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The "online manga" controversy.


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It's been a few months since OneManga, possibly the safest and most reputable online manga resource on the Net, shut down, and since then I've been scrambling to find a good replacement. Neither MangaFox nor MangaToshokan have my series, and MangaReader ended up infecting my comp with around 10 viruses while being dead slow to boot. MangaStream is good, but they only have the most recent chapters each of a few series. Therefore, I'm approaching my wit's end, and am turning to you guys for help.

1) [url]http://www.mangashare.com[/url] - Anyone used this site before and can either vouch for or dissuade me from using it? I'm being extremely wary about new sites ever since my computer crashed and having to pay $275 to get it fixed.

2) Discuss the entire situation as a whole. Do American publishing companies have the rights to pull fan-translated copies of the series they run, or are they overstepping their boundaries?
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It kind of sucks... I miss being able to go back and read series (Such as reading Hellsing) on OneManga. Manga Stream is good for SOME Manga, but only the last 5 chapters or so.

I either get a link, or I have to do without, sadly...

I see no issue with fans translating the Manga. They are not making a profit, so nothing can be said about it.
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[quote name='Tainted Black' timestamp='1288144665' post='4740934']
I see no issue with fans translating the Manga. They are not making a profit, so nothing can be said about it.
[/quote]

People read it online, and thus no longer have a reason to buy volumes. It's piracy that's just as bad, if not worse, than downloading movies or using ROMs and Emulators. The reason it can potentially be worse is that having copy protection on a manga would require watermarks and such, which would turn many people off of print copies for good.

I'd say they have every right to stop scanlators due to that reason.
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[quote name='Flame Dragon' timestamp='1288195524' post='4741983']
Like it or not they have every right to take down sites that post the manga since it's illegal. With chapters there it keeps people from going out and buying manga themselves. This cuts into their profit and for that reason they will take down sites that have manga scans.
[/quote]

The man speaks the truth, piracy is bad.
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[quote name='ADHD-Guitar' timestamp='1288230373' post='4743809']
[url=http://browse.barnesandnoble.com/browse/nav.asp?env=web&visgrp=fiction&bncatid=1133350&cds2Pid=16864&linkid=1015658]Sorry to be jerk, but...[/url]
[/quote]

Ewww... B+N
Spending money on manga? I don't think so.
I only spend money on manga if it's a visual masterpiece like Biomega.
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[b]@ADHD-Guitar:[/b] Odd, I thought Negima! Volume 28 was coming out in November... Yet that link claims they're already selling copies.

[quote name='Scyire' timestamp='1288230704' post='4743825']
Spending money on manga? I don't think so.
[/quote]

You remind me of the jerks who pirated the "[url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humble_Indie_Bundle"]Humble Indie Bundle[/url]", which let people set their own price, as low as a cent.

It's like video games and movies. You are not entitled to a free ride through, no matter how much you think you are.
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[quote name='Scyire' timestamp='1288230704' post='4743825']
Spending money on manga? I don't think so.
[/quote]
Cause what you spend your money on is that important? Really unless you don't have the money in the first place go and buy the damn manga. Their is another reason why manga sites and the loss of sales is bad, makes it seem like their is no demand for the what ever your buying and if it seems like there is none we loss what ever is being made.

Really, if you have the money go out and support the manga writes.
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Manga sites are alright if it takes a long time for the translated manga to come out, for example with 5Ds or even GX mangas the Japanese version is a lot of chapters ahead, people are gonna want to see the mangas, but they should still buy them when they come out. Speaking of which I should do that.
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[quote name='Yin' timestamp='1288257691' post='4744338']
Manga sites are alright if it takes a long time for the translated manga to come out, for example with 5Ds or even GX mangas the Japanese version is a lot of chapters ahead, people are gonna want to see the mangas, but they should still buy them when they come out. Speaking of which I should do that.
[/quote]
Exactly. :) I see no problem with reading stuff online, that way you don't have to pay money for something when you don't know how good it is. That's why Onemanga was awesome. [b]However, you should still support the author by buying the volumes.[/b]

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[quote name='Templar Knox' timestamp='1288302408' post='4745550']
Just search up a bunch of sites maybe even just one site that follow the manga you like
[/quote]
That was my point. I use Mangastream, which only has the Manga for 5 weeks (Unless there are delays). It's a bit more fair to the publishers. IF one wishes to re-read it, it's too bad for them.

Also, I just have friends give me links to other manga.
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I only see two ways to justify reading online manga:

[list=1]
[*]It's not being released in your country and/or in a language you can read - they clearly don't want your business.
[*]You'll be buying or otherwise legally obtaining the official release when it is released, but you want to keep up with the story.
[/list]

[quote name='Tainted Black' timestamp='1288302914' post='4745580']
I see no issue with MangaStream =/ They make no profit off of the manga itself, and they only have 5 issues up at a time. It's not that bad.
[/quote]

It's being nicer than most other manga sites, that's for sure, but I'd only agree if they dropped that to the most recent 1 or 2. 5 is half-a-volume or a full volume for most manga.
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I know I should buy the official release, but I really can't afford it. I have money, but I need that for food and other important things. Also the Japanese is quite a way in front of the , so the official release isn't the part of the story I want to read, and I can't justify money on something I've already read, at least not now.

Besides which, of the three series I read with any regularity, 2 are massively long already such that I probably won't be able to afford the £400 or so to catch up for quite a long time (and it'll only get worse), and the third isn't available in English at all yet.

RE: Mangastream: 5 chapters is fine, so long as they haven't been released in English yet. If the translation comes out 2 weeks after the Japanese, then maybe it's a problem, but otherwise it's not going to be a problem. Cutting to just 1 or 2 means that if someone goes on holiday or something they'll end up missing chapters, and in a series that has a long gap between release or translation it could potentially be enough to put someone off altogether.
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[quote name='Time Psyduck' timestamp='1288426580' post='4749119']
I know I should buy the official release, but I really can't afford it. I have money, but I need that for food and other important things. Also the Japanese is quite a way in front of the , so the official release isn't the part of the story I want to read, and I can't justify money on something I've already read, at least not now.

Besides which, of the three series I read with any regularity, 2 are massively long already such that I probably won't be able to afford the £400 or so to catch up for quite a long time (and it'll only get worse), and the third isn't available in English at all yet.

RE: Mangastream: 5 chapters is fine, so long as they haven't been released in English yet. If the translation comes out 2 weeks after the Japanese, then maybe it's a problem, but otherwise it's not going to be a problem. Cutting to just 1 or 2 means that if someone goes on holiday or something they'll end up missing chapters, and in a series that has a long gap between release or translation it could potentially be enough to put someone off altogether.
[/quote]

Most of the stuff on MangaStream get put up a day or two after the Japanese release...

Also, putting someone off of pirating the manga altogether is actually quite a good [b]supporting[/b] argument for cutting it to two. Honestly, it should be 0.
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Actually, I was thinking that limiting the availability may put someone off the series altogether, especially if they like to get involved with the fandom for the series - if they can't follow what everyone else is talking about, they may go off and do something else, and not even buy the volumes any more. Ideally it would be 0, but then ideally the official translations would only take a week or two to come out, and they'd be more widely available.

What we need is an official version of these sites, where you pay a fee and get however many chapters of however many mangas is deemed fair for the price. This lets people who don't understand Japanese read the chapters as they come out, but the people who produce it still get paid. It can even be cheaper than the volumes, since there's no printing and distribution costs to pay. This was everyone wins (except maybe the people who print the translations), however I can see someone ruining it by lifting the online pages and putting them up elsewhere.

I have less of a problem with things online if it's a translation of something into a language it's not currently in. Scanning the translations and posting those (which I have seen) is defiantly going too far - at least with the translation the people putting them up made some effort themselves. I also don't think there's any real need for translations to stay around once the official release is out. I've read them, but mostly because they were there, and if they weren't I wouldn't have bought them.
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