世論 What Japan Thinks

goo Research recently released a wonderfully detailed survey into manga (comics), from which I learnt quite a lot. I hope you enjoy it as much as me.

Demographics

Between the 15th and 17th of May 2012 1,939 members of the goo Research online monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 60.9% of the sample were female, 6.8% between 15 and 19 years old, 16.5% between 20 and 24 years old, 16.6% between 25 and 29 years old, 16.8% between 30 and 34 years old, 16.5% between 35 and 39 years old, and 17.0% between 40 and 44 years old.

I’ve heard a lot about One Piece being an excellent manga, and this survey again seems to back it up. One day I’ll have to try…

Research results

Q7: What genres of manga do you like? (Sample size=1,517, manga likers, multiple answer)

	Male N=611	Female N=906
Gag, comedy	30.3%	33.7%
Love story	11.1%	40.2%
Fantasy	26.8%	21.9%
Sports	35.7%	15.6%
Girls’ manga	2.6%	34.0%
Battle, fighting	30.6%	14.3%
Human drama	17.3%	19.8%
School, college	12.6%	18.4%
Suspense, mystery	11.3%	16.2%
Science Fiction	20.3%	8.4%
History	11.1%	8.6%
Adult-oriented	7.2%	2.4%
Boys Love	0.5%	6.4%
Business	6.7%	1.7%
Horror	2.3%	4.4%
Other	2.6%	1.0%
None in particular	5.4%	3.4%

Q8: What are your favourite manga? (Sample size=1,517, people with favourite manga, up to 5 answers)

Rank	All N=1,390	Votes	Male N=542	Votes	Female N=848	Votes
1	One Piece	352	One Piece	139	One Piece	213
2	Slam Dunk	136	Dragon Ball	74	Slam Dunk	81
3	Dragon Ball	116	Slam Dunk	55	Kimi ni Todoke	62
4	Naruto	100	Naruto	53	Nana	58
5	Hunter x Hunter	80	Hunter x Hunter	35	Detective Conan	56
6	Detective Conan	79	Kochi-kame	33	Naruto	47
7	Kimi ni Todoke	68	Hajime no Ippo	29	Gin Tama	47
8	Gin Tama	64	Bleach	26	Hunter x Hunter	45
9	Nana	60	Detective Conan	23	Hana yori Dango	44
10	Full Metal Alchemist	54	Full Metal Alchemist	21	Dragon Ball	42
11	Bleach	47	Berserk	20	Bokura ga Ita	35
12	Hana yori Dango	44	Hokuto no Ken	20	Full Metal Alchemist	33
13	Kochi-kame	38	Doraemon	20	Nodame Cantabile	32
14=	Bokura ga Ita	35	JoJo no Kimyo na Boken	20	Tennis no Oji-sama	24
14=	Nodame Cantabile	35	Gantz	18	Glass no Kamen	23
16=	Touch	33	Gin Tama	17	Uchu Kyodai	23
16=	Doraemon	33	Kinnikuman	17	Tenshi Nankajanai	22
18=	Uchu Kyodai	32	K-on!	15	Natsume Yujin Cho	21
18=	JoJo no Kimyo na Boken	32	Ruroni Kenshin	15	Bleach	21
18=	Hajime no Ippo	32	Shima Kosaku Series	14	Touch	21

Q8A: Who are your favourite manga characters? (Sample size=465, males with favourite characters, up to 5 answers)

Rank	Male N=465	Votes
1	Monkey D. Luffy (One Piece)	58
2	Son Goku (Dragon Ball)	55
3	Roronoa Zoro (One Piece)	40
4	Sakuragi Hanamichi (Slam Dunk)	26
5	Tony Tony Chopper (One Piece)	24
6	Usumaki Naruto (Naruto)	21
7	Ryotsu Kankichi (Kochi-kame)	19
8	Doraemon (Doraemon)	18
9	Kenshiro (Hokuto no Ken)	16
10	Sanji (One Piece)	12
11	Edogawa Conan (Detective Conan)	11
12=	Killua Zoldyck (Hunter x Hunter)	10
12=	Edward Elric (Full Metal Alchemist)	10

Q8B: Who are your favourite manga characters? (Sample size=710, females with favourite characters, up to 5 answers)

Rank	Female N=710	Votes
1	Monkey D. Luffy (One Piece)	82
2	Roronoa Zoro (One Piece)	53
3	Tony Tony Chopper (One Piece)	43
4	Sakuragi Hanamichi (Slam Dunk)	35
5	Sakata Gintoki (Gin Tama)	33
6	Sanji (One Piece)	29
7	Edogawa Conan (Detective Conan)	28
8	Doraemon (Doraemon)	21
9	Son Goku (Dragon Ball)	20
10=	Kazehaya Shota (Kimi ni Todoke)	19
10=	Mitsui Hisashi (Slam Dunk)	19
12	Noda Megumi (Nodame Cantabile)	18
13	Killua Zoldyck (Hunter x Hunter)	16
13=	Usumaki Naruto (Naruto)	16
15	Komatsu Nana (Nana)	15

Q9: What manga has left a particular impression on you? (Sample size=401, those giving valid answer)

Rank	Title
1	One Piece
2	Slam Dunk
3	Naruto
4	Hokuto no Ken
5	Gin Tama

Q10: What well-known dialogue left an impression on you? (Sample size=521, those giving valid answer)

Rank	Dialog	Title	Character
1	If you give up, the game is already over.	Slam Dunk	Coach Anzai
2	You are already dead.	Hokuto no Ken	Kenshiro
3	I’ll be the pirate king!	One Piece	Monkey D. Luffy
4	I want to play basketball.	Slam Dunk	Mitsui Hisashi
5	One truth prevails!	Detective Conan	Edogawa Conan

Q11: Do you read electronic manga? (Sample size=1,939)

	Yes, paid	Yes, free	Have tried	No
All	5.6%	11.9%	32.2%	50.3%
Male 15-19 N=131	5.3%	18.3%	37.4%	38.9%
Male 20-24 N=118	2.5%	16.9%	28.0%	52.5%
Male 25-29 N=90	8.9%	11.1%	33.3%	46.7%
Male 30-34 N=110	4.5%	12.7%	35.5%	47.3%
Male 35-39 N=132	4.5%	15.9%	24.2%	55.3%
Male 40-44 N=177	4.0%	10.2%	31.1%	54.8%
Female 15-19 N=194	2.6%	12.4%	43.3%	41.8%
Female 20-24 N=201	8.0%	16.4%	35.8%	39.8%
Female 25-29 N=231	7.4%	11.7%	38.5%	42.4%
Female 30-34 N=215	6.0%	9.3%	28.8%	55.8%
Female 35-39 N=188	5.3%	7.4%	24.5%	62.8%
Female 40-44 N=152	7.9%	3.9%	21.7%	66.4%

Q11SQ: Would you like to read paid-for electronic manga in the future? (Sample size=1,830, non-readers from Q11)

	Yes	No
All	13.7%	86.3%
Male 15-19 N=131	12.9%	87.1%
Male 20-24 N=118	7.0%	93.0%
Male 25-29 N=90	22.0%	78.0%
Male 30-34 N=110	24.8%	75.2%
Male 35-39 N=132	16.7%	83.3%
Male 40-44 N=177	18.2%	81.8%
Female 15-19 N=194	6.9%	93.1%
Female 20-24 N=201	10.3%	89.7%
Female 25-29 N=231	15.9%	84.1%
Female 30-34 N=215	15.3%	84.7%
Female 35-39 N=188	11.2%	88.8%
Female 40-44 N=152	9.3%	90.7%

Q12: If you could get electronic versions of manga magazines regularly delivered to you, would you want use such a service? (Sample size=1,939)

	Definitely (to SQ)	Depends (to SQ)	No
All	6.0%	15.7%	78.3%
Regular manga magazine readers N=603	12.1%	23.1%	64.8%
Manga purchasers N=1,517	7.3%	18.1%	74.6%
Readers of paid electronic manga N=109	20.2%	28.4%	51.4%
Not current manga magazine readers N=1,336	3.3%	12.4%	84.4%

Q12SQ: Why might you want use such a service? (Sample size=421, multiple answer)

Can easily read manga whereever and whenever I want	51.3%
It’s a problem to dispose of manga magazines after I finish reading them	40.1%
It’s a bother to carry manga magazines with me	26.8%
I want to use it on a smartphone, tablet, etc	17.3%
I think printed magazines are a waste of resources	15.7%
I can read just the strips I want to read	11.9%
It can be delivered simultaneously all over the country on the publication day	6.7%
Other	3.8%