| Azuki | |
| Screenshot Size: | 250px |
| Screenshot Alt: | A screenshot of Azuki's app. |
| Type: | Manga platform |
| Industry: | Entertainment |
| Language: | English |
| Current Status: | Active |
| Parent: | KiraKira Media, Inc. |
Azuki is a digital manga publishing and distribution service that aggregates English-translated manga legally from publishers such as Kodansha, Futabasha, Coamix, and Kaiten Books for reading online. Content is made available to read on the Azuki website, iOS app, or Android app through a single linked account, and readers may either subscribe monthly for access to thousands of chapters, or unlock manga volumes via individual purchases. Azuki also translates manga in-house and publishes series exclusive to its service such as Natsume & Natsume and Turning the Tables on the Seatmate Killer.
KiraKira Media Inc., the company behind Azuki, was established in California in early 2020.[1] Three of the four founders are former Crunchyroll employees.[2] The Azuki service officially launched to the public on June 28, 2021.[3]
In March 2022, Azuki received a $500,000 investment from Y Combinator, and officially joined the Y Combinator W22 batch.[4]
In May 2022, Azuki announced that the company would begin licensing and translating series directly from Japan, with the very first exclusive manga license being Hikaru in the Light! by Mai Matsuda.[5] The first chapters of Hikaru in the Light! launched on the Azuki service in June 13, 2022, and serialized weekly until it ended at 4 volumes in December 2022. Later that year, Azuki licensed two new series, and Turning the Tables on the Seatmate Killer.[6]
In Jan 2023, Azuki announced that the service would no longer be publishing Kodansha's simulpubs in accordance with updated policy from Kodansha and that 13 simulpubs series from Kodansha would be removed from the Azuki catalog. The same simulpub series were removed from all other manga publishing platforms at the same time.[7] Around the same time, Azuki acquired the license for I Fell for a Fujoshi, which began serializing in February.[8]
In March 2023, Azuki began distributing downloadable, DRM-free ebooks of its exclusive series.[9]
During the remainder of 2023, Azuki obtained four more exclusive licenses: Crescent Moon Marching,[10] Mecha-Ude: Mechanical Arms,[11] Our Aimless Nights, and You're So Sloppy, Hotta-sensei.[12] Azuki also finalized deals with publishers MediaDo International and Medibang! to add over 150 new series to its catalog.[13]