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Manga is Global: Japanese Manga Editors Share How Medium is Expanding

ANN's coverage of Anime Expo 2024 sponsored by Yen Press and Ize Press!

For those who like the business side of manga as much as the art and storytelling, the Japanese Manga Editors Industry Roundtable really is a fascinating learning experience. This year's panel mostly focused on two areas of discussion—new artist development, and a look into publishing trends. Moderated by Deb Aoki, journalist and co-host of the Mangasplaining podcast, the roundtable had four participants: Shuichi Mochida, managing director of Coamix; Eve Gamble-Gillison, editor at Coamix; Tatsuki Hirayanagi, founder and CEO of Culture Weavers; and Yae Sahashi, VP of Business Development at Kodansha USA.

One big question that many aspiring artists typically have is, "How do I become a manga artist?" While the process may seem daunting, especially for artists who specifically want to create "manga," the panelists offered some insights that may surprise some.

Among them was a rebuttal of the notion that manga artists need to be Japanese. Sahashi said that Kodansha, for example, accepts talent from all over the world. She also recommended talking to as many people as possible, fostering new connections, and maintaining a passion for the industry.

Hirayanagi spoke extensively about the work that Culture Weavers was doing to develop new art talent in Taiwan and South Korea, including organizing manga competitions for Taiwanese high school and university students and supporting webtoon artists. He cited several reasons for choosing those places for new artist development, such as the general popularity of manga. For instance, 90% of the comics market in Taiwan is occupied by Japanese manga, with translated publications drastically increasing in popularity since 2020. The Taiwanese manga industry also benefits from various forms of government support to nurture homegrown talent. Likewise, there has been an uptick in Korean webtoons and manhwa, although he said that many artists now draw from Japan as there are more opportunities.

Hirayanagi also shared an amusing anecdote from when he asked a Korean boys' love artist why she created manga-style comics instead of something more commonly associated with webtoons. She answered that in Korea, everyone prefers bodies like baseball great Shohei Ohtani, but she wanted to draw slender men "like those in Japanese BL."

Mochida was asked about Coamix's artist development programs as well. He started by showing a video on the company's focuses and initiatives, which range from manga licensing to live-in artist residencies to competitions like the Silent Manga Auditions. Coamix prides itself on being a publishing company that specializes in manga and aims to provide opportunities for young artists. It was founded in 2000 by Weekly Shonen Jump head editor Nobuhiko Horie and manga artists Tsukasa Hōjō (City Hunter, Cat's Eye), Tetsuo Hara (Fist of the North Star), and Ryuji Tsugihara (First President Of Japan). It counts among its projects a manga artists' village and a dedicated manga high school.

Ten artists are chosen for the residency through the results of the Silent Manga Audition, a contest that provides an emotion-related prompt. "One of manga's biggest strengths is to convey emotion through the panels. So we created a contest where artists could show off emotions through paneling and artwork." The last round of competition saw entries from 6,833 creators from 142 countries, with prizes that included cash, potential publication in Monthly Comic Zenon, and a residency in the aforementioned artists' village.

Another fascinating topic of conversation was trends in publishing, especially digital publishing. Gamble-Gillison showed a slide of the reach of different platforms. Starting five years ago, the paradigm dramatically shifted—print magazines are shrinking further every year, while online web viewing and manga apps are increasing in popularity.

Mochida said that this change happened during the pandemic when people didn't want to go into stores to purchase physical media. Because of the advent of digital manga, they no longer had to. From the publishers' side, digital publishing also meant that content could be updated faster. Predictably, this surge in digital sales also coincided with the downturn of print magazines, an observation that was backed up with a bar graph. Sahashi agreed with the appeal of digital, saying that readers don't want to wait for print anymore. "When a new chapter is released, they just want to read it immediately," she said.

According to Mochida, the upside is that it's also easier to capture and analyze data immediately. Many publishers will offer the first volume of a manga for free, and based on readership patterns, they're able to tell which chapters are more popular. This information, in turn, helps influence their marketing decisions. He also said that digital publishing offered more space for artists. Unlike the days of just print, where space in anthologies was limited, and publishers had to be strict about canceling underperforming series, series can run much longer without interference. Because of this, artists nowadays are less beholden to trends, which allows them greater creative flexibility.

Mochida showed two more interesting pieces of data—one showing that profits from anime continue to climb and the other a chart showing trends in the gaming industry. The anime market was estimated at US$188.97 billion in 2021, while smartphone games have exploded to US$ 13.8 billion in value compared to console games, which have largely stagnated.

Then, with a bit of pride, he showed a table of the highest-grossing media franchises. Roughly half of the IPs were Japanese. "Pokémon has made more than Mickey Mouse," he says with a smile.