Forum - View topicNEWS: Shikke Cancels Pink Heart Jam Manga's 2nd Chapter Due to Unauthorized Translations
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Blanchimont
 Posts: 3610 Location: Finland |
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Also, have to add, the translations of self-published comics from twitter, pixiv and other sources helps drive a lot of interest for the artists at least on the site I frequent. And that is something that wouldn't exist at all if it wasn't for the scanlation scene. It also helps that the site's description templates allow and encourage for amazon, pixiv and other source links to be added in the description page for a title. Did you know Hata Kenjiro self-published one called These Two Will Be Married In 100 Days on twitter a while back, which is chockful of references to both Hayate no Gotoku! and Tonikaku Cawaii? And did you also know you can read it in its entirety in English thanks to the scanlation scene? Go ahead and read it, it's a quite good short-format comic and highly recommended for fans of both of the author's main works. Though for anyone who's got aversion for the way it was translated, by all means forgo reading it, guess there's no need for you to experience it unless you happen to know Japanese... The 100 days format (couple pages per chapter, 100 chapters, 100 days) originated from the webcomic This Croc Will Die In 100 Days, it itself self-published on twitter(though you can purchase a Japanese version of it on amazon if you wish), and similarly available to read in English if you go look for it. And it's a pretty good read too.
If that was the reason and the title in question really was TWGOK, then that's too bad, their loss for leaving money on the table... |
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gloverrandal
Posts: 406 Location: Oita |
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I'm going to agree that the blame on international fan translations seems like a scapegoat. Manga does not rely on foreign sales to be successful. If a series doesn't perform well in the Japanese market it gets cancelled. The fact this is only the second chapter and they're complaining about it is also highly odd. I don't think this is the whole story at all. Punishing Japanese fans for the actions of foreigners is nonsense and I have never heard of it being done before.
The main difference here is a lot of those works are not owned by a big company, nor have an official translation. It would be very frowned upon for someone who is working for a franchise to endorse piracy when an official source exists, even if they actually don't care or benefit from people doing so at all. That is why you see mangaka or anime directors sometimes make a general statement on encouraging the use of an official licensed platform, even if they probably don't even know what it is or receive any benefit from it. It's common decency, if not an actual contractual obligation to promote the official avenue. However, for other creators who are not bound by contract, they are often far more open to fan translations and international viewers. I've seen Japanese writers and actors on Twitter understanding that Japanese live-action has no market or presence in the west and feel honored foreign fans spend so much time translating and sharing it with all. If there was a legal avenue to watch these shows, they might be required to endorse them, but since there isn't, it's not a concern for them and they're just happy people worldwide enjoy their work. From people involved in tokusatsu to Japanese variety and game shows, I've seen fan translations cast in not a negative light, but either a positive or at least neutral manner. I've seen the same for other mangaka, content creators, game directors, and other avenues which have no official availability in America. For a contemporary example, it's very common to see huge v-tubers like Pekora and Korone commenting on people's YouTube videos that rip their streams and add a fan translations to them with thanks and encouragement for doing so. Perhaps if there was an official translation for v-tubers they'd send takedown notices to all the fan-translators and tell them to watch the official translation, but since there isn't and likely never will be they support the fan community who can spread them to English, Spanish, and other language speaking communities, since they know there's no reason why a Japanese viewer would watch those over the original stream, and people whos don't speak Japanese are missing out. In short, I would not put much stock in a statement if they're required to say something. If your endorsement is tied into your contract, it doesn't really count, does it? I'm not surprised when some creators take a hard stance on fan translations, but I've seen plenty of endorsements to be able to tell the difference between circumstances. "Fan translations are unacceptable" said the artist whose boss is in a contract with an official translation company and has something to lose. But when said boss has no contract? Suddenly you notice a lot of creators become a considerable more open minded. Interesting how that works. |
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Ming Yi
Posts: 221 |
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This is an incredibly insensitive thing to say. BL is still a niche genre despite its recent mainstream recognition and Shikke is a new artist. Lots of artists hate getting their work distributed illegally and seeing this probably made them really disappointed and upset. Saying this was just an "excuse" to stop serialization is pretty rude. |
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kpossibles
Encyclopedia Editor
 Posts: 155 Location: USA |
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I think your example with highly successful VTubers is slightly different since they're still mega successful vs smaller mangaka who may be struggling to make ends meet? Clips are actually super effective in making the YouTube algorithm work towards their favor and sucking more new fans into the vtuber hole through the suggestions tab (I'm a victim lol), so I don't blame them for thanking then. In contrast, the way that scans make a series will known has an opposite effect where search results aren't favored towards the official series at times and a publisher could pass over a popular longer scanlated series and consider another shorter series that is not translated in English yet. People share scans or even ripped content in Facebook groups even though they've been licensed and talk publicly on social networks about it, even posting scanlated images in the comments of the creator's Twitter. It's hard to convert someone who's been reading scans to buying the official release because they don't put it as a priority. It's definitely the same case for me, even when I'm reading a series online on Shonen Jump app, but I don't end up buying the print version or delay buying it for several months/years, because a different series takes priority or I've run out of money. I understand that some countries don't have the same level of access to legally translated manga or monthly income to spend on books, but I have a feeling that they aren't even donating to a Fanbox or buying a digital book even if it's available... |
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Zalis116
Moderator
 Posts: 6902 Location: Kazune City |
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Mentioning or linking illegal download/streaming/reader sites is not allowed on ANN; thus their names are either automatically or manually removed. It has nothing to do with the "greatness" of the sites in question, so don't expect ANN to assist with your anti-industry crusade. As for inaccessibility, I quote the late great Zac Bertschy:
The rationale might be that they don't want to risk international embarrassment: "Everyone's already pirated this manga, so the sales would be low, and then no one will want to license my future works."
By that same token, we shouldn't be surprised when artists cancel series, after deciding to stop hoping that the "free stuff by default" masses will feel charitable and throw them a few crumbs.
It might be because BL is a "niche within a niche," so if authors and companies perceive widespread piracy within that subsegment of the readerbase, they may see a hopeless situation -- there's not a significant untapped audience that can be persuaded or marketed to try out the content and make up for the losses.
How are the bolded statements not equivalent? Or is that you just want other people (perhaps in countries other than yours) to pay and support the relevant artists and companies for you? Wishes and hopes don't pay the bills, and many anime/manga pirates are not fans; they're just readers and viewers. They don't care about the artists or the health of the publishers and distributors who support them, and are just fine with moving on to pirating something else if the industry collapses. That said, I don't fault people in underserved countries for pirating if legal releases aren't available. I just wish more of the "too poor" crowd would own up to it as you have and admit that piracy is a pricing problem, instead of ginning up culture-war grievances to justify pirating, or victim-blaming the industry with Gabe Newell's "service problem" nonsense and making impossible demands. And actual gratitude towards the fans who make sacrifices and pay, instead of slandering them as shills and suckers, wouldn't hurt, though I won't hold my breath.
 "
Going against the grain of pro-piracy ideology doesn't make companies "ill-informed." They have the numbers; they know when titles that were well-loved in scanlations wind up bombing in sales. The lack of physical deprivation doesn't make piracy harmless. We saw what happened in the 2000s as anime/manga piracy got easier and more widespread: sales cratered and companies shut down. |
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TarsTarkas
 Posts: 5985 Location: Virginia, United States |
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The market is Japan. Canceling your series because of foreign non-Japanese scanalations makes no sense. If you can't drive Japanese readership you are going to fail.
Yeah, he could be one of those weird or eccentric artists whose actions are strange. I just see this as a false excuse, to detract from other, more logical, business reasons. |
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Blanchimont
Posts: 3610 Location: Finland |
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That didn't fly with anime, and I can assure it won't fly with manga either. If it did work, Hollywood would have perfected the practice already...
There's a difference between wishing everything should be free, and contributing to the best of one's ability even if it may come short, as the quote states at the end;
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Redbeard 101
Oscar the Grouch
Forums Superstar  Posts: 16974 |
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Since nobody can seem to disagree civilly, and not act rude or belligerent we're just going to lock this up.
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