Why are Tankōbon more expensive in the US?

[coltigore]

Hey all, I just had a really quick(and probably dumb) question. Why are Tankōbon releases of manga in the US set between 10-12 USD MSRP, but in Japan they're around 400 yen(~3.82 USD according to Google). Aren't they really similar products? covering the same span of story, and on similar paper? Is this just the mark-up to compensate for paying for translation? Am i just missing something huge here? This also seems to be more of a manga as a whole thing, rather than just Dragon Ball.

Thanks for any responses!

[VegettoEX]

All of these are specific to Dragon Ball and Viz, but of course many apply to other series and companies, as well, where appropriate:

- Cost of licensing in the first place (Shueisha already owns it, since they made it!)
- Additional cost to translate
- Additional cost for series editor
- Additional cost to redraw sound effects (something Viz still does for the collected editions)
- Printed on arguably higher-quality paper than tankōbon in Japan
- Printed at a larger paper size than tankōbon in Japan
- General printing and distribution costs across an exponentially-geographically-larger country

It's also worth noting that Viz's original (even larger-sized) collected editions were $12.95, and that got lowered to $9.99 when they switched to the smaller "Shonen Jump"-sized "Graphic Novel" standard (which they still use).

Still a Hell of a deal.

[coltigore]

All of these are specific to Dragon Ball and Viz, but of course many apply to other series and companies, as well, where appropriate:

- Cost of licensing in the first place (Shueisha already owns it, since they made it!)
- Additional cost to translate
- Additional cost for series editor
- Additional cost to redraw sound effects (something Viz still does for the collected editions)
- Printed on arguably higher-quality paper than tankōbon in Japan
- Printed at a larger paper size than tankōbon in Japan
- General printing and distribution costs across an exponentially-geographically-larger country

It's also worth noting that Viz's original (even larger-sized) collected editions were $12.95, and that got lowered to $9.99 when they switched to the smaller "Shonen Jump"-sized "Graphic Novel" standard (which they still use).

Still a Hell of a deal.

You know it amazes me when you reply to my posts, just goes to show how awesome of a site Kanzenshuu is!

Yeah, that all makes sense, and they are an awesome deal. Thanks!

[Matches Malone]

I agree with VegettoEX, but despite costing more than they do in Japan, they're faaaaaaar cheaper than American comics. There are single issues that cost up to $7 from Marvel and DC. Even with the higher prices, manga is still by far a better deal than comics will ever be.