.manga

The mission of .manga is to give the manga industry a trusted, eligibility-restricted namespace that combats the JPY 8.5-trillion (approximately US$53 billion; JPY 160/US$1, 06/2026) annual piracy threat and sustains a cultural sector valued at JPY 693.7 billion (approximately US$4.3 billion; 06/2026; Research Institute for Publications, 2023) reaching audiences in over 100 countries. .manga exists to serve a verified, pre-existing professional community - not to market a generic word. Manga is a comic art form that originated in Japan; the industry built around it is an organized sector spanning creation, publishing, distribution, licensing, and rights protection, worldwide in reach yet delineated by long-established representative bodies: the Authorized Books of Japan (ABJ) certification scheme (267 certified operators across 1,028 legitimate services), the Japan Cartoonists Association (JCA, ~4,000 professional creators), and the publishing and rights bodies (the Japan Magazine Publishers Association (JMPA), the Japan Book Publishers Association (JBPA), and the Digital Publishers Federation of Japan (DPFJ)). Registration in .manga is restricted to members of this community through a three-tier eligibility model - (1) rights holders and certified operators (ABJ-mark / DPFJ), (2) professional creators and their representative bodies (JCA), and (3) the educators, researchers, and industry institutions that sustain the sector. A loose audience of readers or fans is expressly outside the registrant community; .manga is a namespace for the industry that produces and protects manga, not for those who consume it. The purpose is concrete and enduring. Online piracy is the defining existential threat to this community: an estimated JPY 8.5 trillion (approximately US$53 billion; JPY 160/US$1, 06/2026) in worldwide losses and JPY 688.8 billion (approximately US$4.3 billion; 06/2026) domestically (Authorized Books of Japan survey, 2025). The defenses that exist today - notably the ABJ mark, which certifies legitimate distribution services - depend on consumers being able to distinguish authorized sources from infringing ones. An eligibility-restricted .manga namespace makes that distinction structural: a .manga domain signals, by the fact of registration, that the operator has passed community verification. This converts trust from something a reader must investigate into something the namespace guarantees, directly reinforcing the industry's anti-piracy infrastructure rather than duplicating it. .manga is built to last as long as the community it serves. The manga industry is not a transient interest group; it is a mature cultural and economic sector with over a century of continuous activity, formal representative institutions founded across decades, and a JPY 693.7 billion (approximately US$4.3 billion; JPY 160/US$1, 06/2026) market exporting to more than 100 countries (Research Institute for Publications, 2023). The top-level domain (TLD)'s governance is designed to outlive any single applicant: a neutral Steering Committee - drawing on the representative bodies - sets and maintains eligibility and policy, so that .manga remains a shared community asset administered for the benefit of the industry as a whole, on objective standards, in perpetuity. In short, .manga's mission is protective and communal: to give an established, verifiable industry a namespace it can trust, defend it against the piracy that threatens its livelihood, and steward that namespace neutrally and durably on behalf of the entire manga community. ---

The mission of .MANGA is to create a distinctive digital home for the global manga ecosystem, connecting creators, publishers, businesses, educators, communities, and readers through a namespace that immediately signals its subject. From original artwork and serialized stories to publishing, digital distribution, collecting, education, and fandom, .MANGA provides a clear and memorable identity for the people and organizations that create, share, study, and enjoy manga. Intended registrants include manga artists and creators, publishers and imprints, studios, digital reading platforms, translation and localization providers, licensors and distributors, retailers, conventions and festivals, media and fan communities, libraries and archives, museums, educators and researchers, technology providers, and individuals with a meaningful connection to manga. Intended users include readers, collectors, creators, students, educators, librarians, industry professionals, and audiences seeking related works, information, merchandise, events, communities, resources, or experiences. Natural and legitimate uses include official sites for manga titles, creators, publishers, and studios; digital publishing and reading; artist portfolios; news and reviews; conventions and events; fan and community sites; retail and merchandise; translation and localization; education and research; libraries and archives; cultural resources; personal sites; and other relevant products, services, content, and experiences. From the first sketch of a new character to a series enjoyed by readers around the world, .MANGA provides a natural digital identity for a creative medium built on stories and the people who bring them to life. Oinkadot intends to support the development of the namespace through broad registrar distribution, appropriate positioning of .MANGA for its intended markets, and ongoing awareness of its diverse publishing, creative, cultural, educational, community, and commercial uses. The purpose is sustainable because manga has an established international audience and a creative ecosystem continually renewed by new artists, stories, series, formats, translations, adaptations, events, and generations of readers. New stories find audiences while established works are rediscovered, collected, translated, studied, and enjoyed long after their original publication. Every manga begins with a story worth telling, and there will always be another page to turn. This continuing cycle of creation and discovery provides a broad foundation for long-term interest in the .MANGA namespace.