SHUEISHA’s MANGA PLUS to make US convention debut at New York Comic-Con

Japanese publisher SHUEISHA announced through their MANGA Plus website that they will have a booth at New York Comic Con 2023 , from October 12-15, 2023 at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York City. 

NYCC visitors to the MANGA Plus booth (#1035) will be able to check out HD (high definition) reproductions of original manga pages from popular series including My Hero Academia, One Piece, Jujutsu Kaisen, Spy x Family, Chainsaw Man, Kaiju No. 8, and Oshi no Ko. Visitors who also show Manga Plus app on their mobile devices will get a free pin from one of the featured series (while supplies last).

Shueisha’s MANGA Plus Booth at NYCC
MANGA Plus’ NYCC booth will be located at #1035 in the exhibition hall, with displays promoting 7 popular manga series featured in Shueisha’s various JUMP print and online magazines: One Piece, My Hero Academia, Jujutsu Kaisen, SPY x FAMILY, Chainsaw Man, KAIJU NO.8 (Monster #8), and [OSHI NO KO]. All 7 series have anime adaptations that have already aired, with the exception of KAIJU NO.8, which has already been confirmed to debut in 2024.

The manga for six of the featured series are published in English by VIZ Media, while [Oshi no Ko] is published in English by Yen Press. All 7 series also have new chapters simulpubbed (released in English and several other languages, including Spanish, French, Brazilian Portuguese, Russian, Vietnamese and Thai the same day as it’s released in Japan) on MANGA Plus, and are available to read worldwide, except Japan, S. Korea and China.

Vote for your favorite MANGA Plus Newcomer 
In addition to photo booth ops, MANGA Plus will also be holding a newcomer’s contest for readers to vote on the new manga series featured on MANGA Plus that they like the most–with the winner to be announced later on their the MANGA Plus Twitter/X account at @mangaplus_o. This is a rare opportunity for readers outside of Japan to have a direct impact on the fates of new, up-and-coming manga series in Jump, so I am excited to see the turnout at this event!

Free Badge Pin for MANGA Plus readers
As a freebie for fans who are already reading on MANGA Plus, the booth staff will be giving free pins if you show them the MANGA Plus app on your phone. The giveaway will be random, so you won’t know which one you’ll get. The Gear 5 Luffy design looks very fun, but I personally want the pin featuring Pochita from Chainsaw Man. At last year’s event I got a Chainsaw Man beanie from the VIZ booth, so now I want to keep the tradition going! 

Shueisha and JUMP manga magazines

SHUEISHA is a top manga publisher in Japan and is best known for their flagship magazine, Weekly Shonen Jump. At its peak, Weekly Shonen Jump sold as much as 6 million copies per week on newsstands in Japan. Nowadays, weekly print sales of this magazine is closer to 1.2 million/week, but it continues to produce countless successful hits in the international comics industry. Many manga series originally serialized in Weekly Shonen Jump regularly top the graphic novel sales charts in N. America, Europe and Asia, and many of their anime adaptations are huge hits with fans worldwide too.

MANGA Plus is Shueisha’s international digital manga service that provides free chapters published simultaneously with Japan, known as simulpubs. Among the series offered in this service include titles from Weekly Shonen Jump, Weekly Young Jump, a seinen magazine aimed at young adult men, and Jump+, their Japanese digital subscription service. 

MANGA Plus is run by Shueisha, so while some of the series featured on MANGA Plus use the VIZ Media-localized, edited and lettered versions of these stories, there are many series that are only available as simulpub chapter releases on MANGA Plus, including Rugby Rumble, which was recently the subject of some controversy surrounding its use of AI-assisted lettering.

What Does This Mean for NYCC?

It’s great news, because we have a new manga publisher on the floor, and this time they’re based in Japan! It’s further assurance that as manga becomes globally enjoyed, publishers are paying attention to their international audience. MANGA Plus in particular is an interesting case to observe, because it was founded while Shueisha was already invested in the Anglo-sphere through the Viz Media and Shonen Jump brands. Being a service that offers multiple languages is unique, and helps with reaching markets that might not otherwise use English.

Whether or not MANGA Plus will become a regular exhibitor at this Big Apple comics show remains to be seen. However, I am still pretty excited about it, if just for the newcomer’s promotion, where international fans will be able to decide what manga gets to be picked up! For their first convention appearance stateside, SHUEISHA is starting off with a bang.

Visit Shueisha’s MANGA Plus website for more info about their service, their plans for NYCC 2023, and links to download their apps for iOS and Android.