Shounen Jump editors comments on unauthorized manga chapters

true but then I recall that me and my friend purchase manga to support the business even if it is exorbitantly priced...its not just about buying but we feel its a mean of saving the industry
we do read online manga but are also the first to say I want to buy it because I liked it so much when I read it online.

I think that's how I also refer to anime hosted as well. believe it or not, even after buying monthly shonen here, it is a difficult process to find even if the price is right. So there should be a cheaper alternative so we don't have to seem like extreme otaku buying 100+ in manga. Or reading it in borders...
 
What I find interesting about this issue is that within 4-5 years, widespread use of the Apple iPad and competing devices that will use a Google-developed operating system designed for tablet computers (either Chrome OS or Android) could literally change the Japanese manga industry.

Imagine few years from now in Japan instead waiting to buy the latest issue of Shounen Jump at 5:00 am every Tuesday morning, it's already preloaded on your tablet computer and/or ready to transfer from your desktop/laptop computer at 12:00 am Tuesday. The Marvel Comics app for the iPad and the Archie Digital website are previews of what could be the biggest change in manga publishing ever.

The problem mentioned on this message thread has been around for some time, since the manga publishers don't go out of their way to keep someone from stealing a copy of a manga anthology magazine before publication date and posting its contents online in Japan. It isn't like the USA, where magazine publishers are fairly careful to make sure the contents of the magazine don't get published online in an unauthorized fashion before publication date.
 
Yeah, I've read as much too. I guess you have a different attitude about free content if you can actually make a living off of your work. XD The global comics market is far different than in Japan. In the US, you're lucky if you can make any money AT ALL off of your comic, much less break even (If you're self publishing), so a web comic seems a logical choice if you just want to get your stuff out there (which is what I will be doing some time in the next year).



This. I was talking to some people on another forum about this the other day. I wouldn't be surprised if they timed this because of the iPad's release. Either Shueisha is going to be launching their own app and they don't want anyone beating them to the punch, or they're terrified of someone creating an app that'll let you read pirated manga.

I'd vote for the latter, although IIRC, you've been able to read manga on cell phones in Japan for some time now. >.>
 
True, which eliminates the use of downloading illegal copies. Until it happens though, purchasing instead of downloading would be the better option.

Can you imagine if there would be a media police in the U.S (like the ones in Japan) and they'd pin people for illegally downloading and uploading unathorized copies (scanslators, fansubbers) etc...?

And from my POV, that's what they're aiming at.
 
Dude, if I could get Weekly Jump here in English (not the watered down version Viz puts out once a month), I'd be all over that. I was reading North American Jump at Supercuts a while back and DAMN I miss being able to HOLD the comic. It looks soooooo much better that way. I don't mind reading online, but there's just something about those books. X) *hugs manga collection*

They can try, but the public backlash would be huge. I'd rather see the Man put more effort into, I dunno, creating more jobs than going after a bunch of college kiRAB with too much free time. Maybe if there were jobs you could actually make a decent living at they could afford to buy more superfluous crap.
 
Yeah. But IMO. There'll be lots of illegal manga download sites will be redirecting to other sites. If that raw download site is any indications.

I also would go with their suggestion of telling people to support the project upon it's localization. That is to purchase the title. Even some would drop the project.
 
That's... probably because they started watermarking their stuff. The watermark had something on it about supporting the manga by buying it and that this here copy that has been provided is JUST to see what happens/sampling (such watermarks I am all for), but it seemed silly to me to put a big fat beacon on it saying "this is where this is from! Don't steal it from us even though this is stolen!"

That was just durab, IMO.

Also, they were based in France, which has some very tough laws concerning internet piracy - which made it all the more foolish that they started watermarking their stuff AFTER such laws were in place. Talk about asking to be caught.
 
It’s been interesting watching everything unfold. As other have already said there’s no way scanlations can be completely stamped out. But if the manga publishing industry wants to put a good sized dent in it they need to do at least two things.

First, they need to crack down on retailers who ignore street dates, or they need to modify their in-house production schedules. Before all this hoopla started I had no idea that we were getting fan translated chapters a week ahead of their scheduled release in Japan. But it’s not as if some foreigner is sneaking into the Weekly Shonen Jump offices and stealing the latest chapter of One Piece. It’s a corabination of the Japanese Publishers printing and shipping their product early, the Japanese retailers ignoring the cover date and putting the stock out as soon as they receive it (a widespread problem from what I’ve heard), and Japanese consumers who are buy the magazines as soon as they hit shelves and scanning and uploading them onto the internet.

Second, I would think that these events would be further proof to the Japanese publishers that there is an overseas market for their product. Change with the times and adapt the anime simulcast model. Obviously most of the manga chapters are being produced ahead of their scheduled release date. And the translation production is going to take far less work than subtitling a TV series. Work with the US and European based publishers you have existing deals with, and create subscription based website(s) at a reasonable price that will offer the manga chapters on the same day they’re supposed to be sold in the magazines in Japan.

At a reasonable price I would personally have no problems paying a subscription fee to get the newest chapters of the manga I read in English as they come out in Japan if I know my money is going to the proper people. In fact I would have no problems “double-dipping” because I do buy the English volumes of the series I like, I just hate having to wait 4+ months at a time to read 8 – 10 chapters. Hell, if you had a larger verity of manga available on such websites, as a consumer I would be inclined to read series that I don’t currently in order to get the most out of my subscription. Which in turn I would end up spending more money on related merchandise for series that I wasn’t reading before but discovered that I actually liked.
 
Although this covers anime, I think it's relevant to the topic.

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/media/article7085459.ece

It's about Japanese studios losing money to Chinese pirates.
 
They could take it a step further and do the bulk of their tankobon sales as print-to-order. That way they don't have to worry so much about more obscure titles being overlooked or dropped altogether.
 
If the manga industry is serious about adapting to the internet age. They should look at Korean webtoons. They're webcomics but they seem more "developed" than it's Japanese or American counterparts. They were originally developed as a way to deal with internet piracy because the artists worried about getting ripped off.
 
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