Anime Adaptations Barely Boost Manga Sales Acording to Editor

COMITIA is a doujin event held in Japan since at least 1984. Its most recent edition took place at the end of January this year, and that is where this story begins.

According to a manga critic who runs a website focused on research about doujin culture and lifestyle, anime do not actually have as much impact on manga sales as many fans believe.

The critic said that during COMITIA he met a man who works as a manga editor at a publishing company. He did not reveal the person’s name or the company involved.

However, he claims that this editor shared some internal insights about the manga industry. According to him, nowadays even manga with low sales figures can receive proposals for anime adaptations.

He also stated that, in general, anime adaptations barely contribute to increasing manga sales. This challenges the common belief that getting an anime automatically gives a major boost to the original work.

The editor reportedly admitted that editors themselves do not watch all anime series. So how can they expect the public to watch everything and assume that every adaptation will significantly boost manga sales? In reality, most of them do not.

As the topic spread, people began sharing their opinions. In the worst cases, some argued that an anime adaptation can even lead to a series ending. This allegedly happened with Osamake: Romcom Where The Childhood Friend Won’t Lose, whose adaptation was so poorly received that the light novel eventually ended. But how many similar cases go unnoticed?

Another user commented: “The biggest problem is when this happens: anime announced → it fails to generate buzz → labeled as having no future → original manga gets canceled.”

Here are more reactions:

• Only a small portion of titles truly see massive sales growth after an anime. But when it works, it works big, and maybe that’s what keeps the system going.
• Maybe the decline in physically lending manga also affects the weak link between anime and sales.
• With so many manga available for free, who is willing to spend money buying them?
• It’s funny to see optimistic manga artists focusing only on the part about even low first print runs getting anime offers.
• When an anime is based on a manga adaptation of another work, it often surpasses the manga, making people think, “Why not just watch the anime?”
• The anime alone is enough for me.
• Could that editor just be a newcomer trying to sound like an industry insider?
• In today’s saturated market, simply getting an anime does not guarantee higher sales.
• Without Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba, the manga would likely have sold a fraction of what it did.

What do you think?