Manga UP! users unhappy with in-app currency or coin system, demand subscription model instead

Known for their video-game popular video game franchises such as Final Fantasy and Kingdom Hearts, Square Enix recently launched Manga Up! globally. It allows fans to read their favorite manga in English such as My Dress-Up Darling, Soul Eater, and Fullmetal Alchemist.

The launch was met with a lot of criticism due to what fans call “unnecessary” censorship, but more on this later. That said, it’s not the only thing readers are upset about.

Many early adopters who rushed to download the app were taken aback after seeing the unwieldy in-app currency system.

Readers need to purchase coins and then unlock chapters rather than the complete manga comic which makes it a reasonably expensive service.

The coins system is evidently bad as paying for a digital currency to unlock chapters is pointless.

Many people also point to the fact that they would be better off just buying the physical/digital volume.

While some feel that the app is just a greedy cash grab. Manga chapters that are split up in parts and different chapters require users to use a different currency for each time, which means users can’t read past a certain point of a manga unless they’re willing to spend a lot of money.

Overall, fans are not satisfied with the Manga Up! app as some of the tweets suggest:

Nah cause how do you fumble making a manga app good. Squares manga up app is actually the worse app I’ve uses. A stupid ass coin system rather then a monthly subscription, a horrible UI, sensoring up the ass. Like this could have been huge but they fumbled it
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Yes, but most of the titles chapter are not fully release. There is other app called INKR Comics (which release all of the chapters) but it’s the same with Manga UP! coin transaction instead of subscription.
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That’s why people suggest having a subscription model so that readers can make a single monthly payment to read manga.

Many other similar services operate on a subscription-based model which makes it easier for the reader as well to access and read their favorite manga comics or books.

Apart from the horrible pricing, sex-positive manga is also heavily censored. Even knees, shirts, skirts and pants sometimes appear with big black ugly boxes.

Had it just been for the censorship issue, people still would’ve resorted to other options. But the monetization tactics also make it up for quite a vexing experience.

The company is yet to make any statement regarding the payment methods in the app. So it’s likely that readers will be stuck with the in-app coin or currency system in Manga UP! for the time being.

Featured image source: Square Enix

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