If you’ve been around Twitter for the last month or two, there’s been quite bit of chatter here and there about “Kickstarter manga”. No, it’s not your favorite and world famous mangaka that’s taken to the crowdfunding platform to bring something new to the world. It’s a group of women, centered around a specific genre, that have appeared in the last month- and they’ve proven quite a bit about the global stage for manga as a medium. But first, a history of Kickstarting and the world of Japanese anime and manga.
Animanga and Kickstarters
So, what we’re seeing currently is not “actually” the first of Kickstarter manga- the real owner of that name arrived a little over 2 years ago now. Back then, in Spring 2022, a group of 10 mangaka came together with an idea: “A butch x butch manga anthology”, called Boyish2. Including several high profile names- particularly Hanakage Alt and Nerikomi Toukichirou (who made their own Kickstarter manga around the same time)-, the project was overseen by Natsuo Mutsumi. Though their name isn’t overly well known in English, they’re a mangaka that makes a habit of releasing their work in both Japanese and English (which you can view and purchase on their shop), and have actually won some awards such as the Shueisha MEE Newcomer’s Incentive Award back in May of 2021. Considering that effort, it makes sense for them to be at the lead of a group of mangaka looking to make their mark at a global scale.
To cut to the chase, the Kickstarter manga was very successful, drawing in over 1000 backers and crowdfunding over 4 million yen for the production of the anthology. Though, it took from the successful backing of Boyish2 in 2022, up until this moment in 2024 (excluding the kickstarter for its second volume), to see new Kickstarter manga appear on the platform. In between, the website (and similar other crowdfunding platforms) have seen use in regards to anime- with the most high profile being works like Kuryukaba or Komada: A Whisky Family– but manga had remained entirely dormant. You could say that the English (and international) market for Kickstarters still exists- but that is exclusively in the form of publishers crowfunding for a release they’ve already licensed; a very different approach from (Japanese) creators taking it on. Regardless, that silence is largely due to the accessibility and affordability of the medium, thanks to an incredibly strong and independent market where self publishing is surprisingly inexpensive. Additionally, with massive community events like Comitia and Comiket, mangaka have very little reason to take to the platform to find a market… unless you want to get outside of Japan.
Trends in Kickstarter Manga
With the goal of distributing your work to the outside of the world, a Kickstarter manga makes much more sense than simply taking to a doujin event to disseminate your work. But what kind of people are looking at worldwide manga in the first place? In the traditional sense- a ton of publishers. What’s happening here though is an operation on a much more individual scale. Typically, it’s small-scale mangaka that don’t operate exclusively within the framework of magazine published works. In the majority of cases, these are works that were previously published independently- be it on social media or elsewhere- and are searching for a broader audience after the fact. It’s a decidedly different appeal to the original work that Natsuo Mutsumi organized for their manga anthology.
One thing that remains the same though is the very specific focus: Yuri as a genre. In fact, every single Kickstarter manga that has been looking for a wider (English) audience has been within the yuri genre. Of course, all the creators are also (to my knowledge) women. It’s a very simple observation, but I’ll spell it out a little more clearly. Women have consistently been at the forefront of the development and innovation of manga as a medium- be it the departure from traditionally rigid panelling, to the creation of high school romance stories- so seeing this demographic appear once more is very unsurprising. Additionally, compounding the demographic with the creation of queer media (just think of Yaoi’s early popularity in doujin circles) narrows that focus further to a very active and independent group.
Current Kickstarters and Exceptions
So, where does the trend of Kickstarter manga with the purpose of global distribution stand currently? As of writing this article there are three active yuri manga Kickstarters, and one very surprising exception. Covering the “typical” content first, there is Now No One Lurks Beneath The Snow: A Queer Fantasy Romance by Aneido, Her Kiss, My Libido Twinkles by Miyuki Yorita (a participant in the Galette magazine Kickstrater), and Senpai No Kouhai from Hanakage Alt (a name from Boyish2). Together, the trio have a combined (non-unique) 786 backers, with Aneido and Miyuki Yorita’s Kickstarter campaigns still active. Hanakage Alt’s has been successfully backed.
As for the exception to this trend? Well, it’s a bonafide manga magazine creating a Kickstarter to publish six volumes in English- Galette. Unsurprisingly, the magazine is yuri-centric, and was originally created as a form of distribution for its members at the quarterly Comitia events. Beginning life all the way back in 2016, the magazine has had a strong life cycle supported by several creators including Miyuki Yorita and the very successful Milk Morinaga. It’s grown to be such a success that Galette themselves has began publishing and distributing their own work, where it was previously handled by Brick Publishing.
As a small addendum however, the Galette magazine that English readers will receive is different from their quarterly domestic release. The group instead has opted to condense a set of works into the six volume release of the English magazine, ensuring readers get a majority of a work rather than a smaller subset, making for a very intelligent decision.
Kickstarter Manga Moving Forward
Though it’s not really a question, it’s worth commenting on where things may go from here. It’s hardly likely we’ll see many “influential” or very (currently) popular mangaka take to crowdfunding to distribute their works. Much like the purpose of doujins, these campaigns will largely target a demographic separate from what traditional manga publishing aims for. While it’s highly unlikely to find other magazines that might follow in Galette’s footsteps, the odds of more indie mangaka stepping up to the plate is quite high.
How long that takes, and where it might lead is anyone’s guess however. For the moment, we have a strong snapshot of the potential for international growth outside of a traditional framework, leading to creators taking a much larger portion of their revenue at a global scale. It’s hardly what you’d call a bad idea, and so you arrive at the conclusion that it’s an exciting and interesting adaptation to see arrive- and one that I’d love to see thrive, personally.
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