Since 2008, Kodansha USA Publishing, LLC (henceforth “Kodansha USA”) has brought Japanese titles, including manga, to the United States and English-speaking market. While manga has been a growing and major industry in Japan since the middle of the 20th century, it wouldn’t be until around the 1980s that manga saw its first major commercial pushes in the United States. Since then, demand for the medium has grown significantly in the United States and the Western world writ large. Nowadays, manga is just as if not more prevalent than American comics. Manga has its own dedicated sections in bookstores, with the brick-and-mortar locations being a large part of its increasing popularity in the 80s, 90s, and 2000s. Libraries, even those in schools, carry volumes of popular titles, giving entry points into manga for kids and teens. And, in more recent years, web manga has made the content practically ubiquitous; anyone with a cell phone has access to a vast library of manga at their fingertips.
All of these are changes and shifts that Kodansha USA has had to navigate. Kodansha USA began by publishing popular titles like Akira and Ghost in the Shell in English via its Kodansha Manga (then Kodansha Comics) imprint, going on to add others like Attack on Titan, Wotakoi: Love is Hard for an Otaku, A Sign of Affection, and Fire Force. The latter titles were all prominent fixtures in this year’s immersive Kodansha House pop up in New York City, where I had the opportunity to sit down in conversation with Kodansha USA President and CEO Alvin Lu. We talked through Lu’s own entry into the industry, some of the different challenges (and opportunities) that Kodansha USA has navigated in recent years, and bringing manga to the US market.
Entering Kodansha USA
Before getting into the strategies and decisions that have made Kodansha USA successful, it made sense to understand how Lu came to work in the manga publishing space in the first place, as well as how he ended up as President and CEO of Kodansha USA.
“I’ve been working in the US-based manga industry for a long time. I actually started at VIZ Media more than 25 years ago. I worked as an editor and got involved in management mainly just out of necessity as things started to really take off in the early 2000s. Just organizing production and that sort of thing. So my background’s more of an editorial, operational background. Eventually I was running the publishing business at VIZ towards the end of my tenure. I got more and more on the business side of things. And I took a break from the manga industry for a little while.”
Lu explained that his entry into Kodansha was tied to digital distribution. At the time, this meant stepping into the General Manager role at Kodansha Advanced Media, a sister company of Kodansha USA handling the digital distribution of Kodansha Comics manga as well as select titles from Vertical, a company that was bought in part by Kodansha and eventually consolidated into Kodansha USA.
“My coming back to it with Kodansha was actually — I was helping with the digital distribution which was relatively new at the time. I thought it would be interesting, because Kodansha wanted to handle it independently with a small group out of San Francisco. So it was almost like a startup kind of environment. I thought it would be interesting to build something from the bottom up. And eventually that led to my role here at Kodansha.”
Kodansha Advanced Media was a large part of Kodansha’s broader digital growth in the United States and North America, with content being distributed both via online websites and smartphone apps. The ability to offer digital content as soon as possible provides readers with easy and, importantly, legal routes to read their favorite manga. Kodansha Advanced Media would go on to be consolidated along with Vertical into Kodansha USA, with Lu becoming president and CEO of the resultant company.
Navigating the United States Market
Something I wanted to get an executive’s perspective on was both the general strategy of Kodansha USA as well as areas in which the company perhaps ought make substantial changes or improvements. Lu offered perspective on that question, pointing to the oft-discussed recent movement of anime and manga into the mainstream and some generational opportunities.
“Obviously we’re riding a tremendous wave of growth right now. I think starting from the pandemic years, there’s been such an accelerated, I would say, growth of interest in anime and in manga. So we’re definitely looking to maintain that growth. It’s about a different kind of audience now. Anime and manga are mainstream culture now. As someone who’s worked for almost 30 years in the industry, it’s not always been that way. So the challenges are different. I think especially for Gen Z, it’s the equivalent of Hollywood or video games. I think as a company we need to meet that challenge and understand that we’re working in a much broader cultural arena now. And I think that applies to not just publishing, but understanding that anime and manga kind of go together. It’s a pop culture phenomenon. I think if there’s going to be an evolution for us on the US side, it’s understanding that side of it: how the entertainment side fits in with the publishing side.”
One challenging area when it comes to meeting demand is English localization, or the process of adapting a work from one language and market (in this case Japanese) to an English-speaking United States and North American market. This sometimes involves making choices on how to present some content; some jokes, puns, or references might not make sense in English or to a non-Japanese audience. To account for this, publishers will make slight (or sometimes substantial) modifications to those things. Historically, early localization of manga and anime was quite heavy-handed and is the reason we have names like Speed Racer and Astro Boy (neither of these are Kodansha titles, just examples). In recent years, this is less of the case, but there are still instances where fans determine that a localization has drifted too far from the original work, something made easier by social media providing a platform for fans who speak English and Japanese to make comparisons. Lu explained how Kodansha USA specifically tackles this challenge.
“In some ways the market has come closer to us. Again, I’ve worked in the industry a long time. I remember when we would have to change Japanese names or change the names of foods or things.
We don’t do that anymore. And I think in a way the market is not just more accepting, they kind of expect a greater authenticity in the translations. That’s actually been one of Kodansha’s strengths or emphases in the past. Our editors are all bilingual editors. That’s not necessarily true with all the other publishing companies. So fidelity and correctness of translation is very important to us. I think that will continue to be the case for us going forward. And I think in a way the market itself is also meeting us there.”
Separately, Lu remarked on how manga publishing has served as somewhat of a conduit for cultural transmissions from places like Japan to the Western world.
“I think Japanese comics have been a huge part of this Asian culture boom that we’re seeing in the West. I think that the visual style, the language, the storytelling, the tropes…obviously, the internet and social media has been a big part of breaking down the barriers. I think distribution and exposure to this content may have been harder before that. I think the visuality of comics has been one of the best ambassadors for Japanese culture globally.”
When deciding which titles specifically to adapt, another area of challenge is choosing when to publish established series vs making bets on a newer creator. Lu offered some insight into how Kodansha USA makes those choices, as well as some recent surprise successes in the United States.
“It’s a little bit different than traditional book publishing where you kind of know exactly what you’re going to get with Stephen King and betting on a new author. I think in our business, that happens on the Japan side. When we’re looking at titles on this side, it’s a little bit more like, ‘Well, is this title successful in Japan? Is it going to have an anime, which is a big driver here?’ It’s a little bit different. Titles can do very well in Japan without an anime tie-in, but it’s harder in this market if it doesn’t have an anime tie-in. So in a way, that’s almost the more salient question. It’s more like, okay, this title doesn’t have an anime tie-in, but how do you think it’s going to do?”
“These are titles that can kind of punch above their weight and perform well in the mid-list even if they don’t necessarily have an anime tie-in. And what we do notice is that some of those titles get a good word of mouth. A title that was a bit of a surprise from a couple of years ago was Sweat and Soap, a romance title around someone with an olfactory fetish. It was a little offbeat for a romance manga; it was an office romance manga. It was not a school setting. But it’s been a pretty steady seller, and a lot of that was just word of mouth. So I think there’s still that opportunity to make that kind of right decision.”
Bringing Forth Kodansha House
Other ways that Kodansha USA is meeting the market is with events like Kodansha House, which wrapped up its second yearly appearance in New York City last month. Lu went over some of the reasons behind deciding to host in-person events like Kodansha House that really make manga a centerpiece.
“On the one hand, I think it originated with us realizing how important our fans are to us. [ . . . ] In a way, our fans are our ambassadors. Word of mouth is one of the biggest ways that people learn about new titles and series. The fans have done a lot in building this community and building this market in this country. We wanted to do a thank you event for the fans. We went through a celebration of fandom, if that makes sense. That’s one of the reasons why it’s free admission. It’s a way to give back to the fans.”
“We realized we could really do this in one space like this. Last year was a bit of an experiment. And this year continues to be an experiment. But this year I think we’ve refined a few things. It’s one of the reasons, for example, why we have the gallery walls. We have the library, which is a way for people to really read and discover new titles. So it’s a little bit of both thanking the established fans, the ones who’ve been with us for a long time, and also a way to welcome the newer ones.”
“I love what we’re doing at Kodansha House. I love being able to see the fans in person. We’ve always had conventions for that, but to really have them come in at this somewhat more intimate environment and really meet them face-to-face, I think it’s energizing for them, for the fans, it’s energizing for us, it’s energizing for our creators and artists, editors. It’s a way to add a whole different dimension to our business.”
This year’s Kodansha House was even paid a visit by award-winning artist Megan Thee Stallion, something that is certainly emblematic of the myriad ways that anime and manga are working their way into other facets of life like music and broader entertainment.
Tackling Digital and Piracy
As mentioned previously, Lu’s entry into Kodansha coincided with the broader company beginning to make more substantial movements into the digital publishing space. Given that, I thought Lu was the perfect person to ask about the outlook on physical publishing in comparison to digital publishing, especially in an era where so much of what readers consume is digital.
“It’s really interesting. Physical books are doing great. At this point in time, our physical book business still outpaces digital. In Japan, it’s a little bit more 50-50. So that’s something I would not have expected maybe 10 years ago. But it seems that given all the content that can be acquired digitally these days, it seems like reading comics in the book format is still a unique experience that people desire. I think for people who do read digitally, there’s a lot of evidence that they still want to own the physical book, having it in your hand almost like as a souvenir of your experience, just as a badge of your fandom. For the foreseeable future, physical media is still a big part of our business.”
A difficult component of the rise in digital manga and comics is a commensurate rise in piracy, with fans of a series illegally uploading fan-translated versions of a series alongside or sometimes before an official legal version is available. Litigatory avenues certainly exist for targeting piracy and have been employed by most major manga publishers. I asked Lu if the current approaches to approaching and curtailing piracy were the correct ones.
“I think it’s something we are making steady improvement on. But I think our role is that we need to make that content more readily available digitally. Once it’s out there officially and readily accessible, I think piracy becomes less of an issue.”
Looking Forward
As far as things for fans to look forward to, Lu pointed to events like Kodansha House which really give Kodansha USA a chance to be in direct contact with fans. For titles, he pointed to a recent strong performer: Blue Lock.
“In terms of titles, one of our best performing titles right now is Blue Lock, which is a sports-based manga. It’s been harder to get breakout series around sports manga. It’s really nice to see that around Blue Lock. We’ve got the World Cup around the corner, so I think that kind of diverse lineup of content, the type of stories that you don’t normally expect to see from anime and manga, is definitely more of what we have in store.”
As Kodansha USA continues to bring those of us in the US brilliant series like that one, you can check out series like Blue Lock on K Manga.
Featured image via Kodansha.
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