The Manga Industry Growth in 2022: Sales Skyrocketing

Key takeaways

• The manga industry growth is inevitable, and with it comes the need for more professional manga services.
• The manga sales skyrocketing demands for more content and higher quality stories.
• The All Japan Magazine and Book Publisher’s and Editor’s Association (AJPEA) reported in 2020 that the manga industry earned 23% more than in 2019.
• Professional manga coloring and verticalization will become more prevalent to meet the demands of the industry.
• Multilingual manga translation and typesetting from professional manga services providers play a significant role in the manga industry.
• The future of the manga industry is looking very bright, and publishers and creators must be prepared to keep up with the industry’s growth.

Table of contents:

• The Manga Industry
• Manga Market Growing in 2022
• Skyrocketing Numbers for the Manga Industry
• The Future of Manga
• CCCI – Multilingual Manga Translation and Typesetting Services

The world heard about Jujutsu Kaisen as 2021’s best-selling manga series. Demon Slayer followed, and Tokyo Revengers completed the top three. The manga industry growth blew our minds in 2021, and we thought it would be the best year for manga. But no, we’re in the second half of 2022, and the industry is growing even more!

More manga enthusiasts are born every day, whether they’re old fans who are getting back into it or new readers who are just picking it up for the first time. As a result, manga sales have been skyrocketing, and it doesn’t seem like they will slow down anytime soon. Do you know what else is skyrocketing? The demands for professional manga services.

Let us take a look back into the history of the manga industry and see how it has changed and grown over the years. And with the current numbers, let’s try to predict where it might go in the future.

Manga has been around for centuries, with the earliest known manga dating back to the 12th century. The word “manga” itself comes from the Japanese 漫画, which can be read as “man-ga” or “manga.” On the one hand, the first kanji 漫 can mean “entertaining” or “involuntary.” It can also mean “to exaggerate. On the other hand, the second kanji 画 “drawing” or “painting.” When put together, 漫画 can be read as “whimsical pictures” or “caricature.”

It was in the 18th century when people started using the term “manga.” The famous Hokusai Manga books were considered the origin of the manga. And in 1902, Rakuten Kitazawa, a Japanese manga artist, published the first modern manga, inspiring many other manga artists across the country. Manga production took off for good in 1947. And by 1950 and 1960, manga took over Japan.

Eventually, manga also reached other countries like the United States of America and Latin America. The manga industry growth and development called for publishers to translate and release manga outside of Japan. As expected, the localization quickly increased the number of manga fans globally. Many manga titles have been adapted into anime, live-action movies, and video games.

The All Japan Magazine and Book Publisher’s and Editor’s Association (AJPEA) reported in 2020 that the manga industry earned about US$5.77 billion (612.6 billion yen). That was 23% higher than the previous year! The sector earned 498.0 billion yen in 2019. The 2020 record was the highest since 1978 when the AJPEA started tracking the industry. Before 2020, the highest record was in 1995, when the industry reached 586.4 billion yen. These points show that the industry peaked in the ’90s and is only now getting to that level again.

The significant record also involves the print manga market. The industry rose since 2014, reaching about US$2.55 billion (270.6 billion yen). It was a 13.4% increase from 2019 when the industry earned 238.7 billion yen. The digital sales of manga also rose to about US$3.22 billion (342.0 billion yen), which was 31.9% higher than 2019’s 259.3 billion yen.

There was a boom in the sales of Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba and other titles. Since 2020 also faced COVID-19 fatigue, people have turned to manga and other forms of escapism. The industry felt the effects as people were buying more manga than before.

Overall, the manga market’s expansion has been happening since 2018. Though 2020 surpassed 2019, it was in 2019 when digital sales surpassed print sales. And did the industry stop there? No. In 2021, ICv2 reported manga sales in the US. The manga sales more than doubled from the previous year. There was a 160% increase, totaling 24.4 million sold manga units.