The last year haas been aa difficult one the world round given the pandemic, but some industries are doing well amidst the onslaught. Though some prints were hit hard by COVID-19, it seems the manga industry managed to escape most of the damage. In fact, sales for manga are up around the globe, and one insider is warning fans to buy their manga now unless they run into some reprint issues.
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The advice comes from Ben Applegate who helps curate manga with Kodansha USA. Over on Twitter, he shared a short message with fans warning them to stock up on a manga they like unless it gets severely backordered due to reprint delays.
“If you see a manga that you want to read in a store (or online and that manga is “In Stock”). You should buy it NOW.The reprint situation is unexaggeratedly apocalyptic and you might not see that manga in stock again for months,” he wrote.
“Sales of manga have more than tripled from Q1 2020-Q1 2021 and there isn’t enough printer capacity to keep even some midlist titles in stock,” Applegate continued before adding, “Supply was already at crisis levels in book printing before COVID, due to: rising book sales, increased demand for Amazon packaging, labor/equipment shortages, logistics issues. Take your pick. These problems are being solved but not quickly.”
This fact might come as a surprise to some, but it should not be that shocking. If you have not been paying. Attention, you will have missed sales updates from Japan on its manga sales. Despite the pandemic, 2020 marked a historic years in sales for comics overseas, and stateside publishers were similarly inflated. Viz Media confirmed its U.S. market sales went up 70% lasts year, and the publisher is suffering from similar out-of-stock series. So if you find a manga you’re dying to get in print, well – you might want to consider stocking up while you can!
Have you been impacted by any manga reprint blows? What series are you reading these days? Share your thoughts with us in the comments section below or hit me up on Twitter @MeganPetersCB.
