At a recent ComicsPro presentation, Kristen McLean of Circana (which owns BookScan) discussed trends in the manga category. She declared that the fastest growing series in 2023 is BLUE LOCK from Kodansha! This one-part sports drama, one-part elimination-game survival series has strongly connected with readers, and became turbocharged after a popular anime launch too.
Now is a great time to be sure you are carrying this title deep enough for your shelves (volume 11 releases 2/27/24!), and comic retailers should also take advantage of our Blue Lock 1 (Direct/Anime Market Exclusive Edition) cover before we run out of inventory.
Feel free to read McLean’s full manga thoughts at the below ICV2 article, and you also don’t want to miss a recent interview with Kodansha’s PRHPS manga editorial director, Ben Applegate, which covered Blue Lock and other manga industry subjects.
https://icv2.com/articles/news/view/56250/circana-bookscan-fastest-growing-manga-series
https://icv2.com/articles/news/view/56238/icv2-interview-ben-applegate-kodansha