Publishing giant Kodansha’s newly launched manga app, K MANGA, faced heavy criticism from the readers for having the worst subscription model there is, on the day of its launching in the U.S. on May 10, 2023.

The K MANGA app uses gacha system, which requires a specific set of points to read each chapters that ranges from 59-139 points.

For those unaware, a gacha system is an in-game monetization mechanism, where you use in-game currencies to get a random in-game item. For most parts the in-game currency can be gained though watching game play/ads, or by purchasing it from the game publisher using real-world funds.

In the case of K MANGA app, the readers will have to spend real-life money to get points in the app, which in turn can be used to read a specific chapter depending on the amount the chapter requires. While points can be gained by watching ads too, there is a limit to the number of ads a person can watch.

Readers dubbed Kodansha as clowns of the industry, and said their app paled in comparison to the new VIZ Media manga app, where over 10,000+ chapters can be accessed with just $1.99 a month subscription. Whereas, K Manga requires a payment of around that amount for accessing a single chapter.

Fans are also disappointed by the big brain move from Kodansha for removing all their titles from Crunchyroll, Azuki and other, only to launch the ‘worst manga app’.

Kodansha launched new manga platform called ‘K MANGA‘ exclusively for the US audiences on May 10, 2023.

This is a part of Kodansha’s effort to increase the accessibility of their manga titles for US based audiences. The publisher’s manga sales has increased threefold in the country since 2022.

KODANSHA Ltd. is Japan’s leading publishing house based in Tokyo, having delivered stories into ready hands across the globe with a wide variety of content from manga to novels, fashion magazines, news journals, and picture books for children, as well as TV anime, movies, series, and video games since 1909 in the spirit of “Inspire Impossible Stories.” KODANSHA is globally recognized as the licensor of some of the world’s most loved manga IPs, such as AKIRA, Attack on Titan, and Ghost in the Shell. Their digital book platform, MAGAPOKE was launched in July 2015 and to date has been downloaded nearly 20 million times.

Source: Twitter