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Luffy, Naruto, Conan, Kirito, Eren Join Forces to Fight Piracy
posted on by Lynzee Loveridge
The "Manga Anime Guardians" project (MAG), a joint effort between Japan's Content Overseas Distribution Association (CODA), and the Delaware-based Tokyo Otaku Mode, launched its "Join Us, Friends" campaign in an effort to fight anime and manga piracy.
The special illustration project is an effort to expand MAG's reach. As more individuals join and share the page, artist Takashi Yoshiike will add an anime character to the illustration. Currently the picture shows Monkey D. Luffy (One Piece), Naruto Uzamaki (Naruto), Conan Edogawa (Detective Conan), Kirito (Sword Art Online), and Eren Jaeger (Attack on Titan). A total of 20 characters will be added if the site receives 1 million new members.
The campaign is a joint production between Toei Animation, TMS Entertainment, WIT STUDIO, Studio Pierrot, A-1 Pictures, Shogakukan, Shueisha, Kodansha, and ASCII Media Works.
A total of 15 anime production companies and manga publishers are supporting MAG. The site operates a search engine for manga and anime titles and then directs users to legal avenues to obtain them. The efforts predominately focus on piracy in China where the Cultural Affairs Agency estimates a loss of 560 billion (about US$5.5 billion) yen to Chinese piracy in major cities in 2012. The Ministry of Economy estimated damages of two trillion yen (US$19.6 billion) from America in 2013.
Tokyo Otaku Mode recently secured 1.5 billion yen (US$13.7 million) from the Japanese government's Cool Japan Fund Inc. investment fund.
