On August 17, 2011, JManga.com, a website promised at San Diego Comic Con, launched. JManga is the result of the combined effort of 39 Japanese manga publishers to translate and digitally distribute their work for an English-speaking audience. It’s only available in North America at the moment, but there’s plenty to look at, inspect, and get madly excited about.
Finding Your Manga
JManga.com is very easy to search. You can search through lists organized by publisher, magazine, title, year published or author, search by genre (shonen, shojo, etc.) or use the search bar at the top of the screen. Clicking on the manga brings you to an info page that gives all the publication information, a preview (if available) and the chance to buy (maybe – more on that later).
As far as the manga goes, there are some familiar faces, like Naruto, Dragon Girl and Crayon Shin-chan, all of which have already been published in English. But Jmanga.com also introduces some series that are brand-new to American readers, like Manga Science, serialized in a science magazine for children, and Anesthesiologist Hana, a manga about the daily life of – you guessed it – an anesthesiologist.
In total JManga launched with 100 new titles, but the list of familiar manga is pretty impressive. Too bad you can’t buy them yet. Many of the series listed on the site appear to be acting as placeholders, with the information page giving no volumes to purchase or even preview pages to read. Whether or not these manga will become available is still unclear, but with manga like The Girl Who Leapt Through Time from the now-defunct CMX Manga, we can hope they’ll be up for grabs eventually.
Paying for Manga – Points and Freebies
Likely hoping to make JManga.com an international website, manga is bought with points rather than dollars. You purchase the points by first becoming a subscriber, paying $10 a month for 1,000 points. Only then can you buy extra points in order to snag more manga that month.
With the point system working at 100 points = $1.00, the manga run in price from $7.50 to $8.99. Considering how cheap you can get print manga, especially off of sites like Amazon or Right Stuf, this sounds a bit pricey. This also makes JManga unlikely to compete for the readers of unauthorized manga scanlations, as many bloggers hoped it might. Still, the current pricing really only applies to manga that haven’t been published in English, and likely never will be, so hard core fans looking to sample something completely different, or a manga they could never otherwise get their mitts on, a $9 digital book isn’t the worst. And maybe when series like Naruto and One Piece become completely available they’ll be at a much more competitive price.
JManga offers some other perks, and these you don’t have to pay for. Interviews with creators like Fumiyo Kouno (Town of Evening Calm, Country of Cherry Blossoms) are posted on the site. Plus JManga has its own “magazine”, JWeekly, where you can read three chapters of varying manga, completely for free.
Even if the price isn’t quite right, the selection – ranging from expected to surprising to just wacky – is, and will keep a lot of readers happy. JManga.com might have some downsides, but it looks like something to be excited about.
Read the press release below for more information:
NEWS RELEASE
August 17, 2011
Digital Comic Association
Japanese Manga Portal Website JManga.com Has Launched in North America
Japan¹s Digital Comic Association (*1), comprised of 39 prominent Japanese
manga publishers, has launched JManga.com, the DCA¹s new manga portal
website, in North America. The plan to launch JManga.com was also announced
at a JManga panel and industry release reception held at Comic-Con
International San Diego on July 22nd 2011.
JManga.com provides online manga for sale by chapter and volume, made
purchasable using a monthly point subscription system, free previews
available to be read by all, as well as information regarding manga
currently published in North America. JManga.com also offers special feature
content regarding manga culture, such as manga artist interviews, hoping to
close the gap between the manga fans, authors and publishers.
JManga.com launches with a couple hundred titles including such diverse
titles as; NARUTO, Kekkaishi, Crayon Shinchan, Devil King, Cigarette Kisses,
Dragon Girl, Tujiurauri, Soredemo Machi wa Mawatteiru, Young-kun, ADEKAN,
Manga Science, and many more new to the North American market. JManga plans
to update their catalog every Tuesday, increasing to a few thousand titles
within the next year and onto 10,000 by 2013.
The JManga Portal aims to become a hub to unite readers worldwide more
dynamically than ever before providing readers and fans a platform to read
manga, interact with one another via forums and other social features both
within the site and on staple social networking sites such as Facebook,
while at the same time providing a direct link to the artists and publishers
that make manga a reality.
*1: The Digital Comic Association
The Digital Comic Association was formed to ensure the robust development of
the digital comic industry while paving the way for a new generation of
publishing culture. The Association promotes the digitalization of manga and
manga culture, as a cultural treasure of Japan, aiming to propel the
diffusion of digital comics, alongside manga artists, beginning with Japan
and on throughout the world.
www.digital-comic.jp <http://www.digital-comic.jp>
JManga Co., Ltd.
JManga Co., Ltd. was established on December 22nd 2010 with the support of
the Digital Comic Association and its comprising 39 prominent Japanese
publishers. JManga Co., Ltd. designs and operates the JManga portal with the
goal of sharing Japan¹s manga culture to as many people as possible
worldwide utilizing an official platform that eases the minds of readers and
publishers alike. The primary areas of business for JManga Co., Ltd. are
manga promotion and digital manga retail, with the goal of contributing,
alongside publishers worldwide, to the progression of the manga market as a
whole. Current investors include digital comic aggregator and retailer
Bitway Co., Ltd. and social media and internet advertising agency
CyberAgent, Inc. Further capital investments from various companies in the
comic industry are in planning. JManga Co., Ltd. also possesses JManga Inc.,
a wholly owned subsidiary based in America.
www.jmanga.com <http://www.jmanga.com/>
www.facebook.com/jmanga.official <http://www.facebook.com/jmanga.official>
Just dropping by to say thank you for the review. It’s always a pleasure to be able to be able to see the thoughts of members of the anime/manga fan community that we seek to serve, as without the support and interest of the fans, no endeavour will long succeed.
We at JManga hope you will find the site enjoyable, and ask that you bear with us as we work through our initial growing pains. ^^
And if you have any additional feedback for us, please do email us at info@jmanga.com!
Thanks again.
Thank you for the response. It’s nice to know that the person you’re writing about is actually reading the article! Even with some of my issues, I’m very optimistic about this site. It seems like a lot of fun!
Thanks for sharing this! I’ve just signed up. Found one called Dolls by Yumiko Kawahara that looks like it might be really good. I’m going to start with that.