Tezuka on iPad represents shift in manga biz

Manga is an integral part of the entertainment industry in Japan, and has been for decades. There are numerous weekly and monthly manga anthologies. Series carried in those magazines often become bestsellers in paperback form and are adapted into anime , live-action TV shows and films. However, with fewer young readers and increasing competition from portable electronic devices, the manga industry has seen better days.

Against this backdrop, it was announced last Wednesday that the works of Osamu Tezuka — one of manga's founding fathers and greatest masters — are now available in English as a digital archive accessible via an application for Apple's iPad.

"I hope that we will consider the spirit of Osamu Tezuka as we transmit his works to new audiences using digital technology," said Takayuki Matsutani, President of Tezuka Productions Co. Ltd., at the Toyko launch of the app. "I am aware of the troubles in the market, and hope that we can contribute to a recovery."

Born in Osaka in 1928, Tezuka's career spanned over 40 years and 150,000 pages. His works have been collected into some 400 volumes, culled from over 700 manga penned before his death in 1989.

In addition to iconic characters such as "Astro Boy" and "Kimba the White Lion," Tezuka is remembered for pioneering "story manga" — sweeping narratives traversing hundreds of pages.

Tezuka is often called the "god" or "godfather" of manga due to his creation of a solid, imitable system of manga that influenced generations of creators and became the bedrock of the industry.

Looking to tap into a rich catalog and legacy, Tezuka Productions, which handles the licensing of Tezuka's works, teamed with SOBA Project, Inc., to develop a digital archive and distribution system.

Because there is no exclusive publisher for Tezuka's work and Tezuka Productions retains the rights, many companies publish Tezuka's manga, sometimes even different editions of the same series. The purpose of this new digital archive is to consolidate Tezuka's collected works and make them available in a convenient location, organized not by publisher, but by title. In an increasingly tough market, with many publishers struggling, this shift in control from publisher to artist may be yet another nail in the coffin for traditional paper-based media.

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