News: Manga Publishers now uniting to stop scanlation sites.

[Gerry]

36 publishers in the United States and Japan have formed the Japanese Digital Comic Association to combat the "rampant and growing problem" of scanlations, illicit digital copies of manga either translated by fans or scanned directly from legitimate English releases.

An unnamed spokesperson for the group acknowledged that scanlations originated as a method to expose people to manga that was unlikely to receive an official translation as long ago as the 1970s, but stated that the practice was transformed by for-profit sites that collect scanlations. The spokesperson also pointed to smartphone applications designed to read such sites as an escalation of the problem.

The Japanese Digital Comic Association is reportedly threatening legal action against 30 scanlation sites, whose names were not revealed. The organization currently includes Japanese publishers Kodansha, Shogakukan, Shueisha, Square Enix, and the Tuttle-Mori Agency, as well as North American manga publishers Vertical Inc., Viz Media, Tokyopop, and Yen Press.

Source:

http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/new...ese-publishers-unite-against-manga-scan-sites

Interesting. I'll get into my own thoughts later, as I'm curious as to what you guys think.

 

[Shirai]

I only have one thought about this:

It's about time!!

 

[Strid]

Wont be a problem, it never is. When you're publishing giant collections of material from a magazine you can't hope for much. In Japan I can see how Manga developers could make money, but not the second hand publishers over here, which is probably even why the Japanese folks that are on board are on board, they're not gettin' much in return with the licensing because we don't need to buy Tokyopop's overpriced shit.

If they kept up to date, stopped sub par translations, stopped their lolcensorship, and stop with the ridiculous overpricing then hey, I'll feel them. Until then they can go down in flames and I'll enjoy it. I see no reason to pay for overpriced things with shitty localizations, these free sites do a much, much better job.

 

[Raesvelg]

This one of those situations where there's no easy fix, no DRM that's going to deter a significant portion of the populace from getting something for free. In the long run, they're going to have to start taking the Crunchyroll approach; simultaneous worldwide translated releases, at least if they don't want to see people ripping them off left and right.

Which still won't fix the problem, obviously, but ideally it'll cut a slice out of the scanlation market share, so to speak.

 

[Gerry]

Update: These are the publishers that are part of this Association.

Square Enix, Viz Media, TOKYOPOP, Vertical, Inc., The Tuttle-Mori Agency, Yen Press, Akane Shinsha, Akita Shoten, ASCII Media Works, East Press, Ichijinsha, Enterbrain, Okura Shuppan, Ohzora Shuppan, Gakken, Kadokawa Shoten, Gentosha Comics, Kodansha, Jitsugyo No Nihonsha, Shueisha, Junet, Shogakukan, Shogakukan Shueisha Production, Shodensha, Shonen Gahosha, Shinshokan, Shinchosha, Take Shobo, Tatsumi Shuppan, Tokuma Shoten, Nihon Bungeisha, Hakusensha, Fujimi Shobo, Fusosha, Futabasha, France Shoin, Bunkasha, Houbunsha, Magazine House, Media Factory, Leed sha, and Libre Shuppan.

 

[K. Ishitar]

if it happens it happens, only a few books of a manga i read are worth buying normally reading online helps decide what to buy really, i understand their point of view and agree; just good luck lol

 

[Gerry]

I should probably point out a couple things.

Fan scanlations (Of series unlicensed in the US) might be safe as they respectfully take down releases once the material is licensed.

Sites like OneManga and MangaFox are the ones that will probably be taken down and prosecuted due to the money they make and general lack of taking series down when they are licensed.

As for mangastream, I'm not sure, they do take chapters of manga down when the tankoban volumes are released in Japan, so in one sense, they are being respectful. On the other hand, that iPhone/Android App they release which REQUIRED payment may be the end of them. It's hard to say at this time.

 

[Ecks]

I hope NarutoCentral is untouched.. or else I wont get to read Naruto anymore. ; ; that'd be a sad day

 

[Shirai]

I hope NarutoCentral is untouched.. or else I wont get to read Naruto anymore. ; ; that'd be a sad day

No, my bet is that that is one of the sites looked at first.
Naruto, even though opinions differ about how good the series is, is one of the most popular titles outside of Japan and companies pay a lot of money to be allowed to sell translated copies these.
Amounts that exceed six zeros depending on the language zone and fabrication and distribution rights of merchandise.
And nearly every country on the world having a company that has a license on Naruto...

 

[CidBahamut]

I am thoroughly underwhelmed by this announcement. They can't stamp it all out, but good on them for trying?

Frankly I can't stand reading Manga on a screen so I don't much care. The only ones worth reading are worth owning a hardcopy of, and I'm perfectly happy to have dropped a few hundred dollars into my Berserk collection.

 

[Gerry]

For me, good or bad, I'm very happy with my collection of nearly 600 manga. As for reading manga online, I do hope that these publishers put forth a service much like crunchyroll for viewing manga, or at the very least they should start releasing manga on something like Amazon's Kindle or the iPad. I know it can be done as Marvel/IDW/Disney/Archie have been releasing comics on the PSP's Comic Reader App (Which they offer some free issues for as well), and I know it's being done for manga on this service in Japan.

 

[Strid]

Putting stuff out quicker isn't the main solution to makin' boat loads of money for these guys. Shitty translations that I'm expected pay more than double for are more a problem in my concern. I read my chosen series from a site the same day it's released in Japan. The translations are usually more normal than the ridiculously formalized official ones. I also never have to worry about censorship. Why should I pay them to do a shitty job at a jacked up price and be subjected to their take on what's best for our society to read? If they ever want my money they're goin' to work for it, not half ass it like they have been doing. It doesn't really matter though, this, if it even dents the Scanlation "scene", will definitely not even come close to killing it so until they step up their game, hell, even then as repercussion for poor past work, I'll keep readin' my manga free of charge.

 

[Gerry]

Putting stuff out quicker isn't the main solution to makin' boat loads of money for these guys. Shitty translations that I'm expected pay more than double for are more a problem in my concern. I read my chosen series from a site the same day it's released in Japan. The translations are usually more normal than the ridiculously formalized official ones. I also never have to worry about censorship. Why should I pay them to do a shitty job at a jacked up price and be subjected to their take on what's best for our society to read? If they ever want my money they're goin' to work for it, not half ass it like they have been doing. It doesn't really matter though, this, if it even dents the Scanlation "scene", will definitely not even come close to killing it so until they step up their game, hell, even then as repercussion for poor past work, I'll keep readin' my manga free of charge.

Most companies here censor very little now these days, in fact Yen Press' stuff even has words like "Shit" and "Fuck" in their translations.

Quote From Black God Volume 1 Page 55:

"Get out of my sight! You Fucking Brat!"

Volume 1 Page 57:

"If you don't leave, I'll Fucking Kill You!"

Granted most other translation companies won't do that sort of extreme, however, for the most part the translations are done really really well in my view.

Now, if by censorship you also mean more controversial material such as Shikamaru smoking in Naruto, I believe Japan even had that change as well from the initial release in WSJ. Another Jump series, Sket Dance, which hasn't even seen an international announcement yet also had to do an outright apology because one of the jokes got on the more dangerous side. Another one, Higurashi, Do I need to mention the vomiting, the bloody murder, the scenes where people tear their own throats open, and very soon, the scene where Rena cuts herself with a knife and MAGGOTS start falling out? Yen Press keeps that stuff in. Even with all that though, Censorship doesn't exactly happen that often.

Let's face it here, many of us manga fans have been spoilt from the free scanlations, they've certainly helped bring manga over to the US, but isn't it about time for the medium to stand on it's own two feet and thrive as it should?

Let's put it this way, the manga boom that started getting series from Japan over into the US untouched? It is over.

 

[Shirai]

Again I read the same excuses I've been reading the last 15 years.
That you're not willing to pay for manga is not for me to judge, but stop making up excuses for it.
Gerry pretty much summed it up, get over your bias, official releases have been just as good or even better then scanlations.
They have been for at leats the last decade.

As far as scanlation websites go.
Scanlation sites will still be there tomorrow, they won't all taken down but a lot of them will be.
I think a few sites will remain around under a specific agreement with the publishers like Crunchyroll has with anime licensors.
Yes, of course the companies are all too aware the sites will help them sell a few more copies here and there.
Of course they know that a lot of scanlation sites help them choose what they could license and release next.
It's a market, and the more popular a series is on the internet, the more likely they will profit from licensing and releasing the translated paper versions.

But as it stands right now there's just way too fucking many sites that also offering what has been licensed and released.
And some of these cockroaches even dare ask money for it, wether it be in the form of 'donations' or otherwise.

 

[Strid]

Again I read the same excuses I've been reading the last 15 years.
That you're not willing to pay for manga is not for me to judge, but stop making up excuses for it.

Stop making excuses or what exactly? My *reasons* are valid to me just as much as you find your reasons valid for you.

Gerry pretty much summed it up, get over your bias, official releases have been just as good or even better then scanlations.
They have been for at leats the last decade.

Ten years? Yeah, no way in hell. You probably think anime voice acting is now absolutely stellar as well. I'm not an idiot, just extremely picky.

I'd consider a Shonen Jump sub in the price range of $15 a year, like any good magazine is. Hell, I'd go $20. As it stands now they think their product is worth near or over $40 a year. Anime viewing and manga reading very well may be a niche hobby in our country but I'm not goin' to pay any more for it than I would something similar, that presents a better educational value at that. It's obvious it can be done cheaper yet these companies don't do it, playin' off the niche rule, so until they want to treat me better they can eat it. It doesn't even cost $40 a year to subscribe to Playboy.

If you like the idea that your helping your hobby grow by paying for it then hey, that's great. It may be a main hobby of mine as well but I support me, the individual, over my hobbies. When they get themselves in line I'll support them as well, but until then I'll stick with the voice that says, "You're doing it wrong."

 

[Xalioniaf]

In the end, manga publishing is like everything else: a business. A business wants to make money.
They've been well aware for a long time now that a large portion of their potential audience have avoided their manga localizations because of the subpar quality, and have stepped it up in the past few years. Is it a 1:1 translation of the original Japanese text? No, but that's why they're localizations, and not translations.
To say that the quality of imported manga hasn't risen reeks of ignorance blinded by grorious nippon.

 

[K. Ishitar]

Again I read the same excuses I've been reading the last 15 years.
That you're not willing to pay for manga is not for me to judge, but stop making up excuses for it.
Gerry pretty much summed it up, get over your bias, official releases have been just as good or even better then scanlations.
They have been for at leats the last decade.

No offense, but thats a subjective statement in the sense of being subject to interpretation. I dont want to go too indepth with this but i'll use an example for Berserk lovers

Vol. 32 in the scene just after Guts and Zodd finish the Kushan Emperor in his apostle form, Serpico quotes Guts and asks him to stand down; this line he quotes is the same line Guts gives the Kushan Emperor about joining forces to kill Griffith and Guts pretty much says no thank sto the pissing contest

http://dl01.mangashare.com/manga/Berserk/278/011.jpg in case I messed this up its 278 "Setting Sail"


the released which I bought says "You couldnt care less about some feud between monsters, right?"

Again its one of those subjective things, but for a story like Berserk, it shouldnt be sugar coated because its not a Candyland type of story, if i didnt read this online first I wouldnt have bought it. I only buy the books I personally like or identify with the story; when I read this I remembered the way I read it first and like it a lot better.

 

[Xalioniaf]

Scanlation quality is really hit and miss, though. There are many points like inconsistent terms and translations between chapters, as well as typos that have a rather high tendency to sneak past their editors.
Never mind that long-running manga can exchange hands with multiple scanslators, which ups the frequency of terms getting changed around. One group might like the literal translation of an object, another might want to use a romanization instead.

 

[Marajade]

I read scanlations because I don't want to wait years for it to be legitimately translated and released here. It isn't like Anime where you're having to re-dub over the series, I don't see why it takes so god damned long to get the releases here. If we got WSJ on shelves every week, the same week (Or even like two weeks behind) the asian release, I'd buy it weekly.

 

[Tymon]

I read scanlations because I don't want to wait years for it to be legitimately translated and released here. It isn't like Anime where you're having to re-dub over the series, I don't see why it takes so god damned long to get the releases here. If we got WSJ on shelves every week, the same week (Or even like two weeks behind) the asian release, I'd buy it weekly.

I share the same opinion

I would probably pay quite a good deal of money yearly, maybe even monthly for subscriptions if they translated the stuff anywhere close to as fast as the fan scanlation sites.

No, I'm not expecting it to be the same day as release in Japan. That's unrealistic. Same week, maybe a little better. I would settle for within 10 days, to be honest.

I'm not going to sit around in a corner, covering my ears so I don't get spoiled, for a year, because they're too lazy to translate it here.

Actually, it takes longer than years. Isn't Naruto like 2 years behind?