Kodansha Announces New US Digital Manga Service

Date: 2023 March 21 19:51

Posted by Joe

The good folks from publishing giant Kodansha have sent us details of their new US digital manga service. Called K Manga the service promises to deliver about 400 titles including 70 on going titles.

Kodansha are known for publish manga mega hits Attack on Titan, Ghost in The Shell, Tokyo Revengers and Fairy Tail, amongst other titles including Blue Lock and Rent-A-Girlfriend.

The service has a teaser version up now. The official is app scheduled for launch on Wednesday 10th May 2023. The service will be US only. Full website launch is to be announced.

Details of the pricing and exact model their using is yet to be revealed. So it's not clear if they'll go for a set monthly / yearly subscription charge or if you'll have to pay per title or buy some kind of token, or even how much K Manga will cost.

We're excited about this service even though it is US only, as it's always good to have more official digital manga options.
However the first thing we're drawn to is the name. K Manga. We know they've called it called K Manga for Kodansha Manga. Nevertheless in English speaking circles, when you prefix something with K you think of Korean things. We have K Pop, K Drama, K Rock, K Horror all parts of the K Wave. K Manga inspires thoughts of Korean Manga which is frequently called Manhwa. So already the brand is fighting an up hill battle to explain to consumers that no, this isn't a Korean service, it's all about Japanese Manga! We feel that they've not got any branding consultant involved or considered the impact this could have on the service. We've causally spoken to a few people about this and they all think K Manga sounds like a great Korean manga brand rather that a new digital manga platform.

Check out teaser.kmanga.kodansha.com to see what K Manga will have to offer!

Full Story

Press release as follows:



"Attack on Titan" and "Tokyo Revengers" Publisher Kodansha Announces New Manga Platform "K MANGA" for US Fans

Kodansha's "K MANGA" Platform Scheduled to Launch in May 2023,
Bringing the Latest English-Language Manga Chapters Exclusively to US Readers

Tokyo, Japan, March 21, 2023 - Kodansha Ltd., one of Japan's leading publishers of hit manga such as "Attack on Titan," "Tokyo Revengers," and "FAIRY TAIL," will launch its manga distribution service, K MANGA, in May 2023, exclusively to U.S. readers.

Kodansha's manga sales in the U.S. tripled in 2022, setting a company record. Through K MANGA, Kodansha will increase accessibility for U.S. based fans who have embraced the medium with famed manga titles such as "Attack on Titan," and "Ghost in the Shell," available at launch. K MANGA will endeavor to release the latest chapters of K MANGA riginal serialized manga and weekly and monthly magazines of Kodansha containing a collection of different manga titles simultaneously in the U.S and Japan, making the latest stories available earlier than any other competing US services.*

Project leader Yuta Hiraoka states, "The K MANGA team is committed to continually creating content within the K MANGA platform, bringing many brand new stories to U.S. readers as they are simultaneously distributed in Japan. We hope that our audience will enjoy K MANGA through encountering many never-before-seen stories, becoming a fan of those stories, and then watching the journey of how those stories become popular."

Features of K MANGA
As Kodansha's official serialization platform, K MANGA will launch with approximately 400** titles, including 70 titles of ongoing manga currently in serialization across a multitude of genres including action, thriller, isekai, romance, and fantasy. Users will have access to K MANGA's library and will be able to read limited chapters of manga for free***.

• Earliest Exclusive Access to Latest Chapters
  Chapters of popular manga in the U.S. currently ongoing in Japan, such as "EDENS ZERO,""Blue Lock," "Rent-A-Girlfriend," "The Seven Deadly Sins: Four Knights of the Apocalypse", and "Don't Toy With Me, Miss Nagatoro" will be available on K MANGA before any other competing platform.
• Access to Popular Manga in Kodansha's Catalog
  In addition to the latest manga, K MANGA will offer a myriad of beloved manga from Kodansha's library such as "The Seven Deadly Sins", "Fire Force" and "Chihayafuru".
• A Manga Service by the Editors and for the Fans
  K MANGA is managed by Kodansha's editorial team - the same team that has been present through the creation of new manga every day, continuously editing and producing numerous worldwide mega-hits.
• Official Localization
  K MANGA will deliver official translations by industry professionals familiar with each manga.

*Distribution is exclusively in the United States.
**Number of manga titles available at the time of launch.
***The amount of free manga that can be read per day is limited and varies from manga to manga.

Official Twitter and Teaser Website Launch
The official Twitter and teaser website launches today, March 21, 2023. Please follow for the latest news about the platform and manga.

Twitter: @KMANGA_KODANSHA https://twitter.com/KMANGA_KODANSHA
Website: https://teaser.kmanga.kodansha.com/

Official App and Full Website Launch
K MANGA official app will be available on Wednesday, May 10 The full website launch date is to be announced.

About Kodansha

KODANSHA Ltd. is Japan's leading publishing house based in Tokyo, having delivered stories into ready hands across the globe with a wide variety of content from manga to novels, fashion magazines, news journals, and picture books for children, as well as TV anime, movies, series, and video games since 1909 in the spirit of "Inspire Impossible Stories." KODANSHA is globally recognized as the licensor of some of the world's most loved manga IPs, such as AKIRA, Attack on Titan, and Ghost in the Shell. Their digital book platform, MAGAPOKE was launched in July 2015 and to date has been downloaded nearly 20 million times. For more information, visit: www.kodansha.com/

Source: K Manga Teaser Page