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NEWS: 37 Japanese Publishers to Launch N. American Manga Portal


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Mr. sickVisionz



Joined: 28 Oct 2007
Posts: 2171
PostPosted: Fri Nov 12, 2010 8:00 am Reply with quote
It's about time.

I'm glad to finally see these companies getting deeper involved with the NA market. I've felt for a while that the US market for anime/manga has matured to a point where you can get involved in more than just licensing. It's no longer this mysterious entity that only a US company could ever hope to navigate successfully.

In all of Japan and the US, I'm sure you can find someone who can translate Japanese to English and someone who can build a website in English. I'm glad they went that route instead of licensing the content out, losing some control over it and having to do profit sharing with some 3rd party that isn't doing anything they couldn't easily handle themselves.
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Brand



Joined: 30 Jan 2006
Posts: 1028
PostPosted: Fri Nov 12, 2010 8:03 am Reply with quote
Damn, this is exciting news. And while a dream come true, it is one I never expected to.
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sunflower



Joined: 04 Sep 2005
Posts: 1080
PostPosted: Fri Nov 12, 2010 8:28 am Reply with quote
This is great news! Only two things would keep me from signing up: too high costs a la Libre's $3 per chapter on Amazon, or if all the releases were in Japanese.
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Aura Ichadora



Joined: 25 Apr 2008
Posts: 2281
Location: In front of my computer
PostPosted: Fri Nov 12, 2010 8:49 am Reply with quote
Cutiebunny wrote:
Scanlation sites aren't going anywhere.

I'm assuming that this site will charge to read manga. Even if the charge were $.01 per year, people will not pay. The concept of getting stuff for free with the current generation is so prevalent that asking for money for goods or services doesn't work.

(Or, in the case of iTunes, won't let you BUY a Japanese song because you're not living in that region. Sorry, but my personal gripe of the day. I want to give the company my money and they don't want it....)

It hasn't worked from Crunchyroll, who, if they were really making a serious profit, would have reported that by now.

Additionally, unless this site can put up new chapters within 24-48 hours of their initial release in Japan (which scanlation sites typically do with most popular titles), then, the need for scanlation sites will still exist.
Yes, scanlations will still exist. But this is a step in the right direction in getting them to stop, and that's what is most important about this.

Anyway, if they host Akuma to Love Song legally on this new portal, I'd be happy to pay any amount of money to read it. Better than reading scans, and my next closest thing to actually owning an English-version of the work. =P
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Divineking



Joined: 03 Jul 2010
Posts: 1293
PostPosted: Fri Nov 12, 2010 9:17 am Reply with quote
Cutiebunny wrote:
Scanlation sites aren't going anywhere.

I'm assuming that this site will charge to read manga. Even if the charge were $.01 per year, people will not pay. The concept of getting stuff for free with the current generation is so prevalent that asking for money for goods or services doesn't work.

(Or, in the case of iTunes, won't let you BUY a Japanese song because you're not living in that region. Sorry, but my personal gripe of the day. I want to give the company my money and they don't want it....)

It hasn't worked from Crunchyroll, who, if they were really making a serious profit, would have reported that by now.

Additionally, unless this site can put up new chapters within 24-48 hours of their initial release in Japan (which scanlation sites typically do with most popular titles), then, the need for scanlation sites will still exist.


We all know that, but at least this proves that Japan is trying to come up with a solution rather than keep losing money. Yes there will still be scans but popular to contrary belief, there are going to be people who are willing to pay for the service. It's true that Crunchyroll may not be making a large profit from it, but this is more about innovation than proft, and it proves that Japan is open to these possibilities.

Either way, the Japanese publishers are bound to gain at least some profit out of this.

Oh yeah, your wrong about scanlation speeds. JUMP and Shonen Sunday are released on Sundays in Japan(duh), and the scans for those series typically aren't up till' the latter half of the week. Since the publishers will obviously have access to the chapters ahead of time, it's not that difficult for them to beat that speed.
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Genet



Joined: 05 Jun 2009
Posts: 261
Location: USA
PostPosted: Fri Nov 12, 2010 9:28 am Reply with quote
Cutiebunny wrote:

Additionally, unless this site can put up new chapters within 24-48 hours of their initial release in Japan (which scanlation sites typically do with most popular titles), then, the need for scanlation sites will still exist.


There is no 'need' for scanlation sites. Rolling Eyes The demand may still be there, of course, but those aggregator sites piss pretty much everyone off, including groups that prefer not to have their series spread like wildfire and then have them licensed and unable to be pulled.


Also I saw "Akaneshinsha" as one of the groups- the people who put out Opera magazine- which is basically BL that has some really great plots and characters (IE: Doukyuusei, Sotsugyousei, various Natsume Ono works, etc) I think there might be hope finally to see these works come to the US. :3

Hope it doesn't mean no more printed books, though. I won't sit on my ass for hours staring at a screen, I want printed books, dammit.
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asimpson2006



Joined: 13 May 2008
Posts: 3151
Location: USA
PostPosted: Fri Nov 12, 2010 9:35 am Reply with quote
Cutiebunny wrote:
Scanlation sites aren't going anywhere.

I'm assuming that this site will charge to read manga. Even if the charge were $.01 per year, people will not pay. The concept of getting stuff for free with the current generation is so prevalent that asking for money for goods or services doesn't work.


People will pay if you give them an incentive that makes it worth their while to do so. Say for example better translations than scans will be an incentive for people to go the legit route.

Now this won't completely get rid of scans, they never can be gotten rid of, but at least this is a step in the right direction into making scans less prevalent.
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Patachu
Past ANN Contributor


Joined: 08 Jul 2004
Posts: 1325
Location: San Diego
PostPosted: Fri Nov 12, 2010 10:04 am Reply with quote
This is a triumph
I'm making a note here, huge success
It's hard to overstate my satisfaction

Japanese manga
We read what we like, because we can
For the good of comic fans (except the ones who read scans)

Well it's no use crying over every lost sale
You just keep on trying where the other folks failed
And you make a neat site
Hope the price is all right
For the industry is still alive
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xxmimixx



Joined: 06 Nov 2010
Posts: 1
PostPosted: Fri Nov 12, 2010 10:04 am Reply with quote
This is great news! If they do this, then thy should only publish the mangas that weren't licensed yet in English or aren't as popular. Since many people can't afford everything, they should make a reasonable deal with the fans.

For example, people could read online for free like any other place (like the first chapters to a volume) and if they like it, then they have the option to buy the volume or subscribe to the series at a reasonable price. I would prefer doing that then becoming a member on the website and have to pay like $20 a year or more just to stay as a member.
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monks_hood8



Joined: 11 May 2009
Posts: 3
PostPosted: Fri Nov 12, 2010 10:43 am Reply with quote
yay. i Don't have to buy my weekly shounen jump.
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decepticons2



Joined: 22 Oct 2008
Posts: 56
PostPosted: Fri Nov 12, 2010 11:31 am Reply with quote
From the people i know to watch/read stuff online they would never have bought it anyway. So they never lost any money from them. But there are bound to be people who are interested in reading this stuff online and willing to buy it.

Depending on the price model and whats available i am ready to sign up. Weird i find its easier to read online then in paper. I am also past the point in life where i want to collect a thousand books. Also we all know that if you are interested in something there is no chance its going to finish publishing. Online should increase that.

Also these companies may even want to reach out to some of these scan groups. They are almost doing it for free now. A scan post of manga is easier for a portal site to post then a legit copy.
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Nonaka Machine Gun B



Joined: 03 Feb 2009
Posts: 819
PostPosted: Fri Nov 12, 2010 11:35 am Reply with quote
asimpson2006 wrote:
Cutiebunny wrote:
Scanlation sites aren't going anywhere.

I'm assuming that this site will charge to read manga. Even if the charge were $.01 per year, people will not pay. The concept of getting stuff for free with the current generation is so prevalent that asking for money for goods or services doesn't work.


People will pay if you give them an incentive that makes it worth their while to do so. Say for example better translations than scans will be an incentive for people to go the legit route.

Now this won't completely get rid of scans, they never can be gotten rid of, but at least this is a step in the right direction into making scans less prevalent.

That's easy to say, but will it work in practice? Let's say Shueisha puts a bunch of WSJ titles on this. Are we getting Viz-ified translations with censorship, or are they actually going to find translators with a grasp on English and Japanese, and will actually set some guidelines on what they want done?

Highly skeptical about this. I'm sure there will be some technicality or fault that won't sit right with me.
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PingSoni
Subscriber



Joined: 05 Dec 2008
Posts: 195
Location: Lansing MI
PostPosted: Fri Nov 12, 2010 11:45 am Reply with quote
If the release format will be something I can download to my Sony Reader and curl up with when and where I want, I'm interested; very interested. If I can store it on a backup device when I'm done reading, I'm even more interested.

If I have to sit in front of a networked computer to read, I'm not interested; at all.

Maybe I'm just old and set in my ways, but I want to read books like they're books, and I want to be able to "pick them up" whenever I feel like it after I've paid for them. I consider a device like the current Sony Reader Touch to be close enough to that experience to satisfy me.

(With some manga on e-readers there's the problem of the loss of the two-page spread, but in the genres I read, that's rarely an issue.) I buy and read a lot of manga, so I'm definitely keeping an eye on this!
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asimpson2006



Joined: 13 May 2008
Posts: 3151
Location: USA
PostPosted: Fri Nov 12, 2010 11:47 am Reply with quote
Nonaka Machine Gun B wrote:
asimpson2006 wrote:
Cutiebunny wrote:
Scanlation sites aren't going anywhere.

I'm assuming that this site will charge to read manga. Even if the charge were $.01 per year, people will not pay. The concept of getting stuff for free with the current generation is so prevalent that asking for money for goods or services doesn't work.


People will pay if you give them an incentive that makes it worth their while to do so. Say for example better translations than scans will be an incentive for people to go the legit route.

Now this won't completely get rid of scans, they never can be gotten rid of, but at least this is a step in the right direction into making scans less prevalent.

That's easy to say, but will it work in practice? Let's say Shueisha puts a bunch of WSJ titles on this. Are we getting Viz-ified translations with censorship, or are they actually going to find translators with a grasp on English and Japanese, and will actually set some guidelines on what they want done?

Highly skeptical about this. I'm sure there will be some technicality or fault that won't sit right with me.


I never said it would be easy. I'm not sure how this companies will do this. They could go the free lance route, or they could use translators who work for manga companies already.
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Mohawk52



Joined: 16 Oct 2003
Posts: 8202
Location: England, UK
PostPosted: Fri Nov 12, 2010 12:05 pm Reply with quote
According to the NHK; Akihabara is awash with "foreign persons looking to work as Japanese translators to a plethora of world wide languages." so they needn't go very far to find some one willing to work for food, room, and board. I hope this works for them, but I get the feeling they are quite a bit too late arriving at the gang rape.
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