‘Vinland Saga’ editor warns of Western influence on manga industry

The manga and anime industry continues to grow by leaps and bounds. A phenomenon that has been with us globally for decades, but in recent times and accompanied by the rise of social media and streaming platforms, it’s beginning to be on everyone’s lips and becoming a product of mass consumption. Works such as “Kagurabachi” and many others have been popular in the West since they were first published as manga, a remarkable change from the past when a work was unknown outside Japan until it was released as an anime. This global popularity can lead both companies and publishers to take the West into account when developing a work. This is what Akira Kanai, the editor of ‘Vinland Saga’, the manga by Makoto Yukimura, one of the most popular seinen in recent times, said.

Kanai was interviewed by the German media outlet Manga Passion and talked about the success of manga in the West and how it can influence his work as a publisher: “II don’t allow myself to be influenced by so-called political correctness abroad and design the works accordingly. I think that if it’s interesting, it will usually be understood, regardless of whether you come from Africa, Chile, or Greenland. I’ve never made a big deal of it so far. Stopping a work because it deals with a problem that is too Japanese, or specifying to do something – that hardly ever happens.”

Manga and a growing success in the West

In the interview, Akira Kanai uses the romantic comedy series ‘Skip and Loafer’ as an example, noting that it is “about a girl who comes from the Japanese countryside and moves to the Japanese city of Tokyo alone to study at a good high school. I think people all over the world will certainly understand her feeling of insecurity in the same way. That’s why such works tend to appeal to an international audience.”

The future will tell how some publishers deal with Western influence, and with the rise of digital and services like Manga Plus, it is increasingly clear that the international reader is playing a bigger role in the manga industry.