Last week, we learned that the scan site Onemanga.com, which features not just scanlations but also scans of licensed manga, was one of the top 1,000 websites in terms of traffic. The rise of scan sites like Onemanga and Mangafox has coincided with a dip in manga sales, and no one thinks that’s a coincidence.
Today, a coalition of Japanese and American publishers announced that they plan to take direct action against the owners of these sites. They are a bit vague about the plans, but it will be interesting to see how effective this effort will be, especially given that many of these sites are hosted outside the U.S. and Japan.
US pubs can only request their licenses be taken off scan-reading sites. They shouldn’t take down the entire site, however, because it’s the only way english readers can keep on top of current Japanese series’. Once a series is licensed, it should be taken off, but until we see english language versions in print, the series should stay on.
Scan-reading fans also need to operate differently, and that is to only read the scans in anticipation for the print version. If volume 53 of One Piece is available in print, it’s bad for books in general if people read the scans of it with no intention of buying the material.
I’ll only read scans of Nodame Cantabile because Del Rey is terribly slow on its release schedule. I have all 16 volumes of the Del Rey edition sitting on my shelf, so I’ve done my part.
My AMAZing solution? Scanlators should go legit and release manga online as professional companies. If many people are satisfied not reading in-print editions, there should be online only companies. Manga can still be free online since ads will pay the companies releasing them.
Oliver- reread the Publishers Weekly article. ANN expanded on it a little, but basically every decent size publisher in Japan is also part of the coalition. So they’re prefectly within their rights to ask everything be taken down, including unlicensed titles. Copyright law respects copyrights internationally.
There’s another way to keep on top of current Japanese series: just buy the Japanese magazines and/or tankobon.
It still amazes me that so many people are so quick to point at scans for the decline in manga sales… When there’s also a US recession and an overall decline in *mainstream* interest in manga to consider. And by “mainstream” I mean the casual buyers who see a book in Borders and buy it, not the otaku readers who proliferate the internet avenues.
I don’t doubt that there are MANY people out there who read scans and don’t buy manga. But would they buy it if scans were wiped out? Publishers would love to believe they would… but I’m not so sure.
Also, there’s a lot of people who wouldn’t know about a series or have any interest in it if not for having read the scans. I never buy a series unless I’ve read at least a few chapters online. If it weren’t for scanlations… I’d have a lot more money in my wallet and a lot less manga on my bookshelf.
Jason, I see that suggestion a lot, and I do pick up a manga magazine occasionally when I’m in a Japanese bookstore, but since I speak no Japanese, I find them utterly incomprehensible. I would, however, buy manga from France if the shipping wasn’t so damn expensive.
Shari, there are certainly many reasons for the decline in manga sales, including the fact that manga publishers are putting out fewer books to begin with. But scans do impact sales, especially among teenagers, who make up a huge part of the manga audience but have limited disposable income. Furthermore, a lot of these sites are so slick that teens and less sophisticated readers may think they are legit. It’s hard to sell a product when someone is giving it away for free next door.
They should be careful how they handle this. Remember when the record companies went after illegal downloads. We’ve seen how that worked out. It doesn’t really matter what they do. If they shut down a site, it will just spring up on another. The law of conservation of energy. Scan sites will never go away, they’ll just change web pages. They need to go after the people running the sites if they go after anyone. Personally, I think this whole thing will be an ineffective joke.
Yeah, everybody should learn Japanese. Wow. Great solution. That’s the usual response from someone that knows it already. A better solution. All Japanese manga should be in English when it is originally printed in Japan. Most of the manga creators wrote it first in English anyway so the US pubs would be honoring their wishes. Everyone in the know realizes that Tite Kubo is from Oklahoma. Masashi Kishimoto is from Brooklyn. Come on, lets get rid of the charade! CLAMP? They’re from Oregon!
For the cynical… I’m reminded that Viz joined/formed a similar “anti-piracy” organization in the early ’90s, which was dedicated to the comparably much more humble goal of cutting down on illegal VHS-tape subbing and selling. The organization busted one or two bootleg/gray-market anime retailers, I think, but it also gave Viz *incredible* bad press to many anime fans at the time, to the point that when I started to work for Viz in 1996, people on rec.arts.anime were still spitting and hissing over how much they sucked. (Inevitable with any big company, I guess, but…) On the other hand, since this initiative is being pushed by just about every English and Japanese manga publisher, it seems like any bad feelings will be more likely to be spread out and no one company will be pegged as “the bad guy.”
The real question, as sesho points out, is how they can stamp out scanlation sites effectively. Realistically, you can’t ever completely get rid of ’em, but you might be able to make it annoying enough to find scans that a certain amount of people won’t bother. Case in point: I’ve never used bittorrent because it’s more of a pain than using the Web. Also, movie studios have people and ‘bots continually scouring youtube looking for illegal videos to take down, to the point that most currently popular movies, at least, aren’t easily available on youtube. Scanlations aren’t all hosted in a compliant central location like youtube, so the model isn’t exactly the same, but they could certainly put more effort into it than they do now.
Sesho,
Just cause you’re too lazy to learn Japanese doesn’t dismiss the argument. The other solution, privately hire a translator. If you’ve legally bought a copy of a Japanese manga, in Japanese, then you’re well within you’re rights to pay someone to translate for you. Now you don’t have to learn Japanese.
Of course, you’ll just dismiss this argument by saying you’re too cheap to hire a translator.
So no pleasing you.
Ed’s comment calling someone too lazy to learn Japanese? That’s hitting below the belt! Seriously, though, Japanese is not something you can learn overnight. In fact, it would take years to learn all the Japanese that is used in manga text. (10 years for Death Note and Zet-sensei! lol)
Also, if one has learnt the mighty behemoth and one buys only Japanese editions, doesn’t that also HURT the US pubs since they’re not getting a penny for their editions? Sure, buying Japanese secures the Japanese manga market, but it does nothing to help US pubs.
If I knew Japanese, I wouldn’t give another cent to US pubs. I can read the very latest series as well as all the classics with no big gaps in release schedules (Del Rey), butchered translations (all pubs), AND high(er) production quality. You’re right, we should all learn Japanese!
PS. And why do Yen books look like scans? Im tired of seeing the word “SFX”! T-pop doesn’t translate “SFX” and charge the same 10.99.
Solution: buy the Japanese copy, scan it, and use the Google translator bar! (Just don’t distribute it…)
the only way to fight scanslations sites is for publishers to give customers what they obviously want – a reasonable way to read manga online.
until that happens, right or wrong, the piracy will continue. just like it did with music.
so this move is stupid, and won’t work, no matter how you see the moral and legal issue.
unfortunately, japan continues to insist on licensing titles by country instead of by language. the internet is international – there’s no real way to have a “US license” for an online title – you need a global english language license. this would, of course, eat into the profits of UK and even other european licenesees since everyone reads english so it’s complicated.
and publishers are too (ignorantly IMO) afraid of theft to offer a convenient online solution.
Butchered translations from all US publishers? That’s rather harsh. In fact, that’s pretty ridiculous. Most translations I’ve read seem really well done. I agree about Del Rey’s release schedule for some titles becoming increasingly maddening though.
To my dear friend Ed,
Do you think I can hire a private translator that will drive me around as well and will do menial tasks? Kind of like a gopher? If only I wasn’t too lazy to inquire. You need a shot of humor. If you keep calling me bad adjectives like “lazy” and “cheap” I am going to cry. And then I will need a hug. And I don’t like to hug.
And again, if you didn’t get the joke I was making, you see, I was acting like Japanese manga was written originally in English and that it was ludicrous to learn Japanese. And see the joke is, that is completely wrong. They’re originally written in Japanese. You see, that’s the joke!:) Get it?:) Come on, laugh a little:)
With love,
Sesho
Sweetest Sesho,
Don’t quit your day job. Leave comedy to the professionals. Especially on the internet.
Thanks for explaining. Now I get it.
Hugs,
Ed
Ed, I take it you’re from the U.S?
Some of us actually need to be studying other languages than Japanese right now, because we’re required to do so for school or jobs.
Did you achieve Japanese fluency while studying 2 or 3 other languages? I somehow doubt it. It’s not impossible, but it would take much longer. For some of us. language-learning isn’t a luxury.
I agree with Shari on most of it. There are a lot series that are good enough to read while people are waiting for a site update or their game to load, but not that they’d actually want to buy.
For instance, I read raw scans in the original language, mostly to practice reading Japanese. Would I buy those manga titles if scans didn’t exist?
No. Once they’re released in English or Spanish, maybe. If they were gone, I’d just read Japanese blogs and webcomics to practice. The only reason I like the JPN raw scans is because they’re easily downloaded and can be read offline, unlike a webcomic.
Whether it’s the scans hurting the companies or not, they’re kind of screwed. Has cracking down file-sharing sites reversed the decline of music sales? Why would cracking down on manga scan sites have any different an effect?
And if it’s not the scans hurting the companies, (and I don’t think it is. I think the trouble is as Wangston said, companies need to make manga readable online, as print media & sales is on the decline in books, newspapers, etc. Why wouldn’t hardcopy manga be on the decline as well?)
Lee,
My physical location is immaterial to the argument.
If people who are reading scans, stop reading manga, that is no loss to the manga community. They weren’t buying books and helping the mangaka pay rent. So if they walk away no one will miss them.
Even if it’s the case that everyone who reads scans never buys any books, shutting down scan sites is the right thing to do. It restores control of the manga back to the mangaka and their designated representatives. It’s the mangaka who created the work that should be the one to decide how it gets distributed. Period. So if a mangaka doesn’t want their work published outside Japan (and there are some that don’t) then tough luck for the rest of the world, me included.
Manga is a luxury, not a right. The only way I can ensure myself unlimited access to the manga I want is to learn Japanese. I’m not being flippant. Since none of the local colleges offer Japanese language courses at night, I’d have to pay a private tutor. I’ve looked into that option. I know exactly what it will cost me in time, money, and effort. I just need to decide if I love manga enough to make the necessary sacrifices. That’s what it means to be a fan. (By the way, I’m not the only fan looking into language lessons.)
Considering that understanding Japanese fluently pretty much requires one to have lived there, I think asking people to learn it is a bit much.
Not to mention, purchase and import of some anthologies like the yaoi ones I used to buy can now land you in jail. No thanks, I’m not buying those any longer unless they become legit US releases.
And honestly, there has been no study done which proves scanlations hurt or help sales of manga. None. Everyone is going by gut feelings, which typically have nothing to do with reality. I don’t like scanlation aggregates any more than the publishers, but repeat after me: correlation is not causation.
I guess I agree that manga is a luxury, not a right. I don’t want to lose the access to read scans of unlicensed material, but if it goes away, then whatever. Not the end of the world.
Manga fans are pretty feisty, though. I can’t read everything that’s available in English, so it’s frivolous to want to learn Japanese and be able to read more than what’s available.
But it also comes down to US pubs choosing what we can and can’t read. I love to read Viz’s “Nana”, but what if I want to read Yazawa’s “Last Quarter”? What about “Rose of Versailles”?
Any publisher could basically do what mangafox does and put out manga for free and supplement it with ads. Im not going to get out my credit card and pay $1 for each new chapter.
Kate,
Ed Chavez, Marketing Director for Vertical Inc, does talk figures in this podcast. So it’s not gut feelings. http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/anncast/2010-04-23
Kurt Hassler, Publishing Director for Yen Press, also discussed figured, but I can’t remember which interview. Here are two to check out.
http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/anncast/2010-03-04
http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=26401
The fact that any book is illegal in this country is a different subject. I have spoken out against censorship of any kind most adamantly.
No, Ed, I’m afraid what country your from DOES affect these matters. I’d say it’s a bit harder to find manga legally translated into Swahili, Icelandic, or other countries with smaller markets.
And since you’ve hired a private tutor to study Japanese, is that affecting your French and Swedish language study time? I’m assuming you’re at least trilingual, since you’ve declared nationality cannot affect one’s language studying.
As for the mythical “mangaka’s control” over their work and it’s distribution, next you’ll be telling me Tokyopop and Viz license straight from the author.
Lee,
Actually, the mangaka does have to approve all license requests. So in essence yes. The Rose of Versailles doesn’t have an English release because the mangaka does want it translated into English. Believe it or not. Big name artists like CLAMP, Ken Akamatsu, Rumiko Takashi, etc. All have licensing agents that work directly for them and not their publishers. Some mangaka even oversee all aspects of a licensed work and won’t let it be published until they have signed off on the printer’s galley. You might want to study up more on Japanese copyright. In most cases the mangaka is the rights holder. Again, believe it or not.
I’m not trying to tell anyone what to do, but I just wanted to say that I did learn Japanese in order to read manga, so it’s not impossible. There was a certain title that I wanted to read so badly that I set about teaching myself Japanese from textbooks borrowed from the local library, plus a romanized Japanese-English dictionary and a very good beginner’s kanji dictionary with a romanized index (which was a lifesaver).
I was able to memorize the hiragana and katakana alphabets fairly quickly. The kanji was much harder, of course, but since the title I was reading used furigana (pronunciation guides), that made it easier to look up words in the dictionary. I pretty much had to sit there and painstakingly look up almost every word in the dictionaries, but I managed to translate it. I made lots of mistakes at first, of course, but I managed to pick up on the main gist of the story. (It took me about a month to finish the first chapter.)
I won’t say that it was easy, but I was very determined and willing to work hard at it, and I managed to do it in my spare time while working a full time job. It helped a little that I had some knowledge of spoken Japanese from watching subtitled anime and live action J-dramas for years. I’m sure it would have been easier if I’d had the opportunity to take formal classes, so if you have the chance to study Japanese in high school or college, I’d say go for it.
Several years later, I’m still not completely fluent, and I doubt that I’ll ever be at the level where I can read a novel, but I can manage manga with the help of my dictionaries. I admit that I have read scanalations of titles not available in the US because it’s easier than translating it myself, but I do buy the tankoban because I want to support the mangaka.
Honestly, the way this seems is that they are being racist. There are quite alot of japanese manga that I like and read regularly but cannot purchase cause its not sold in english in the US. So these sites are a repreeve for people like us whom enjoy reading things made by others. Without sites like onemanga or mangafox, etc those of us whom enjoy the japanese manga’s and the difference from american comics are going to be at a serious loss. They want to blame it on sales going down, well cause of this shut down on these sites the sales will plummet more. People only buy the manga’s to share with others so that they can enjoy things. Honestly, it’d be like me buying a book and letting my neighbor borrow it to read it…. Technically I’d be breaking the law wouldn’t I? My neighbor didn’t buy it but is reading it… That’s all these guys are doing is letting their friends borrow the books that they have to read. Seriously they need to get over themselves and quit this childishness. It comes off highly racist to me seeing as I am an english speaking person with no knowledge of other languages and now am being punished for enjoying another country’s authors great work. Seriously if they like their work that much they should be PROUD to have others share it and read it.