Forum - View topicScanlation: Japanese pop culture going global
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enurtsol
 Posts: 15210 |
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"Japanese pop culture going global thanks to fans' efforts"
Lee said there are probably in excess of 1,000 scanlation groups worldwide with many based in the United States, where the practice originated in the late 1990s. She said scanlation represents a different kind of relationship between publishers and those copying their work. Whereas the music industry has clamped down hard on illegal file-sharers, the manga industry has not yet taken any legal action. Lee said she had spoken to one Japanese publishing house that was not particularly happy about the unauthorized translations, but the industry has yet to engage in coordinated action, with many publishers seeing scanlation as an overseas phenomenon. Lee believes disputes could arise in the future and some believe they could be triggered if the manga market becomes more lucrative overseas. It currently attracts a relatively modest audience in comparison with other media. |
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fighterholic
Posts: 9193 |
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I just don't think that the manga industry has taken the harder hit between it and the anime industry. But it most certainly allows for series that definitely aren't over here in the US to get noticed. For me myself though, I could care less about the works and the series that are available. Since I can read Japanese, I can just get the manga book myself and actually read it without having to turn on the computer.
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MangaNeko
Posts: 172 |
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I think the Japanese publishers have let this slide for a few reasons. One being the US/English market just recently emerged and they are not sure how far the market will penetrate. Before 2002 there was only 4 or 5 manga titles sold in bookstores along side comicbook trades and graphic novels. Today over 4 to 5 hundred titles are available. Even though the bookstore presence has grown expedentially, there is not enough space to let readers see ALL that's available to them. The publishers in Japan are getting more money than ever from the American manga publishers, but the crux is what sales are being MISSED and how can it be proven scanlations are taking away from the minimal amount of sales needed to make a title profitable. But maybe we do have proof. Beck an awesome title that should have been a good solid low-range title has been placed on hold by Tokyopop. It had the markings of an indie hit. Fans gushed about it, the anime was picked up for domestic distribution and the title had a solid story. Unfortunately there is no simple answer to why it failed, but the online scanlations may be the biggest denominator for this title's failure. The satuation has now forced publishers to pull back the amount published. Scanlations fill that void, but when a project hurts the American release we ALL lose.
VIZ is working hard to make at least their number one title Naruto not be affected by scanlations. Breaking down the time barrier is the best option on top tier titles, so funds can trickle down to help support the small ones. I think by the end of summer we will know how well this experiment works. |
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v1cious
 Posts: 6279 Location: Houston, TX |
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the problem is distribution, that's all there is to it. a new Naruto comes out every week, yet the US is volumes behind. hell Death Note didn't finish here until like a year (maybe longer) after it ended in Japan. find a way to get accurate translations on store shelves around the same (or at least close) time as Japan, and the issue is resolved. pure and simple. of course this won't completely stamp out scans, but the problem certainly won't be as widespread as it is now.
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enurtsol
Posts: 15210 |
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Not unless it's also an anthology of titles that people will buy on store shelves. Not even many fans would pay for just 20 pages of Naruto or Death Note every week for a higher cost per page than a graphic novel. And not many bookstore shelves would sell just 20 pages of comics every week neither, except comic shops, but most manga fans nowadays go to bookstores. So it has to be an anthology of series. Furthermore, the issue becomes which series? Then they have to clear the approvals from multiple Japanese licensors to get the go-ahead. Problems could arise like what if a particular series skips a week or more in Japan (e.g. due to illness, etc), then the anthology would either have less pages or find a replacement real quick. And of course, the underlying issue to all these is they'd have to translate and graphically prepare so many pages per week (they'd have a little headstart of course, but remember, the longer the headstart, the longer the difference between the Japanese publication date and the English publication date, so it can't be too long), and all without hiring so many paid workers that would make the anthology too expensive. (Or, they could hire many low-paid scanlators who are professional enough to be in a work environment with weekly deadlines.) They'd have to finish early enough to be sent timely to the printing factories. In the meantime, many fans would still rather collect graphic novels of their favorite series, not pay for an anthology of a bunch of stuff that they don't want. Many others would only pay if it's as cheap as but on better paper quality than the Japanese mags (that are built to be discarded after reading) - which of course is economically impossible in America. In conclusion, the logistics is not as simple. As they say in war, the public think strategy; the generals think logistics. 
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Overlord Z-ko
Posts: 34 |
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Well considering Scanlations are pretty much the same as fansubs, the same points apply to both. It's my guess they have the same effect. They allow people to be able to read manga that they normally wouldn't be able to read, but at the same time can potentially reduce sales of Manga. The only difference I can think of is that because they are english only they are less likely to affect Japanese sales than fansubs do.
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