Scanlation: Distributed Manga

IronicGrin writes "Just alerting you to a story I wrote for SFGate.com about the emergence of manga as a cultural and commercial force in the U.S.; in addition to discussing the fact that manga has begun to appear on national bestseller lists (volumes of Naruto and Rurouni Kenshin both cracked the USA Today Top 150), I also discuss scanlation communities--that is to say, distributed groups that use the Internet to translate and distribute as-yet unlicensed manga works--comparing this form of culture hacking to other open source development efforts. Do you think the comparison is apt? How many of you guys read manga (as opposed to watch anime), anyway?"

Comments

Scanlations are a launchpad for new Mangas + Links

[CharonX]

Scanlations actually act for Mangas, just like Fansubs for Animes, as a launchpad for Licensation.
I severely doubt that Naruto or Hikaru No Go would have become licensed, if they didn't already have such an big fanbase in English speaking countries - they might have disappeared into obscurity outside Japan instead.
The IP theft issue is not a real problem here - the artists like when their manga gets scanlated (after all, it shows how much it is liked). The publishing companies turn a blind eye to the scanlation groups, as they have nothing to loose (non-japanese Speakers wouldn't buy the manga anyways) but alot to gain (Getting alot of US fans = good chance that the manga gets licensed for the US) and most of the high-quality groups honor the request to stop scanlating licensed manga.

Finally, here are a few intresting links to Scanlation Pages for those that got interested in Manga:
Toriyama's World produced high-quality Hikaru No Go and Naruto Scanlations until they got licensed, now offers e.g. Hunter X Hunter
Snoopy Cool offers alot of intresting Scanlations, like Yakitate!! Japan - a manga about beaking bread(?!) and many others.
Enjoy

Fansubbers are NOT thieves

[SuperBanana]

Microsoft Office with a crack and a hacked translation into a new language is, while a labor of love, still outright theft.

Please don't misrepresent the manga/anime fansubbing/scanlation community to those who won't recognize just how ignorant you are. I know you think in black and white because of the way the movie and music studios have treated "piracy", but the difference between anime/manga studios and western movie/music studios could not possibly be any different with how they treat p2p distribution of their work.

Fansubbers and now BitTorrent link sites(at least, the ones run by fans, not p2p-kiddies) usually have policies about licensed content; stuff disappears when it gets licensed for distribution in a country where the translated language is spoken. AnimeSuki for example, does not list a single licensed series, even if groups are making torrents available. Anime[mircx] has actually shut down until they are technically able to honor a request from ADV (a distributor) to not list ADV series, regardless of licensing. Many IRC Fserve operators delete series if their fansub group has a policy for doing so.

Only one group, to my knowledge, has publicly gone against the requests of a studio or distributor, and that would be AnimeJunkies, who had an extremely poor reputation already (mention "mass naked child events" to anyone who was a fan of Ghost in The Shell: SAC and watch them giggle- it was one of their more famous mistranslations). AJ is, consequently, now almost dead- fansubbing very little, and shunned by most. I can't begin to describe the amount of hate that many anime fans had for AJ after a studio employee posted on a board the conversation she had with an AJ leader.

Fansub groups also STRONGLY discourage selling of their work by putting in "NOT FOR EBAY, SALE OR RENT, FAN TRANSLATION" randomly into their works(ebaying CD-R/DVD-R copies of group's works was particularly popular at one point among sleazy individuals- profit margins are quite good), and they often include a message urging people to buy the DVDs when they come out- and from being on IRC channels a decent amount, a lot of people DO buy the DVDs, soundtracks, etc when they come out.

The studios and distributors respect what the fansubbing community has done for them; they're fully aware they exist and they have zero desire to "do" something about them. You simply wouldn't have seen films like Spirited Away, and much of the stuff on Adult Swim come into the US if fansub groups hadn't slowly been building a market (or at least appreciation) for Anime. Further- the fansubs actually create more of a market for the DVDs and trinkets...not less.

So, pardon me when I take serious umbrage at you stating that fansub and scanlation groups are thieves, because it's one of the most ignorant statements I've heard in quite some time.

Re:IP Theft != Open Source

[line.at.infinity]

Having done translation before, I've read Japanese copyright law to make sure that I can distribute the translation legally. Basically copyright expires after fifty years* in Japan, and distribution of translation of copyrighted material is illegal without the permission of the author of the original work. Seeing how there are plenty of international agreements made, I'm sure copyright law regarding translation isn't much different in other countries. (Although I recall Dr. Zhivago being translated without the Russian author's permission, but I digress...)

Publishers have to consider legal + PR cost before they can go on a lawsuit spree. Often times if illegal distribution can increase hype and awareness amongst consumers who also legally purchase copies, then illegal distribution becomes free advertisement, and publishers have to strike a careful balance. Illegal distributors should think about how to do their business in a way that gives the least incentive for publishers to go after them.

* Expires after fifty years, but fifty years after exactly what depends on the circumstance.