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Launch HN: Azuki (YC W22) – All-you-can-read manga subscription

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101–110 of 150 posts

Re: Launch HN: Azuki (YC W22) – All-you-can-read manga subscription

#101
Are you guys accepting subscriptions from outside the USA? I found your service a while ago through Crunchyroll but I have backed off trying it out because of this.

(Most US based services are unavailable abroad or have incomplete catalogs (hi, Crunchyroll) due to licensing)

Re: Launch HN: Azuki (YC W22) – All-you-can-read manga subscription

#103
I'm glad to see this service making it off the ground. With the rising popularity of manga globally there's a lot of room for innovation in this space, especially transcending the sometimes myopic focus of more traditional publishers on those "safe" titles which might be perceived to sell well (an attitude which both keeps excellent manga away from the Western market and foments the scanlation scene, for better or worse). Seeing you guys work with Glacier Bay and Star Fruit, acting as an intermediary with regards to digital content distribution, makes me hopeful that the conditions are ripe for even more indie publishers to spring up in the near future, and that this won't be the end of new resources that help facilitate that.

I suppose I would be most curious about your opinions on the viability of the simulpub model at scale. Viz, for instance, fully redoes their simulpubs for popular series like One Piece when releasing volumes, and it's not hard to see the challenges associated with rapid and consistent delivery of high-quality simulpubs on a tight schedule. I ask especially since you mention quality as one of your selling points, and beyond the major established print publishers quality has often been hit and miss, especially for digital-native services.

Re: Launch HN: Azuki (YC W22) – All-you-can-read manga subscription

#104
Congratulations on the launch.

I wonder if a service like yours could licence distribution of digital editions in Japanese outside of Japan. I would sign up in a second for dual language access to Manga (and light novels).

I think part of the reason for manga piracy relates to people who want to consume the originals and can't buy from a Japanese store front or afford the price of buying the physical manga all the time.

Re: Launch HN: Azuki (YC W22) – All-you-can-read manga subscription

#106

Congrats on your launch! I have been an anime/manga fan for 30 years now, been following the development of the industry for a long time, and I have questions/comments. 1. Are Japanese producers interested in the foreign market now? How does this affect you? Piracy has been a phenomenon in the foreign market for a looong time, and for the longest time the Japanese weren't interested in the foreign market at all. Even…

I run a competitor to Azuki, Comikey, and I'm happy to offer some insight into this growing industry. 1. Absolutely, Japanese publishers are interested, but maybe not for the reasons you think. They have realized that the Korean (webtoons) and Chinese (webcomics) markets are expanding rapidly into the international market, and webtoon services are crushing manga services. Even a lot of the manga audience itself is mo…

> some content is simply never going to be available to a company like Comikey or Azuki unless you become the size of e.g. Amazon.

Why? What's the downside of licensing content to smaller publishers? Licensing doesn't cost the producers anything right?

Re: Launch HN: Azuki (YC W22) – All-you-can-read manga subscription

#108
post #77

Congrats on your launch! I have been an anime/manga fan for 30 years now, been following the development of the industry for a long time, and I have questions/comments. 1. Are Japanese producers interested in the foreign market now? How does this affect you? Piracy has been a phenomenon in the foreign market for a looong time, and for the longest time the Japanese weren't interested in the foreign market at all. Even…

I've been reading a lot of Chinese novels and web comics. Discovering new genres based on chinese mythos, fresh takes on western fantasy and japanese manga tropes, and all the weird and wonderful new types of story has been a lot of fun. Censorship over the last few years has changed the scene a lot. It is now very hard to tell a political intrigue story for instance, and gay themes are apparently heavily censored. T…

Can you show examples of nationalistic themes?

Re: Launch HN: Azuki (YC W22) – All-you-can-read manga subscription

#109

Congrats on your launch! I have been an anime/manga fan for 30 years now, been following the development of the industry for a long time, and I have questions/comments. 1. Are Japanese producers interested in the foreign market now? How does this affect you? Piracy has been a phenomenon in the foreign market for a looong time, and for the longest time the Japanese weren't interested in the foreign market at all. Even…

A lot of what chocolatkey said is accurate. Also hi chocolatkey! I really hope manga survives too and I’m happy to see folks like Comikey out there alongside us trying to push the industry forward. 1. Publishers are definitely interested in the foreign market. The issue is that many of them are very conservative about making lots of content available via subscription. They’re used to a traditional a-la-carte model fo…

> The big publishers are very conservative, and no one wants to be the licensing person who gave away the farm to a foreign startup.

What is the risk to them? Don't they get paid no matter who they license to? Or is this about fear of cannibalizing the print business?

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