Unstoppable “explosion” of manga: one of three comics published in Spain is Japanese

“This 2022 will end with more than 1,300 manga innovations, almost a third more than in 2021,” calculates José A. Serrano of the Comic Book Critics and Publishers Association (ACDCómic), bookseller and creator of the Guía reference website. . comics This figure beats last year’s record of just over a thousand titles released, averaging more than 80 per month; In 2019 it was 838. Numbers include Haruichi Furudate’s ‘Haikyū!’, Kōhei Horikoshi’s ‘My Hero Academia’ (both on Planet)) or Ken Wakui’s (Norma) ‘Tokyo Avengers’ topping the bestseller lists, Cegal’ (Spanish Confederation of Guilds and Booksellers Associations), as well as FNAC said in a report last March that manga sales at their headquarters have increased 184% since 2019, with women already accounting for 44% of Japanese comic book buyers.

Serrano calculates that the manga will represent this year. 29% of comics published in Spain (This meant 27.1% in 2021 and 24.9% in 2020). Another piece of data from the “explosion” compared to pre-pandemic: In 2021, Diputació de Barcelona had another 200,000 manga credits in its network of municipal libraries.

New companies have also rushed to join a market in Spain where 25 publishers are publishing manga. So, Penguin Random House group launched Distrito Manga with licenses like: “The Darwin Incident”Shun Umezawa, who will be among the guests of the Barcelona show, fell ill at the last moment; Enciclopèdia Catalana launched Kaji to publish Catalan-only manga (they expect to reach 60 titles per year), and Kibook Ediciones and Kimmo have also been introduced to society.

In fact, already at the Edita Forum in Barcelona in September, Ignacio Lopez The head of Market Intelligence, under GfK advisory, is already progressing and predicted the phenomenal growth that manga has experienced this 2022 at 25%, making it the most growing genre in the book industry, followed by children’s literature by a large distance (4%). As highlighted by Gremi d’Editors de Catalunya, the data confirms how comics, and manga in particular, contributed to global growth (estimated at 2%) throughout the year.

The manga’s continued good momentum has been confirmed by Planeta and Norma (later Ivrea), who are responsible for the top-release publishers. “We came from a great 2021 and we set a record in the first quarter of 2022.. But the crisis in Ukraine affected all consumption and was felt in bookstores as well, the second half is not as good as in 2021. But the sum of the year will be balanced by a very good first half,” says Óscar Valiente, editor-in-chief of Norma, who added this They plan to end 2022 with “an already phenomenal 15% increase in sales compared to 2021”. So much so that many publishers have exceeded 50% of their manga turnover compared to 2007, the sweet moment before the 2008 crisis.

His colleague David Hernando, editor-in-chief of Planeta Cómic, agrees with the analysis. “In sales and billing, we are in line with the market, which grew 25% in the first half compared to 2021. In our case, We expect to close the year with a sales increase of nearly 20%.. We are the leader in terms of market share and cover sales: one out of every two covers sold in Spain is from Planeta. And 65% of our catalog of funny novelties is manga,” he says.

Is it a balloon?

“That’s the challenge we publishers face. Not being able to pass on the huge increase in costs we’re incurring means that the margin of results is very low. No one knows what will happen in 2023, whether the macroeconomic situation will improve or not. and we will avoid reflecting the costs in the selling price of the books”, adds Valiente. For now, they have not increased them at Norma with an average of 9 euros per volume. The important thing is to continue working to maintain the approach to reading manga achieved in recent years”.

Will there still be enough viewers for so many books and new publishers or is there a risk of a bubble? They are cautious on the planet: prices have not risen yet either. “There’s an audience that will stay, and there’s manga for a long time”, says Hernando. Because both publishers agree that what works best are action and adventure titles for boys and girls ages 12 to 16. “For example, a more robust generation than the generation that started with us. “Drac Ball” or “pokemon‘, when only one series is followed – says Valiente. Readers today with more diverse profiles, following different series and reading anime from the ‘stream’ window. Although some grow up and stop reading, there is always a generational change at this age. Shows like Manga Barcelona and new animations create a constant stream of readers who will avoid the bubble.”

also optimistic Marc Bernabé, translator and manga expert. “The market is getting more established every day. There is more and more readers and more interest. The rise in CPI may moderate the ‘boom’, but not because people don’t want to read, but because they will have other economic priorities.”

Search for less traveled niches

When it comes to market, at Norma they are committed to “being more selective with big purchases and protecting your catalog” without dramatically increasing the number of innovations this year, but without the pressures and reprints of what works, and Be careful with very long sequences, “If someone who works makes a profit of 9 euros per volume, it could become a financial guillotine if the reader loses.” Valiente believes that the growth of the market “is quite plausible and benefits the reader and sales circle because there is still room to publish many classics and seek less exploited niches.”

“There is room to grow”

Serrano agrees. “I don’t think there will be a ‘crash’ in the end, but I am seriously concerned that too many new releases are being published that are very similar to already existing titles and that the market will not be able to absorb them. It has grown by expanding the offer of adventure, fantasy or romance with very similar offerings. Some publishers are already starting to do this, but discover more variety of titles and less traveled niches: autobiographies, biographies, non-fiction, or literary adaptations, For example. And little comes to us ‘kodomo’for the purely childish reader”. As Valiente points out, another window to lean forward Korean and Chinese contentIt’s about the Japanese who followed the path of anime and manga on paper after they were hatched digitally.

The ‘otaku’ who are fans of the medium always preach that there is a manga for every viewer. And in recent years, readers of various ages as well as LGTBI+ groups have an ever-increasing offer to choose from. “This is encouraging, because productions are coming in that seek an audience beyond the unconditional. many adults who read manga from their children and even grandchildren,” The bookseller and popularizer explains by citing the case of a grandmother and noting that it is a generational phenomenon and is no longer perceived as something marginal or simply childish. And he concludes: “There is room to grow.”

Catalan manga raises its head again

They were the pioneers of publishing Catalan manga on Planeta Cómic, simultaneously launching a Spanish edition in 1992. ‘Dragon ball’. ‘Naruto’ and this year ‘Dr. Slump’ and ‘My Hero Academia’. At the time, Glénat and its successor published Catalan manga at the now-defunct EDT, and Ooso Cómics is doing just that.

This 2022, Norma began publishing some of her best-selling books simultaneously in both languages ​​(“Tokyo Revengers”, “Nightwatch”, “Chainsaw Man” and “Jujutsu Kaisen”). “We are satisfied at the moment and the response is very positive, but this is a medium to long-term project and we are not asking for immediate results,” explains Valiente. Manga will experience in Barcelona Kaji Manga premiereA new Catalan-only stamp from the Enciclopèdia Catalana group.

“With titles like ‘Bola de drac’ it came to an account over time. But it’s very chopping stone – Hernando warns from Planeta experience -. It helped TV-3 get so much anime in the 90s. It’s the key to the Catalan manga. And now it’s SX3 channel“.