The Japanese manga and comic book market size reached a record high of about 700 billion yen (roughly $4.4 billion USD) in the 2020s. But while this may give the impression that manga are being read more than ever in the past couple of years, Japanese author, print journalist and publishing industry researcher Ichishi Iida suggests otherwise. In a column for President Online, Iida compiled numerous recent research reports supporting his theory that the manga industry is seeing a big decline in readership, specifically children and teens.
Traditionally, serialized manga in Japan was largely popularized through magazines and anthologies, such as The Weekly Shonen Jump. Up until 2004, the manga market was significantly larger for manga magazines than for standalone books, Iida suggests. According to data by the Japan School Library Association, at the peak of magazines’ popularity during the 80s, middle and junior high schoolers would read about 10 magazines per month. Fast forward to 2025, that number dropped to just 1. Additionally, the proportion of those who don’t read magazines at all has reached 77.7%.
Iida cautions that, with there being few long-term surveys that provide insight into manga readership over the years, it might be difficult to determine how these trends apply to the readership of standalone manga publications. However, when it comes to manga magazines, school surveys over the years confirm the trend that readership is decreasing among children. Iida points out that, for example, while Corocoro Comics still had a strong following among elementary school boys in both 1996 and 2019, the same couldn’t be said for Shonen Jump among middle and high schoolers, with readership plummeting to roughly one tenth of what it used to be (research data provided by an undisclosed school).
Using data from multiple different surveys, including the 1985 and 1995 data by Japan School Library Association and 2023 data by Benesse Educational Research & Development Institute and Tokyo University, Iida concludes that manga readership among children and teenagers is declining both with physical publications and in digital form. Note that due to the difference in survey methods and sample populations, these results are only for reference, as the author explains.
In 2023, physical manga readership rates for 4th~6th grade elementary schoolers, middle schoolers and high schoolers were 68%, 60% and 49% respectively, which is almost a 20% decline for all three categories compared to 1985 (88%, 85% and 77% respectively).
Interestingly enough, physical manga is still more popular than digital manga among Japanese kids and teenagers, with a 15% readership rate among elementary schoolers, 35% readership rate among middle schoolers and 49% readership rate among high schoolers.
Comparing Japan to Korea, which boasts a much bigger digital comic (webtoon) readership among the same demographics, Iida notes that the “digital manga” culture didn’t have the chance to take off among Japanese children due to several factors. Most notably, the adult-oriented nature of digital comics, whose market has grown primarily thanks to frequent and pricy in-app transactions and subscription plans. As a result, children and young teens, who don’t hold purchasing power and often can’t afford pricier options are neglected, Iiida suggests. Consequently, there are few digital manga that are aimed at younger children. While Corocoro Comics did come out with its own designated manga reading app in 2022, Iida hints that, under these circumstances, it will still be difficult to draw kids and teens to read manga as much as they used to, even in digital form.
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Yeah, because it’s a growing indicator of the people running out of disposable income for luxuries. It’s not like printed magazines were cheap either, but you got something real, forever for it or that you could share with someone else. You can’t do that with digital platforms.
Nor does a kid have a reliable constant income for these subscriptions they’ll no longer have access to read if they stop paying. Where’s the value? It just evaporates the second the next month rolls around until you pay again.
We’re already seeing the crumbling of the entertainment industry. People are both cord cutting and leaving the streaming platforms. The industry is not going to be able to make the money it’s projecting, especially with these expensive mergers. Because it’s all going into gaming and similar instead. Non-interactive entertainment is not valuable when you can’t own it and only have access on a costly monthly basis
Very well said! Its a shame that this is where we are in society.
Its a lot harder to get the readers back once you lost them. They get interests in other places. Not to mention all subscription services are taking advantage of people right now and charging a exorbitant amount for each one. Cancel everything people and watch them scramble, I wish. Gl to everybody in this dystopia of a world
I want to have manga, and I adore books: but I can’t even afford groceries in this economy. I’m not going to lie, I’m unfortunately guilty of piracy when it comes to manga because the ones I want aren’t even available in English. I do try to support the artist, but it’s not always realistic.
Who could have thought rising prices would have people pull back from a luxury? I know several folks who opt to go to the library to read books, be it manga or something else entirely because they don’t want to spend money on yet another subscription.
If folks don’t wise up and realize the more they rise prices, the less people will want to buy it.
But also, most series just seem very formulaic and I’m always trying to find stuff that’s either unique (like JJBA) or just never been done before.
So it’s not worth having this as a subscription when I am basically scrolling to find something to read.
As I started reading this my immediate thought was, “Of course in the work-yourself-to-death culture/economy Japan people don’t want to pay for frivolous things”. This is a really tragic late-stage capitalism issue.
But it is normal once they’re just destroying all anime!!
Kids don’t have money nor their parents permition for digital things like subscriptions, if they can find the same mangas day and date on piracy sites, whats the point?
They aren’t giving up reading. They’re giving up buying. Slight difference.
There are roughly 45,736 books in each series. My daughter is constantly asking for the next 3 in each one she’s reading. I spend $30 getting her the next three, and she’s done reading them that day. The stories roll on into oblivion with rarely a true or satisfying end (if you can ever make it to the “end”), and it’s a money trap. Second hand bookstore? Sure…but they never have the ones she needs next. Our local library only has a handful of series. Im all for comics…but Manga is so much fluff and feels like a money grab. They need to rethink their whole format. The storytelling is rarely quality beyond the conclusion of the first main conflict…and the art is slapdash in an effort to pump out more and more. Meh.
Simply reading in any language should be free ,this helps educate and would free many that otherwise would end up in prison or worse ….stupid planet stupid people ,no help to social systems…
I think this article overstates its conclusion. A decline in print magazine readership is not the same as proving that young people are moving away from manga itself. Those are different claims, and both can be true at the same time: the old print-magazine culture may have weakened, while manga consumption has shifted toward apps, web releases, free chapters, and mixed print/digital reading. There is also data suggesting a more nuanced picture. A 2025 survey of Japanese elementary and junior high school students found that over 80% said they like reading manga, while junior high students showed increased use of digital manga or mixed print/digital reading. Another 2023 survey found that 51.81% of teens read manga at least once a month, and that free digital manga was one of the main ways teens accessed it. This does not prove that there is no long-term decline, but it does suggest the situation is more complicated than “kids can’t afford digital subscriptions.”