Webtoon‘s Japanese sister platform, Line Manga, has just become the highest-grossing platform of the month in Japan, and its success may be a sign that manhwa is indeed surpassing manga. While Piccoma has been dominating the international market for quite some time, Line Manga has been steadily gaining traction in Japan, and its latest milestone proves exactly which manhwa are gaining popularity over manga in Japan.
According to data posted on X by MangaMoguraRE, Line Manga has taken the top spot as the highest-grossing app in Japan for the month of May for the first time in four years. The data originally generated by Data.AI reveals Line Manga yielded $46.1 million in revenue, surpassing the international manga giant Piccoma and even popular gacha games like Fate/Grand Order and Honkai: Star Rail.
While Japanese publishers like Shueisha have tried to capitalize on the webtoon mania through initiatives such as JumpToon, manhwa platforms like Piccoma, Webtoon, and Line Manga are making the most of their head start and continue to grow in popularity. Webtoon has already established a firm hold in the West and Naver’s other subsidiary, Line Manga, may seriously compete with Kakao’s Piccoma in Japan as well.
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Line Manga’s Success Reveals the Most Popular Manhwa in Japan
Only The Remarried Empress is Successful Both in and Outside Japan
Line Manga largely owns its latest success to a host of wildly popular titles like The Remarried Empress, Teenage Mercenary, The Dragon King’s Bride, A Man’s Man, and Saviour of Divine Blood, each of which generate well over 100 million yen a month in terms of sales in Japan. Of these titles, only Saviour of Divine Blood is a Japanese webtoon and is set to be licensed in English starting in June, 2024.
Interestingly, the most popular manhwa in Japan on Line Manga are an equal mix of fantasy, romance, drama, and action. However, of these, only The Remarried Empress, has gained significant popularity outside Japan. The beloved historical romance manhwa has gained approximately 435 million views, 35.9 million likes, and 3.4 million subscribers on Webtoon, while the rest lag quite far behind.
Overall, though manga has been the untouchable giant in Japan for decades, manhwa with their vibrant colors, easy accessibility and unique storytelling, are poised to challenge the throne. Fortunately, this will translate to more manhwa getting anime adaptations just as spectacular as Solo Leveling in the near future.
Source: MangaMoguraRE/X
