Kodansha’s online magazine MiChao! is ending
Mangaka Manabe Jouji wrote on his blog that he has been informed by a Kodansha editor that their online manga magazine MiChao! will be closing. MiChao! currently has at least 54 serialized manga running on their site, covering a vast array of genres.
It’s free to read the manga for the first three weeks after the chapter is put up, and they’d release manga to cellphones first. But their site actually requires readers to register for an account before being able to read anything, unlike some other sites.
Manabe was going to start serialization on MiChao! starting from next month, but now that they’re closing, his manga isn’t going to get published anymore, though they’ll still pay him for what he has done.
Satou has been looking for mangaka to join his online manga site and now there are a ton of mangaka who are free to join!
Via: 猫とネギま！と声優さん
I’ve never read anything on MiChao. Mainly because of the need to register an account.
May 19th, 2009 at 10:16 pm
The whole registering thing probably was the nail in the coffin. I’m sure on top of that, they had a specific browser application that you had to have or what not as well. Here’s hoping they aren’t throwing in the towel on online manga all together though.
Yahoo.co.jp Comics (The only reason I’ve got IE on my computer, as they don’t have accessibility for any other browsers) seems like it’s doing well enough for itself anyways, I’d hate to think the method of delivery over the internet is the problem.
May 20th, 2009 at 7:48 am
any service that forces you to use IE is ridiculous. I did register only cause i’m used to the japanese being control freaks with there content ^^
May 20th, 2009 at 8:40 pm
Does it have a cellphone interface? If people couldn’t read it during their commute, that could be a big reason why it sank without a trace.
May 31st, 2009 at 1:08 pm
The financial downturn is showing it’s mark?