Press Release
Japan’s Digital Comic Association, comprised of 39 prominent Japanese
manga publishers, has launched JManga.com, the DCA’s 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.
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
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 Japan’s 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
www.facebook.com/jmanga.official
1 Comment
Not what I would call a smart move, because unless they plan on actively track and close all scanlation groups (which work under the ‘if it’s not published in our language it’s fair game” and just move when closed) this is like having iTunes while Napster is still free.
I went to check on the translation quality, well for one they use the Shonen Jump edition of chapters (meaning before the author modified version that comes in the tankoubon, or trade if you will) this also means that extra chapter that are added in the tankoubon may not be there. Another problem is that they didn’t re-translate manga, they keep the English publisher translations (which are not always accurate) and finally you can switch from translated to original version (doesn’t seem to work with the previews, or it might not be implemented yet), providing a “raw” version that would greatly help scanaltion groups since good raws are hard to find.
Had they re-translated their material this might have been a good idea, but keeping the translation of the English publishers (some removed pages, censored or made wild interpretations of the original text) is a deal breaker. People don’t want to pay for incomplete chapters, that are censored and with bad translations, not when they can get the whole thing with proper translation for free.