Strengthening E-Book Content Acquisition and Distribution and Improving Listing and Sales Position

「The Company will further increase contracts with publishers and other parties, enhance the selection of content carried, and seek to expand its user base. It will also increase the number of “Tatecomi” full-color vertical-scroll comics optimized for smartphones and strengthen promotional efforts. At the same time, it will strengthen development of next-generation content incorporating digital-specific effects. These initiatives include (i) “E-novel,” which divides novel text into short sections and adds images, and (ii) “Anicomi,” vertical manga animation for smartphones created by adding animation effects and voices by popular voice actors to Tatecomi. The Company will continue developing and improving these formats and strengthen its production structure. It will also strengthen production of original content and seek to increase the number of titles carried through its own labels.」

「The Company is expanding content across a broad range of genres, centered on comics, including novels and practical books. It is also working with major publishers that carry many light novels, a popular source genre for comic adaptations, to expand its light-novel selection, while actively strengthening distribution of titles available exclusively through Renta!. In addition, it invested in increasing production of original content, from which a succession of popular titles has emerged.」

「The Company continued publishing a succession of highly popular titles in “Tatecomi,” Renta!’s original color vertical-scroll comic format, which it had developed over many years. “I Was Expelled from My Country Despite Being a Saint, So I Came to the Kingdom Next Door, Which Is on the Verge of Collapse,” surpassed 1 million units sold in just over 6 months after serialization began.」

「The Company continued expanding “Tatecomi,” vertical-scroll comics for 5G devices, and strengthening its production structure for “Anicomi,” video content in a vertical animation format optimized for viewing on smartphones, created by adding motion and audio to manga. It also began distributing “Gamtoon,” a new content format that adapts 3DCG games into Tatecomi-style comics.」

「The Company began advance streaming of a comic adaptation of the television drama “Koi wa Deep ni,” depicting the story from a different perspective from the drama, and an advance streaming release of a comic adaptation of the television drama “Ano Toki Kiss Shite Okeba,” both under its original “Renta Comics” label. It also launched a new original light-novel label, “Renta Novels.”」

「The Company continued strengthening production of its own content by holding a recruitment program for partner manga artists that offered annual compensation of up to ¥1 million in addition to manuscript fees and royalties. It also actively produced comic adaptations of television content under its original e-comic label “Renta! Comics.” In addition, it secured exclusive domestic streaming rights and overseas streaming in 3 languages for the original anime “Akudama Drive,” which aired from October 2020, and exclusive streaming rights for the television drama “Nijiiroカルテ,” which aired from January 2021.」

「Cost of sales increased from the same quarter of the previous year. This was due to higher copyright royalties accompanying the increase in revenue.」

「In addition, under its original e-comic label “Renta! Comics,” the Company launched the girls’ comics label “hanamomo” and the other-world fantasy label “COMIC Spear.”」

「To promote Tatecomi, the Company began reciprocal sales of comico and Tatecomi content and produced “Alice in the One-Panel Land,” a one-panel Tatecomi comic. It also significantly expanded the volume of KADOKAWA content carried and began carrying content from Shueisha.」

「We will further increase the number of contracts with publishers, authors and others, and seek to improve our position in the industry in terms of the number of e-books listed and sold.」

「The Company continued expanding “Tatecomi,” full-color vertical-scroll comics for smartphones, primarily through Renta!. It stepped up efforts to promote Tatecomi by holding the “Tatecomi 20 Million Volumes Campaign” and the “Renta! Tatecomi Awards,” among other initiatives. It also continued improving Tatecomi in response to user requests, including by adding page-navigation functionality. At Inumimi Shoten, an e-book site specializing in practical books where users can purchase only the sections they want to read, the Company expanded its selection of business books and added a text-to-speech function for smartphones.」

「The Company continued expanding “Tatecomi,” full-color vertical-scroll comics for smartphones, primarily through Renta!. It held the “Tatecomi 20 Million Volumes Campaign” to step up efforts to promote Tatecomi.」

「The Company expanded content across a broad range of genres, centered on comics, including novels, nonfiction and business books. It also continued expanding “Tatecomi,” full-color vertical-scroll comics, primarily through Renta!.」

「We will further increase the number of contracts with publishers, authors and others, and seek to improve our position in the industry in terms of the number of e-books listed and sold.」

「The Company expanded its content across a broad range of genres, centered on comics, including the launch of serialized Shogakukan comic content. In addition, Renta! launched “Tatecomi,” full-color vertical-scroll comics optimized for smartphones.」

「In addition, in August 2016, Renta! launched “Tatecomi,” full-color vertical-scroll comics optimized for smartphones.」

「As a content initiative, we expanded our content across a broad range of genres, including comics, novels, nonfiction and business books, starting with the launch of listings for Shogakukan comic content.」

「We will further increase the number of contracts with publishers, authors and others, and seek to improve our position in the industry in terms of the number of e-books listed and sold.」