Manga and light novel publisher To Books, known for their wide catalogue of isekai and fantasy-based works, announced on March 16 that they would be revising their full-year earnings forecast for the fiscal year ending April 2026. As reported by Otaku Soken, the company expects its proceeds, operating profit, ordinary profit and net profit to all greatly exceed the initial forecast thanks to unprecedented sales of their e-books.
Compared to the previous forecast of 11 billion yen, the company predicts sales will reach 11.3 billion yen by the end of the year, with a projected growth rate of 6.0% year-on-year. Furthermore, the operating profit forecast was revised from 1.7 billion to 1.9 billion (35.2% growth rate), the ordinary profit forecast from 1.67 billion to 1.87 billion (35.5% growth rate) and the net profit forecast from 1.15 billion to 1.3 billion yen (34.4% growth rate).
Aside from To Books holding frequent “free reading” campaigns and similar special offers that contributed to reader retention, the recent growth in both profit and reader base can also be linked to the success numerous anime adaptations of the company’s books. Some of them include adaptations of isekai novels The Water Magician, and Reincarnated as a Neglected Noble: Raising My Baby Brother With Memories From My Past Life, broadcast in Summer 2025, and the more recent A Gentle Noble’s Vacation Recommendation, which premiered this January.
On a related note, isekai itself is considered to be one of the best-read and most-watched genres of fiction in Japan in the past few years. According to the owner of Comic C’moA, one of Japan’s biggest e-book stores, isekai was the most popular genre across both their male and female reader demographics. Moreover, in late 2024, ABEMA, one of Japan’s biggest streaming services launched the “isekai fantasy” channel exclusively showcasing anime in the genre, and as reported by Asahi Shimbun, the platform added 3 more isekai channels throughout the following year. As ABEMA’s representative said for the outlet, “it has moved beyond being a fad and became an established genre. […] The number of views is steadily increasing as most of these works are easy-to-watch, while being based on moralistic narratives.”
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