Digital Manga is a California-based publishing company that licenses and releases Japanese
manga
Manga (Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is u ...
,
anime
is Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japane ...
, and related merchandise in the English language.
Digital Manga also owns and operates eManga, a
digital publishing
Electronic publishing (also referred to as publishing, digital publishing, or online publishing) includes the digital publication of e-books, digital magazines, and the development of digital libraries and catalogues. It also includes the editi ...
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
Kickstarter is an American public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative projects to life". As of July 2021, ...
for funds. The first Kickstarter project was to reprint
Osamu Tezuka
Osamu Tezuka (, born , ''Tezuka Osamu''; – 9 February 1989) was a Japanese manga artist, cartoonist, and animator. Born in Osaka Prefecture, his prolific output, pioneering techniques, and innovative redefinitions of genres earned him such ...
's titles, and the most successful project to be funded was to print the Finder series by
Yamane Ayano.
Subdivisions
Digital Manga Publishing
The company has co-published manga with publishing house
Dark Horse Comics
Dark Horse Comics is an American comic book, graphic novel, and manga publisher founded in Milwaukie, Oregon by Mike Richardson in 1986. The company was created using funds earned from Richardson's chain of Portland, Oregon comic book shops known ...
, including ''
Berserk'', ''
Hellsing
''Hellsing'' (stylized in all caps) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Kouta Hirano. It was serialized in Shōnen Gahōsha's ''seinen'' manga magazine '' Young King OURs'' from May 1997 to September 2008, with its c ...
'', ''
The Ring'', and ''
Trigun
is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Yasuhiro Nightow. ''Trigun'' was first serialized in Tokuma Shoten's Shōnen manga, ''shōnen'' manga magazine ''Monthly Shōnen Captain'' from April 1995 to January 1997, when the mag ...
''.
Imprints
* 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.
* 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.
* Juné is DMP's (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 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
June is the sixth month of the year in the Julian and Gregorian calendars and is the second of four months to have a length of 30 days, and the third of five months to have a length of less than 31 days. June contains the summer solstice in ...
'', which in turn was named after
Jean Genet
Jean Genet (; – ) was a French novelist, playwright, poet, essayist, and political activist. In his early life he was a vagabond and petty criminal, but he later became a writer and playwright. His major works include the novels ''The Thief's ...
, particularly the Japanese pronunciation of "Genet" as "Jooneh". Some Juné titles originally published by Taiyoh Tosho or Oakla Publishing are
co-branded
Co-branding is a marketing strategy that involves strategic alliance of multiple brand names jointly used on a single product or service.
Co-branding is an arrangement that associates a single product or service with more than one brand name, o ...
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 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 titles. These titles are available on the new Juné website as of October 2016. In June 2016,
Libre Publishing
, formerly known as from 2006 to 2016, is a Japanese publishing company owned by Animate. Libre primarily publishes ''yaoi'' and teens' love manga and light novels, which are run in their magazines ''Magazine Be × Boy'' and ''Be × Boy Gold'' ...
terminated their partnership with Digital Manga Publishing, affecting the release of their titles.
* In April 2009, DMP announced the DokiDoki line in cooperation with the Japanese publisher
Shinshokan
is a Japanese publishing company. It was established on June 14, 1961. In April 2009, the US publisher Digital Manga Publishing announced a co-branding operation with Shinshokan, to license and manga from Shinshokan's '' Wings'', ''Dear'', an ...
, to license (male-male romance) and
(girls') manga from Shinshokan's ''
Wings
A wing is a type of fin that produces lift while moving through air or some other fluid. Accordingly, wings have streamlined cross-sections that are subject to aerodynamic forces and act as airfoils. A wing's aerodynamic efficiency is expresse ...
,'' ''Dear'', and ''
Dear+
is a monthly manga magazine published by Shinshokan that specializes in boys' love (BL) manga. It has two sister publications: the quarterly BL light novel magazine , and the bimonthly BL manga magazine .
History
''Dear+'' was founded in 1997 ...
'' anthologies. The name DokiDoki comes from the
onomatopoeia
Onomatopoeia is the process of creating a word that phonetically imitates, resembles, or suggests the sound that it describes. Such a word itself is also called an onomatopoeia. Common onomatopoeias include animal noises such as ''oink'', ''m ...
for a heartbeat in Japanese.
* Project-H is the (pornographic) imprint of Digital Manga Inc.'s 801 Media division. It publishes
(young adult men's) manga.
* Lilyka is Digital Manga Inc.'s
(female-female romance) manga imprint, specializing in (self-published) works. The imprint was formed in 2019.
Publications
* ''
Don't Rush Love''
* ''
L'Etoile Solitaire''
* ''
La Satanica''
* ''
Little Cry Baby''
* ''
Lover's Flat
is a Japanese manga written and illustrated by Hyouta Fujiyama. It is licensed in North America by Digital Manga Publishing
Digital Manga is a California-based publishing company that licenses and releases Japanese manga, anime, and re ...
''
* ''
Our Everlasting''
* ''
Romantic Illusions''
* ''
The King of Debt''
* ''
Kimagure Orange Road
is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Izumi Matsumoto. It was serialized in ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'' magazine from 1984 to 1987, with the chapters collected into 18 ''tankōbon'' volumes by Shueisha. The story follows tee ...
''
* ''
Yellow
Yellow is the color between green and orange on the spectrum of light. It is evoked by light with a dominant wavelength of roughly 575585 nm. It is a primary color in subtractive color systems, used in painting or color printing. In the R ...
''
References
External links
* {{Official website, https://emanga.com/
Official website for JunéOfficial website for LilykaOfficial website for Project-H
Companies based in Los Angeles County, California
Book publishing companies based in California
Manga distributors
Gardena, California
Publishing companies established in 1996
1996 establishments in California