Viz Media has launched a new app and subscription service that will massively expand access to manga for English speaking fans, and you can get it now.
Initially, the Viz Manga service will contain digital releases for over 10,000 manga chapters across a variety of genres, including titles from renowned Japanese publishers Shogakukan and Shueisha. Fifteen of these series will be published simultaneously – available to English readers on the same day of publication in Japan. Together, the Shonen Jump subscription and the new Viz Manga subscription includes over 25,000 manga chapters, with “further expansion in the works”.
Viz Media executives hope that all of this expanded access will put a stop to manga piracy in the English-speaking world.
“We hope people will be drawn to a platform where the latest content is free and an affordable subscription gives access to a massive library of chapters,” said Andy Nakatani, Senior Director of Online Manga and Subscription Manga , and Carl Hayes, senior director of consumer acquisition and retention, in a joint statement to Polygon. “All the more so as users can trust an official platform where they know the mangaka is getting the proper credit for their work. This is really just a first step and we plan to continue expanding in the future to make even more manga available to more people.”
Manga and anime have long played a central role in defining the flavor of American popular culture. However, like series, interest in manga has surged during the pandemic My hero academy And chainsaw man charted bestseller lists and took over social media platforms like TikTok. In 2021, a Viz Media representative told Polygon that the company saw “explosive growth” in interest in manga in 2020, reporting that manga grew 43% in the same year. Viz Media’s latest press release claims that global demand for manga remains at an “all-time high” and touts that the Shonen Jump app currently has over “35 million average monthly reads.” Content related to manga and its anime ties continues to play a central role in major social media trends on TikTok.
Despite this interest, there have been obstacles in the past that have made it difficult for fans to access certain series outside of Japan — or in a language other than Japanese. First off, fans may have to wait years to get official translations. Even if a translation comes to the US fairly promptly, US readers may have to wait and read the stories volume by volume, rather than chapter by chapter like in Japan. Additionally, series that were only officially released in physical volumes could now be collectibles – too expensive for the average reader to purchase.
For these reasons, “scanlation” – a portmanteau of “translation” and “scanning” – has played a pivotal role in American manga fandoms as readers take it upon themselves to bring popular series to English readers. To this day, websites like MangaDex, which host several high-quality fan translations of manga series, serve as an invaluable resource for those who want to keep up to date with specific series.
With Viz’s new app, fans can access thousands of manga chapters immediately after subscribing, and the hope is that the simultaneous release of English language digital manga with the magazines in Japan will reduce the number of readers looking for pirated content seek. But an effort like this doesn’t happen overnight.
“The VIZ manga service was only made possible because we had an incredible amount of cooperation and support from the mangaka and their publishers in Japan. And of course, the driving force behind this project comes from the passion and dedication that so many people at VIZ, as well as those who work with VIZ, have for manga,” said Nakatani and Hayes.
Fans of shonen, a manga genre marketed to boys who tend to emphasize stories with action elements, the Shonen Jump app Serving popular concurrent manga series since 2018. Now, Viz Media aims to meet the needs of a wider readership – the new app’s library will include titles from genres such as shojo, fantasy, action, horror, slice of life, LGBTQ stories and more. There are too many additions to count, but read on for a selection of titles that come with the Viz Manga subscription.
Viz Manga Subscription is available now for $1.99/month and the app is downloadable on iOS and Android devices.
Here is the full list of series that will be released simultaneously:
- Rumiko Takahashi: mao
- Haro Aso: ZOM 100: Bucket List of the Dead
- Takashi Shiina: Yashahime: Princess Half Demon
- Tomohito Oda: Komi cannot communicate
- Kotoyama: call of the night
- Story by Kanehito Yamada, Art by Tsukasa Abe: Freeze: Beyond Journey’s End
- Makoto Ojiro: Insomniacs AXer School
- Kenjiro Hata: fly me to the moon
- Rei Toma: The King’s Beast
- Hisato Murasaki (based on the Atlus video game): individual 5
- Kagiji Kumanomata: Sleepy princess in demon castle
- Gosho Aoyama: case closed
- Tamiful: How do we relate?
- Kyousuke Motomi: quality of the queen
- Rei Hiroe: Black Lagoon
Other titles from the old library that have been confirmed to be available in the new app include:
- Rumiko Takahashi: Inuyasha, Ranma 1/2, Mermaid Sagaand other
- Junji Ito: GYO, Uzumakiand other
- Yu Watase: Fushigi Yugi, Absolute friendand other
- Inio Asano: Good night Punpun, What a wonderful worldand other
- Taiyo Matsumoto: Sunny, Tekkonkincreet, table tennisand other
- Gosho Aoyama: case closed
- Ai Yazawa: Nana
- Arina Tanemura: full moon, The Gentlemen’s Allianceand other
