The value of Japan's comic book market reached a record ¥612.6 billion ($5.77 billion) in 2020, up 23% from a year earlier, backed by the huge popularity of the manga series "Demon Slayer," industry data showed Thursday.
The all-time high since comparable data became available in 1978 was set also as more people spent time at home due to the coronavirus pandemic, according to the Research Institute for Publications.
The value of comic book and magazine sales was estimated at ¥270.6 billion in 2020, up 13.4% from the previous year, while that of digital comics jumped 31.9% to ¥342 billion, the institute said.
The previous record of ¥586.4 billion was marked in 1995.