emaqi Amber Barton Interview – Head of Community Growth Talks Manga!

A digital platform for manga lovers, emaqi will bring fans together this Anime Expo with a Manga Truck, trading cards, and plenty more.

Sharing a deep love of the medium, we recently spoke with emaqi’s Head of Community Growth Amber Barton about manga and more – learn more with our interview…

emaqi Amber Barton Interview – Head of Community Growth Talks Manga!

Gamers Heroes

Thank you for the time! You’re after my own heart here.

I saw you love InuYasha too – I grew up watching Toonami and Adult Swim myself.

I went to my first anime convention – Sakura-Con – up in Seattle back in 2007.

In the interest of self-owning, while I didn’t dress up as InuYasha – or even Kagome! – I went as Death Note’s L! 

We’re of sound mind here!

First things first, I’d love to talk Anime Expo. I will be there, and I’ll get some time on the calendar!

I saw that emaqi will have a Manga Truck, photo ops with take-home prints, and manga-themed games. 

What are you looking forward to the most?

Amber Barton 

Oh gosh!

So we’ve been spending months working on our booth. We’re so excited, and I’m so happy you saw the post.

For me specifically, it might be the manga trading cards we mentioned in our post! I think they’re pretty unique – and we’ve got a lot of them!

I don’t think you can get those anywhere else in Anime Expo. 

The Manga Truck is also unique – I absolutely love the Manga Truck. 

People can find me at events with my coworkers around the Bay Area, and sometimes SoCal where we take the manga truck around – I work with the Manga Truck frequently. 

The manga trading cards are brand new, something we’re doing just for Anime Expo. 

I hope people really enjoy those!

Gamers Heroes

I look forward to it! I’m Bay Area-based over in Alameda – “Where hipsters go to retire!” [laughs]

On that note, as a manga fan, I know you previously mentioned InuYasha… 

Is there any particular manga you like? 

I’m a huge JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure fan myself – I’ve read all eight parts. With all this talk about Steel Ball Run, I’ve had to keep my mouth shut!

Are there any works you particularly gravitate towards?

Amber Barton 

So for me in particular – and this won’t come as a surprise at all – I tend to gravitate towards genres focused on the occult and supernatural folklore.

Obviously, InuYasha being something that I was exposed to at a young age, I became a huge Rumiko fan. 

I’ve checked out pretty much anything she’s done – I’ve read a lot of it!

One of her series I really love that I think is vastly underrated is Mermaid Saga. 

I actually first saw the OVA on VHS back in the day.

I was like, 

“What is this?”

I recognized who it was, but it is not her typical style.

I don’t want to spoil it, because it caught me off guard! 

Gamers Heroes

Fair enough! About to say, we are very respectful of spoilers around here. 

That actually leads to another point, because I believe you grew up finding anime and manga at libraries. 

I did the exact same thing around the Bay Area growing up, going to both the Castro Valley Library and San Ramon Library – I used to drive all over!

That’s how I found stuff like Ghost in the Shell and Akira!

I love how everything is so accessible these days. It’s like the opposite of gatekeeping – we’re including everybody in the conversation! 

How are you looking to bring this accessibility to the new generation? 

You got people like me – an elder Millennial – but then you also got Gen Z who are just over the moon with newer properties like Demon Slayer. 

I also saw emaqi’s on the Apple App Store and the Google Play Store!

I’d love to talk about how you are making things accessible, whether it’s a good UI or anything else…

Amber Barton

As you mentioned, accessibility is very important! 

I think accessibility comes in a couple different forms, right? 

Like you mentioned, you can find manga in so many more places now than like when you and I were younger.

It’s wonderful to walk into a Barnes & Noble – a lot of them now have huge manga sections. 

I was visiting my parents, they still live where I grew up for the holidays, and their Barnes & Noble has a huge manga section that wasn’t there when I was growing up!  Back then, it was just a couple little shelves. 

I think through the awareness of manga – and by extension anime – becoming more known in the US, the community is sort of adding this level of accessibility to itself. 

People are talking about it and telling their friends about it. 

For emaqi specifically, we’re trying to meet people where they are as well.

That’s part of what we do with the Manga Truck! We go to places where people enjoy manga. 

There was a manga exhibition at the de Young Museum in San Francisco earlier this year, and we were there.

We’ve also been to Sakura Matsuri in San Francisco, as well as numerous other places.

We’re trying to meet people where they are, so they have an opportunity to enjoy this as well.

As far as the app goes, we’re really concerned with making sure people have a good experience. 

Not only does this apply to the UI, but a lot of our manga also is free for the first chapter or so depending on the title. 

This gives people who don’t have as much free spending money the opportunity to check things out before they commit to buying a lot.

We have to be conscious of that too! 

I do think we’re always going to continue learning and growing, and that’s why getting feedback from our users and our community is so important as well. 

We try to maintain active accounts on social media, and are working on other platforms.

Gamers Heroes

There you go!

I did see your YouTube, and I’m already subscribed there. 

That’s a big thing too – just being genuine.

I always say you don’t want to “Fellow Kids” it 30 Rock-style.

Last month, I interviewed Zach Aguilar. He grew up watching Naruto, Your lie in April, stuff like that. He got into the space because he was a fan too.

If you’re insincere – if you’re just in it for the paycheck – it’s not going to be there.

Nothing but respect on my end!

Amber Barton 

Yes!

I think that’s a huge part of what we’re trying to do at emaqi too.

emaqi really is a platform by manga fans for manga fans.

I think through our efforts – like the Manga Truck – I think it becomes more and more obvious to people that it’s not just about selling you manga, right? 

It’s like 

“We’re fans – come check out our truck! We’ve got a bunch of cool things from various artists in there. 

If you talk to us, we will nerd out with you about your favorite manga!”

Gamers Heroes

I look forward to it!

On that same note, I saw there are some free one-shots at emaqi.

About to say – free is a good price!

What led to the curation or design of this program? 

It sounds like you put a lot of thought to that too.

Amber Barton 

We did!

Historically manga – especially in the US – wasn’t super available, right? This led to people doing things like reading pirated or fan-translated versions.

It’s understandable that people were consuming the media the only way that they knew how, or the only way they had access to.

At the same time, we want to make sure that the people who work on these series are properly compensated and credited too.

We’re trying to come up with a version that is appealing to people who may not have a ton of money to spend – but want to check things out!

These people want to support all the work and effort that goes into actually creating these volumes of work. 

That’s a big part of it for us – we’re always getting feedback on how we’re doing. 

We’re constantly taking this into consideration, and if we need to pivot because our fans tell us, like, 

“We would really appreciate it if you did this instead of that.”

That’s what we try to do. 

We talk about it internally, and perhaps it happens, but some also depends on licensing. Every publisher is different, every series is different… 

But at a high level, that’s what we’re trying to achieve.

Gamers Heroes

No, that makes perfect sense. 

I think community is incredibly important – back in my Arasaka days in corporate, community was my bread and butter.

What are some of your favorite fan stories when it comes to the Manga Truck and events like Anime Expo? 

What are some of your favorite community stories when it comes to these types of things?

Amber Barton 

We were at Fanime with the Manga Truck as well! We were in the itasha area.

I think between places where it seems a little bit more obvious that we would be there – like Fanime – and then places like Sakura Matsuri where people are a little bit surprised – it still fits with the theme. 

They’re not really expecting something large about manga.

We get many people who walk up to the truck – they stand there and kind of look at it, mouth agape slightly.

Usually they are with a friend…

They are like, 

“Whoa, what is that?” 

And we have the doors open so that you can see the bookshelves, tchtotchkes, and flyers. 

It’s like, 

“Yes, please go in – feel free to browse the manga!”

We also have digital displays inside and seating outside the truck – space permitting – where people can read the manga that they’ve selected from inside. 

Then we have a book drop! It’s a very library-esque experience, and this has happened over and over. People are just like mind blown by the thought of a mobile manga library. 

I would still say, for a lot of people, the thought of a manga-exclusive library is pretty out there. 

So to see one moving around that you can catch at places, it’s just amazing for people. 

I love seeing their responses to that experience!

Gamers Heroes

Yeah!

Talking Fanime, their slogan is “By Fans, For Fans.” 

I hear you loud and clear!

It’s been close to 20 years since Sakura-Con on my end – and I know I’m dating myself here! 

Have you noticed any major trends when it comes to the world of manga? 

You’re at the cutting edge of things with emaqi, but have you noticed anything even the last 10 years? 

One thing I’ve noticed – especially since COVID – is that a lot of people started discovering manga for the first time.

In my case – again with JoJo – I got sick of waiting, so I started reading ahead!

Amber Barton 

I think bringing up JoJo is a great example!

Manga is being seen more and more in the US as an art form too, right? 

I think a lot of people, at first glance, were just like, “Oh, it’s just Japanese comics.” 

I think people are recognizing that manga comes in a huge variety and depth of topics, and they’re embracing that.

I think you can see that when we also get things like the art of manga exhibition at the de Young – which was super popular!

I love this embracing of art. You see this in Artist Alleys at conventions too…

One thing that is absolutely mind-boggling to me was I remember working my friend’s table in Artist Alley at Anime Central – and it was dead.

She was a well-known artist too, and it just wasn’t that busy anymore.

If I go to a convention, and I look at the area usually between the dealer’s room and the Artist Alley, the Artist Alley is always packed! 

It’s amazing to see all of these fans – older fans, newer fans, everybody in-between – supporting artists. 

I feel like to a degree this is also happening with the creators of manga…

They’re being recognized for their amazing talents, their devotion to the art form, and everything that they do to bring content and stories to people.

Gamers Heroes

I completely understand – I always love commissioning self-portraits of myself in different styles. 

Here’s one of me in a Studio Ghibli-style! 

I have tremendous respect for artists, and I know exactly where you’re coming from.

I know your time is very valuable, so keeping it short and sweet…

What do you personally hope to see regarding the manga scene next year?

Amber Barton 

You know, I would love to see more people embrace the support of artists that we were just talking about, as much as they can – within reason. 

I don’t want anybody to not be able to pay bills because they’re spending too much on manga, right? 

Honestly, I’m really happy with the way that the manga fandom direction is going. 

People are becoming more and more aware that “Yes, we used to pirate manga almost exclusively, because that was the only way we could read it.”

But they’re realizing that they have options now, and that supporting these manga creators is so important. 

I would love to see that! I would love to continue seeing things like the art of manga exhibition at the De Young. 

I want to see more pop-up cafés here. 

There’s a lot of cool stuff going on! I’m really excited about where it’s heading.

Gamers Heroes

Thank you for everything – truly. 

I always love these stories, and I always love meeting like-minded people. 

You truly get it!

Amber Barton 

Thank you so much!

Gamers Heroes

Pleasure’s all mine!

Thank you for the time, I really appreciate it – I’ll see you at Anime Expo!

One can download emaqi via the Apple App Store and the Google Play Store – learn more about emaqi via its official website.

For those attending Anime Expo 2026, be sure to check out emaqi at Booth #3508 in South Hall!

For those feeling social, make sure to follow emaqi on Twitter/X, Instagram, and YouTube!

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