Speeding up the delivery of serialized manga in English from Japan!
Announced at Virtual Crunchyroll Expo 2021 with TheAnimeMan!
The first 3 chapters are FREE on BOOK WALKER Global, a $20 value giveaway, and more!
(C)Toya Kuno/ Ryosuke Hata/ fame, 2020 (C)Quantum 2018, (C)Nori Kazato 2018, (C)Hana Amano 2018 (C)Ryou Yuuki 2019, (C)Kenji Sugawara, Chisato Naruse 2019 (C)hi8mugi 2019, (C)Ten Kashiwa, Comta 2019 (C)Tsubasa Nanaki 2019 (C)Momotomoe 2019 (C)Nanao Yamashita 2019 (C)Tanba 2020, (C)Yukino Amagai 2020, (C)Yunagi 2020 (C)Team Shanghai Alice, (C)Mizutaki 2020
KADOKAWA CORPORATION (Headquarter: Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo; President: Takeshi Natsuno; hereinafter “KADOKAWA”) is pleased to announce that in response to requests from fans of Japanese comics and light novels in English-speaking countries, it will begin speedy ebook translation and distribution directly!
We have delivered our translated manga and light novels through our group company Yen Press and other local publishers, but in order to meet the needs of readers who want more titles earlier, we will translate and deliver the official versions of these IPs straight from the source!
It usually took six months to a year from a title's serialization in Japan to their translation and publication in English-speaking countries, but we will soon release many of our manga as “simulpubs†with Japan on the online ebook store BOOK WALKER Global, which is operated by a KADOKAWA group subsidiary. As for light novels, as soon as they are translated, we will speedily deliver them chapter by chapter!
Regarding the number of titles to be released, we carefully selected ones that were not translated into English but are already highly recognized in the English-speaking world, and will start with seven manga! From October, we will distribute three more light novel titles as well! (Details are as follows.) The number is expected to exceed 100 titles soon.
These titles will be available on “BOOK WALKER Global” and a few other online stores. More outlets will be added gradually.
| Title | Type | Authors |
| A Boy Raised by Gods Will Be The Strongest | Manga | Art: Toya Kuno　Original Work: Ryosuke Hata　Character Design: fame |
| I'm Quitting Heroing | Manga | Art: Nori Kazato　Original Work: Quantum　Character Design: Hana Amano |
| Magic Stone Gourmet: Eating Magical Power Made Me The Strongest | Manga | Art: Kenji Sugawara　Original Work: Ryou Yuuki　Character Design: Chisato Naruse |
| My Little Sister Stole My Fiancé: The Strongest Dragon Favors Me And Plans To Take Over The Kingdom? | Manga | Art: hi8mugi　Original Work: Ten Kashiwa　Character Design: COMTA |
| The 31st Consort | Manga | Art: Tsubasa Nanaki　Original Work: Momotomoe　Character Design: Nanao Yamashita |
| The Insipid Prince’s Furtive Grab for The Throne | Manga | Art: Yukino Amagai　Original Work: Tanba　Character Design: Yunagi |
| The Lotus Eaters, Drunk and Sober | Manga | Art: Mizutaki　Original Work: ZUN |
| Higehiro: After Being Rejected, I Shaved and Took in a High School Runaway (*the official title name to be determined) | Light novel | Author: Shimesaba　Artist: Booota |
| I'm Quitting Heroing * | Light novel | Author: Quantum　Artist: Hana Amano |
| The Insipid Prince’s Furtive Grab for The Throne * | Light novel | Author: Tanba　Artist: Yunagi |
In addition, in order to let our fans experience this service firsthand, we currently offer the following three campaigns! Don't miss this opportunity!
| Campaign | Period |
| â‘ The first three chapters of the above seven comics are available for free on “BOOK WALKER Global”! | 5th August – 1st September 2021 |
| â‘¡ Users who are new to BOOK WALKER Global can use the coupon code “theanimeman” to get 600 yen (≈ $6) off on the first purchase! | – |
| â‘¢100 people out of those who do the following will win the lottery to get 2,000 coins (≈$20) to purchase ebooks on “BOOK WALKER Global”! 1) follow our Twitter account “KADOKAWA digi-pub NEWS” (see below) and 2) retweet the pinned campaign tweet | 7th August – 13th August 2021 |
This project was announced at the Virtual Crunchyroll Expo 2021, an online event held by Crunchyroll, Inc (headquarters: California, U.S.), on 7th August 13:45 (U.S. Pacific Time) (8th August 5:45 (Japan time)).
*The announcement was shot at Kadokawa Culture Museum’s “Bookshelf Theater” with a renowned influencer “TheAnimeMan†as a host. The video will be available on the following website until 9th August, 23:59 US Pacific time, (10th August, 15:59 Japan time).
ã€KADOKAWA NEW Project Announcement 】https://expo.crunchyroll.com/en-us/panels/panel-information.html?gtID=726972&panel-name=KADOKAWA-New-Project-Announcement
TheAnimeMan (https://www.youtube.com/c/TheAnimeMan) is a popular Anime YouTuber with 3 million subscribers who is represented by GeeXPlus Inc, an influencer marketing and management agency.
We are also launching our own social media account/page “KADOKAWA digi-pub NEWS” on Twitter/Facebook and, taking advantage of our relationships as a publisher, will share messages from our authors and editors, information about our online events, free reading of the latest chapters, and special giveaways! We promise to share a bunch of “exclusive, fastest and special” information with you!
Twitter: https://twitter.com/KADOKAWAdigipub
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KADOKAWAdigipub/
　Finally, we would like to continue to work with anime, manga and game-related media on promotional campaigns, so if you are interested, please contact us at the address below!
　
â– Overview of BOOK WALKER Global
　BOOK WALKER Global is one of the most popular reading platforms for digital manga & light novels from Japan. There are over 20,000 English light novels and manga being offered from publishers like KADOKAWA, Yen Press, J-Novel Club and more. Come experience a new way to enjoy and collect the latest manga and light novels digitally on your web browser, iOS, or Android devices. BOOK WALKER Co. Ltd. is a subsidiary of KADOKAWA CORPORATION and was founded in 2010.
BOOK WALKER Global Site: https://global.bookwalker.jp
â– Overview of KADOKAWA CORPORATION
　Overview of KADOKAWA CORPORATION Develops a broad range of businesses as a comprehensive entertainment company, including publishing, video, game, Web service, education, MD and business for inbound customers. Advances digital transformation, including Activity Based Working (ABW), and a global media mix strategy, which focuses on steadily creating intellectual property (IP) and expanding overseas.KADOKAWA Group Global Portal Site: https://group.kadokawa.co.jp/global/
Will “…a few other online stores. More outlets will be added gradually.” include things like Amazon Kindle? From my experience, things exclusive to Bookwalker don’t end up on Kindle. Which is a shame. I’d prefer everything in one place and I rely on Kindle’s built-in TTS to get through books.