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INTEREST: Hentai Artist Aiue Oka Asks Readers to Not Pirate, Buy Officially Licensed Manga

idgal wrote:

Not all doujin are fanart, doujin just means fan made. Many of the doujin are OC. doujin are comparable to indie comic/titles.

I'd say it's more like some doujinshi are originals, but most are based on pre-existing intellectual property. I took a look at the first 3 pages of works tagged "Doujinshi" on a certain reader site, and only 21/108 of them (19%) weren't parodies of pre-existing non-ero franchises.

I'd say it's more like some doujinshi are originals, but most are based on pre-existing intellectual property. I took a look at the first 3 pages of works tagged "Doujinshi" on a certain reader site, and only 21/108 of them (19%) weren't parodies of pre-existing non-ero franchises.

>FAKKU

I think it might be better to buy it in the original Japanese to support the artist and use unofficial translations to actually consume it. Many people have ethical objections on how FAKKU runs their business, maybe promoting his Japanese version, over their English partner, might get more traction with his followers.

you could get a lot of mileage out of trying to figure out just how far fair use extends.

The main issue with Fakku is they want to be the Crunchyroll of hentai but that's just not possible. Crunchyroll is only competing for 30-40 shows a season. Fakku would have to compete with thousands and thousands of smut that gets put out every year put out under numerous official publishing outlets as well as the self-published outlets like doujinshi, which is impossible to do. Fakku can't even obtain 1% of the hentai thousands of Japanese artists are making. It's an misguided model, and only serves to benefit the handful of artists and companies that do business with Fakku, which is not very much in the grand scheme of things. You're better off buying from the artist directly, like DLsite, Toranoana, or Melon Books. Which all have a much, much larger catalog as well.

But FAKKU end ENSHODO are much less so. Not only they issue takedowns for everything and never ever have I seen them share anything on another site, but here's what makes me really cringe - in a few cases ENSHODO seems to have issued takedowns for free fan translations of stuff they have licensed. So not only they don't let their stuff (as in, their translations/edits) be shared, but if they license a book, they are now actively targeting alternative translations/edits of those books that have been done by independent scanlators. That's, IMHO, is pretty 'evil'.

If more and more stuff becomes licenced in 'the West', if almost all of major Japenese artists go that route, think about the fate of the current sites that provide free doujins/h-manga. A lot of their stuff we are used to being free will go away.

I have spent probably four $ digits buying h-stuff legally, so I am putting my money where it is worth, but I am spending on Japanese services (buying original books or digital archives from Japanese services).

So that note from those artists to 'Western fans' misses me - I am already supporting Japanese artists, and I don't like that their chosen way to work with 'the West' is through such services.

Zalis116 wrote:

I'd say it's more like some doujinshi are originals, but most are based on pre-existing intellectual property. I took a look at the first 3 pages of works tagged "Doujinshi" on a certain reader site, and only 21/108 of them (19%) weren't parodies of pre-existing non-ero franchises.

If you look at bins at Hen Da Ne at cons you would think like 5% weren't parodies of pre-existing non-ero franchises. If you look at a recent Comiket catalog, it would be closer to 30%.

Probably should try to say something different.

1) It is difficult to balance the 'sharing is caring' and traditional economy. On one level, sharing stuff for free, often illegally, is how many people become familiar with a product. On another, there is the fallacy(?) of lost sales.

IMHO [Illegal reader site URL removed ~Zalis] is very cool about leaks, and never issues takedowns. Heck, they even share a lot of their member stuff after few months or years. But FAKKU end ENSHODO are much less so. Not only they issue takedowns for everything and never ever have I seen them share anything on another site, but here's what makes me really cringe - in a few cases ENSHODO seems to have issued takedowns for free fan translations of stuff they have licensed. So not only they don't let their stuff (as in, their translations/edits) be shared, but if they license a book, they are now actively targeting alternative translations/edits of those books that have been done by independent scanlators. That's, IMHO, is pretty 'evil'.

I mean, let's face it, pretty much everyone who works in FAKKU or ENSHODO grew up with free, pirated hentai, FAKKU was even a regular scanlator group for years before they went 'legal', but now they are effectively threatening to sue those who do what they were doing when they were younger. Not cool.

If almost all of major Japenese artists go that route, think about the fate of the current sites that provide free doujins/h-manga. A lot of their stuff we are used to being free will go away.

Long story short, it's a long standing conflict between those who think stuff like this (culture in general and porn in particular) should be free and those who want to lock it down behind paywalls to make profit. And of course the solution is in the middle. I am personally in favour of a system that would reduce the traditional copyright length to something like one year. In other words, stuff like doujins (or manga, or anime, or whatever) should be sold (rented, etc.) for about a year. After that it should be freely available online. Creators should get their $$$ from streaming/hosting services for new stuff, but their old works should be free.

They should go out of business and the artists who work with them should switch to more consumer and community friendly services that don't divide the world into black and white 'customers' and 'pirates'.