Manga Fans: Viz Media’s New $2 App Syncs Release of English, Japanese Chapters #GeekLeap

Viz Media, North America’s largest manga distributor, unveiled a brand new app, Viz Manga, which homes English variations of standard Japanese manga from Shogakukan and Shueisha. The launch marks the primary time English translations will likely be accessible concurrently with Japanese editions from these publishers on a digital platform. And followers can entry them for simply $2 a month.

Viz goals to create a handy possibility to fulfill demand in North America, the place typically the wait is so long as two years for a manga sequence to be launched in English. The transfer can even assist curb piracy and guarantee authors and creators obtain correct credit score. Unlawful “scanlations” have grow to be prevalent and created a marketplace for impatient followers looking for unofficial translations of their favourite manga. Whereas Viz will kick off the app’s launch with works from Shogakukan and Shueisha, readers can rely on seeing titles from different publishing homes sooner or later. 

Subscribers can comb by greater than 10,000 chapters on the app, which is offered for Android and iOS. Viz Manga has 15 titles which might be being supplied in English for the primary time, together with the newest releases from Rumiko Takahashi, Haro Aso and Tomohito Oda. As a perk, the newest three chapters of those 15 works will likely be accessible without spending a dime. 

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Manga followers may also faucet into Yashahime: Princess Half Demon and titles from creators like Junji Ito, Inio Asano, Arina Tanemura and Taiyō Matsumoto. This is an instance of what you will discover within the Viz Manga library:

• Zom 100: Bucket Record of the Useless
• Mao
• Case Closed
• Insomniacs After College
• Komi Cannot Talk
• Black Lagoon
• GYO
• Persona 5
• Fly Me to the Moon
• Sleepy Princess within the Demon Fortress

Viz plans to launch weekly chapters from every writer concurrently they seem in Japan, permitting subscribers to select from varied genres like fantasy, faculty life, comedy, horror, LGBTQ and drama. Customers have the flexibility to mark their favorites, obtain titles, make purchases and sync content material throughout a number of gadgets. 

This is not the corporate’s first entry into the app world. A earlier iteration of a Viz manga app enabled customers to purchase particular person volumes, whereas this new model will get subscribers entry to the entire library — for a single value. Viz Media additionally owns the Shonen Bounce app, and the mixed catalog between each companies presently quantities to round 25,000 chapters, with extra to come back.

For followers of manga “streaming,” Viz Manga’s digital library will be an interesting possibility in a market the place persons are anticipating English translations. Its largest rivals proper now are Crunchyroll‘s digital manga service and Kodansha’s upcoming English-language platform, Ok Manga.