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Comico Manga Service in Japan Shuts Down in January 2027 After 13 Years

NHN Japan Corporation's free manga app Comico announced on Monday that it will end service after 13 years on January 6, 2027. The company plans to transfer customers' previous purchases to the Mecha Comic digital bookstore.

The app will suspend the addition of new content, rental renewals, coin sales, and new account registration on August 31. Users will also no longer be able to post works to the app after that date.

Sales and rentals will end completely on September 28. Tickets will no longer be usable.

From January 7-April 30, users will be able to transfer their bookshelves to another designated platform and refund their unused coin purchases. Some titles will not be eligible for transfer pending the permission of the original publishers.

Global webtoon platform Pocket Comics ended its English and French platforms, and the Korean Comico platform in October 2025, due to "business reasons."

NHN launched the Pocket Comics app in English in the United States, Canada, and Singapore in July 2020. It launched with 41 titles, including both Japanese manga and Korean webtoons. Some of the Japanese titles that launched in the English version include Yayoiso's ReLIFE, Kakeru Utsugi's How to keep a mummy, Kurose's Momokuri, and Shō Futamata's Nanbaka. All four manga have previously inspired anime.

Pocket Comics launched in France in January 2022 and quickly found success, topping the local App Store charts by targeting women in their 20s and 30s. But the early momentum has faded, with local readers still favoring traditional print manga.

Comico is a free manga-reading smartphone app created by NHN PlayArt in 2013, and it launched different versions for Taiwan, South Korea, Thailand, and Vietnam.

Sources: Comico's X/Twitter account, Comic Natalie