Kodansha's New 'K Manga' App Reveals Many Up Coming Adventures!
On Wednesday, Kodansha Ltd. unveiled its new "K MANGA" for Android manga distribution service. Additionally, the app is expected to go live for iOS on Wednesday and for browsers "within days."
The business acknowledged that it released the app with over 400 novels, including 60 simulpub titles, whose chapters first appeared on K MANGA before appearing elsewhere. Most books offer their first few chapters for free.
The service's ticket- and point-based credit systems were also disclosed by the corporation. Users will receive one free "Normal Ticket" every day from the service. Users can read one chapter of a single "K MANGA original series" with each Normal Ticket. Users can use both Normal and Premium Tickets to read roughly 4-5 chapters of a title every day, and they can earn 3–4 "Premium Tickets" per day from login bonuses and special promotions. There is a time limit on Premium Tickets. It should be noted that while K MANGA's own infographics claim that Premium Tickets allow users "to read as many chapters of your favorite series as you want," Kodansha Ltd. confirmed with ANN that using tickets to read 4-5 chapters per day is more realistic.
Users can also buy points, which cost $1 USD for every 100 points. Users can earn points by reading the "featured" manga chapter of the day or by watching advertising, according to the service. After that, users can buy access to manga chapters using their points. Each chapter's point price varies depending on the manga's title and specific chapter (K MANGA provided an example where older chapters can cost fewer points than recent chapters). To save money, users can also use their points to buy multiple series episodes at once.
On June 22, Kodansha Ltd. announced that it would hold a digital launch celebration for its K MANGA service.
The service is being introduced only in the US. The platform's debut titles include:
Blue Lock / Rent-A-Girlfriend / EDENS ZERO / and More
The Seven Deadly Sins, Fire Force, and Chihayafuru are some of the other catalog titles the service offers. According to Kodansha, its editorial staff is in charge of running the service.
Kodansha Ltd. previously informed ANN on potential future availability outside the U.S. that it is launching services in the U.S. solely because it must "clear a variety of requirements for each country," such as laws and regulations. However, the business said it would like to grow internationally.
Even though it noted that it communicates with Kodansha USA Publishing "on a daily basis" and shares information with them regarding the service, Kodansha Ltd. claimed that it is solely in charge of the service's development and distribution.
On January 16, Kodansha USA Publishing stopped distributing simulpub chapters of its manga series on KiraKira Media Inc.'s online manga platform Azuki. On January 31, the business withdrew earlier simulpub chapters from Azuki. Several of Kodansha's non-simulpub series and the early non-simulpub chapters of some of the removed series are still available on the platform.