| ICv2 released the annual report on the manga market in North America. The yearly sales of Japanese manga in 2009 was $140 million, 80% of the previous year. The manga market has shrunk into two-thirds of its peak since 2007. In contrast, the sales of the non-manga graphic novels has made 40% increase in two years. Chart of the manga market in North America (Total Graphic Novels = Manga + "US Cartoon") ICv2 gave three possible reasons for the decline: 1. Female readers who established the shojo manga boom have grown out of the manga habit. 2. Effect of the illegal scanlations 3. Keeping on purchasing long series has become a burden for the fans. Sources: ICv2, Anime!Anime! |
myanimelistllcAug 31, 2016 5:23 AM
| Well, with the economic downturn, it's not surprising. |
| With the cost of Manga in NA, not surprising. |
| Yeah, even though I buy as much as I could, I'm limited on money. #2 is the sole reason |
BlackWings said: Yeah, even though I buy as much as I could, I'm limited on money. #2 is the sole reason im the same & i agree. |
| Not to mention the masses of people who just read the manga in the store. |
| I think what could be pointed out also is that according to the article itself and the article on Anime News Network is that another possibility for decrease of sales is due to lack of TV exposure of the anime adaptation of certain manga titles in America. I believe the article made an example about how titles like Rosario+Vampire don't make as much sales as compared to Naruto, Bleach, and Death Note since all three of them have/had the anime adaptations air on Adult Swim, Cartoon Network or Disney XD. Though personally after seeing the Rosario+Vampire anime myself, I can see why it hasn't even been licensed yet, let alone aired on Television in the states. Another thing the article pointed out is that due to scanlations with manga and commiting an indefinite amount of time and money to long-running titles, there is a lack of "collector mentality" compared to American Comic book fans. In my personal opinion, American comic book fans don't neccesarily have to worry about an issue of say a Marvel title being released in another country first before they can read and buy it as oppose to manga titles. Not only that but maybe I'm off on this, but I think American comic book publishers are more secured with their products and can thus prevent scanlations. Although I do like where Viz Media's Shonen Sunday section is going by simulcasting the latest Rin-ne chapters online. I don't think I have yet to see any website upload scanlations of that manga ever since Viz started that simulcast. |
HypeathonApr 17, 2010 3:29 AM
| Either people read in libraries or read it in stores if they want to read the hard copy version. With each manga costing around 10-15 USD I'm hardly surprised with the downturn of events. Even Japan and Taiwan sells english versions abit less than half the price and they still have a downturn as well. "Keeping on purchasing long series has become a burden for the fans." No surprise when they keep having the price so high. Well~ The scanlations aren't bad and they are free to read [but illegal] plus they are mostly updates to the lastest chapters so when anyone makes a decision, the majority would choose scanlations. Scanlations are just more tempting for people. |
| ahhhh id like to point out another reason most people i know dont read manga simply because there arrogant and ignorant to the fact that manga is far far superior to the anime adaptions its a sad thing because people ask me if theres any more eps of things like berserk and i point them to the manga and i get told to fuck off "im not reading that shit the anime was better" that makes me wanna punch them in the face >.> seriously pointing out illegal scans isnt really a problem cause where i live there isnt realy much manga licensed and if it is its generic >.> |
Corpse69Apr 17, 2010 4:10 AM
 I signed my screen and now its all smeary "When you meet your God tell him to leave me alone." check out my bloghttp://corpse69.wordpress.com/ fix MAL already |
| who needs to buy manga in america if there are free on the net... #2... |
"Your taste is shit cause you like what I hate. Believe me I have 1000 cartoons that I rated with less than 5."  |
Tsurugikarasu said: Either people read in libraries or read it in stores if they want to read the hard copy version. With each manga costing around 10-15 USD I'm hardly surprised with the downturn of events. Even Japan and Taiwan sells english versions abit less than half the price and they still have a downturn as well. "Keeping on purchasing long series has become a burden for the fans." No surprise when they keep having the price so high. Well~ The scanlations aren't bad and they are free to read [but illegal] plus they are mostly updates to the lastest chapters so when anyone makes a decision, the majority would choose scanlations. Scanlations are just more tempting for people. If you check other anime forums and touched on whether you prefer print or scanlations, you would be suprised by the amount of people that beg to differ. Not that I'm saying you are completely wrong, but I'm also saying that many would not find that as tempting as you think. Though talking about expenses with manga, Kouji Taguchi from Square Enix mentioned in an article about the several factors in Square Enix never lost a yen in the past 8 years, and he mentioned some of three possible reasons why manga overseas doesn't seem to be as proffitable. ANN said: Taguchi noted that Japan Expo in Paris and Comic-Con International in San Diego each attracted over 100,000 people every July. However, he also said that he thinks that comics as a business is not faring well overseas. After Fullmetal Alchemist aired, Fullmetal Alchemist and Naruto were among the top-selling comics in America. However, their American sales were about 1/20th to 1/10th the size of their Japanese sales. Taguchi explained that the first reason for this difference is the higher price of overseas manga due to smaller print runs. His second reason is the relative lower amounts of cash that children have. The third reason is geographics — Taguchi said that a typical Tokyo resident can reach about three bookstores by bicycle, but children overseas have to go to a shopping mall on weekends with their parents. As a result, TV anime is extremely popular among many people, but not as many actually buy manga. |
HypeathonApr 17, 2010 1:13 PM
| The cost is pretty high, for example keeping up with a series like Bleach outside of Japan e.g in America or Europe is quite costly. Plus we don't have the kind of Shounen Jump! format provided outside of Japan, and that contributes to decreasing the expense. I think more people would buy the weekly ones like Shounen Jump with all the manga inside they want to read, rather than having to buy volumes. Plus you get more than one manga. Im nt sure whether Shounen Jump! is offered in Europe, vaguely know about America, just making a generalised assumption. |
Sami092 said: The cost is pretty high, for example keeping up with a series like Bleach outside of Japan e.g in America or Europe is quite costly. Plus we don't have the kind of Shounen Jump! format provided outside of Japan, and that contributes to decreasing the expense. I think more people would buy the weekly ones like Shounen Jump with all the manga inside they want to read, rather than having to buy volumes. Plus you get more than one manga. Im nt sure whether Shounen Jump! is offered in Europe, vaguely know about America, just making a generalised assumption. Well there are a couple of monthly magazines that are anthologies of manga. Viz Media still has Shonen Jump where they put out the latest chapters of Bleach (Hueco Mundo arc), Naruto (Kage Summit arc), One Piece (Impel Down), Yugioh GX I think is still there, then there's Letter Bee, Toriko, Ultimo, and previews of different manga shown each month. Like in March, 2010 there was Rosario+Vampire Season 2, and in April was Bakuman in think (or was it this month). There is also Yen Press's monthly Anthology Yen Plus, which fetures Soul Eater, Black Butler, Hero Tales and more. Though now that you mention it, I never really heard of such manga anthology magazines in Europe. |
infinite_zero said: With the cost of Manga in NA, not surprising. That, and I only buy raws, which aren't as readily available. I'd bring them over myself or ask whichever one of my friends is visiting to shop for me. We take turns to shop for each other. |
ShootTheBullet said: infinite_zero said: With the cost of Manga in NA, not surprising. That, and I only buy raws, which aren't as readily available. I'd bring them over myself or ask whichever one of my friends is visiting to shop for me. We take turns to shop for each other. If I buy manga, it has to be the original. Translated version is a no-no for me. |
bla bla bla The endless debate between fans and haters. At one point, after spending a lot of time on MAL, you just realize it's totally pointless.Niko-kun said: On MAL, everyone who has used the lame rating system becomes a critic and an intellectual by default, haven't you heard? |
| I hate how series from Shonen Jump jumped from like $8 right up to $10. I mean I still buy the volumes it's just a real pain when I see an upped price in series like Gintama, and HxH especially when I remember it being that low originally. |
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Hypeathon said: Sami092 said: The cost is pretty high, for example keeping up with a series like Bleach outside of Japan e.g in America or Europe is quite costly. Plus we don't have the kind of Shounen Jump! format provided outside of Japan, and that contributes to decreasing the expense. I think more people would buy the weekly ones like Shounen Jump with all the manga inside they want to read, rather than having to buy volumes. Plus you get more than one manga. Im nt sure whether Shounen Jump! is offered in Europe, vaguely know about America, just making a generalised assumption. Well there are a couple of monthly magazines that are anthologies of manga. Viz Media still has Shonen Jump where they put out the latest chapters of Bleach (Hueco Mundo arc), Naruto (Kage Summit arc), One Piece (Impel Down), Yugioh GX I think is still there, then there's Letter Bee, Toriko, Ultimo, and previews of different manga shown each month. Like in March, 2010 there was Rosario+Vampire Season 2, and in April was Bakuman in think (or was it this month). There is also Yen Press's monthly Anthology Yen Plus, which fetures Soul Eater, Black Butler, Hero Tales and more. I'm pretty sure GX got taken off. I think all that's left now are Bleach, Naruto, One Piece, Ultimo, and a preview chapter for a new series(Last one I remember being Bakuman). |
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| though thats not suprising giving the fact of cost of manga...but scanelations are the more effective way to distribute manga online and long series are a pain...examples...naruto bleach negima....if the cost of manga will come down...then i dont see why the manga department shouldnt pick back up again |
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| I agree about the prices! I live in the UK so all this doesn't actually apply to me but the prices over here are still really high, for example, Kuroshitsuji [Black Butler] costs £7 [13 USD] for the first volume and as a college student, I can't really afford to buy a lot of manga at prices like that. So I either wait for price drops or read it online, unless I really love the manga/anime like One Piece. :) Also the UK only has the anime magazine 'Neo' as far as I know and they're mostly reviews of anime, manga and Asian movies so we don't really get manga previews. And I've tried to import Shonen Jump from various websites but they won't allow it. D: |
| One volume of Reborn!: 400yen = $4.33957 USD (Japanese) $30 HKD = $3.86524 USD (Traditional Chinese, Hong Kong version) $9.99 USD (English) One counterfeit copy of Reborn!: < $5 CNY = $0.732440 USD Reading it at the store, library, or on the Internet: FREE (transportation costs not included) |
| Well, i got a solution... don't raise the fucking price of mangas!!! this was mainly directed to Viz.... |
Cashdaxxx said: who needs to buy manga in america if there are free on the net... #2... |
======================================================= Sign here; (Your Soul) |
ShootTheBullet said: One volume of Reborn!: 400yen = $4.33957 USD (Japanese) $30 HKD = $3.86524 USD (Traditional Chinese, Hong Kong version) $9.99 USD (English) One counterfeit copy of Reborn!: < $5 CNY = $0.732440 USD Reading it at the store, library, or on the Internet: FREE (transportation costs not included) |
======================================================= Sign here; (Your Soul) |
| Well, manga isn't really expensive, but having it available online for free might contribute to a very small decline in sales. I for one support manga that I really enjoy. The problem I see is that most of the manga I'm interested in with a US release tends to get dropped with only a couple of volumes released (i.e. Unbalance x Unbalance) and get left in limbo with no plans for a future release. |
| gonna have to agree with people saying it is way over priced in north america and europe. thats one of the reasons i dont buy manga that much because its just so damn expensive. i tend to only buy series i really like. also, i think the scans on the internet is another big reason. considering you can read almost any series you want on the internet for free these days, theres no reason to buy the volumes any more. |
 |
| I was wondering why there are less weaboo faggots sitting in front of manga selves as borders giggling away while claiming Bishis |
| It doesn't think, it doesn't feel, it doesn't laugh or cry..... All it does from dusk till dawn is make the soldiers die. |
| I love buying manga, It's great to have the hard copy and actually read it that way. With that said, with the current state of the economy I can no longer pay $8+ for one volume. This price point has to change with the times, or they can expect the sales to continue to decline. I know online reading does effect it, but from personal experience and talking to others, it's mainly the fact that it's too damn expensive. |
 |
| Well, when American companies can't even match the Japanese prices (or come with in 50%) then of course it's going to fail. |
| what? they didnt list mangacows as one of the possible reasons? |
| Pit simply usa us getting poorer, and i love it |
 |
kkslider5552000 said: gomu_ninguen said: Well, i got a solution... don't raise the fucking price of mangas!!! this was mainly directed to Viz.... except they raised their prices AFTER everyone else while I do agree that some fat losers who could buy manga just download it because they are fat losers that need to buy 10X as much food as normal people, it's mostly the economy hurting manga sales. yeah, but I mainly buy things from Viz, 80% of the things i have are from them... |
| I spend $50 dollars every month or every other month on Manga. If it's declining then it sure as hell isn't my fault. I'm sure it's due to sites like mangafox and the bad economy that this is happening, along with any price increase to make some decide to not buy. Ain't stopping me from buying, I'll just keep on adding more to my bookshelf. |
 |
dtshyk said: ICv2 released the annual report on the manga market in North America. The yearly sales of Japanese manga in 2009 was $140 million, 80% of the previous year. The manga market has shrunk into two-thirds of its peak since 2007. In contrast, the sales of the non-manga graphic novels has made 40% increase in two years. Chart of the manga market in North America (Total Graphic Novels = Manga + "US Cartoon") ICv2 gave three possible reasons for the decline: 1. Female readers who established the shojo manga boom have grown out of the manga habit. 2. Effect of the illegal scanlations 3. Keeping on purchasing long series has become a burden for the fans. Sources: ICv2, Anime!Anime! Why are recession and economic downturn never listed as reasons for sales of stuff falling in the last couple of years? People don't necessarily have as much to spend. Add that to the rising prices and less manga will get bought :| (That said, it doesn't seem to have had that much luck cutting down my spending ¬_¬) I can give an addendum to 1 and 3 though. 1. Female readers who established the shojo manga boom have grown out of the manga habit because the manga being licensed hasn't grown up with them, and the publishers aren't trying to keep ahold of them. Shoujo manga continues to be licensed, but it is aimed at the people who are young(er) girls now, not the people who were young girls then. Maybe if more series aimed at older readers were licensed and marketed, they'd keep ahold of the readers. 3. Keeping on purchasing long series has become a burden for the fans because fans can't trust publishers with longer series (and/or the series starts to cost far too much to follow, or the size of the series actually puts people off starting it... but those aren't the routes I want to take with this :P) Long running series sometimes get dropped, or their licenses get revoked, or they get put on "indefinite hold". Long running series can find their releases spaced out between oblivion and back again which can make it incredibly hard to keep track of them... and sometimes once that happens people just don't bother anymore. Series can sometimes just drop off the face of the earth. That, and long running series don't necessarily hold interest across a large number of volumes. (I will admit Viz are partially exempt from the "can't be trusted with longer series" thing, as they have and are showing that they're dedicated to actually releasing them. They're one of the few companies I actually trust completely to release longer series to completion. They can have issues with the release dates going on hold though). |
EphidelApr 17, 2010 12:42 PM
| I think it's because of the prices... $10 a volume is just insane, especially whenever the series you want to read is a long one. I tend to buy online or from Half-Price Books for that very reason. |
 |
| How about dropping the prices instead of raising them like it happened recently? That is the sole problem, paying 13 bucks every month for a manga like what happens with the Dark Horses titles does feel like a bit of a robery considering how cheap manga is in other countrys. |
| Every time you make a typo, somebody in Zeta gets slapped. |
ShootTheBullet said: One volume of Reborn!: 400yen = $4.33957 USD (Japanese) $30 HKD = $3.86524 USD (Traditional Chinese, Hong Kong version) $9.99 USD (English) One counterfeit copy of Reborn!: < $5 CNY = $0.732440 USD Reading it at the store, library, or on the Internet: FREE (transportation costs not included) Heck, LIGHT NOVELS in Taiwan/Japan are cheaper than manga in the US. Even worse here in NZ, as its at least $18US ($24NZ) a volume. I just rely on people going back to Taiwan for my manga/light novels. Or order newer ones (such as Amanchu) when we do group amazon orders. I'd kill for a Kinokuniya here. |
| I blame the manga cows. |
Animefan009 said: Nice job Naruto/Bleach/One Piece haters, continue talking crap about those three mangas while you just read mangas online for free. That's the main reason few of my friends stopped buying them Nice account aniki. |
| i personally by a lot of manga, except i never buy english manga. always japanese, even a new volume not used is at most $8.40 still cheaper than an english version. :\ |
| I cringe at the idea of paying $10 or more for a single volume of manga, unless it's super rare, oop, or a big, high quality book like the Manga Erotics F releases. and I can't even calculate how many thousands of dollars I've spent over the last 13 years. Perhaps they should look at that price point. The scanlators are not entirely innocent. I can't tell you how many times someone has PM'd me saying "ZOMG I"M DEING TO READ MANGA X, WHERE DID U READ IT?!?" and when I tell them I actually bought the book, they deflate at the idea of actually paying for something (even if released in English). Some of these leeches would never buy stuff anyway, but there is some loss there. |
| Meh, I own like 11 volumes of One Piece, 4 Mahou Sensei Negima, 3 Claymore, 1 bleach and 1 death note. The only problem I have is the lack of money :X If I had money I'd go out and buy a few from time to time |
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| Actually, this is hilarious. I just went to the bookstore today. Do you know what I saw on the manga shelves? A full row of Naruto. 3/4 of a row of Negima. Another full row of One Piece. And so on. Did I see a SINGLE manga I wanted to buy? No. It's just as much the store's fault as "illegal scanlation." Fuck that scapegoat shit. |
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