Speaking With MangaPlaza at Anime Expo 2026

• Interview Location: Anime Expo 2026
• Interview Format: In-Person, One-on-One

Anime Herald: How much control does MangaPlaza have over pricing? Do the IP rights holders set the rules, or do your licenses generally give you freedom?

MangaPlaza: With Japanese publishers, we receive a license from them, and they are the ones who set the price. There are many Japanese publishers who are unfamiliar with overseas markets. With those, we are happy to offer advice and suggestions around pricing.

Anime Herald: For something like Golden Week, or holiday season in the United States, when there is a sale, you’ll reach out to the Japanese publishers and work out a sale price?

MangaPlaza: In principle, yes. We make all decisions in conversation with the Japanese publishers.

Anime Herald: How has the explosion of anime in the United States, and around the world, affected your business?

MangaPlaza: Overall, it has been very positive on our influence. When we consider something like manga, we can see the increase in international sales. With the popularity of anime, many anime are based on an original manga. That allows us to connect with potential international readers who connect through manga through anime.

We can give you some concrete data to support that. Using Ramparts of Ice as an example, when it was released as an anime title on Netflix, our manga sales of it doubled.

Anime Herald: What would you like our readers to know about the MangaPlaza platform?

MangaPlaza: There are three things we would like our users to know about us.

The first is that we are official. We provide legal access to titles. That is an important part of our identity.

The second is that we have a significant and broad range of titles.

Finally, we are a fan-first company. We emphasize the user experience and prioritize the feedback we get back from customers.

Anime Herald: I am going to use Amazon Prime streaming as an example here. They have additional subscription services for niche producers. Could you strike a deal with a publisher where a person could buy a subscription to that publisher’s titles?

MangaPlaza: No, we are not considering that.

Anime Herald: What are your respective origin stories? How did you enter this industry?

Takahiro Ishii: My background is in IT. I was doing web development. Like many, I was a regular manga reader who looked forward to the weekly Monday release of Weekly Shonen Jump. I read Dragon Ball, Naruto, One Piece. I was curious as to the ways that those titles could be released on the web.

Anime Herald: So you were a tech person.

Takahiro Ishii: Yes.

Daichi Katsuki: I started at NTT, the parent company of NTT Solmare. I was transferred from NTT to NTT Solmare.

Originally, manga wasn’t my interest as much as anime. I was attracted to titles like Gundam. From working with Solmare, my interests expanded into manga. Currently I do two kinds of work. I work on relations with the publishing houses, and I do sales work.

Anime Herald: What were your initial responsibilities with NTT and NTT Solmare?

Daichi Katsuki: NTT is a communications corporation. I was first working with optic fiber. I did optic fiber installations into buildings.

Anime Herald: I love that you both started on the technical side.

Daichi Katsuki: Mr. Ishii is more on the creative side. I was on the sales side of those services.

Anime Herald: The iPhone was not released until 2007. What were the first few years like for NTT Solmare Corporation?

Daichi Katsuki: When I was working at NTT Solmare, I was working with the native Japanese digital phones. This was before the iPhone. We had a platform called “Comic C’moA”. It was an extremely popular means to provide comics to users on their phones. With the release of the iPhone, those sales plummeted.

After that, I was working with a world bookstore. It was targeted towards both Android and iPhones, but it was completely unsuccessful.

Then, we went back to Comic C’moA and we were able to make it compatible with iPhones. We were able to release that in August of 2011. At first, it was difficult for us to gain any traction. We changed our platform. We changed how Comic C’moA would work on smartphones. We developed a web-based interface as well. It was really tough. But, through various modifications and promotions, we turned it into a success.

Anime Herald: Do you have any questions for us?

MangaPlaza: How long has Anime Herald existed?

Anime Herald: We started in 2010.

MangaPlaza: How have you seen the world of anime and manga shift in that time?

Anime Herald: It’s gone mainstream. We have second-generation fans where the parents grew up watching anime and reading manga, and now the kids do as well.

MangaPlaza: What kind of topics are most interesting to you?

Anime Herald: Fashion. I like seeing the cool designs. I’m wearing Japanese socks and a Japanese shirt right now.

MangaPlaza: What type of anime do you think are most interesting to your readers?

Anime Herald: We have different generations. For the older generations,Dragon Ball Z,Naruto,Sailor Moon, andMy Little Pony. The younger generations watch the major shows likeJujutsu KaisenandMy Hero Academia. I generally prefer the less popular stuff, likeNo Longer Allowed in Another World,Kengan Ashura, andBaki.

MangaPlaza: Are there particular types of anime that your readers prefer?

Anime Herald: They were very big fans ofYuri!!! on Ice. A lot of our readers will like kawaii anime. They contain multitudes, they like a variety of different things.

MangaPlaza: What kinds of things would your readers look for in a non-pirate site? What do you think we can do to appeal to them?

Anime Herald: There are different factors that will matter to different people. For some people, speed is a major factor. They want it to be available as quickly as possible.

Some people are very price sensitive. Others are just looking for the most convenient way to read the titles they are interested in.

There are some readers that are most interested in quality. There are people like this who will never be satisfied by digital only. They will want a physical product that they can hold.

I want to give one final example. It has to do with music sites. When legitimate sites beat the pirate sites, they beat them on convenience. That is where the battle was fought. People think of themselves as cheap, but what they are more than anything else is lazy.

Anime Herald: This was great, thank you very much.

MangaPlaza: Thank you.