS, (2024), Book Publishing in the UK – Market Research Report, Available at:[https://www.ibisworld.com/united-kingdom/market-research-reports/book-publishing-industry/], (last used 10.10.24)

Cover image: Jamie Hall