Hello all my wonderful followers ;)
I hope the weather isn't getting you down. Where I am it still feels like fall, but it's just as likely to be warm and sunny as it is to be cold and raining. I think there's so much rain because it's just not cold enough to snow here, but mother nature sure is trying her hardest to make it happen.
Anyway, as the title indicates, this is not a review but a discussion. On a manga-related issue! Hooray!!!
Just an explanation of how this is going to work:
The discussion will happen in 2 separate posts, published one week apart. This is so readers have time to acquaint themselves with the issue and join in the discussion as knowledgeable participants.
Part 1: The Facts
For the first part, I will present the facts of the issue as I see it. I will try my best to be impartial, but please understand that I'm only human. Please comment on the information I've presented. If any of it seems biased, or there are facts that you think I haven't included that are relevant to the topic, I will include another section on my post with these corrections/additions.
Part 2: The Verdict
The second post will be my analysis of the facts and my final opinion on the issue. I will try to present a sound argument using mature logic, so please feel free to point out any weaknesses in my arguments. In the comments, let your own opinions loose, and don't be shy about disagreeing with me. I won't reply to every comment, but I may post my own comment to keep the discussion going.
A discussion requires participation, so I strongly encourage everyone to leave a comment. It can be as short as a few words, but this won't work unless someone than me has something to say!
Well, let's get started :)
Discussion: What is the current situation of Japanese manga that is licensed in English, and how do different involved parties (publishers, readers, scanlators) affect this market?
The Facts
What is manga?
Manga is, of course, a Japanese phenomenon. North America has it's own version of comics, and "graphic novels" same to be popular these days, but when I speak of manga I speak of the illustrated stories written in Japanese and read from right-left (unless, of course, some idiot publisher decided to flip the images). I won't get into whether or not something can be considered manga if it is written by a non-Japanese person or if it's written in English or whatever, because that is not the issue. Manga has certain stylistic elements that separate it from comic books or graphic novels, although the genres and story content can overlap between these media.
Licensing manga
Manga in Japan is usually serialized in magazines that are published regularly, (weekly, monthly, bi-weekly/monthly, etc). Each magazine contains a one chapter of several series, and each series is eventually published in separate volumes.
English Publishers of Manga
Since manga and anime have gained international popularity, some English publishing companies have purchased the rights to various series. They translate these manga and publish them in English. Breaking into a new market is very tricky, and publishers of manga have to try and turn a formerly cult market into a mainstream market.
Publishing manga is different from publishing novels for a couple reasons:
Unlike the latest NY Times bestseller, most manga span several volumes. There are some manga that have been serialized for years and years, and have as many as 70 or 90 individual volumes. Even shorter series usually have between 5 and 25 volumes. So when fans decide to like a series, they have to commit to buying several volumes. English manga also cost much more than those in the original Japanese. English publishers have to pay for the licensing rights from the Japanese publishers, and have the series translated, edited and proofread so it is understandable to English speakers. Also, the most popular manga are the ones that have been serialized for a long time. In Japan, volumes of serialized manga are released every few months or even years, so fans can build up their collections over time. When these manga get picked up and translated into English, there are more copies available at once. English manga fans therefore have to shell out more money per book, and don't have the luxury of spreading the purchase out over several years of serialization. This makes manga a much more expensive form of entertainment for English speakers.
Also, In the case of manga, several series are often translated by amateur fan groups and posted online ("scanlating", a portmanteau of "scan" and "translate") before they were ever picked up by English publishers. Japanese publishers don't seem to mind if their manga is translated into English and posted online for free, probably because this allows them to access new foreign fan markets. For English publishers, scanlated manga eat into their market share by giving English-speakers access to their merchandise for free. Once a manga is licensed, therefore, most online reader sites like Mangafox take the manga off their sites. This may be because the scanlating group is choosing to respect publisher's rights or because the publisher has actually issued a "cease and desist" order to the site or scanlation group.
Licensing Issues
English publishers try to choose popular series that are likely to have fans in English, but sometimes they just miss the mark. In Japan, if an unpopular manga is dropped from serialization, the author gets a few chapters to wrap up the story and publish a final volume. If a publisher in English decides to drop a manga,however, they don't publish the remaining volumes. They just don't finish the series. Some publishers may choose to drop one series in order to focus on those that are selling well, or they may drop their manga section altogether and focus on a different, more traditional market such as comic books, graphic novels, or conventional novels. They may hold on to the licensing rights or try to sell them to someone else, but people who have been collecting the series in English are left with the mother of all cliffhangers. A language barrier may prevent them from ever knowing what happens, or how the story ends. Since the licensing rights are often never transferred, the manga will be forced off the internet for at least some time after it is dropped. Also, since the group that was scanlating the manga may have moved on to other projects, there is no guarantee that it will be picked up by a group and ever scanlated.
As you can see, foreign media is a whole 'nother ballgame, and imported entertainment is an especially tricky market. Thus, being an English-speaking "otaku" is much different from being a Japanese manga fan.
Be ready to discuss the verdict next week!
Recently, Japanese as well as English publishers have taken action against scanlations. In 2010, some publishers have actually worked together to give out cease and desist orders to various groups and hosting sites (the reason why OneManga closed down its reading section). It's probably because manga has started gaining more international fans, and publishers want more profit.
ReplyDeleteI personally think that scanlations help publishers gain more than lose profit; once someone becomes a fan of a particular series, they actually go buy it. But without scanlations, people wouldn't know if they would want to spend money on 10 volumes (for example), because they haven't yet become a fan. Also, English publishers release series really slowly if it is not popular. And I mean it can take 5 years to publish one volume. And sometimes, publishers just don't release it at all. The waiting sucks if nothing comes out of it.
There are a lot of mangaka who strongly oppose scanlations but I think it may the only way their manga can gain recognition out of Japan. I mean, who goes to the bookstore and reads a couple of volumes of a series to see if they like it? It's a waste of time and more likely than not, the series won't be bought. Why? Because manga storylines usually take several volumes to actually make fans dedicated to it.
If publishers have such a big problem with scanlations, they could collaborate with them (as some have already done) or they could do what Japan does; serialize individual chapters in magazines.
Scanlators provide free access to people who are hesitant on buying god-knows-how many volumes. Publishers in Japan still gain profit since scanlating groups pay for the releases (although not the rights) and English publishers also gain profit (though not as much as they hope) since readers eventually become dedicated enough to a series to buy it. In fact, scanlators can actually help publishers figure out which manga to publish based on its popularity online. But nooo....it's all about the goddamned money.... I mean, in the past, no one cared about scanlations because manga was relatively unpopular. But ever since it started gaining popularity, suddenly, there are restrictions everywhere and everyone is angry that they don't get any profit (except for the scanlators who do it for free, out of their own time).
Since 2010, there have been various groups going "underground." Livejournal groups restrict their releases to members only; sometimes they even close off the community. Forums are locked and the process of gaining membership becomes difficult to attain. Some scanlations groups become inactive and several series are left unfinished... much to the dismay of fans. I understand if they remove links to licensed manga but if it's unlicensed, there is no other way for fans to gain access to that particular manga. Don't you think it's unfair?
What I'm confused about is why fansubs are left alone. It's an easier process than scanlating, but aren't fansubbers doing the same thing as scanlators? They are taking something that has not been released in their country, and making it available to the online public. Why are people making such a big deal out of scanlations as opposed to fansubs? Is there really such a big difference?
@Anonymous
ReplyDeleteThank you for your great post :)
Just to clarify, when you talk about fan-subbers are you talking about anime? That issue is outside the scope of this discussion, but i will say that I think you answered your own question-- when it's unpopular, no one cares about fansubs. And when it comes to anime, no one cares about the unpopular stuff. You could argue that some anime is more popular than manga (eg. Sailor Moon), but in that case, think of how many movies you can watch (illegally) online. It would be sad to see manga go the same way as illegal movies, given that people often download movies they like instead of buying them to "support the actor" or whatever, but it is possible that pushing manga underground could have that effect.
@CAmanoh Yesh, I am talking about anime (even though it is somewhat irrelevant). I think it's actually more popular than manga in some ways; You always hear about people talking about Evangelion, Gundam, Wolf's Rain, Cowboy Bebop, Haruhi etc more than Yotsubato or Fruits Basket. I think once people get into manga, they like it more, but for non otakus, anime usually satisfies their desire for nerdiness.
ReplyDeleteI think manga is already on the same path as illegal movies... But it's more irritating as we will never see a resolution to a particular series without lots of trouble. I think it's not only the publishers that are causing scanlating groups to go "underground"; it's also the fans themselves that disobey the group's rules, which makes the group worried about getting caught up in the law, which then causes them to put restrictions on their releases. I've seen many an angry scanlator...
Sorry if I'm not making much sense...it's been a loooong day.