After a long period of growth, the Japanese manga market will record a decline again for the first time in 2025. The print sector in particular is losing significantly, while digital manga continues to grow. We summarize.
Digital manga with growth
According to a report by the All Japan Magazine and Book Publisher’s and Editor’s Association (AJPEA) Publications Research Institute, the Japanese manga market shrank by 1.7% in 2025 compared to the previous year.
The year 2024 continues to mark the historical high with a market value of 704.3 billion yen (around 3.85 billion euros), which consequently fell to 692.5 billion yen (around 3.8 billion euros) in 2025. It is also the first time since 2017 that the manga market in Japan has declined again.
Sales of printed tankoubon collections (-14.4%) and manga magazines (-12.7%) in particular declined. However, the market for printed manga has been losing value for several years – in 2025 the decline was only more significant than before.
Digital manga, on the other hand, continues to record growth and recently achieved sales of 527.3 billion yen (around 2.9 billion euros), an increase of 2.9% compared to the previous year. Their share of the entire manga market is now 76.1% – and the trend continues to rise.
More on the topic:
Via AJPEA (1, 2)
©2010 Tsugumi Ohba, Takeshi Obata,Shueisha/NHK, NEP, ShoPro