Japan’s Manga Industry: The Digital Shift and Rise of AI-Powered Localization

The Japanese manga (comics) industry is experiencing a rapid transformation. The shift from print to digital continues to accelerate, while global revenue structures are also evolving. This article explores the current state of Japan’s manga industry, its challenges, and what the future may hold.

Manga market growth in 2024

Japan's manga (comic) market continues to grow, with both print and digital sales reaching ¥704.3 billion (approx. $4.7 billion) in 2024, a 1.5% increase from the previous year. Manga represents 44.8% of Japan’s entire publishing industry.

Here’s the breakdown between print and digital manga sales in 2024:

• Print manga (comics and magazines): ¥147.2 billion (↓8.6% YoY)
• Digital manga : ¥500.0 billion (↑6.0% YoY)

As you can see, digital revenues are now more than double that of those of print, accounting for over 70% of the total manga market.

One  example of a company capitalizing on this trend is Japan’s top e-book service NTT Solmare. Their manga platform Comic Cmoa reported ¥812 billion in revenue for its digital book business in FY2024. The platform now boasts over 40 million monthly users and more than 1.43 million titles. This is not only the strength of the domestic market, but also the potential for global expansion, as their overseas platform MangaPlaza has reportedly grown more than 300% YoY.

Why digital?

Smartphones and tablets have made it easier access to enjoy manga anytime, anywhere. Fans of manga as a medium tend to be on the younger side, making them native users of this kind of content delivery.

Subscription-based services like Kindle Unlimited and LINE Manga offer many titles at a monthly fee. Other free service models such as Piccoma, LINE Manga, and Manga ONE offer free chapters supported by ads which have also gained popularity by attracting readers who might not pay upfront. Following the market, major publishers like Shueisha, Kodansha, and Shogakukan are building their own digital platforms to keep up with the emergent digitization landscape.

Global expansion and piracy

As anime and manga grow very popular worldwide, markets like the U.S., France, and Germany have also seen a surge in popularity, with manga sales in America hitting record highs in 2023.

This can be largely attributed to video streaming services like Netflix and Crunchyroll, as well as increased visibility via the popularity of ‘geek’ culture events such as Comic-Con. Industry players have pushed  the market further, with active translation and global expansion by publishers like VIZ Media and KAZÉ.

However, piracy sites are a major problem in manga industry. Official translations are very slow to be released, meaning international fans often turn to pirated versions. In 2021, a survey reported the estimated amount of content read in piracy sites reached over ¥1 trillion in economic losses. When translations of popular manga are delayed, fans often use unofficial "fan subs" (fan-created translations), which ultimately increases traffic to piracy sites.

AI-powered startups challenging manga localization

To combat this growing problem, AI-powered translation and digital distribution are emerging as key solutions. Startups are developing AI-powered tools to speed up and scale manga translation. Here are a couple of examples:

Mantra

Tokyo University startup Mantra has developed a translation system called the Mantra Engine which  supports manga translation into 14 languages.

It features fast automatic translation with a minimum human input, allowing companies to provide quick and high-quality official translations. It has already been used in collaboration with Shueisha to translate ONE PIECE into Vietnamese.

[Source: "ONE PIECE" Translated into Vietnamese – The AI Startup Tackling Manga Piracy (Asahi GLOBE+)]

Emaqi

Startup company Orange has worked on AI-powered translation and distribution through their platform Emaqi.

Orange reduces translation and publishing timelines to one-tenth of the time compared to human workflows, enabling rapid multilingual expansion. They plan to bring 50,000 manga titles to global markets within 5 years.

[Source: This manga publisher is using Anthropic’s AI to translate Japanese comics into English (MIT Technology Review Japan)]

These new tools help publishers deliver official translations more quickly and to more countries, which could be the key to solving the piracy problem. With the right balance between new technology and Japan’s unique creative tradition, the manga industry can build a more sustainable global ecosystem for both creators and fans.

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