The Business: Kadokawa Announces In-House Translation & Direct Distribution of Light Novels and Manga Globally

Anime News Network and The OASG are both reporting the following:

Kadokawa announced on Saturday during its Virtual Crunchyroll Expo panel that it will speed up its e-book translation and distribution, starting with seven of its manga, followed by three newly licensed light novels in October. The company will release many of its manga as simulpubs on the Book Walker Global online service, and it will publish light novel chapters one by one. The company noted previously it used to take 6-12 months to publish English versions of its titles.

This is a big deal, and it is a direct attack on the Death Cult-held Western publishers and middlemen.

I had said at Empire and the Retreat that Japanese publishers could do an end-run around converged middlemen and competitors due to the Internet permitting digital distribution globally. This is exactly what Kadokawa announced. Couple that with vetting in-house translators and the odds of malicious Death Cult propaganda being inserted into translations under the cover of Muh Localizations is reduced to nil; this will remain the case so long as entryism in Japan remains in check.

Before everyone goes all "Based Japan!", do consider that being resistant is not being immune; the Death Cult can pull the same Long March through Japan's institutions as they did in the West, so vigilance is necessary and proper--i.e. gatekeeping--to prevent that from happening. Furthermore, Japan still has its own internal issues that can independently mess things up that also need to be guarded against (and, frankly, resolved permanently).

But, for now, this is a win for those sick of Death Cultists shitting up their entertainment with Cult propaganda and narrative warfare attacks. It's not a permanent win, but it's a win, so let's go on about how to build on this win.

• The initial titles need to expand quickly to include the entire catalog. Some are bound up in contracts, so they can't be brought back in-house entirely for years, but as those contracts expire Kadokawa should be ready to swiftly turn that around and have that now-freed title up on the relevant fronts for sale worldwide.
• Contracts need to be made with Print On Demand providers across the globe to assure that availability of physical copies are there for customers that want them. This has been Amazon's publishing strategy of late, with Australia and New Zealand being the most recent expansion, and it works. Neglecting POD is leaving free money on the table, and Kadokawa's leadership should know it.
• Audiobook expansion needs to also be brought in-house, if suitable partners cannot be found, starting first with Japanese and English followed by Spanish, French, German, Mandarin, Cantonese, Korean, Russian, and Arabic in whatever order can be had.
• It wouldn't hurt for Kadokawa to look at Amazon's business model regarding allowing independents to publish through them to see if Kadokawa can adopt the model for their own benefit. Kadokawa making this direct distribution move means positioning for a fight with Amazon in this space, so doing a competitor's schtick better would be a cunning manuever to outflank Amazon- especially if they can add value with trading in-house translation at no charge to the author in order to expand a book's market globally at best speed.

In any event, today we celebrate Kadokawa acting like a heroic Super Robot going into battle against a monstrous kaiju. Tomorrow we can worry about the rest.