Last week, JManga.com was launched. The site is to be an extensive database of manga titles, both for free (for selected titles) and for purchase.
The Digital Comics Association, who put together the web portal, hopes to have 10,000 manga titles available on the site by 2013.
Conceived to help combat rampant online piracy of manga and anime titles, JManga is intended to appeal to both hardcore fans and those who are somewhat unfamiliar with the entertainment medium. As Publishers Weekly describes,
While other legitimate online manga sites are tied to individual publishers, JManga carries manga from a variety of different sources and serves as an entry point for readers, providing a mix of content and links to other digital manga sites. Some manga are available to read on the site, while for others, the site simply offers a catalog listing or a free preview (sometimes in Japanese). If manga is available digitally on other websites, such as Vizmanga.com, the catalog listing includes a pointer to that site, as well as links for purchase of print editions.
Some of the biggest and most successful manga publishing companies were present for the site’s preview at Comic-Con in San Diego last month, and that will surely help its success among its core audience.
Developers plan to expand the site to mobile devices soon, to go along with the expansion of the online database of titles.
Read the rest of the Publishers Weekly article for some insight into the conception of JManga and how developers plan to use the site to help foster a relationship between the reader, publisher, and artists.
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i love to read japan manga and like to watch japan cartoon too