Manga Scanlation...

[strobe_z]

After reading some articles about the Japan/US manga scanlation crack down I started wondering when did "scanlation" include full on scans of published material?

I always think of scanlations as being a manga which is not licensed in the USA being scanned and translated... or at worst licensed manga with a slow release schedule (like Inuyasha) being scanned and translated ahead of the curve.

It seems though, the word has almost exclusively come to mean "take Vertical's Black Jack edition, scan it and post it".

As someone who was around at the very beginning of the fan-dub and scanlation movement this seems really strange and sad to me. It used to be about making material that was almost impossible to get accessible to English speaking fans. Now it just seems it's about ripping off the companies.

Sad.

[Xenops]

I certainly enjoyed reading scanlations of "Fullmetal Alchemist" as the chapter came out, because Viz media is taking their own sweet time publishing the volumes. Plus it gave me the experience of what it's like to only read a chapter a month as the Japanese do in their magazines. But I fully intend to buy the volumes, I just wanted to know what happens next sooner than later.

If the manga is any good, more than likely I'll buy the American licensed versions even if I read the scanlations first.

[Metropolisforever_2]

They aren't usually called "scanlations" anymore. Most people just call them "scans", because, after all, there's no point in calling it a "scanlation" if there's no "translation" or "-lation" going on.

[Xenops]

[Metropolisforever_2]

But, if it weren't for fan-made scanlations, we wouldn't have gems like this...

[Jeffbert]

[F-Man]

[strobe_z]

[Fauna]

@Jeffbert: I saw the posts you're talking about...I considered looking up the series online and posting the link, but gave up and suggested she just go buy the book herself. But then someone else did the opposite...

For me, when someone takes a genuinely-obscure license at least a few years old and translates it for fun, I have no qualms. But there's too many people who scan a book you could buy immediately in a store, distracting from the official release. It's because of this crap that America and Japan have a mutual slump in anime/manga sales. I'm a little pleased that this crackdown is happening...there's a thin line between putting love into translating something and just ripping off companies, and it actually makes me furious to see people cross it.

So on either side, I've had to see vital companies like Geneon America die because of online pirating. But then my Kyukyoku Choujin R scanlation project was abruptly cancelled and the person who scanned all nine Japanese volumes had to delete them from his server. I wasn't that far anyways, so in retrospect, I'm not mad about it.

[Jeffbert]

This may seem odd coming from me, but it is one thing to discretely share among friends, and entirely a different thing to put links to content on public forums or sites such as ONE MANGA.

I have viewed dozens of Tezuka manga via CD Japan; many have English language synopses pages up front, which greatly clarify the comics and even name a few characters. It cost Y100 to rent a title for 48 hours, and viewing the 1st 12 pages is free; I am glad I found this service, as I have discovered more than a few stories that were adapted into the Astroboy B&W series.

[Xenops]

I would LOVE to find true, translated "scanlations" of Tezuka's lesser known works. Certainly his popular stuff will be published in the U.S., but probably not Midnight, Detective Rock Holmes or other ones where the titles look interesting (check out the wikipedia list )

[Jeffbert]

I am sorry that I omitted acknowledging your post, Fauna, I was simply too intently composing what I wrote in the last post, I did intend to make mention of it, which I now do.

Thank you for "taking the high road," to use an old figure of speech. I understand why people want something for nothing, I myself have in the past used those online manga scanlation sites, though I do have a fairly respectable collection of manga and anime myself, so I can identify with both sides of the issue.

I hope that the publishers decide to make English translations of manga available online; either for small fees, or via ads. If they fail to embrace the reality that people want instant gratification, as I believe, the music industry has done, then the genre is doomed, because people will share. It may not be right, but it is a fact.

After the thing with that music downloading program, it would have made sense for them to anticipate this. Perhaps the crackdown is only a step in that direction. I think it would be better to crackdown 1st, then begin offering online manga. There is already a large selection of Japanese manga online, not just the Tezuka titles, Y100 is a small price to pay for 48 hour rental.