Digital Manga is a California-based publishing company that licenses and releases Japanese manga, anime, and related merchandise in the English language.

Digital Manga
Founded1996
FounderHikaru Sasahara
Country of originUnited States
Headquarters locationGardena, California
DistributionDiamond Book Distributors (books)[1]
Publication typesComics, manga
Fiction genresJosei, romance, shōjo, yaoi
Imprints801 Media, DMP Books, DokiDoki, eManga, Juné Manga, Lilyka, Project-H
Official websiteemanga.com

Digital Manga also owns and operates eManga, a digital publishing site for manga and light novels, that publishes books and e-book editions of works from other publishers.

The non-publishing division includes Pop Japan Travel (a tour service) and several e-retail sites for books and for import products, including Akadot Retail and Yaoi Club.

Since 2011, Digital Manga has utilized Kickstarter for funds. The first Kickstarter project was to reprint Osamu Tezuka's titles, and the most successful project to be funded was to print the Finder series by Yamane Ayano.

Subdivisions

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Digital Manga Publishing

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The company has co-published manga with publishing house Dark Horse Comics, including Berserk, Hellsing, The Ring, and Trigun.

Imprints

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  • The DMP Books imprint is used for general-audience manga. The company prints how-to books on drawing manga, as well as online tutorials and contests, under the "Manga Academy" imprint.[2]
  • Digital Manga Guild is an imprint for titles localized by non-professional translators. Brigid Alverson of Publishers Weekly described it as an attempt to speed up the manga localization process. She explained, "No one is paid up front; the manga is published digitally, and the DMP, the licensor, and the localization team all share the proceeds once the book starts to sell."[3] 1,300 people applied for positions, with 30% passing, and the imprint's first title was released in 2011.[3]
  • Akadot Retail was the official retail store for Juné and Digital Manga Publishing. The shop imported manga, clothing, figures, magazines, and miscellaneous merchandise from Japan.[4]
  • Juné is DMP's yaoi (male-male romance, also known as boys' love or BL) line of manga, novels, and other related books. Until April 2006, all of DMP's yaoi manga bore the DMP label, but starting with The Art of Loving by Eiki Eiki, a new design was displayed on the dust cover, featuring a white rose beneath Juné's text logo. The imprint was named after the Japanese magazine June, which in turn was named after Jean Genet, particularly the Japanese pronunciation of "Genet" as "Jooneh".[5] Some Juné titles originally published by Taiyoh Tosho or Oakla Publishing are co-branded with the Japanese publisher, whose logo appears on the spine. As of October 2016, the imprint Juné and the store Akadot joined forces to become a singular shop. The new store, purely under the Juné Manga name, sells all DMI's forms of yaoi in both print and digital titles (including 801 Media and Doki Doki titles).
  • 801 Media is a division of Digital Manga, Inc. and sister company to DMP, formed in 2006 to publish more explicit, uncensored yaoi titles. These titles are available on the new Juné website as of October 2016.[6] In June 2016, Libre Publishing terminated their partnership with Digital Manga Publishing, affecting the release of their yaoi titles.[7][8]
  • In April 2009, DMP announced the DokiDoki line in cooperation with the Japanese publisher Shinshokan, to license shounen-ai (male-male romance) and shōjo (girls') manga from Shinshokan's Wings, Dear, and Dear+ anthologies. The name DokiDoki comes from the onomatopoeia for a heartbeat in Japanese.[9]
  • Project-H is the hentai (pornographic) imprint of Digital Manga Inc.'s 801 Media division. It publishes seinen (young adult men's) hentai manga.[10]
  • Lilyka is Digital Manga Inc.'s yuri (female-female romance) manga imprint, specializing in dōjinshi (self-published) works. The imprint was formed in 2019.[11][12]

Publications

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Osamu Tezuka series

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References

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  1. ^ Our Publishers
  2. ^ Manga Academy. "Manga Academy ~ About Us". Archived from the original on July 10, 2009. Retrieved January 4, 2010.
  3. ^ a b Alverson, Brigid (August 9, 2011). "Inside the Digital Manga Guild". Publishers Weekly. Retrieved September 29, 2024.
  4. ^ Digital Manga Inc. "AkadotRetail". Retrieved May 2, 2014.
  5. ^ "Company Information". Juné. Retrieved April 20, 2021.
  6. ^ 801 Media. "801 Media - About Us". Retrieved January 4, 2010.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  7. ^ Hodgkins, Crystalyn (June 18, 2016). "Libre Ends Publishing Agreement With Digital Manga, Inc". Anime News Network. Retrieved February 24, 2020.
  8. ^ Hodgkins, Crystalyn (June 23, 2016). "Libre Publishing Comments on Termination of Agreement With Digital Manga Inc". Anime News Network. Retrieved February 24, 2020.
  9. ^ "About Us". DokiDoki. Archived from the original on September 1, 2009. Retrieved August 18, 2009.
  10. ^ Digital Manga Inc. "Project-H Launches in August (2011)". Retrieved November 23, 2011.
  11. ^ Pineda, Rafael Antonio (April 26, 2019). "Digital Manga Launches New Self-Published Yuri Label on May 1 (Updated)". Anime News Network. Retrieved April 20, 2021.
  12. ^ Davidson, Danica (April 30, 2019). "Inside Lilyka, Digital Manga Inc.'s New Yuri Imprint". Otaku USA. Retrieved April 20, 2021.
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