The Nintendo Switch is getting a manga reader app, but only in Japan
Japan is getting its first manga reader for the Nintendo Switch, but it's not clear if it will come to other markets
![A Nintendo Switch displaying the Shogakukan Manga reader app](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/ViVKhF3mToNuT2LpJTw5oh-1200-80.jpg)
Like peanut butter and chocolate, two great tastes that are even better together will combine in March when Japan gets its very first manga e-reader app for the Nintendo Switch courtesy of publisher Shogakukan. That's the good news. The bad news is, it's only available in Japan for now, and it's unclear if or when it will come to the US or other outside markets.
The announcement came from the social media of Tatsuki Waki, an editor for Shogakukan's monthly Coro Coro Comic magazine (translation courtesy of Siliconera), who states that this will be the first manga reader released for the Nintendo Switch in Japan.
Here's the original post:
国内史上初、ニンテンドースイッチで漫画が読める!!!3月13日ローンチです。#巻戻士 #コロコロ pic.twitter.com/Fwxa4HRux0February 5, 2025
Included in the post is an image of the manga Unmei no Makimodo Shi - All Great Achievements Require Time, by Fūta Kimura, which is published in Coro Coro Comic. This shows that the app is used by orienting the Switch vertically, rather than its usual horizontal position.
Those are just about all the details available right now, including how much of Shogakukan's catalog of manga will be available, or what the app's digital release schedule will be.
That said, it's possible that the new Switch app will take its cues from Shogakukan's recently launched Novelous app for iOS and Android, released on January 23, which uses AI-translation tools for English releases.
Like we said though, we don't know if or when the Shogakukan's Switch app will launch in the US, so it may be some time before American readers will need to worry about how the stories are translated to English.
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The Shokugan Switch app is scheduled to go live in Japan on March 13.
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I've been Newsarama's resident Marvel Comics expert and general comic book historian since 2011. I've also been the on-site reporter at most major comic conventions such as Comic-Con International: San Diego, New York Comic Con, and C2E2. Outside of comic journalism, I am the artist of many weird pictures, and the guitarist of many heavy riffs. (They/Them)