KADOKAWA Acquires J-Novel Club to Boost BookWalker for U.S. Manga Market

Kadokawa, the Japanese media conglomerate, has taken some impressive and revolutionary steps towards its development recently.

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Its latest acquisition is J-Novel Club, a US-based publishing company.

J-Novel Club is well-known for bringing various light novels and manga to America. In fact, it is one of the leading publishers in its field. Kadokawa now owns a majority stake in the company.

Kadokawa announced on 28th April that the company has completed the acquisition of J-Novel Club. The corporation has revealed that it intends to have J-Novel Club and Bookwalker work together.

It's announced KADOKAWA Corp. has been completed their acquisition of publishing company J-Novel Club in order to strengthen e-book business in English speaking market.

As a part of their plan, BookWalker and J-Novel Club also form a partnership.

Via: https://t.co/IglAoRQdrs pic.twitter.com/xqcSY7dfyc

— Ranobe Sugoi (+) (@RanobeSugoi) April 29, 2021

J-Novel Club has been publishing the latest manga and light novel chapters online with proper translations and minimal delay. It also distributes e-book titles of the series in North America.

The light novel and manga market of North America has grown, and Kadokawa believes that the acquisition will help feed the market even better. Kadokawa aims to strengthen its e-Book business through BookWalker, the global online service.

Yen Press is also jointly owned by Kadokawa and Hachette Book Group, and this acquisition of J-Novel Club will work in its favor.

It is visible that the Japanese conglomerate is trying to take over the manga and light novel publishing industry in the Western world.

“Going forward, we wouldlike to contribute to Japanese publishers by way of spreading Japanese light novels to the rest of the world.”

Ichiro Hashiba, President of BookWalker & Executive Officer of Kadokawa

I really hope this doesn’t became another Vertical Inc (bought by Kodansha), where J-Novel can’t acquire non-Kadokawa titles. Will Hobby Japan license future titles to a Kadokawa company? idk

— Mark (@Mask_Lover) April 28, 2021

J-Novel Club will now have access to much more content than before, and its service is now bound to get better. However, fans are also worried that the company might lose its independent status.

There is also a possibility that Kadokawa will restrict it from publishing any manga or light novel that does not belong to the parent company.

Kadokawa buying out J-Novel Club is kind of worrying news on a few fronts. Let’s hope they retain independence as a subsidiary https://t.co/NpyKd9BSKR

— Lailah Susanna (@vtuber_lailah) April 28, 2021

How will Kadokawa plan out its next steps? Will J-Novel Club’s service get better or worse?  Is the global market for manga and light novels about to be revolutionized?

Source: Kadokawa