Sales of manga comic books and magazines in Japan were estimated to have hit a record 677 billion yen ($5 billion) in 2022, but the rise was only marginal as fewer people stayed indoors than during the earlier years of the COVID-19 pandemic, industry data showed Friday.

The sales -- both in print and digital format -- saw a record high for the third year in a row but were only up 0.2 percent from a year before, substantially lower than the 10 percent year-on-year increase seen in 2021, the Research Institute for Publications said.

File photo shows copies of the 34th and final volume of the smash-hit Japanese manga series "Attack on Titan" (Shingeki no Kyojin) by Hajime Isayama on bookshelves at a store in Tokyo in June 2021. (Kyodo)

Comic book and magazine sales were worth 229.1 billion yen, a 13.4 percent drop from the previous year, while that of comics in digital format was up 8.9 percent to 447.9 billion yen, the Tokyo-based institute said.

Sales of manga accounted for 41.5 percent of the country's publishing market, topping 40 percent for the second straight year, according to the institute.

Popular manga series such as "Spy x Family," a comedy about a spy, assassin and a mind-reader pretending to be a family, were more popular online than in the non-digital format.


Related coverage:

Japanese manga series "Golgo 13" tops record for most volumes

Manga of book on Soviet women's war tales captivates Japanese readers

Japan's comic market expands to record high on "Demon Slayer" love