ASCII Media Works (アスキー・メディアワークス Asukī Media Wākusu)), formerly ASCII Media Works, Inc. (株式会社アスキー・メディアワークス Kabushiki gaisha Asukī Media Wākusu), is a Japanese publisher and brand company of Kadokawa Future Publishing founded from the legal merger between ASCII and MediaWorks on April 1, 2008. It is the founding father of the Dengeki (電撃 lit. "electric shock") brand magazines and book imprints which include such well-known magazines as Dengeki Daioh, and Dengeki G's Magazine, and their Dengeki Bunko light novel publishing imprint.
It became an internal division of Kadokawa Corporation on October 1, 2013.
Marketing Overview[]
The company specializes in the publishing of merchandise focused on ACG topics such as anime, light novels, manga, plastic modelling, and visual novels, mainly targeted to the male otaku audience. As such, the company pushes its publishing under the Dengeki label covering topics with computing and enterprises related to information technology (IT), such as the publication of Weekly ASCII, along with other PC and IT magazines. In retrospect, they also publish multiple magazines for female audiences such as Character Parfait, Dengeki Girl's Style, and Sylph.
History[]
ASCII Media Works is the result of a merger between two Japanese publishing companies, ASCII and MediaWorks, on April 1, 2008. The company is a continuation of MediaWorks, but despite this, the former president of ASCII, Kiyoshi Takano, became the president of ASCII Media Works. The company is a member of the Kadokawa Group and is thus affiliated with Kadokawa Shoten, another Japanese publishing company. According to an official press release by Kadokawa Corporation, the merger stemmed from a steady outgrowth in the Internet and mobile parts of society which led publishing companies to branch out in order to encompass the ever increasing needs and demands of the consumers. Due to mutual company interests, the merger went through in order to create a stronger company which has more outreaching possibilities than either company could have done on their own.
ASCII brought their expertise with IT and computing, while MediaWorks brought their expertise of media pertaining to entertainment, such as with visual or printed media including anime, manga, light novels, video games, or magazines covering such media products. In addition to making the combined company more diverse, company management is planned to become more efficient, base revenue is meant to increase, and the company may take on new business opportunities in the future. Enterbrain had been considered for merging with ASCII and MediaWorks, but this was eventually rejected. In April 2011, the video game division of ASCII Media Works was merged into Kadokawa Games along with the video game divisions of Kadokawa Shoten and Enterbrain. ASCII Media Works ceased being a kabushiki gaisha (joint-stock company) on October 1, 2013 when it was merged with eight other companies to become a brand company of Kadokawa Corporation.
Magazines[]
- Dengeki Daioh
- Dengeki Daiouji
- Dengeki Bunko Magazine (Defunct)
- Dengeki G's Magazine
- Dengeki hp (defunct)
- Dengeki G's Comic
- Dengeki Maoh
- Dengeki Moeoh
- Monthly Dengeki Comic Gao! (Defunct)
- Dengeki Hime (Defunct)
- Dengeki D-MANGA Online
- Character Parfait - Former Special Edition of Dengeki Nintendo. Began publication in 2006.
- ASCII Cloud
- COMICd@LOID - Vocaloid Manga Magazine (Defunct)
- Dengeki Arcade Game (Defunct)
- Dengeki Girl's Style - Former Special Edition of Dengeki Playstation. Now an independant magazine focusing on information on Otome Games, BL Games and Anime/Manga focused towards a female audience. (Defunct)
- Dengeki Hobby Magazine (Defunct)
- Dengeki Nintendo - Magazine focusing on information pertaining to Nintendo Games and Consoles. (Defunct) Moved to KADOKAWA Game Linkage.
- Dengeki Games - Monthly special edition of Dengeki Nintendo DS. Published between 2006 and 2011. (Defunct)
- Dengeki Playstation - Published between 1994 and 2020. Magazine focusing on information pertaining to Playstation Games. (Defunct) Moved to KADOKAWA Game Linkage.
- Hoshi Havi
- MacPeople - Incorporated into the website Weekly ASCII
- Mobile ASCII - Incorporated into the website Weekly ASCII
- Sylph - Shoujo Manga Magazine (Defunct)
- Weekly ASCII - Now a Website
Publishing Imprints[]
Manga[]
- Dengeki Comics: Manga Imprint
- Dengeki Comics EX: established in 1992. Related 4-Koma Manga Imprint.
- Dengeki Comics NEXT: established in 2013. Related Manga Imprint. Used more often than Dengeki Comics since it's release.
- Sylph Comics: established in 2008. Manga under this imprint were serialised in the Shoujo manga magazine, Sylph. Defunct since 2017.
Light Novels[]
- Dengeki Bunko: established in 1993, It is focused on a male audience.
- Dengeki Game Bunko: established in 1994. Stopped in 1997 but resumed in 1999. While it used to focus on Tabletop Role-Playing Games (TPRGs), it is now a Light Novel and Computer Game Magazine.
- Jewel Books: established in 2014. A Light novel imprint focused on adult females. Contains Adult Drawings.
- B-Prince Bunko: established in 2008. A Yaoi Light Novel Imprint.
Novels[]
- Media Works Bunko: established in 2009. A Publishing imprint focused on a wider audience.
- Mahou no Island Bunko: established in 2007. It published new works (general novels) from a Mobile Phone accessory, Mahou no Island, which is operated by the company of the same name (a subsidiary of ASCII Media Works).
Contests[]
The company runs yearly contests for original novel and manga submissions.
- Dengeki Comic Grand Prix
- An award established in 2004. Semi-annually between 2004 and 2009. Annually from 2010 onwards.
- Dengeki Taisho
- An annual award established in 1994. It has two primary divisions: The Dengeki Novel Prize and Dengeki Illustration Taisho.
Video Games[]
ASCII Media Works (and former Media Works) have published many games across all generations of consoles. While Media Works focused on creating original games, ASCII Media Works focused on producing games based on Manga and Light Novels published by the company. As of 2011, ASCII Media Works' game division was merged into Kadokawa Games.