An Insider’s Look at Manga Publishing in the U.S.

PLUS: The fall anime season’s most anticipated titles, and the ongoing Crunchyroll subtitle controversy.

Happy Halloween! Miles is in Japan at TIFFCOM this week, and we’re gearing up for our first client report of the fall anime season. In the meantime, we spoke to Square Enix Manga & Books marketing manager Morgan Perry to get the inside scoop on the current state of the manga industry in the U.S.

But first! - Klaudia A.

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Chart of the Week

Just like this past summer season, the most anticipated titles for the fall 2025 anime season are sequels. Trailers are a fairly good indication of pre-season audience interest, and potential viewership for the first month of the season.

Tied for the most views, unsurprisingly, are two much-beloved action shonen series returning for highly-anticipated seasons—One-Punch Man’s long-awaited season 3, and My Hero Academia’s final season. The third-most viewed trailer, Spy x Family season 3, received half the amount of views as the first two, despite being a massively popular series as well. When discussing anime titles’ popularity, it’s helpful to sort them by tiers. That means, for this season, One-Punch Man and My Hero Academia seem positioned to be S tier, while Spy x Family would sit in the A tier.

The big surprises in the top 5 trailers are With You, Our Love Will Make It Through (a shojo romance) and May I Ask For One Thing? (a josei comedy). As a shojosei enjoyer myself, I am happy to see these demographics getting more love, most likely because both series have “surprising” elements that drive social engagement. (Yes, one is the cute furry school romance, and the other is about the noble lady whose hobby is beating people up). - Chloe C.

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Entertainment at Large

Crunchyroll is destroying its subtitles for no good reason (Daiz on Media)

It seems our last issue caused a bit of a stir, to the point where ANN even asked CR themselves to comment. Unfortunately, their statement doesn’t really give any insight, nor really address the typesetting issue, and is pretty run of the mill PR speak.

After our article focused on the business side of the typesetting debacle, Mother’s Basement dove in deeper from a critic and fan perspective as well. Meanwhile JP/EN localization expert Daiz was working on this article, to dive deeper into the technical side of the issue. Their article goes into painstaking detail about the software issues, including original reporting and speaking to former and current Crunchyroll localization employees. It’s incredibly well researched, and a must-read. - Klaudia A.

Can Chainsaw Man compete with Demon Slayer at the box office? We asked an expert (Polygon)

Miles spoke with Polygon before Reze Arc’s release about the inevitable comparisons between the two anime movies dominating the box office. It’s an important read to give context for those wondering what each film’s success tells us about anime in theaters. - Klaudia A.

Further reading:

• Recommending Shoujo Manga Based On Your FAVORITE Shonen (Colleen’s Manga Recs)

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An Insider’s Look at Manga Publishing in the U.S.

We spoke to Square Enix Manga & Books marketing manager Morgan Perry over email about her career and what she’s seeing in the manga and light novel publishing space in the U.S. Responses have been edited for clarity and brevity.

Klaudia: You started your career in the western comics and publishing space. How did you get your start, and what caused your switch to manga?

Morgan: Professionally speaking, I started seriously working in western comics publishing at my local comic shop, Earth-2 Comics. I quickly moved into management at the store because I was actually interested in learning the responsibilities of what it took to run a comic shop, and I also wasn’t afraid to ask questions about the most mundane retail processes. At that point in my life, I truly wanted to be a lifer in the comic shop ecosystem – whether as a lifelong manager, or opening my own shop. It just made me happy.

After about a year and a half, the owners approached me and asked how I would feel about potentially working for a comic book publisher, because at the time, BOOM! Studios had a position open for a direct market representative. BOOM! was looking for someone, ideally with a retail comic shop background, to basically be their comic shop liaison.

I always credit Carr and his wife Susan for my publishing start, because they were always incredibly kind to me and opened this door for me. I was working two near-full time retail jobs at the time, managing the comic shop and working at a Hot Topic, and they were aware of that, so they just said, “We’ll be fine. We know you can do more, and there is only so much we can provide you as an employee, so we want you to consider this opportunity.”

So I took the direct market rep job at BOOM!, where I did for global comic shop retailers basically what I’d already been doing for my local shop’s customers. It was intimidating and challenging, but in a good way. I worked my way up through the sales team, facilitating the BOOM! Guarantee Program, which ended up being the gold standard for returnability and retailer support systems within the western comic book publishing industry. I also helped to launch some of the company’s tentpole series, like Something is Killing the Children and BRZRKR by Keanu Reeves, and streamlined their retailer variant cover exclusive program.

I left BOOM! Studios after 5 or so years to work for Skybound Entertainment as their Brand Manager of Editorial, helping to launch initiatives like their Skybound Comet graphic novel lines for middle grade and young adult readers, and their stealth launch of the Hasbro Energon Universe, which included G.I. Joe, Transformers, and a new IP created by Robert Kirkman called Void Rivals.

As for what caused me to switch to manga, the short answer is that I have always been a manga reader, and I’ve always wanted to work in manga in some capacity. My comics origin story is as much about manga as it is western comics, because I was introduced to both through a random issue of Shonen Jump (Issue 7, July 2003) at my local Walgreens.

It was always my professional end goal to work at a manga publisher. So, prior to joining Square Enix, outside of just reading as much manga as possible, I kept up with the industry by analyzing both western and Japanese manga sales charts. I gained a following online and gave recommendations to comic shop retailers on Twitter.

I started to notice a rise in manga sales in the western market again in late 2019, even prior to the pandemic hitting full force. There was a noticeable shift in customer buying habits, how people were consuming media overall, and increased manga and anime accessibility specifically. Simultaneously, western comics sales shifted from a mainly readership customer base to a collector customer base (thanks almost entirely to the retailer exclusive covers mentioned above). It was clear to me that western comics retailers would need to shift their business models and diversify their inventory in order to survive. So I started recommending that comic shops delve into manga in a more meaningful way.

But I wanted to help with that in a way that wasn’t just screaming into the internet void. So when this position at Square Enix opened, I immediately applied. A lot of the skills I had picked up in western comics publishing from my time at BOOM! Studios and Skybound transitioned over to manga. There are some differences in process, but the learning curve wasn’t as steep as you would expect.

Klaudia: Working for Square Enix is a bit of an interesting place to be, because it is the U.S. publishing arm of a company mainly known for video games. What about that has been different from other publishers, and what do you find is most interesting or challenging about Square Enix specifically?

Morgan: I have always worked at publishing companies in which the comics arm of the business was the backbone of the operation. BOOM! Studios was solely a western comics publisher, but they did have a media division whose job it was to pitch comic IP to Hollywood. Skybound is a bit more of an all-around entertainment company, with departments for TV, film, video games, tabletop gaming, merchandise, animation, and podcasts. But the core of the company when I was there was the editorial department, which created and acquired the IP that the other departments worked on.

Square Enix, Inc. is almost the opposite. While the book publishing division is an incredibly important department, and contributes significantly to everyone’s overall success, its digital publishing (video games) is still its main driver. So, a big part of my first year at Square Enix Manga & Books was fielding a lot of folks saying, “Oh, I thought Square Enix only published video games. I didn’t know they also published manga!”

Square Enix Manga & Books, specifically, is only 6 years old. It’s basically an infant when you compare it to other manga publishers in the U.S., like Kodansha, Yen Press, or VIZ. In addition to being the new kid on the block, our slate is still incredibly small. But this means our titles are HIGHLY curated, which has contributed to many of our successes so far. This is due to our wonderful editorial team, led by Director of Publishing Leyla Aker, combined with our distributor, Penguin Random House, who work with us on a daily basis to ensure our books have an impact.

Another challenge we have as a new imprint is with titles licensed from Square Enix Japan that were licensed to other overseas publishers prior to our formation. Some of those titles have become best sellers in the west and tentpoles with fans – such as Fullmetal Alchemist, Black Butler, and Toilet-Bound Hanako-kun. For me, though, it’s less of a challenge of not having those titles on our roster, and more of a challenge when having conversations with retailers who might get a bit confused.

Klaudia: What are the unique challenges of publishing manga in the U.S. that you would like Japanese publishers and western entertainment partners to know? Are there any insights on the market that you think people in the industry don’t normally think of?

Morgan: As someone with a foot in both worlds, I think there is still a bit of resistance from western comics publishing, in general, to accept manga on the same level in the comics space. There’s hesitation from western comic shops to carry manga in their stores due to a variety of concerns such as shelf space, capital, and a knowledge gap about the products themselves. It’s A LOT better than it was several years ago, but now that the bump in western comics sales from the beginning of the pandemic has died down, getting past this manga hesitance has become even more imperative. There’s also many retailers who WANT to start a manga section, and are just purely overwhelmed by the amount of product available to them.

Western manga readers are also not a group that gravitates towards digital manga in the same way as the Japanese market. There’s a much smaller percentage of digital manga readers vs physical. In the same vein, what works for digital manga apps in Japan does not always translate 1-to-1 for the western market when an app goes global. For example, western consumers engage with a variety of entertainment and streaming services, but they are more used to, and therefore prefer, a subscription model, as opposed to microtransactions. Additionally, the subscription model must financially make sense in relation to the amount of content they are receiving access to in return, so there is less likelihood that they unsubscribe after a free trial, and fall into the “set and forget” camp. It’s why the Shonen Jump app dominates the western digital manga space – it’s set at a very affordable $3.99/month for all their top series, and simulpubbed with the Japanese digital release. Despite recent price increases, it’s still an insane value for increasingly cash-strapped U.S. fans.

Another massive challenge right now is that most people in the U.S. reading manga are teenagers (13-18), while most people purchasing manga are over 18. We’ve lost a lot the of physical retailers that built the North American manga audience in the decades prior (like Borders and Walden Books), because the market shifted to online book purchasing. Since teens in the U.S. don’t have as much access and purchasing power online as they do in person, it makes converting readers into purchasers difficult.

The answer isn’t necessarily to build more manga-focused retail locations or to stuff existing ones with more titles. So comic shops have the ability to fill in the gaps left by physical book retailers. If manga publishers assist comic shops in building their manga sections and expertise, these comic retailers can provide a more curated experience than larger physical retail chains.

Lastly, one of the most unique challenges in the North American manga market vs. Japan are the differences in how we market titles. Print advertising and in-store marketing is largely non-existent in the U.S. compared to other countries, and the majority of our marketing is focused on social media and online advertising. This is almost in direct opposition to how Japan markets manga, and it’s gotten even more important since start of the pandemic to engage with online communities and influencers.

Klaudia: What trends in manga and light novels are you seeing amongst U.S. readers right now, and that you foresee in the future? Are there any that you’re trying to start at Square Enix that you want to highlight?

Morgan: There’s definitely more BL and GL acquisitions, as well as more general LGBTQ representation. Publishers are also acquiring more “classic” manga titles that may not have ever been released in the U.S. before, or rereleasing previously published titles in special deluxe or anniversary editions. Shonen action series still dominate the sales charts, obviously, but other genres and demographics are starting to gain traction with readers as well.

At Square Enix Manga & Books, our editorial team’s curation strategy lies in selecting series with a great story and interesting art, as opposed to ticking off boxes to capitalize on fleeting market trends. We acquire titles that will support each other as the entire publishing slate expands. That’s not to say that trends don’t influence acquisitions at all, because sometimes it’s just the right place/right time, but overall, we’re choosing titles we, as manga fans ourselves, would want to read and support.

Klaudia: There’s a lot of discussion amongst shojosei fans about how shojosei sometimes gets the short end of the stick in terms of overseas licenses, promotion, anime adaptations, and cultural conversation. What do you have to say to overseas shojosei fans about that problem, and what do you think are the solutions?

Morgan: If I were to say anything to shojosei fans it’s that there are folks within a number of publishers who are listening and advocating for those licenses to be acquired. Kodansha has really been the gold standard recently in how they not only listen, but take action to meet those fans’ needs where they can.

There are a lot of considerations that go into licensing acquisitions, and the challenge that we face here in the west is that both the readership audience and buying market for manga vastly differs from that in Japan. This makes it even more of a challenge for shojosei series to find successful footing here in the North American market. People who buy manga in the U.S. largely favor print over digital offerings, whereas the dominant readership for genres found in shojosei manga (such as romance and slice of life) tend to prefer reading digitally, and those readers are not reading manga – they are reading prose. This also isn’t unique to manga. I saw (and still see) the same challenges in western comics publishing for series that fit into these genres as well.

I’d love to see more shojosei titles out there, and we’re doing our part at Square Enix to appeal to those audiences with titles such as Cherry Magic!, A Starlit Darkness, Love in the Palm of His Hand, The Prince’s Keeper, Always a Catch!, and more! It’s an ongoing conversation that may not have any real solutions in the near future, but the best we can do to show we, as manga readers, want a publisher to consider more of something is to support it with our dollars…and more specifically for manga, supporting the print editions.

Klaudia: What are your biggest areas of growth at Square Enix? Are there any demographics, formats, or genres you’ve been working on licensing more of or reaching through sales?

Morgan: Square Enix Manga & Books is only in its seventh fiscal year of operations, so I think our biggest area of growth is growth itself as we continue to build out our publishing slate, team, and ability to operate. We’re an incredibly small team of three, on the Square Enix side, and we’re supported by not only departments within the larger Square Enix West and Square Enix Japan organizations, but also our dedicated staff members for editorial, design, and production at our distributor, Penguin Random House.

Our goal is to bring some of the best stories from Japanese creators to English-reading audiences, so we’re conscious about how each title we license works within our larger publishing slate, and what about it is interesting to us as readers and fans of manga. Our team isn’t necessarily making selections based on genre or format (though that does and can factor in). We want readers to uncover unforgettable stories with us, regardless of what interests them!

As far as sales channels, I’ve been putting specific efforts towards the direct market (comic shops) and libraries. While these are typically smaller revenue channels in the larger North American publishing market, they offer a lot of growth opportunities for manga, and are crucial avenues for discovery for U.S. manga fans.

Klaudia: What upcoming or recently released titles are you most excited about? Are there any Square Enix titles you personally love that you’d like to highlight?

Morgan: In terms of upcoming titles, I’m super excited for folks to read A Starlit Darkness by Yuu Toyota, the creator of Cherry Magic! If you like BL-adjacent stories with a literary and supernatural twist, you should definitely add it to your TBR.

I am also really excited for Mechanical Buddy Universe 1.0, which is a continuation of Mechanical Buddy Universe, which is a one-shot short story collection we released in September. It dives deeper into the characters and their backstories, and has a more linear story compared to the previous release. It’s a sci-fi slice of life story, set in a post-war apocalypse, that has Gurren Lagann, SSSS. Dynazeneon, and a little Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury vibes.

If you’re sad Komi Can’t Communicate ended and you also like VTubers, My Favorite VTuber is Scary IRL has all of that and more. It’s really charming and funny, and it touches on social anxiety issues as well as the confidence built through online communities, which I think is really topical.

Fullmetal Alchemist was a formative series for me as a baby weeb, so naturally Daemons of the Shadow Realm by Hiromu Arakawa is also at the top of my list. Arakawa’s world building and character development continue to be at her best, making me eager for each new volume.

I’m sad My Dress-Up Darling is ending because I love that series so much. Marin is a girls’ girl, and I love how respectful the series is about cosplay, body positivity, dysmorphia, and feeling comfortable to express your passions openly. I hope it continues to find people of all walks of life even after it concludes.

And lastly, I would kick myself if I didn’t show some love for Mr. Villain’s Day Off by Yuu Morikawa. It’s about an evil supervillain, and the one thing that he’s more intense about than taking over and destroying Earth is taking his PTO. It’s incredibly relatable, and I love how Morikawa provides the reader a linear story through smaller snapshots. The General is a loveable dork, so if you haven’t read the manga yet, it’s the perfect way to spend your next day off!