Mobile-Phone Manga Storms Japan

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Consider an episode from Lupin the 3rd, a manga about a gang of thieves led by Arsène Lupin III. Click, and the title page shifts to a scene with Lupin facing a cop. Click: The screen pans to the left, then back to reveal that Lupin is surrounded by an entire police squadron. Click: The phone vibrates and blares sound effects, as Lupin jumps and feints his way out of trouble and action words splash across the screen. Click: Line by line, a description of the next scene appears.

While teenage boys and nerdy grownups, or otaku, are the manga industry's biggest backers, they're not the majority among mobile-phone readers. When Toppan Printing launched the country's first Web site for mobile manga downloads in late 2003, it focused on big-name titles favoring male readers. As other publishers and distributors entered the fray, it was the comics for girls and women—boys love and another category called teen love—that lit up the charts.

Going Overseas

The gender demographics of NTT Solmare's site are now 50% male, 50% female, reckons Impress R&D's Toshihiro Takagi. Most other heavyweights, such as publisher Shueisha's Keitai Shueisha and Shogakukan's Keitai Shogakukan, are skewed heavily toward a female audience, with a 70-30 split, he says. That's why many sites rank selections for female readers and are adding content as fast as they can.

It's unclear whether mobile-phone manga will be Japan's next big cultural export. But manga promoters view the spread of 3G networks globally as a big opportunity. Celsys' Yoshii says he has met with wireless carriers, cell-phone tech makers, and online distributors in Korea and the U.S., a crucial first step in getting Japanese content onto cell phones overseas. "We want to talk with Amazon (AMZN) and (cell-phone operating system software developer) Symbian about a nonexclusive deal," he says.

Meanwhile, publishers are scouting the ranks of amateur cartoonists for a Hayao Miyazaki (of Princess Mononoke fame) of the small screen. This fall, Takarajima Wondernet will dangle $45,000 in prize money to aspiring artists in Japan's first-ever cell-phone comics contest. A few established comic book artists, such as Hideo Yamamoto, who created the cult hit Nozokiya (Voyeur), are even trying their own hand at made-for-mobile-phone manga. You may soon be watching one on your very own small screen.

Hall is BusinessWeek's technology correspondent in Tokyo .