English Manga Report
English Manga Report 2003
Manga release statistics for 2003: new English volumes by month and by publisher, and how long a volume takes to come from Japan to English. Computed from Mangainfo's catalog of English editions.
Updated .
136
new English manga volumes in 2003
- new English volumes
- 136
- publishers
- 7
- median from Japan to English
- 72 months
- series new to English
- 8
Mangainfo counts 136 new English manga volumes released in 2003. They belong to 20 series from 7 publishers. 2002 had 34. That is 102 more, a rise of 300%.
VIZ Media released the most: 74 volumes, or 54.4% of the year. Dark Horse followed with 31 and Tokyopop with 25.
November was the busiest month with 6 volumes. X had the most volumes in one month: 2 in July.
A volume took a median of 72 months to go from its Japanese release to its first English edition. The average was 88.6 months. Both figures cover the 37 volumes whose dates in Japan and in English are known at least to the month. Tokyopop was the fastest of the publishers with 5 or more such volumes, at a median of 67 months. VIZ Media took the longest at 89 months. Vagabond moved fastest: a median of 38 months over 2 volumes. Ranma ½ had the longest wait: a median of 179.5 months.
8 series got their first English edition in 2003. Among them are Azumanga Daioh, Berserk and HELLSING. 3 series finished in English. Their last volume came out in 2003. They are Chobits, Yu Yu Hakusho and Lone Wolf and Cub.
New English manga volumes per month, 2003
| Month | Volumes | Status |
|---|---|---|
| January | 1 | Released |
| February | 0 | Released |
| March | 2 | Released |
| April | 2 | Released |
| May | 2 | Released |
| June | 3 | Released |
| July | 4 | Released |
| August | 3 | Released |
| September | 4 | Released |
| October | 5 | Released |
| November | 6 | Released |
| December | 5 | Released |
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<iframe src="https://mangainfo.com/embed/report/2003/volumes-by-month" title="New English manga volumes per month, 2003" width="720" height="420" loading="lazy"></iframe>
<p>Source: <a href="https://mangainfo.com/report/2003">Mangainfo English Manga Report 2003</a></p>Top English manga publishers by new volumes, 2003
| Publisher | Volumes | Share |
|---|---|---|
| VIZ Media | 74 | 54.4% |
| Dark Horse | 31 | 22.8% |
| Tokyopop | 25 | 18.4% |
| Gutsoon! Entertainment, Incorporated | 3 | 2.2% |
| A.D. Vision | 1 | 0.7% |
| Gutsoon Entertainment | 1 | 0.7% |
| Gutsoon! | 1 | 0.7% |
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<iframe src="https://mangainfo.com/embed/report/2003/top-publishers" title="Top English manga publishers by new volumes, 2003" width="720" height="360" loading="lazy"></iframe>
<p>Source: <a href="https://mangainfo.com/report/2003">Mangainfo English Manga Report 2003</a></p>Months from Japan to English by publisher, 2003
| Publisher | Median | Average | Volumes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tokyopop | 67 months | 63 months | 11 |
| VIZ Media | 89 months | 93.6 months | 23 |
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<iframe src="https://mangainfo.com/embed/report/2003/lag-by-publisher" title="Months from Japan to English by publisher, 2003" width="720" height="210" loading="lazy"></iframe>
<p>Source: <a href="https://mangainfo.com/report/2003">Mangainfo English Manga Report 2003</a></p>Fastest and slowest series from Japan to English
| Series | Median | Volumes |
|---|---|---|
| Vagabond | 38 months | 2 |
| GTO: Great Teacher Onizuka | 46 months | 3 |
| InuYasha | 61 months | 8 |
| Kare Kano: His and Her Circumstances | 68 months | 6 |
| Initial D | 72.5 months | 2 |
Started in English
| Series | Publisher | Date |
|---|---|---|
| Azumanga Daioh | A.D. Vision | |
| Berserk | Dark Horse | |
| HELLSING | Dark Horse | |
| Planetes | Tokyopop | |
| Slam Dunk | Gutsoon! Entertainment, Incorporated | |
| Trigun | Dark Horse | |
| Yu Yu Hakusho | VIZ Media | |
| Basara | VIZ Media |
From the license tracker for 2003.
Finished in English
| Series | Volumes | Last volume |
|---|---|---|
| Chobits | 8 | |
| Yu Yu Hakusho | 19 | |
| Lone Wolf and Cub | 28 |
Month by month
Methodology
The report counts Japanese manga volumes in English. A volume counts once, in the month of its first English edition from a manga publisher. Later editions of the same volume, such as an ebook after the print book or an omnibus, do not count again. Library rebinds and distributors do not count as publishers. A volume dated only to a year counts in the year but in no month.
The time from Japan to English is counted in calendar months, from the month of the Japanese release to the month of the first English edition. Only volumes whose dates are known at least to the month on both sides count. That keeps a guessed day out of the figures. A volume whose English date comes before its Japanese date is left out as a data error. In 2003 that left out 99 volumes without a date to the month, 0 without a Japanese date and 0 with English first. A publisher needs 5 such volumes for its own figure, and a series 2.
The data is Mangainfo's catalog: the series with a page on Mangainfo, without adult series. It is large but not complete, so older years and small publishers are undercounted. English edition data comes largely from ISBNdb. Japanese dates come from the National Diet Library. "Started in English" uses the license tracker. "Finished in English" is a series finished in Japan whose every volume is out in English, with the last one out in 2003. The figures are computed again every day, so they change as the catalog grows.
Use and cite
The figures and charts are free to use with credit: "Source: Mangainfo" and a link to this page. The rows behind them are in the open dataset under CC BY 4.0. The figures are also at /api/v1/report/2003.
Mangainfo. (2003). English Manga Report 2003. https://mangainfo.com/report/2003