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Shueisha Launches Manga Plus App in Thai
posted on by Rafael Antonio Pineda
Shueisha's MANGA Plus online manga site and app announced on Monday that it has added Thai language support. The app was previously only available in English and Spanish.
MANGA Plus launched in January for both iOS and Android, as well as a website accessible on browsers.
The service publishes new chapters of currently serialized manga from Shueisha's Weekly Shonen Jump magazine, Jump Square magazine, and the Shonen Jump+ service at the same time they are released in Japan. While MANGA Plus is free to download and use, users can also purchase compiled book volumes for specific manga. The first chapter and the latest chapter of currently serialized manga are also free. A portion of the revenue from advertisements on the website goes directly to the manga authors.
Viz Media launched its Shonen Jump service in December 2018, which similarly offers simultaneous publishing of serialized manga, as well as catalog manga. In an interview with ANN, Shonen Jump+ editor Shuhei Hosono outlined what is different in MANGA Plus compared to Viz's service: worldwide availability (Viz Media's service is only available in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland, New Zealand, Australia, South Africa, the Philippines, Singapore, and India), the availability of titles outside of the Weekly Shonen Jump magazine, and the addition of some titles that have never had an English release.
Viz Media's subscription-based Shonen Jump service, conversely, features the full backlog of several completed and ongoing Weekly Shonen Jump or Jump Square manga not available currently on MANGA Plus.
The service is the first time that Shueisha is expanding into direct service globally.
Source: Manga Plus via @WSJ_manga
