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Mangamo Adds Motoka Murakami's JIN Manga, Announces Daily Free Chapter Feature
posted on by Alex Mateo
Mangamo announced during its Virtual Crunchyroll Expo panel on Thursday that it is adding Motoka Murakami's historical medical manga JIN to its service. This marks the first time that the entire manga is available for subscription.
Mangamo also announced a new feature called the "Daily Free Chapter," which allows new users to read a free chapter every day without signing up for a subscription. The new tier will contain no ads, and it will include hundreds of manga chapters, including series that were not previously available in English. JIN's first 20 chapters will be available for free daily on the service.
Mangamo will also add the following manga from Kodansha Comics: Real Girl by Mao Nanami, I'm Standing on a Million Lives by Naoki Yamakawa and Akinari Nao, and Boarding School Juliet by Yōsuke Kaneda.
The JIN manga's protagonist Jin Minakata is a doctor from present-day Japan who finds himself sent back to Japan's Bakumatsu era, the period that spelled the end of the shoguns' rule over Japan.
Murakami opened a Patreon account in 2017 to fund an English translation of his historical medical manga JIN. Murakami posted the first two chapters for free, and additional chapters were uploaded weekly for patrons contributing US$5 per month or more.
The manga inspired two live-action television series, both broadcast on Japan's TBS network and starring Takao Osawa. The series also inspired a 2012 Korean live-action television adaptation, and which Crunchyroll streamed outside of Japan. The manga also received a stage play adaptation from the famous all-female Takarazuka Revue Company in 2012.
Murakami's manga concluded its serialization in Shueisha's Super Jump magazine in 2010 and has been collected into 20 volumes. The manga received a Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize in 2011.
Mangamo is a mobile manga subscription service that gives readers ad-free unlimited access to legally licensed and professionally localized titles. The app launched in the U.S. and Canada in April 2020 for iOS devices. The company launched its Android version worldwide on November 23.
The service offers manga that have not received previous releases in English. The app also includes Attack on Titan, Somali and the Forest Spirit, Fire Force, Arte, Dropkick on My Devil!, Akatsuki Babies, Reset Game, and Daily Meteor Strike.
The app uploads chapters daily. Users can read manga on the app from left to right or by scrolling vertically, and the app features a customized reader.
Mangamo currently partners with 19 publishers including Kodansha, Comicsmart, TOPPAN, and North Star Pictures. The company entered into a licensing deal with Dark Horse Comics to offer the Lone Wolf and Cub and Appleseed manga, alongside American comics such as Hellboy and Usagi Yojimbo, in December.
Source: Email correspondence
