Expansion of Book Genres Handled

「As a group, we are also actively working to develop new genres by holding and strengthening Web Content Awards across a broad range of genres, including the Character-Focused Fiction Awards, Historical and Period Fiction Awards, and Picture Book Awards.」

「We continued to focus on strengthening and expanding the genres we publish by publishing multiple high-quality works, primarily award-winning works, from Web Content Awards held across various genres, including character-focused fiction, historical and period fiction, and children's books.」

「We continued to focus on expanding and strengthening our book genres, including by publishing the coming-of-age novel "#IWantToDisappear, So I Give You 150 Characters of Love," which won the grand prize in the Coming-of-Age Novel × Vocaloid Producer Cup held by the Company.」

「The number of books published during the interim accounting period was 96, up 10 year on year. We continued to focus on expanding the genres we publish by publishing multiple award-winning works from Web Content Awards, including the Character-Focused Fiction Awards and Light Fiction Awards. In addition, we advanced our entry into the children's book market, which has remained steady despite the challenging market environment for physical books, including by publishing "Rainbow Fireflies," a long-selling novel adapted into an animated film by Toei Animation in 2012, as a children's paperback from the "Alphapolis Kizuna Bunko" imprint.」

「Light novels account for approximately 24% of our sales, and many of the manga titles, which account for approximately 74% of sales, are adaptations of light novels. We therefore remain highly dependent on light novels. As a company, we are also actively working to develop new genres by holding and strengthening Web Content Awards across a broad range of genres, including the Character-Focused Fiction Awards, Historical and Period Fiction Awards, and Picture Book and Children's Book Awards.」

「The number of books published during the cumulative third quarter was 136, up 16 year on year. In this category, we published multiple high-quality works, primarily award-winning works from the various Web Content Awards, in genres under development, including character-focused fiction, light fiction, and horror and mystery, with the aim of expanding the genres we publish.」

「We continued to focus on expanding and strengthening the genres we publish, including by publishing multiple titles in the character-focused fiction and light fiction genres, primarily award-winning works from the Web Content Awards we hold. We also published multiple titles from the children's paperback imprint "Alphapolis Kizuna Bunko," launched in the previous year to make a full-scale entry into the steadily growing children's book market, and worked to develop a new market.」

「We continued to focus on strengthening the genres we publish, including by publishing "The Taisho Stone Flower Love Bud Story," which won the Romance Award at the fifth Character-Focused Fiction Awards.」

「Light novels account for approximately 26% of our sales, and many of the manga titles, which account for approximately 71% of sales, are adaptations of light novels. We therefore remain highly dependent on light novels. As a company, we are also actively working to develop new genres by holding and strengthening Web Content Awards across a broad range of genres, including the Character-Focused Fiction Awards, Historical and Period Fiction Awards, and Picture Book and Children's Book Awards.」

「The boys' love imprint "Andalche Novels," newly launched in March 2021, has also performed well, benefiting from its strong compatibility with e-books, and has grown into an imprint second in scale to "Male-Oriented Light Novels" and "Regina Books."」

「To make a full-scale entry into the children's book market, which has continued to grow steadily even within the recent challenging market for physical books, we launched the children's paperback imprint "Alphapolis Kizuna Bunko" in August 2022 and sought to develop a new market, including by simultaneously publishing 3 titles as its first releases.」

「We continued to focus on expanding and strengthening the genres we publish, including by publishing the character-focused fiction title "I Will Marry the Husband of the Ayakashi Exorcist," which won the Excellence Award at the fourth Character-Focused Fiction Awards, and "The Substitute Bride of the Ayakashi Fox," which won the Ayakashi Award at the same awards.」

「Light novels account for approximately 27% of our sales, and many of the manga titles, which account for approximately 70% of sales, are adaptations of light novels. We therefore remain highly dependent on light novels. As a company, we are also actively working to develop new genres by holding and strengthening Web Content Awards across a broad range of genres, including the Character-Focused Fiction Awards, Historical and Period Fiction Awards, and Picture Book and Children's Book Awards.」

「We continued to focus on expanding the genres we publish, including by publishing the character-focused fiction title "The Ayakashi Ogre Bride Marriage Chronicles," which performed well. We also promoted the publication of books across a broad range of genres without dependence on any particular genre.」

「We published Volume 2 of "Kiyo's Edo Cooking Diary," the first period novel by the author of the popular "Izakaya Bottakuri," which has sold more than 1.26 million copies across the series, and the title drove sales. We also published a sequel in the character-focused fiction genre, "The Ayakashi Harem Chronicles of Kago," and continued to focus on expanding the genres we publish.」

「We continued to actively pursue our efforts to expand and strengthen the genres we publish, including by publishing "The Cat God of Love Letters Yashiro" from the entries in the third Character-Focused Fiction Awards.」

「Light novels account for approximately 28% of our sales, and many of the manga titles, which account for approximately 66% of sales, are adaptations of light novels. We therefore remain highly dependent on light novels. Accordingly, with a view to further expanding our business and optimizing our portfolio, we have identified expanding the genres of books we publish so that we are not dependent on any particular genre as one of our key challenges.」

「We continued to focus on strengthening new genres, including by publishing the period novel "Kiyo's Edo Cooking Diary" by the author of "Izakaya Bottakuri."」

「In other genres, we published "Yume Rescue," the grand prize winner at the 10th Picture Book and Children's Book Awards, and advanced our efforts to expand the genres we publish, including by further strengthening the picture-book genre.」

「We continued to actively pursue our genre expansion efforts, including by publishing "God's Restaurant" in the light fiction genre.」

「We continued to focus on publishing character-focused fiction novels, including "The Ghost Chef of Yanaka" and "The School of the Gods," and worked to strengthen new genres.」

「We continued our efforts to expand the genres we publish by publishing "I Became the Young Proprietress of an Ayakashi Inn at Michinoku Ginzan Onsen" and "The Hapless Landlord at Seimei's House," among the winning works of the Character-Focused Fiction Awards, which we hold to develop new genres.」

「We continued to actively publish titles from a broad range of genres to develop new genres, including the mystery novel "The Psychopathology Research Notes of Genius Tsukimiya Ayaha" and the period novel "Ayameya in Shinagawa-juku on the Tokaido."」

「Light novels account for approximately 40% of our sales, and many of the manga titles, which account for approximately 50% of sales, are adaptations of light novels. We therefore remain highly dependent on light novels. Accordingly, with a view to further expanding our business and optimizing our portfolio, we have identified expanding the genres of books we publish so that we are not dependent on any particular genre as one of our key challenges.」

「We also actively pursued our genre expansion efforts, continuing from the previous quarter, including by publishing books in the new character-focused fiction genre, such as "Kirihara Antiques."」

「During the second quarter, as part of our efforts to expand into new genres, we published a total of 5 books in character-focused fiction, an area on which we are concentrating, including the award-winning works "The Catnip Mansion Where the Gods Live" and "The Manager of the Ayakashi Warehouse" from the first Character-Focused Fiction Awards held in December 2017, and achieved significant results, including reprinting 4 of those works.」

「During the cumulative first quarter, we published books in a broad range of genres as part of our efforts to expand our genres.」

「Light novels currently account for approximately 50% of sales, but with a view to further expanding our business and optimizing our portfolio, we intend to broaden the genres of books we publish so that we are not dependent on any particular genre.」

「In December 2017, we officially opened "Ehon Hiroba," a submission website specializing in picture books, to develop genres beyond light novels and manga.」

「In addition, toward "genre expansion," one of our most urgent challenges, the pre-opening of "Ehon Hiroba," a submission website specializing in picture books, and the conclusion of a business alliance with TOHO CO.,LTD established a foundation for future growth.」

「During the cumulative first quarter, we published a book based on "Untranslatable Japanese," a popular series on our business website.」

「During the fiscal year, the number of books published in the strategically strengthened "Business" genre reached 5.」

「During the third quarter, we published the business book "A Theory of Leadership Through the Power of Others," bringing the cumulative number of books published in the strategically strengthened "Business" genre to 4 for the cumulative third quarter.」

「During the cumulative second quarter, we published 3 books in the strategically strengthened "Business" genre, achieving steady results in our efforts to expand our genres.」

「As part of our genre expansion efforts, we published "Choosing Between 'Thank You' and 'I'm Sorry' to Shape Your Life" in the business category, which is a particular area of focus.」

「With a view to further expanding our business and optimizing our portfolio, we intend to broaden the genres of books we publish so that we are not dependent on any particular genre.」