Forum - View topicPeople that expect manga to be free...
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Sheleigha
 Posts: 1674 |
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Now, I understand many people read scanlations. Many later do purchase the manga, others do not. But... after reading THIS: http://www.therumicworld.com/blog.php?id=198#bottom it feels like people really expect that companies owe it to them to give them free manga!
I posted a reply but for some reason, mine never shows up. Basically along the lines of "this thing called 'money' is what people need to live and pay for things and for Viz to pay their license fees/translators" followed by "entertainment is a luxury, not a right". I was about to use the wording of "privilege" but thinking back in history, ONLY those with money were able to view plays and even LEARN to read books. Personally, I think what Viz is doing is great! Posting free chapters until they come out, and still leaving samples up until then. You can chose to enjoy what you read, and chose to support Rumiko and Viz buy buying their product if you wish. However, the facepalming that the reply caused was amazing... What are your thoughts on the subject as a whole, and how the replying thought Viz "owed" them free stuff and are fueled by "money"? |
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Mushi-Man
 Posts: 1537 Location: KCMO |
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I agree with you Sheleigha, this notion that manga should always be free is moronic. I have to admit that I read scons quite often, but I'm still more than happy to spend some money to support series that I like. These companies need to make money some how and we shouldn't be getting pissed at them for actually trying to make a living. These people who say thoughtless things like in this link are immature and should really try to actually think about what money actually means. I think free scans are perfectly fine, but dont expect it like it's a right.
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PiercingArrow
 Posts: 193 |
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spending $10 or less for an small size manga wasnt that bad at all. Yes i know, most of the series are pass 20+ volumes. But then, nobody asked u to buy em all at once just to read em. i started buying manga series few months ago. i read fan scans too before that. but after reading couple of series online i just realized that i should have this collection and i should support them. other people should do the same. but then people are too stubborn and will expect everything will be the way they are as they pleased. im actually expecting more comments to come and see how people will react and point to other people that they are "right" with their wrong ideas.
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Maryohki
 Posts: 526 |
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Ugh, people need to get over their entitlement issues. Why on Earth should manga be free? The creators, editors, publishers, American companies, etc etc all do this as their job. What's the point of doing a job if they don't make any money for it? Silly fanbrats.
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Blackpeppir
Posts: 234 |
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I agree entirely, I was in my local book store the other day and saw a twelve year old boy shopping the manga with his mother. He asked if he could have the latest volume of Naruto and the VizBig issue of DBZ. His mother flipped through the pages and said "I'm not paying $20 for something that isn't even coloured. Besides don't you read this online anyway?" That bothered me and I can only hope that kid goes on to grow up and actively buy manga despite there being a free source online.
I actually have quite a few friends who seem to think that comapnies like Viz and Tokyo Pop have no right to charge $8-$13 per volume when they can get full color US made comics for $3 a pop. They actually see the manga industry as this big, evil, looming corporate behemoth and think of supporting scanslations as supporting the author without funding the corporate entity. Because if there's a scanslation of it than it's an indy comiHc no matter what anyone else says and we need to support artists willing to try and strike out aginst the corporate establishment. Hanging outwith 'hipsters' sucks. Edited for spelling. |
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hack_benjamin22
Posts: 136 |
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I am a reader of fan translations, though mostly for things that will never see the light of day in the english market (sports manga I'm looking at you), but I've never had a problem buying books.
In fact, I get downright excited when I can buy an official english hardcopy of something that I read a fan scan of. |
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zawa113
 Posts: 7360 |
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@blackpeppir
I don't get what's so great about color personally, maybe I'm just not used to it and I played Pokemon Blue for years on an old brick original gameboy for years without caring, but man, manga can just work well without color, why can't non-manga fans see this? And for $3 for a full color American comic, don't they get maybe 20 pages or so depending on the comic? Now as for Tokyopop's price hike...well I think we were all mad at that because they replaced their paper with tissue paper for a while and still upped the price, that seemed unfair to customers. I do kinda wish that Viz would print their sig line smaller at the $10 price rather than bigger at $13, but hey, that's what coupons are for, if the series is good enough I'll still buy it. And I'm with hack_benjamin in that having a physical hard copy of a manga is so very nice! I was talking about this with my friend the other day actually, we both agree scans should be for series that aren't licensed. And oh man, I just took new collection pics, it just looks so awesome! Well, not my shelving, my shelving downright sucks, but I just like looking at it sometimes. As for me, I find it's still easy to save money on everything and I find manga more accessible to re-read, you don't need a DVD player or TV anywhere nearby after all and they're more portable, so I like buying it to have the hard copies. And there's the awesome used book store, they've got some older manga there so I can get a few things for cheaper there too. For me, there's no comparison between scans and actual books when it comes to reading it. Yeah, I kinda wish they didn't take up so much room and I have slight concerns my shelf might break (not like those stories of people getting buried in manga and dying, it's not that bad and I'm taller than the shelves anyway) because they're not the good Ikea shelves, but anyway, for me it's worth the money (worth it with coupons or getting cheaper prices online, I see nothing wrong with that), there are far stupider things I think I could spend my money on, like dress shoes I will never touch again in my life or something, at least I read my manga or let my friends read it, it's not just sitting there like a trophy decoration. |
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Tamaria
 Posts: 1512 Location: De Achterhoek |
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Yeah, but those American comics are only 30 pages and have several pages of advertisements. It would be more logical to compare graphics novels with manga, since the page count is similar and graphic novels can be in black and white. And how do you support an artist, if he doesn't get anything from scanlation-readers? American publishers might use the popularity of certain scanlated titles to decide what to license and publish, but if they feel those companies are evil... I hope they atleast buy manga from publishers such as Vertical and LastGasp :/ |
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luffypirate
 Posts: 3187 |
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AGREED! Makes me want to go to Borders and smash every manga cow in the graphic novel aisle in the head with a baseball bat. Yes, I know some may be unemployed or not old enough to work but at least REALIZE that it is a luxury. Do chores or some sort of odd job to make a few bucks. Viz owes you nothing! Don't go around destroying books I may eventually buy with your dirty chocolate covered pocky fingers!! Anyway, I try to stay silent now on topics like this... Everytime I post, someone always pops out of nowhere and accuses me of calling them "cheap" or "less of a fan than I"... I just hold pride in the fact that I actually spend the cash to get what I want unlike others
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Blackpeppir
Posts: 234 |
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I never said they were the brightest group. But, no as far as they're concerned anything that operates as any sort of corporation is bad and evil. I was actually called a sell out and a tool for getting a job at Sears a couple of years back. But that's beside the point, regarding what's been said about colour in this thread, I'd have to say I almost prefer the black and white. I'm often surprised to find out what colours characters are when I finally see the official and how far off I was. I thought Hinagiku from Hayate had blue hair for the longest time and haven't the faintest idea why, pink just doesn't seem right to me. I guess what I'm saying is that fact and how you're left to fill in the blank pages how you seem fit was always one of the things I enjoyed most about reading manga. |
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Apollo-kun
 Posts: 1213 Location: City 7, Macross 7 |
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The concept of people expecting free manga is... well, I'm not going to mince words: it's completely idiotic. Manga artists make their living off of fans like us, and when we don't deliver the cash, our favorite creators don't get to eat, or don't have enough cash to pay the bills. Lots of manga-ka don't do a job because it's profitable; they do it because they genuinely love to create (take the manga-ka character from "20'th Century Boys", for example). When they don't get the bare minimum money they need, it could prevent us from reading the manga we hold so very dear. So for crissakes people, don't complain about having to pay for manga. We're lucky to have it, and if you really care about it so much, then pay for it.
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jjwitdaheydiddydiddy
 Posts: 45 |
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A similar thing happened in the music industry several years ago with Nappster and free downloads. And I was (and still am) guilty of "filesharing" mp3's. But the important thing to remember in that case was that people (myself included) were still buying albums in stores. They were still purchasing tickets for concerts. They still bought authentic band merchandise. Even though they downloaded a few songs for free, they still actively supported their favourite bands through licensed purchases. And free music downloads didn't wreck the industry. Executives and artists just wanted that little extra money lining their pockets.
With the manga industry, it's a completely different monster. Most of their revenue comes from book (or DVD) sales, and that's to keep themselves afloat. Music downloads to the music industry is like plushie sales to the manga industry. Expecting free manga from the manga industry is basically telling every artist, translator, producer, salesperson, associate, executive, mailboy, warehouse worker, secretary, and all others who work in the profession that they should be either A) working for free, ala slave labour, or B) working for a very small sallary (generated by licensed merchandise sales), ala sweatshop labour. It's one thing to be lacking in the money department and wanting a bit of a discount, but it's stupid to expect them to be free. |
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