Manga production · Japan
Turn your IP into a serialized manga
Mangatari is a manga production studio near Tokyo. We take a story you already own — a novel, a webnovel, a game, a light novel, or an original premise — and produce it as a serialized manga, from adaptation through to delivery-ready pages.
Our titles run on Japan’s major manga platforms, and are published in English on MangaPlaza. We work in English and reply within one business day, Japan time.
Tell us about your project What it costs
What we produce
Four ways we work
- Comicalization You own a novel, webnovel, game or light novel. We adapt it — structure, script, storyboard and art — into a manga that reads the way manga is supposed to read. This is most of what we do.
- Original serialization You have a premise, a market and a budget, but no story yet. We develop it with you and produce it.
- Ongoing production for a running title A chapter a month, sustained over a run. Editor, script, storyboard, line art, assistants and finishing, held to a schedule.
- Art-only production You already have the script and the storyboard. We produce the finished pages.
Proof
Work we’ve produced
All four titles below were produced by our studio, are serialized in Japan, and are published in English on MangaPlaza.
Mystery / Suspense / Revenge
English · Japanese
Romance / Fantasy
English · Japanese
Drama / Josei
English · Japanese
Seinen / Suspense
Japanese
Shonen / Romantic comedy
Japanese
Process
How a project runs
- Brief and IP review. You send the source material and the market you are aiming at. Three business days.
- Adaptation plan and quote. Structure, chapter count, page count per chapter, schedule and price. One to two weeks.
- Script and storyboard. Per chapter, with your approval at each step.
- Line art, assistants, finishing. The production team takes over, on the schedule agreed at step two.
- Delivery. Layered files, print-ready pages, or built to your platform’s spec.
Working with us from overseas
English, throughout. Your point of contact is one person, not a queue.
We are on Japan Standard Time (UTC+9) and reply within one business day.
Payment is by international bank transfer in Japanese yen.
Pricing
What it costs
We publish our rate, because you should be able to decide whether to email us without emailing us first.
¥20,000 per page
| Scope | Price |
|---|---|
| Per page | ¥20,000 |
| One chapter (24 pages, our minimum) | ¥480,000 |
| First commitment (6 chapters) | ¥2,880,000 |
| Art-only production | Quoted lower — tell us what you have |
A serialization is normally committed six chapters at a time. Twenty-four pages is our minimum chapter length — most chapters run longer, and we price them by the page either way.
That rate covers the whole team a chapter actually takes: an editor, a script writer, a storyboard artist, a line artist, assistants and a finisher. A serialized manga is a production, not an illustration order, and it is priced like one.
If ¥480,000 for a first chapter is beyond what you have, we are not the right studio for you — a freelance artist will serve you better, and we would rather tell you that now than after three weeks of email.
Clients
Who we work with
We produce for Japanese publishers, distribution platforms, listed companies and the Japanese government.
KADOKAWA · NTT Solmare · viviON · Amutas · Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan · LY Corp. · LINE WORKS · SoftBank InnoVenture · Money Forward · TerraSky · freee sign · Rentio
Terms
Rights and terms
You keep your IP. We produce to commission, and the commercial rights in the finished manga transfer to you on final payment, on terms we agree in writing before the work starts.
Payment is by international bank transfer in Japanese yen. We will take you through the full commercial terms on our first call, and set them out in writing before any work starts.
Start a project
Tell us what you have — a synopsis, a sample chapter, a pitch deck — and we will come back with a plan and a quote.