“Why Manga Doesn’t Sell Overseas”
- Categories: Manga, News
- Date: Oct 11, 2009 02:17 JST
- Tags: Business, Events, Interviews, Marketing, Naruto, Square Enix, Translation, USA
The head of Square Enix’s anime and manga publishing arm, 田口浩司 / Kouji Taguchi, responsible for producing such anime as Saki and Full Metal Alchemist, has given what he sees as the reasons why manga sales in the US are still dwarfed by Japanese sales.
Speaking in an interview given at the recent “CoFesta” (Japan International Contents Festival), he had this to say:
The best sellers in the US were Full Metal Alchemist and Naruto, but these only sold a tenth to a twentieth of what they sold in Japan.
I think the main reasons are as follows:
1. Fewer copies are printed and those that are get sold at a much higher price, from $8.99 to $12.99.
2. Children don’t get as much money, their allowances are just smaller.
3. The other reason is location. If you live in Tokyo there will be 3 bookshops nearby, which you can easily cycle to. In the US there aren’t any, they can only buy on a weekly trip to the mall. Even if anime is highly popular, they just don’t visit the stores to buy manga often.
It is interesting that he would (quite sensibly) cite pricing and distribution as the key factors holding down sales, rather than focus on the supposed tastes of Japanese audiences versus international ones.
The success of franchises such as Pokémon in the US seems to demonstrate mass market acceptance is more a question of marketing than of content issues, and presumably the same generalisations hold true of the other major markets.
He mentions digital distribution may be the way forward:
Publishers such as Shueisha, Kodansha, Shogakukan and Kadokawa are setting up a digital platform on the PSP for distributing manga.
In Japan the prices are cheap and there are many stores, so I don’t think it will catch on.
But in the US, the prices will be reasonable and there are no stores, so I think maybe customers will like it.
Similar schemes exist for the iPhone/iPod, but Apple’s notoriously restrictive content censorship and the lack of involvement from Japanese publishers probably make this platform less appealing.
He also mentions that overseas phones simply do not yet have the features to properly handle manga; in Japan this form of distribution has been growing rapidly.
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I used to work for Viz, and I can't believe no one on this thread has pointed out the #1 reason manga cost more in America than they do it Japan.
In Japan, publishers get 60% of the cover price of each copy sold.
In America, publishers get only 40% of the cover price of each copy sold.
Faced with that brutal difference, costs of printing, shipping, production all play a much bigger role in making a profit and necessarily require a comparatively higher cover price.
I thought you were full of shit but i looked on google and its true. Its amazing they can publish them in amaerica at all. They get more money in asia.
good thing that they did not touch the piracy problem
Manga does well in Japan because it's cheap and because they love the serial format. Comics are also a big deal in Japan as they make up a huge portion of the publishing industry. In the US, it's expensive and it can't compete even with the American comic industry in America, which, except for crappy movies, has become completely irrelevant in it's own country. I don't really see American success as a priority for the manga world or even an admirable goal. The last thing we need is for the words "comic book code" ever to be uttered in Japan. Want the real manga experience? Learn Japanese.
Want to keep manga all for your greedy little self? Don't want anyone else playing in your own personal pond because you won't feel special anymore? How appallingly self-centered and selfish. My 10 year-old niece is supposed to learn Japanese so she can read Saint Seiya? Think of somebody other than yourself for a change.
And the idea of a comic book code being enacted in Japan because of foreign sales is hysterically funny.
Well, the "loliban" movement us pretty much the first step towards a "comic book code" in Japan.
I'd be happy if publishers picked up more mature themed manga like Monster or other such more adult themed manga.
The shelves are caked with shonen/shoujo, but there's so much more out there...
He forgot one more important point:
4) Americans are fucktards
That must be why we're richer and more powerful than you (regardless of where you're from). Suck it, loser.
MASS MARKETING PLEASE!! so that japan will finally look around Southeast asia and notice that there are still people they could sell their stuff to =_=
I sometimes wonder if these so called loli lovers are actually fan of petanko more so then loli.
Just so you know.. you guys *DO* actually understand the difference, no?
Why do Western comics sell? They're available in the news agent... Do that dammit!
And the content of one volume of manga is heaps more then one issue of comic.
Simple, Americans don't read.
Which is why Amazon.com failed shortly after it was started.
Oh, wait....
Prices in the states and otherwise are really out of control. They seem to be increasing the prices every time a new season comes out.
Maybe if the US politicians would quit their 40-year record of screwing the value of the dollar up the ass we'd see it inflate a little less.
9 to 13$ ? it's 5 to 8€ in france, cheaper, but not a lot at the current rate change
but i don't think we got better allowance ^^
and there japanime shops on the center, so it's not hard to buy some... and i see sometime naruto and other at the supermarket...
perhaps a reason of why we are the first foreign country buying mangas...
(i was surprised when i heard that some month ago, as i thank it was the US...)
Europe is actually a very good market for manga, as just the pair of France and Germany together tend to gross more money from it than the US/Canada combi. Maybe it's because Europe has been digesting mangas regularly since the 70's?
Though after reading many of these comments, the price discrepancy may be having something to do with it.
I do wonder how the market in Australia is, though.
We have Marvel and D.C. already.
Except Marvel and D.C. only know how to recycle decades old characters similar to Nintendo with Mario and the Zelda games.
He hit the nail on the head. Manga is WAY too expensive. Keeping up with a series like Bleach or Inu Yasha will set you back several hundreds of dollars. Hell, you could buy every next gen system instead. Add to that, you must make specialty runs to the mall or a book store to find only a fraction of the available manga, and buying manga becomes a chor. Plus, there are wonderful web sites like manga hut, where you can read pretty much any manga, as it is released in Japan, for FREE!!! So, why would I bleed myself dry? I use to spend like a fiend on manga, anime, and movies. Now, I do it all online for free, or close to it.
Glad to know you get a thrill by fucking over the creators who make the anime and manga you enjoy.
Tits bigger than you Face = Gross
Reading manga on the computer isn't the same thing as reading it in print, so when a series I download gets released I do make an effort to pick up the real copy. If I start in on a series and like it I'll go buy the real copy if it's available. Anymore when I download I tend to focus on stuff that will probably never get released in the US, like say Franken Fran.
I think I am going to get myself a sony E-Book reader anway, if they to start with DD, I'd be the happiest Otaku ever.
he forgot the main reason - internet why buy when you can read it for free.
In HongKong you can find manga in any news stand (except 7-11)
Price range from HKD 30-45(24 at some place),original Japan ver can cost around 65-75,Shonen jump cost 38 and bought Halo3 ODST(HK ver) for 275(that around 35 USD at max), talk about cheap
I've been to quite a few conventions in Hong Kong and I would like to attend a local AnimeBoston convention next year (already, Kouji has made point 1 valid, as admission costs $30, or, if the Japanese are interested, ¥2700). In Hong Kong, admission is HK$20 (a measly 2 or so dollars in the U.S., probably even cheaper than entrance to an anime convention in Japan). Point 2 is partially true, especially in this economic climate. I've seen some people flashing their cash at school, they definitely have the money. However, they probably don't spend their money on manga. Point 3 is ESPECIALLY true, I don't even have to go into detail about it.
You don't have enough money lol
Poor whites lol
Stay away from Japanese culture, fucking criminals.
Futinari!!! FTW!
Please this is totally unrealistic.
1 - We have a lot of discrimination against comics and manga, that are just for children, only geeks read and a lot of stuffs.
2 - Culture: Americans don't read
34% of literate americans read newspapers against 85% of the japanese.
61% of literate americans read books for entertainment agains 100% of the japanese literate.
Yeah, I can't even get to a store that actually sells Manga pretty much at all...
Wal-Mart & Target just aren't cutting it...
Biggest reason of course is that people don't want to spend their money on crap.
The real reason is that the american publishers censor the manga and also you cant find a lot of titles in US. So who is guilty? the publishers
I read the english translation of the manga in my country, Malaysia. The localized version sucked and are heavily censored even if they're cheap about RM4-Rm7.50 (USD1.30-USD2.50).
(I recall a scene in the Dragonball manga where they added a black bra for Bulma).
The really good English translated one is about RM30+ (USD10) whcih is pretty steep for most people. Plus these books are sold at specialist bookstores which are found in the capital as far as I know.
yeah, One Piece volume 60 translation is bad , very bad.
I live in Florida, United States. I lived in Japan from 1990 - 1994. I loved Japan alot, though I was oo young to notice all the characters / cartoons there. I was more into that badass food known as sushi! - Anyway... As I got older I started looking into manga / anime... Ironically I was turned off by it. But when I was 17 I saw a VHS series alled La Blue Girl. Hit 18 bought the DVD set for all 6 episodes for like 120 bucks. I cut lawns to make money.
After seeing hentai / I totally started looking into other things. Suffice to say. As of Yesterday... I now own 120 hentai DVD's ( Uncensored Only - can't find the censored ones here nor have away to get a region free DVD player / I own about 2 book selves of manga / hentai and other. I have about All volumes of Dragon Ball / Bleach / Witch Blade / Rin / etc etc... I just wish all I buy would show these companies especially the hentai ones there are fans overseas like me who do buy hentai. And none hentai like.
I hate censorship just as much as the next person reguardless of country. The problem is priacy. Morons in the US who say its A-Ok to show people being killed on TV / and blood gore all over the place. But god forbid, we see some cartoon monsters having sex with a none living character... Sigh. I'm powerless in the end I guess. I buy my stuff, I have "VERY" few things 'free'. I believe if you love it, you buy it. Pixy-soft title: As known in English to me "Anti-Demon ninjas" - I wanted to see the whole series, uncensored of course.. But If I buy it, it has to be uncensored. I just can't get past the pixels.
I understand it. But, if only peple in Japan and elsewhere could have it removed... Thus no more fears of reverse importing... And for people like me I could buy easier without fear of censorship / and the need to buy a region free dvd player which is damn above my budget.
Huh not selling??? Is that the fact that happens on your countries guys?
On my country one manga is only around 1 to 1.5 US dollar so almost all people just buy manga everytime they like the manga.
These are my reasons for not buying more:
Selection: I have only 2 places to buy manga within a reasonable driving distance (25 minutes, one way). Books-A-Million and Waldenbooks. I do all my shopping at Waldenbooks because of the second reason on my list...
Price: Waldenbooks is the only place nearby that has good coupons. I won't spend $8.99-$14.99 on a single volume of manga. Borders (Waldenbooks parent company) comes out with good coupons. Usually between 30-40% off of a single item. The problem goes back to the previous reason. Waldenbooks has a crappy selection. Sometimes they only get 1 or 2 copies of a new volume in. Sometimes they don't even have new books on the shelf on the release date. I'm STILL waiting for them to have the Ultimate Edition of Fruits Basket #4 - the hardcover ones. It was supposed to have been released over a year ago.
Publisher Reliability: There's no guarantee a US publisher will finish releasing a series if the sales aren't good. If they don't, my only recourse is scanlations. Foxy Lady #2 is being released at the end of June. Volume #1 was released over 18 months ago.
Publishing Time: With scanlators, I can sometimes read a manga weeks after it's been released in Japan. It could take YEARS for it to show up "legally" in the US.
buy.com is a really good place to get manga for cheap prices
americans dont read comics later on in there lives.
There's a really important reason they've missed: a lot of people in Western countries seem to think comics and cartoons are for little kids.
My thoughts exactly. The percentage of people that read manga in Japan is much higher than the percentage of people in the USA that read not just manga but comics as well. Thanks to the USA government in the 60's creating the Comics Code Authority it left the USA's comics industry gutted from it's former glory, now all that's left is a shadow of it's former self. Be aware this could now happen to Japan because of this Youth bill, the fact that so many manga fans here in the USA read online doesn't help things either. Comics and manga companies are hoping to sell their stuff, and if it's not making the money they will just stop printing it.
Granted the opening reasons are a part of the factor why manga doesn't sell as well in the USA.
Eurofag here. The price definitly is my main gripe with manga sold around here. €6.50-€10.00 for one volume is just too damn expensive. Add in the fact that releases are extremely slow, while the quality is not even much better than that of a good fan translation, and you can see why few people buy manga here.
Location is the problem for me!
I get my manga for free online.So I don't need that.The fans will always find a way to give anime/manga for free.
Currency conversion is such a bitch :\
more like naruto doesn't have guns.
and fma doesn't have nascar.
and bleach doesn't have jesus.
and one piece doesn't have ninjas.
Bleach indeed haves an other world without Jesus. What a heresy!
Jessus...you mean..aizen isn't...?
oh crap! o_o
Not to mention we can just simply watch or read it online
Manga doesn't sell because all the tightarse asians stand in the aisle and READ THE WHOLE FUCKING THING instead of buying it. CHEAPASS CUNTS BUY THE FUCKING BOOK.
True, dat. Cheapass anybody, really.
Online distribution sounds like a good idea,I almost never get the chance to buy manga and anime since the nearest shop that sells it is an hour away. :(
Last time I checked, most anime/manga fans don't buy much manga in America because most manga doesn't get released in English. Plus I've noticed a lot of people don't bother reading a manga if there is an anime counterpart, regardless of whether the anime stays true to the manga or even finishes the story.
Also IMO the scanlators do a better (an usually faster) job then the official companies.
Like hell I'm supporting Squeenix after learning of their tendencies to putting their IP "safety" first before their fans(Hint: the incident starts with a Crimson and ends with Echoes). And then they have the gall to tell their fans "Do you want more Chrono Trigger? Then buy more copies you ungrateful whiners", while releasing mediocre to god-awful JRPG's instead.
I'd like to tell you I'll be happy with buying your games used, thank you very much!
I mostly agree with one exception. I don't think a digital book or comic, that runs on a device with a PSP-size screen will ever catch on...
i would buy them if i could buy the ones i want ... and if it would be easier to buy them in stores i dont want to order everything online
Hmn, I think the biggest problem outside of Japan is still the lack of stores that sell mangas and those who do are overpriced but the price part seems to be mainly a issue in the US, in europe they are only 5€ each, some even 2€.
5€ is still some money. Surprising that Europe has so many manga traslated besides they have few kids and young people.
Not really. In austria and germany you can't even get lunch for 5€, even a bubblegum is 1€+.
My good, first concentration camps, and now 1€ bubblegum. what's wrong with Germany?
McD --> 2 cheeseburgers and a medium Sprite for €3.80 = $5.60
Enough for a whole day in my case.
Yeah I know in France there are 8€ sandwiches; and that's a rip off. Better die starving that pay so much. You can almost buy the fuking cow in my country with the price of a restaurant dinner in Europe, and is still the same cow. Don't understand so mucha abut that, but as far I know cattle isn't feed with gold in Europe.
I usually get the Taiwan ver, at around 7SGD (good quality)
Jap ver are more expensive at 10+SGD
US ver are the most expensive, 15-20SGD (thats 3 taiwan ver.)
Location wise, not a problem, Singapore is small with 3 Kinokuniya bookstores.
I suggest those who can read chinese to get the taiwan version, its way cheaper.
Kouji Taguchi hits the jackpop
aye its the same here in N.ireland, theres only reli one shop in belfast that sells any decent manga, and it aint exactly cheap...
i think that's because anything that is drawn, the people look to this like it s for little childrens (5-9), so many people hasn't interest in manga and animes, beacause they think that all are childish
And the other half calls it child porn because of pantsu flash and other fanservice things.
There are few thing more beautiful than a woman's cammeltoe; let the pantsu flashes be!
And the other half thinks of it as child p0rn because of the fanservice...
Yeah lolis!
Indeed, 12 dls for a black and white manga is something expensive
people in u.s dont read books...
Yeah, that's why Amazon.com went out of business years ago.
I concur, manga prices are just too expensive. A book that costs $11.99 USD is sold for $15.99 CAD. The conversion doesn't match. Thus i hardly visit bookstores to buy manga and just purchase online instead.
I don't buy manga because I can download it for free. Some people would prefer a hard copy (lol, hard) but I just want reading orgasms.
My Barnes and Noble sells them, but they're so fucking expensive to what they are in Japan. Seriously 11-14 dollars for one manga is to much.
Good to see someone reasonable trying to articulate the differences between sales and not immediately resorting to the "JAPANESE SPIRIT" argument or any of the differences about group mentality that have been hashed over a hundred thousand times.
Content wise,as long as it has oppai in it,it speaks to the world.If I could get my manga for $5 in the US I'd buy more for sure.
The closest bookstore that has manga is like 45 minutes drive away from me.
He's too naive. The reason they don't sell as well here is because americans are cheap. They have the money but would rather read scanlations than buy the manga. And borders or barnes & noble or any book store carries plenty of manga nowadays. Even if people go to the mall every week, they still won't buy the manga.
Agreed for the most part.
And Digital Distribution is not the way. I dont want to read manga on a fucking PSP or any other Digital Form.
I want it in my hands in paper.
Agreed
I hate how all this digital distributing is starting to be taking over the hard copies.
for price, in france is 6euro (8,8 dollars)
france is the top 2 in the world for manga sale
Ever tried amazon.com and/or eBay?
I would call the international differences.
Seriously, almost 100% of people I come across in the US are xenophobic as hell.
If it's weird to them, it is somehow illogical and needs not to be reckoned with.
OPPAI!
Reading manga online is meh... The true experience and joy of manga lies in reading off a tankoubon or a freshly published magazine. It just feels so much better and more satisfying that way.
It feels like I'm holding something in my hands instead of clicking the mouse or mashing the arrows keys. That's about it.
It feels nice to have it and display it in your room.
That's what I hate about digital distributing with manga & games, you won't be able to do this anymore.
Reading manga online is meh indeed...
Afterall, the true experience and joy of manga: strained neck muscles, bad posture and impaired eyesight.
Someone doesn't hold their reading material properly.
To me, there are certain types where it's more appropriate to view online. Ecchi and hentai for example. Hard to fap and hold the thing open at the same time. Otherwise, though, I agree. For the more normal manga, it's a lot better of an experience with the real thing.
In Finland manga prices vary from 5 euro to 10 euros, the most expensive I've seen is around 12 €, and they're sold in normal convinience stores. English publications are pretty easy get, too. That's why they've got hugely popular in last five years (from like 5% of youth reading manga up to 20~30%). So just lower the prices, even by a dollar or two.
Eh my comments never show up
Beautiful picture, oppai fest <3.
Major bobbage!
I'm sinking. Need to learn how to swim.
Just buy the japanese version manga. Basically $3 in hawaii because there is so many japanese living here. Kind of funny how pearl harbor was bombed by japanese yet there is alot of japanese living here. Then again they lived here way before pearl harbor.
Could you (currently) peruse manga on a kindle, or is it text only? It makes a certain amount of sense to use existing distribution methods.
I think that releasing manga to a PDA format would be a disservice to the media, even IF a small number of eagleeyed otaku would buy it.
Seven Seas is going to be releasing a few of their series on the Kindle/iPhone, though they're the "US-manga" types (don't remember the marketing buzzword), not translated Japanese manga, most likely due to licensing issues (they don't have to renegotiate the license terms for digital distribution; same situation as the anime companies' problem when switching to DVD, or getting online streaming rights).
Regardless, it certainly seems technically doable. Just a matter of actually doing it.