37 Japanese Publishers To Launch Manga Portal Website For North America

by dtshyk
Nov 11, 2010 10:50 PM | 45 Comments

According to Anime!Anime!, Shueisha announced at Electronic Book and Comic Summit that 37 Japanese major publishers will launch a manga portal website for North America. The website "J Manga Portal Site (tentative name)" will be opened next March following a test launch of the beta version by the end of this year. Shueisha, Shogakukan, Kodansha, Kadokawa Shoten, and Akita Shoten will provide their manga electronically through the portal site.

Participants (partial):
Shueisha (Shonen Jump, Margaret), Shogakukan (Shonen Sunday, Chao), Kodansha (Shonen Magazine, Ribbon), Kadokawa Shoten (Shonen Ace), Akita Shoten (Shonen Champion), Ascii Media Works (Dengeki Daioh), Hakusensha (Hana to Yume, Young Animal), Shonen Gahosha (Young King Ours), Media Factory (Comic Alive), Enterbrain (Comic Beam), Futabasha (Manga Town), Fujimi Shobo (Dragon Magazine), Tokuma Shoten (Chara), Houbunsha (Manga Time Kirara), Ichijinsha (Comic REX), Akane Shinsha (Comic LO), Takeshobo (Kindai Mahjong)

Source: Anime!Anime!

20 of 45 Comments Recent Comments

It could be good I suppose. Although I more than likely won't be able to use it because I don't live in North America. Oh well I guess I'll just wait and see.

Nov 15, 2010 3:37 AM by kokocho

expanding...doesn't sound very good but who cares

Nov 15, 2010 2:49 AM by MorningGlory

I will waiting for more informations about this.

Nov 15, 2010 12:50 AM by ShiroiRyu

I wonder what happened to OpenManga... anyway, this is pretty interesting. Too bad we have to wait for a long time until it's fully implemented. :/

Nov 14, 2010 2:54 PM by Jazze

James95 said:

pleman said:
"For North America" Makes me sad, step in the right direction at least.

My thought exactly.
But I do hope I will be able to join in from Germany if this launches.
I am sick of only seeing the same (mostly bad) series in the stores here. -.-

Same here ;_; (<- is from Germany as well)
I wasn't aware of entire websites being available only in one country, though O.o
At least this is a ray of hope~ ¦D

Nov 14, 2010 7:04 AM by Face_Faith

I'm excited. I'd like to see sample of the work they'll release first before I jump into it, though.

Anyway, it won't help the scanlation problem for publishers. People from all over the world read/release English scanlations, not just those in N.America. Hope they realize this. They probably don't. They didn't have a full (note:full) grasp of the fansub/scanlation problem until recently even though it had been going on for years. (Honestly, when someone asked a CEO about legally streaming anime online, they said, "Oh, you mean like Crunchyroll?" Note, CR was still illegal back then...)

Nov 13, 2010 11:01 PM by Sorasan

Nice idea, depending on how they pull it off though as usual it's limited to the Holy Land of America. Would be nice if they open up more later on.

Nov 13, 2010 10:21 PM by Kantarou

James95 said:

pleman said:
"For North America" Makes me sad, step in the right direction at least.

My thought exactly.
But I do hope I will be able to join in from Germany if this launches.
I am sick of only seeing the same (mostly bad) series in the stores here. -.-

mikhailn said:
Damn Yanks get everything. Naturally since I'm not in America I'm none too happy. Anyway since it's a good move nonetheless

D: same here. we dont have a great range in western australia. it would be great if this was worldwide. otherwise it wont solve much. there will still be scanning sites.

but yes, a good step in the right direction.

Nov 13, 2010 1:41 AM by adamantiumloz

we all know it's going to be overpriced, the translations are going to be average, it's only going to be available in America cause the rest of the world doesn't exist and 90% of us are gonna stick to scans.

it's a nice idea but unless they get some serious scanners from the internet and give them creative freedom over the translations it's just going to be crunchyroll all over again with people using it to watch it fast then download a fansub for archiving

Nov 13, 2010 1:14 AM by Snwoto

I will wait and see what the details are before I pass judgment. I hope they will include manga that is out of print. There are some I want to read but no one is publishing them anymore and I can't find used copies.

Nov 12, 2010 11:34 PM by StarfishTwinkle

This sounds cool =D

Nov 12, 2010 4:10 PM by CrystalLake

wakka9ca said:
And NA doesn't seem to include Canada. I doubt it. In Japanese minds, NA = USA. Canada is always forgotten.

They must think: "Who gives fuck to Canada?" Even FUNimation releases were limited to USA for some shows (until they went youtube). Anyways, I will be sitting here in Canada and will be hoping someone rips those manga if Canada is not included. But I always thought Asia is a much bigger market, particularly China, Eastern Asia and Indian subcontinent. Even if they sell a manga one fifth of the price that in NA, they could make fortunes with proper marketing plan in that region, and reducing the price NA has to pay.

Nov 12, 2010 2:58 PM by shanimebib

Brand said:

Saddenvaryo said:
So long free manga T_T

You are on the internet. Once pirated content is out there it will always be out there some where.

I am one am pretty excited for it. Even if it ends up being a pay site. I know I'll pay for it. Though as Onemanga proved you can run a site like this fully funded with banner ads so I don't see why it couldn't be free or have at least some free content.

But onemanga was just getting money to sustain itself. The big publishers want to make a LOT of money. I just hope they don't go overpriced (i.e. costs as much as a hardcopy). And NA doesn't seem to include Canada. I doubt it. In Japanese minds, NA = USA. Canada is always forgotten.

Nov 12, 2010 12:17 PM by wakka9ca

Saddenvaryo said:
So long free manga T_T

Nov 12, 2010 9:57 AM by Brand

oh hell yea. this is some great news

Nov 12, 2010 9:56 AM by musashi7

Sounds interesting as long as they have good manga and a reasonable price.

Nov 12, 2010 8:59 AM by Gastaf

Even if this will be only for NA ,there will be people who will find a way to share with the rest of us, like horriblesubs etc do =D

Nov 12, 2010 8:47 AM by SilvasS

Good news

wait

Did I just see Comic Lo in there, how in the hell did it get in the running? Must be a mistake because it'll never succeed here.

Nov 12, 2010 7:50 AM by Hoppy

This is really good news^^ And it's NA which means us Canadians get it right?