BBC News talk about mobile manga

Paul

Paul

Ghost of Animes
Administrator
BBC News have recently published an article looking at how the Japanese public are increasingly using their mobile phones to read manga and watch anime, so much so that such major publishing companies as Bandai are now offering mobile subscription services to provide fans with content faster than ever.
 
I really can't stand mobile phones to begin with and don't like the idea of reading or watching something on a screen the size of a nail. If i'm out why would I want to watch or read something that I can do with more comfort at home. Whats the point of going out if you're just gonna watch a TV show?
 
I think it's mainly targetted at people who can't do anything else at the time, so this gives them something to do, e.g. on the train to work or on the bus to school :D
I think it's a great idea, just wish it would come here faster and i wish 3G phones were cheaper so this would actually be something affordable...
 
In terms of technology, and actually accepting it in everyday life, Japan is years ahead of the Western world. Hardly anyone even uses mobile phones in the States.

I think this is a cool idea, but the screensize is obviously an issue. That said, I've been stuck on a bus long enough to know how useful something like this could be.
 
i agree with paul here..japan is years ahead of us technologically wise and the idea of being able to use the mobile phone to read manga and so on is a really good idea bar the fact that the screen size is a bit annoying. It would be really handy though specially on the bus..i need something to cure my boredem and get my attention from all the kids on the bus :lol:
 
There are quite a few US manga companies offering downloads of manga for use on PSPs and 3g phones to my knowledge. I can't remember which ones precisely but I would be interested in seeing something like this catching on, even though I don't much like reading on screens as a general rule of thumb.

A few companies have developed screens of late that are practically designed for the purpose of being an electronic book. It only requires a bit of work to combine the two together to produce an excellent solution.
 
I tend to read a lot on long train journeys so being able to see a manga book on my phone screen would actually be pretty cool. If it was a slideshow type of thing whereby you can scroll through the story frame-by-frame rather than page-by-page the screen size wouldn't be a problem for the new large colour screens of modern phones. Of course, as Paul and Arbalest rightly pointed out the Japanese are notorious in their love of shiny new tech so their phone screens are probably larger than what we're used to!

Anime on the other hand wouldn't look nearly as good on a mobile screen - I wouldn't even be too keen on using a PSP-sized screen. The subs would be well-night impossible to read, surely?
 
I knew I had seen a service that offered comics for mobile phones somewhere before and I have found it again.

Tokyopop have issued a press-release alongside partner, uclick, offering some of their manga online. The full press release is available on Anime News Network and the service they offer can be found at www.gocomics.com.
 
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