Australia doesn’t get a lot in the way of exclusive manga services, but from today iPhone and iPad users will now be able to access a new manga service, Mangamo, for $7.99 a month.
Mangamo is meant to provide ad-free unlimited access to official English manga, including major series such as Ghost in the Shell, BLAME!, Attack on Titan, Reset Game, Fairy Tail, Space Brothers, Japan Sinks 2020, Arte, Fire Force, Inuyashiki, Knights of Sidonia. Over 1,000 titles are available at the time of writing. Mangamo is available on Android internationally as well, but for now only the Apple version is available here.
The pitch is pretty simple. A lot of manga read online illegally, reliant on fan-made subs. While that’s helped expand the popularity of manga internationally, it doesn’t do much for the creators or publishers who fund its creation. Around 30 million users worldwide read illegal manga piracy sites every month, according to Mangamo. The hope is that a relatively inexpensive subscription will help fill that gap.
It’s not the only subscription available to Australians. Webtoon series are available in Australia, with Webtoon reliant on a freemium model rather than an upfront payment. Webtoons and manga aren’t the same thing of course — the former is generally a term for South Korean webcomics — but it does provide another legal option for online comics, if that’s your thing.
“I grew up reading manga and watching anime as a child in Japan, and I’m inspired by the global rise of this treasured Japanese form of entertainment,” Mangamo founder and CEO Buddy Marini said in a release earlier this year, when Mangamo announced a two-month free trial at the height of the coronavirus pandemic.
Australians and New Zealanders can access a 30-day free trial at the time of writing. You can find Mangamo on the App Store here, or by searching the App Store on your iPad or iPhone.
Leave a Reply