Well, maybe not according to plan ... but really, who can ever resist a chance to use that photo in a post? Anyway, the big news this past few days seems to be hovering around the shutting down of scanlation website OneManga,com. Visitors to the website have been greeted with this pop-up message:
"There is an end to everything, to good things as well."
It pains me to announce that this is the last week of manga reading on One Manga (!!). Manga publishers have recently changed their stance on manga scanlations and made it clear that they no longer approve of it. We have decided to abide by their wishes, and remove all manga content (regardless of licensing status) from the site. The removal of content will happen gradually (so you can at least finish some of the outstanding reading you have), but we expect all content to be gone by early next week (RIP OM July '10).
The issue of reading manga and watching anime for free rather than use paid services has been a hot one for some time, but it seems that OneManga will now follow the same path that other free services such as MangaFox and MangaTraders have followed. Will it turn into a pay site, however? We don't know yet. Future plans are in discussion according to further detail from the same announcement.
What are your thoughts? Would you pay a monthly premium to read manga, or do you feel you should be be able to read scans at no charge?
- The story is far ahead of the ones i can buy in English
- They tend to be translated More closely to the source material *cough* one piece *cough*
So basically i think we should be able to read manga online for free.I would be willing to support VIZ if they would either stop making stupid alterations to series or offer an unedited alternative.
I want the actual story. Not what a US publisher decides to change it into.
I used to only watch One Piece on fansubs, because it was the only way to get the real story. Eventually, FUNimation took over the license. They posted the latest episodes out of Japan and offer episodes in both dub and sub versions. I haven't used fansubs for that series since. FUNimation is offering the authentic product,
In all honesty. The only real scanlations I read anymore are One Piece and Negima!. On occasion I check in on Naruto and Bleach, but I became bored with those two.
When it comes to the Negima! manga. I normally read the latest in scanlations to stay current. I'll read the chapter once or twice, and wait for the next volume to be released.
This really wont effect me too much. I know enough scan sites that still cover the series I really want to read. OneManga was just one of my favorites.
@rein said:
That's the biggest Pro for scanlations.
Several series were put on hold, but since then no word on what is to become of them. What is bad is that the manga ended at volume 16.
This is sad. The manga I read are all not licensed and probably never will be in the US so I can't go anywhere else but to scanlations. Scanlations also provide so many more titles for readers to find interest in and possibly buy when it becomes licensed. All-in-all I just want the original material and more availability (but that's hard to ask when most manga I read is hentai). Besides, free stuff can promote us to then buy stuff.
i always have enjoyed reading the actual book in my hands more than seeing it on a screen (i own every US released volume of Naruto, among other series) but it was nice to keep up with Japan
but hey, there are still other sites, so we still got a few more weeks or months before those get shut down
am i the only one who thinks that Shonen Jump should offer scanalation services internationally? because i'd totally pay for that, like, a small monthly fee to read the chapters as they come out, and then delete those more than a month old, seriously, i'd pay
of course, i could just start watching the anime on hulu
Seriously though I hope publishers and scanlators are able to establish a balance. Kinda like how the sub group Dattebayo treats the series that they translate. Now that Bleach is on Crunchyroll they've stopped. It's those jerks that steal the Crunchyroll streams for distribution that make things worse.
@FoxxFireArt:
When I first saw this post the first thing I pondered was whether or not FoxxFireArt had already delivered his scathe of VIZ.
That was OneManga's sin as well: though the site itself does not steal, translate or publish manga, it provides an easily-searchable hub for those who do to display their work. This won't mean the end of "scanlations" (God, that word makes me cringe), but it will make it harder for those who don't know where to look, and possibly even send a message to some that they should play by the rules and pay for their manga.
Of course, this overlooks the fact that only a fraction of manga titles are officially licensed and translated for the US market, and even fewer elsewhere around the globe. This won't wipe out scanlations for good, just as the Napster decision hasn't wiped out free music sharing, but it will force both sides to dig a little deeper.
tl;dr, if it's licensed in your country and you like it, then pay for it. Otherwise, take a deep breath, this ain't the end of the world.
Watch Anime
Read Manga
Download Music
All for free.