Manga Outside Japan - United States

United States

The growth of manga translation and publishing in the United States has been a slow progression over several decades. The earliest manga-derived series to be released in the United States was a redrawn American adaptation of Osamu Tezuka's Astro Boy published by Gold Key Comics starting in 1965. The first manga to be published in the US with its original artwork intact was a ten-page story by Shinobu Kaze, "Violence Becomes Tranquility", which appeared in the March 1980 issue of Heavy Metal. In December 1982 the San Francisco-based publisher Educomics released a colorized and translated version of Keiji Nakazawa's I Saw It. Four translated volumes of Nakazawa's major work Barefoot Gen were also published in the early 1980s by New Society Publishers. Short works by several Garo-affiliated artists including Yoshiharu Tsuge and Terry Yumura appeared in May 1985 in RAW's no. 7 "Tokyo Raw" special.

In 1987, Viz Comics, an American subsidiary of the Japanese publishers Shogakukan and Shueisha, began publishing translations of three manga series - Area 88, Mai the Psychic Girl, and The Legend of Kamui - in the U.S. in association with the American publisher Eclipse Comics. Viz went on to bring English translations of popular series such as Ranma ½ and Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Some other American publishers released notable translations of Japanese comics in this period, such as First Comics' serialization of Lone Wolf and Cub which started in May 1987. However, the first manga to make a strong impression on American audiences was Katsuhiro Otomo's Akira, which was brought to the United States in colorized form in 1988 by Epic Comics, a division of Marvel.

Throughout the 1990s, manga slowly gained popularity as Viz Media, Dark Horse and Mixx (now Tokyopop released more titles for the US market. Both Mixx and Viz published manga anthologies: MixxZine (1997–1999) ran serialized manga such as Sailor Moon, Magic Knight Rayearth and Ice Blade, while Viz's Animerica Extra (1998–2004) featured series including Fushigi Yugi, Banana Fish and Utena: Revolutionary Girl. In 2002 Viz began publishing a monthly American edition of the famous Japanese "phone book"-style manga anthology Shōnen Jump featuring some of the most popular manga titles from Japan, including Dragon Ball Z, Naruto, Bleach and One Piece. Its circulation far surpassed that of previous American manga anthologies, reaching 180,000 in 2005. Also in 2005, Viz launched Shojo Beat, a successful counterpart to Shonen Jump aimed at female readers.

In 2002, Tokyopop introduced its "100% Authentic Manga" line, which featured unflipped pages and were smaller in size than most other translated graphic novels. This allowed them be retailed at a price lower than that of comparable publications by Viz and others. The line was also made widely available in mainstream bookstores such as Borders and Barnes & Noble, which greatly increased manga's visibility among the book-buying public. After Tokyopop's success, most of the other manga companies switched to the smaller unflipped format and offered their titles at similar prices.

As of 2012 a large number of small companies in the United States publish manga. Several large publishers have also released, or expressed interest in releasing manga. Del Rey translated and published several Japanese series including xxxHolic, Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle and, Negima!: Magister Negi Magi, while Harlequin has brought its Ginger Blossom line of manga, originally released only in Japan, to the United States as well.