While onboarding with Aftermath, I went on a tangent, laying bare all my frustrations with manga-reading apps while pitching a blog. After spewing a word salad for what felt like a century, I was met with horrified expressions from my colleagues. The leading cause for concern wasn’t my pitch (thank god) but my casual comparison of the manga-reading ecosystem to streaming subscription services with the bonus of predatory practices rife in live service games. Reading the latest chapter of your favorite series involves jumping through a series of overcomplicated hoops that include microtransactions and earning points.

The source of my ire are Square Enix’s MangaUp and Kondansha’s K Manga. Like every good drug dealer, K Manga and Manga Up let you read the first couple chapters of a series for free. After that, you have to play ball with their respective ticketed and microtransaction coins to read new manga chapters. Similar to Hoyoverse’s umbrella of gacha games, K Manga and Manga Up gamify reading comic books through log-in bonuses, accruing bonus points for completing assigned chapters, and “paying to win” to give yourself a modicum of freedom from their respective bullshit.