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Uramichi Oniisan Manga Explains Problems of Illegal Distribution Sites
posted on by Jennifer Sherman
Manga creator Gaku Kuze posted a special Uramichi Oniisan manga on Twitter on Friday. In the manga, the series' title character educates young children about the problems with illegally distributing manga online. Kuze asked people to spread the manga, and they obliged. The manga has been retweeted more than 120,000 times.
The special chapter of the manga begins with Uramichi standing on the stage of his kids' show. He begins to speak, apparently to the reader, about problems with illegal distribution of manga. He explains that the existence of illegal distribution sites it common knowledge, and the number of people using such sites in excess is increasing. Meanwhile, creators and publishers largely remain silent about the problem. Uramichi believes they let the problem continue by not openly acknowledging what is wrong with illegal distribution. He also acknowledges that people that understand the illegality of these websites will continue to use them.
The children around Uramichi start speaking to him and ask him what he's talking about. He tells them that there are ways to read manga magazines and full compiled volumes for free. At first, the children are excited to find out that something like that exists. Uramichi then asks the children what will happen the manga creators, publishers, and book sellers who rely on money from manga if the unauthorized free distribution persists. The children realize that those people could lose money and their jobs. Uramichi explains that manga would stop being produced because people who distribute manga illegally continue even if they are told to stop.
A child asks why people who illegally distribute manga refuse to stop. Uramichi's puppet becomes a person who illegally distributes manga, and he says that he is safe because he operates in a place where Japanese law doesn't apply. The puppet says that a website isn't something that truly operates inside the country of Japan itself, so he believes his activities are not illegal. The puppet celebrates that he found an easy way to make money, but Uramichi then swiftly smashes him against the floor.
Uramichi tells the children he doesn't want to focus on this kind of conversation with them, but every kind of work has its problems. He goes off on a sort of gloomy tangent but explains that the conclusion to be drawn from his words is simple. He pulls his cheery persona back together and tells the children that illegally distributing things sold in stores or using things distributed this way is completely illegal. He then ends his lesson by saying, "That's all! Everyone have a fun winter vacation! See you!"
The main Uramichi Oniisan manga centers on a 31-year-old man named Uramichi Omota who has two sides to his personality. He appears as the young man in charge of physical exercises on the educational program "Maman to Together." Although he has a fresh and upbeat demeanor on the show, he is actually a bit emotionally unstable. The manga reveals the less-than-sunny parts of life for young adults.
Kuze's Uramichi Oniisan web manga debuted last year in Ichijinsha and pixiv's digital manga magazine Comic POOL. The series' first compiled book volume shipped on September 27.
The series ranked on the top 20 list of manga for female readers in the 2018 edition of Takarajimasha's Kono Manga ga Sugoi! (This Manga Is Amazing!) guidebook. pixiv and Nippon Shuppan Hanbai, Inc's Web Manga General Election awarded the manga in its Indies section in September. The manga also won the web division of the Da Vinci magazine and Niconico's third Tsugi ni Kuru Manga Awards in August.
[Via Yaraon!]
