Is manga cheap in Japan, or is it overpriced in America?!
Question: Is manga cheap in Japan, or is it overpriced in America!?
The japanese amazon says that a volume of naruto is only 410 yen!. Thats about $3!.90 USD!. and here it's 7!.95!.
huge difference I would say :DWww@Enter-QA@Com
huge difference I would say :DWww@Enter-QA@Com
Answers:
First of all, Weekly Shounen Jump titles have a much higher demand and popularity in Japan, which allows Shueisha to print them with cheaper quality paper and looser bound (a reverse example, would be shoujo manga titles which uses the same practice due to the enormous amount of shoujo titles out there!.) Hence, cost is cut down to allow for a lower price tag!. Of course, this does not apply to bunko or collector editions of Jump titles!.
Second, US publishers need to account for the licensing fee, hence ther is an additional added price factor there!.
Finally, one must also account for some differences in business practices!. In japan, there are much more print shop that are owned by small business + the general cost of printing are cheaper!. So it's not just manga, but rather most books in ASIA are much much more affordable than the US (although they are beginning to rise in recent years, due to the overall price inflation in the global economy!.
There are also some extremely unnecessary price-increasing practices that certain US publishers adopt when printing manga/light novels, however, i don't think they're intentional!.!.!.(ex: needlessly printing extra black pages!.)
edit: Despite what most people believe, the majority of the cost in US manga publishing does not come from the translating (although I wish it was T_T)!. You can easily confirm this by checking out the price of J to Chinese, J to Korean, J to German, etc mangas who manage to keep their manga price about equal to the original Japanese price!.Www@Enter-QA@Com
Second, US publishers need to account for the licensing fee, hence ther is an additional added price factor there!.
Finally, one must also account for some differences in business practices!. In japan, there are much more print shop that are owned by small business + the general cost of printing are cheaper!. So it's not just manga, but rather most books in ASIA are much much more affordable than the US (although they are beginning to rise in recent years, due to the overall price inflation in the global economy!.
There are also some extremely unnecessary price-increasing practices that certain US publishers adopt when printing manga/light novels, however, i don't think they're intentional!.!.!.(ex: needlessly printing extra black pages!.)
edit: Despite what most people believe, the majority of the cost in US manga publishing does not come from the translating (although I wish it was T_T)!. You can easily confirm this by checking out the price of J to Chinese, J to Korean, J to German, etc mangas who manage to keep their manga price about equal to the original Japanese price!.Www@Enter-QA@Com
Yeah!.!.!.that's about the right price!. In US, it's been translated or shipped from Japan, which gives you the extra cost for the work done in between!. If you buy Shonen Jump magazine, for example, to see Naruto, then you get the latest comic strip of manga with only-in-magazine color pix, and even posters or calenders with it occasionally!. ^-^ and yes you're right, it's pretty expensive in US!.!.!.Www@Enter-QA@Com
What you forget is this hidden cost: the chapters in the volume have been shown already on Shonen Jump Weekly, so you are already paid an extra sum to buy the "single" chapter!. Thus the price to buy the Volume is cheaper!. So let's us say that the magazine costs 4 dollars, each volume is made up from 10 chapters, that is already 40 dollars you paid + 3!.90 of the volume, your total is 43!.90!.
the other reason why US charges more is because you have to pay: the editors, marketing, translators, the rights to publish the series!.Www@Enter-QA@Com
the other reason why US charges more is because you have to pay: the editors, marketing, translators, the rights to publish the series!.Www@Enter-QA@Com
Well I think America is more expensive because they ship these items made in Japan across the world and in Jpana they on ship it to cities!.Www@Enter-QA@Com
in america I think is more cheap because it′s imported from japan so they put a high price!.Www@Enter-QA@Com
yes but that's because they have to ship the stuff and that costs gasWww@Enter-QA@Com