Japan’s U-Next boosts manga book offering

Japanese streamer U-Next has revamped the manga offering that is part of its offering by allowing users who are not signed up to a monthly plan to receive manga comics and other books from the platform.

U-Next introduced books and video in a single integrated app in 2019, allowing customers who signed up to a monthly plan to exchange points accumulated from their subscription for manga and books.

U-Next, which says that many books distributed via the platform are aligned with live-action and animation adaptations, has now changed the offering so that users with a U-Next account who are not signed up to a monthly plan can view manga comics for free every day. The company said it expected the number of consumers using it exclusively as an online bookstore to grow.

The new offering allows users to receive a story free of charge every day, while a premium version allows access to 12 stories.

The two versions of the service are available exclusively via the U-Next app and are not accessible via web browsers.