anime!anime! reports that Genco’s new character anime shorts series Kyarauddo (which is supposed to read as “Charawood,” like Hollywood but not) is going to be distributed online via Nico Nico Douga. Charawood is apparently a series of shorts about various characters created by Genco to help them expand their digital contents service.

There’s plenty of hubbub over VIZ releasing Bleach for digital distribution, but it looks like the company is now looking into following in TOKYOPOP’s footsteps to distribute their manga wares online as well. They have a manga poll up with questions about what fans read, what fans want more of, and oh yes! “Would you be interested in purchasing manga titles by online download?” Follow-ups include what kinds of manga we’d be interested in downloading, how much we’d be willing to pay, and in what format (PC/iPod/phone) we want to see it in.

(Random sidenote on that poll: VIZ, I don’t think I’d call Yakitate! Japan a “drama” per se. Comedy, anyone? Bueller? For a drama, try your, you-know, much-hailed and respected Monster, eh?)

Even the yaoi industry seems to be getting in the swing of things– Yaoi Press’ titles are available at online manhwa publisher NETCOMICS, and now young publisher 801 Media, the hardcore sister company of DMP’s Juné Manga, has made reference to an online manga reader.

Manga companies, if you want my suggestion– and I suspect most of you don’t, but here goes anyway –NETCOMICS has a very clever set-up, where you can buy individual chapters at a time. VIZ, for your longer on-going series in particular, setting up a system where you put out individual chapters on a regular schedule that fans can subscribe to or purchase individually would be a good plan.

See, first off? It means that a fan can spend a buck or less reading the first chapter to see if they want the rest of the series, rather than committing to an entire volume. And then second off, those obsessive fans that make you so much money on Naruto and the like? You can please them by keeping them that much more up-to-date on those incredibly long series, because they don’t necessarily have to wait 2-3 months for each new volume– but I suspect many of those hardcore fans will still buy the full volume when it’s out just to have it handy.

So yeah, just a thought.