What do you think of when someone mentions Shonen Jump? Afternoon? Hana to Yume? Chances are, you are reminded of one of their many hits over the years. If you’re looking for a new series, searching by magazine is often a great way to start. After all, if you like One Piece, you might enjoy WSJ’s other titles like World Trigger or Food Wars. A healthy rival relationship.
However, the last few months to a year has led to several magazines shutting down or changing focus. Aria, home of Attack on Titan: No Regrets, He’s My Only Vampire, and That Wolf-Boy is Mine!, is ending its publication while B’s-Log Comic, which serialized several visual novel adaptations, is going digital-only. And that’s just from the past few weeks. Go back further for announcements about Bimonthly Comic Go Go Bunch, Hatsu Kiss, Hibana, and Jump SQ. Crown.
Manga magazines come and go, but is this just a minor market correction, or is this a sign of something bigger?
In Japan, the manga market recently had a milestone: for the first time ever, digital sales exceeded print sales. Some people would argue this is good news. After all, Japan’s phonebook-size anthologies are huge and are designed to be tossed out. Plus, commutes by train are common, and it’s easy to read through a chapter or two on a smartphone during travel. So why not have the magazines go full digital?
Well, just like anything, a physical presence attracts attention when people are browsing at the bookstore or convenience store. But more importantly, will digital magazines face their own reckoning sooner rather than later?
After all, look at the rise of sites and apps like Line Webtoon and Lezhin. These places have comics for free and have official translations. Despite some controversy, online platforms can offer an easier way for artists to break into the field. More enticingly, a lot of these comics are free. That takes away a lot of the “I’m too poor” reason for reading illegal scans. Plus, English is a common language (either primary or secondary), so fans around the globe can read webtoons.
It isn’t just Korean comics either. Pixiv also hosts a lot of material, both self-published and official magazine-sponsored. Yes, on Pixiv, you can read the first few chapters in JP of Fire Force, the latest chapters of First Love Monster, and more. Obviously, having the backing of Kodansha and other publishers is a big boon for a creator, but all around the world, people have gained fame just through their own self-promotion. While manga artists are generally scouted through submissions or at doujin fairs, hits like One-Punch Man and Horimiya began as self-published works. These two were both remade with the help of an outside artist, but it’s probably only a matter of time before people start creating CLAMP-like groups and raise the overall quality of self-published series.
In addition, with the rise of crowdfunding like Kickstarter and IndieGoGo, creators can give their works a physical release or enhanced digital copy with little out-of-pocket expenses. For foreign fans, perhaps more companies will follow Cross Infinite World’s lead and negotiate translation rights directly from the author/artist. And still, these manga released online tackle one of the most common reasons for turning to scanlations: they’re free or cheap.
So, to recap: digital is muscling in on physical, traditional publisher-backed digital is being challenged by independent digital works. As more well-known magazines fold or switch to online-only publication, what do you think the companies and creators should be doing? Is it enough that magazines like Shonen Jump cater more to the female demographic? That magazines like Be Love feature high-intensity sports-related manga like Chihayafuru? Or is the barrier of paying to read a hurdle that free alternatives will keep knocking down? Feel free to comment below with your thoughts.