Mar 13, 2018 10:54 AM
First (theoretical) Impressions of the MAL Manga Store
Anime Relations:
Orange, Cardcaptor Sakura: Clear Card-hen
On March 8th 2018, MyAnimeList had the initial launch of their digital manga store, though at the moment only Canadian users are able to browse and buy from the store (with other English-speaking territories to follow sometime this month). When I first heard about this venture, I was somewhat interested. The prospect of having manga readable on a website that I already frequent was intriguing, kind of like how I only ever stream anime when I'm on my PS4 (hence why I have not yet bought into HiDive). However, I wasn't quite sure about the digital-book format.
As the MAL Manga Store Launch Announcement says, all of the manga currently available is from either VIZ or Kodansha Comics. Between the two companies, there are more than 200 titles available, and between them I do feel like they can bring a great variety of manga to the store. However, the announcement doesn't go into pricing. Thankfully for us non-Canadians, a user has posted a number of screenshots in the forums which show the prices....
So, the prices. When it comes to the VIZ items, the prices are somewhat reasonable. The $7.99 Canadian dollars shown in the screenshots translates to a little over $6 USD. Comparing that to the $9.99 that these titles cost for physical volumes, I suppose that's a decent price if you're into buying manga e-books. However, the Kodansha Comics titles shown in the screenshots are listed at 15.99 which translates to a little over $12 USD. Depending on the book, that's either $1 MORE or $1 less than the typical physical version.... Yeah, that's kind of lame. The Kodansha books basically cost the same as it would to buy physical versions. Granted, a number of these titles look like they're on sale for $11.99 (a bit over $9 USD), but if you wait for a sale on RightStuf, you can still get the physical versions cheaper in most cases! I guess some people might actually like having e-books instead of physical books, but that's not me.
Another source of information for those of us who do not have access to the store yet is the Manga Store FAQ. Aside from the full list of countries which will eventually have access to the website, there isn't too much information that is particularly illuminating. I particularly thought it was amusing that they felt the need to explain what a "Volume" and "Chapter" of a manga series is. XD Some things that might be of actual interest are the facts that there will be no offline reading option, period. Aside from that, it's pretty standard type stuff.
So, what do I think about what I've seen and heard so far? Hmmm, probably a hard pass for me. I might see about buying one or two volumes just to try it out and throw a little money MAL's way, but I really don't expect to be a repeat customer. It mostly boils down to: 1) why not just buy the physical stuff? I still like having physical stuff with most of my entertainment. 2) Even if I wanted an e-book, why not just buy it from Amazon so I wouldn't be stuck with online-only reading?
Personally, I really wish they could have provided a subscription-based "read all you want" library system instead of a weird, restrictive, online-only e-book store. Basically, I'd like to see MAL's version of becoming the Crunchyroll of manga. Crunchyroll actually has a manga section, but it has lost a decent amount of its content recently. Sadly I didn't use the manga function of Crunchyroll very often, but that was more of an issue of me not being up for the reading than any issue with the subscription/library format that Crunchyroll used. From what little I did use it (such as reading all of the Orange manga on it), I did like using the app on my tablet.
MyAnimeList actually has a Membership Subscription right now, so it seems like it should have been pretty easy for them to add a manga library to that subscription infrastructure. I would have been willing to pay up to $10 a month for MAL Supporter + Manga if they offered that. Actually, looking at it again, I'm very much considering subscribing to become a MAL Supporter. I get a lot of use out of MyAnimeList and I would like to throw some money their way. Also, the little bonuses of having legit ad-free viewing, up to 20 favorites on my profile, and being able to change the status bars for my anime and manga list stats all sound pretty appealing to me. I mean, I'd really, REALLY wish MAL would throw some support to the blog function, but whatever; even without that, I really do love MAL.
In the end, I hope that they get at least some success from this Manga Store, at least enough so that building the infrastructure for it doesn't put them in the hole financially. Good luck, MAL!
Edit (15 Mar 2018): So the store is now live for the US. I looked around a bit and the interface looks okay and the base prices of the Kodansha Comics items seem to be the same as the MSRP for the physical books. But yeah, I don't know. Looking around, the only thing that I might buy from the store is Cardcaptor Sakura: Clear Card because I'm currently unsure if I'll go back and re-buy physical versions the first series and then buy the physical books for Clear Card or not, so this can be a good legal way to keep up with the series without my physical collection looking weird. Also, my love of the series was kind of brought into question with the anime adaptation of Clear Card as I've mentioned many times in my Anime Watching Challenge updates (though I have warmed back up to the series in recent episodes). But yeah, I don't know; I'd still much rather they had a subscription service instead of the e-book store, but whatever!
As the MAL Manga Store Launch Announcement says, all of the manga currently available is from either VIZ or Kodansha Comics. Between the two companies, there are more than 200 titles available, and between them I do feel like they can bring a great variety of manga to the store. However, the announcement doesn't go into pricing. Thankfully for us non-Canadians, a user has posted a number of screenshots in the forums which show the prices....
So, the prices. When it comes to the VIZ items, the prices are somewhat reasonable. The $7.99 Canadian dollars shown in the screenshots translates to a little over $6 USD. Comparing that to the $9.99 that these titles cost for physical volumes, I suppose that's a decent price if you're into buying manga e-books. However, the Kodansha Comics titles shown in the screenshots are listed at 15.99 which translates to a little over $12 USD. Depending on the book, that's either $1 MORE or $1 less than the typical physical version.... Yeah, that's kind of lame. The Kodansha books basically cost the same as it would to buy physical versions. Granted, a number of these titles look like they're on sale for $11.99 (a bit over $9 USD), but if you wait for a sale on RightStuf, you can still get the physical versions cheaper in most cases! I guess some people might actually like having e-books instead of physical books, but that's not me.
Another source of information for those of us who do not have access to the store yet is the Manga Store FAQ. Aside from the full list of countries which will eventually have access to the website, there isn't too much information that is particularly illuminating. I particularly thought it was amusing that they felt the need to explain what a "Volume" and "Chapter" of a manga series is. XD Some things that might be of actual interest are the facts that there will be no offline reading option, period. Aside from that, it's pretty standard type stuff.
So, what do I think about what I've seen and heard so far? Hmmm, probably a hard pass for me. I might see about buying one or two volumes just to try it out and throw a little money MAL's way, but I really don't expect to be a repeat customer. It mostly boils down to: 1) why not just buy the physical stuff? I still like having physical stuff with most of my entertainment. 2) Even if I wanted an e-book, why not just buy it from Amazon so I wouldn't be stuck with online-only reading?
Personally, I really wish they could have provided a subscription-based "read all you want" library system instead of a weird, restrictive, online-only e-book store. Basically, I'd like to see MAL's version of becoming the Crunchyroll of manga. Crunchyroll actually has a manga section, but it has lost a decent amount of its content recently. Sadly I didn't use the manga function of Crunchyroll very often, but that was more of an issue of me not being up for the reading than any issue with the subscription/library format that Crunchyroll used. From what little I did use it (such as reading all of the Orange manga on it), I did like using the app on my tablet.
MyAnimeList actually has a Membership Subscription right now, so it seems like it should have been pretty easy for them to add a manga library to that subscription infrastructure. I would have been willing to pay up to $10 a month for MAL Supporter + Manga if they offered that. Actually, looking at it again, I'm very much considering subscribing to become a MAL Supporter. I get a lot of use out of MyAnimeList and I would like to throw some money their way. Also, the little bonuses of having legit ad-free viewing, up to 20 favorites on my profile, and being able to change the status bars for my anime and manga list stats all sound pretty appealing to me. I mean, I'd really, REALLY wish MAL would throw some support to the blog function, but whatever; even without that, I really do love MAL.
In the end, I hope that they get at least some success from this Manga Store, at least enough so that building the infrastructure for it doesn't put them in the hole financially. Good luck, MAL!
Edit (15 Mar 2018): So the store is now live for the US. I looked around a bit and the interface looks okay and the base prices of the Kodansha Comics items seem to be the same as the MSRP for the physical books. But yeah, I don't know. Looking around, the only thing that I might buy from the store is Cardcaptor Sakura: Clear Card because I'm currently unsure if I'll go back and re-buy physical versions the first series and then buy the physical books for Clear Card or not, so this can be a good legal way to keep up with the series without my physical collection looking weird. Also, my love of the series was kind of brought into question with the anime adaptation of Clear Card as I've mentioned many times in my Anime Watching Challenge updates (though I have warmed back up to the series in recent episodes). But yeah, I don't know; I'd still much rather they had a subscription service instead of the e-book store, but whatever!
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pluvia33
| Mar 13, 2018 10:54 AM |
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