Manga Leaps into the New Decade (2020-2022)

Scar De Los Santos | Writer

As the comic book industry grows, manga has taken the lead as the highest-selling comic books out right now, according to recent stats from Marvel, DC, and All Japan Magazine and Book Publishers and Editors Association (AJPEA).

Manga is a style of Japanese comic books and graphic novels that are read from right to left, almost always published without color, using a signature black and white style.

From decade-old titles like One Piece to year-old titles such as Jujutsu Kaisen, millions of manga titles are sold every year, with a significant increase during the years of 2020 and 2021. According to AJPEA, the manga industry's profits were relatively low when they started keeping track of their profit in 1978, ranging from 0-500 billion yen ($0 - $4.1 billion USD).

This lasted until big titles began to hit the scene in the 90s, and the manga industry saw the most profit they had ever seen in 1995, standing at a solid 586.4 billion yen ($4.8 billion USD). A few of these titles were Dragonball, One Piece, Naruto, and Bleach.

With this growth of income in 1995, the manga industry was at a steady profit for the next 24 years. In 2020, however, this number increased by 23%-- 612.6 billion yen ($5 billion USD), according to the AJPEA. This increase did not end there though, as just last year, the manga industry had another profit increase of about 10%.

Although manga profit and popularity have had a sudden increase, it is not too surprising. Dark fantasy manga tend to be the most popular among Gen Z, even the manga that have been out for years now haven't gotten the appreciation and highlight they deserve until recently due to their premise and storyline. A perfect example of that being Attack on Titan.

With back to back record breaking numbers and the continuous growth of the manga industry, Manga may be the biggest form of entertainment that the world has ever seen.