Kadokawa's 'ComicWalker' App Will Offer Manga in English

Japanese publisher Kadokawa announced on Monday that its upcoming web comic service "ComicWalker" will launch on March 22 with manga in Japanese, English, and traditional Chinese.

The service will be available on smartphones and PCs, and will feature approximately 200 different works for free. When the service first launches, it will include 40 translated works, and Kadokawa will continue to add more titles as time goes on. The publisher is also working to translate the app's menu.

The service will feature 150 past and present works, including Kei Sanbe's Boku dake ga Inai Machi, Atto's Non Non Biyori, Eishi Ōzeki's Nobunaga the Fool, Mine Yoshizaki's Sgt. Frog, and Takuma Morishige's Tonari no Seki-kun manga. The service will also feature around 50 original titles, and Kadokawa plans to release the original titles in collected book form under a new label.

Past titles will include Yoshiyuki Sadamoto's Neon Genesis Evangelion and Yoshikazu Yasuhiko's Gundam: The Origin manga, and Kadokawa will release both titles on ComicWalker in a full-color version.

Users will be able to create their own "magazines" to follow the manga they want to read, and the app will also suggest other series based on users' history.

Kadokawa also noted that it will host a contest for a "ComicWalker Rookie Award" and a "KanColle Comic Illustration Award" (temporary name) with the service.

Hideaki Kobayashi will serve as ComicWalker's executive manager.