Image: Covers of currently available titles on Crunchyroll’s site
By Porter Anderson, Editor-in-Chief | @Porter_Anderson
See also:
French Publishers Navigate a Shifting Rights Landscape: Comics Maintain Dominance
Germany Saw Sales Grow by 1.8 Percent in 2024
‘Broadening HarperCollins’ Manga Program’
Today’s announcement (July 16) that HarperCollins will acquire Crunchyroll’s French and German manga components, is interesting on several levels.
For one thing, it arrives just days after the French publishers’ association, the Syndicat national de l’édition, has pointed out that manga has a role in France “as a market stabilizer and accessibility driver.”
For another, HarperCollins’ team says that its acquisition “will add the rapidly growing manga category of Japanese comics and graphic novels to the portfolio of both HarperCollins local companies for the first time.”
The buy is expected to close in the second half of this year, subject to regulatory approval and with terms of the agreement not disclosed. Crunchyroll LLC is an independently operated joint venture between the United States-based Sony Pictures Entertainment and Japan’s Aniplex, a subsidiary of Sony Music Entertainment (Japan), both subsidiaries of the Tokyo-based Sony Group.
Brian Murray
In a comment on today’s news, HarperCollins president and CEO Brian Murray is quoted, saying, “We’re thrilled to expand our manga portfolio in Europe, building on our already successful Japanese business.
“As the only major Western publisher operating in Japan, this acquisition strengthens our expertise and capabilities in this fast-growing category. This is a significant step toward broadening the HarperCollins manga program around the world, not only in Europe, but also in the English-language markets, as well.”
Chantal Restivo-Alessi
Once the agreement has closed, the team is to be led by Hideki Iyama-Desseigne, reporting to Chantal Restivo Alessi, CEO of international foreign-language publishing at HarperCollins.
Day-to-day operations of the business are to be supported by HarperCollins France and Germany.
Speaking to the news today, Restivo-Alessi says, “We look forward to welcoming and investing in the French and German publishing teams and their business, and to enhancing our relationships with Japanese manga publishers.”
Rahul Parini
And Rahul Purini, Crunchyroll’s president, is quoted, saying, “I want to thank the Crunchyroll manga employees in France and Germany whose new home at HarperCollins will allow them to continue to bring the joy of manga to fans in those markets.
“We’ll continue to bring fans the best 360 anime experience possible.”
While French publishers are speaking highly of comics’ place as one of three categories—with children’s books and fiction—that represented 69.7 percent of all 2024 French rights transactions (report), the newly released report on the 2024 market in Germany from the Börsenverein des Deutschen Buchhandels stresses the youth-reader demographic as the market’s key driver—and that group, from the mid-teens to the late-20s—can be expected to include consumers interested in comics and manga (report).
“The positive development in the book market” in Germany, the Börsenverein team writes, “is driven by the enthusiasm for books among young people between 16 and 29 years old, for whom the industry offers attractive and tailored offers.” And that’s despite a years-long challenge in youth literacy in the German market.
More from Publishing Perspectives on mergers and acquisitions is here; more on the German market is here; more on the French market is here, more on comics in international publishing is here, and on manga is here.