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'Stop! Manga Piracy' Campaign Prints Thank You Ads in Newspapers in 4 Countries

posted on by Ken Iikura-Gross
However, the fight to eliminate manga piracy still goes on

Since the widespread adoption of high-speed Internet, Japanese publishers have been working to prevent their manga from being distributed on piracy websites. The efforts have yielded mixed results, including when those publishers banded together for the “Stop! Manga Piracy” campaign in 2019. Still, the publishers do acknowledge readers who strive to read manga in legal ways. On July 17, the campaign released an ad internationally to thank those readers.

stop_manga_piracy
Image via x.com
AKIRA ©MASH・Room/Kodansha Ltd. Attack on Titan ©Hajime Isayama/ Kodansha Ltd. BLEACH ©2001 by Tite Kubo/SHUEISHA Inc. Blue Lock ©Muneyuki Kaneshiro, Yusuke Nomura/ Kodansha Ltd. BOKU NO HERO ACADEMIA ©2014 by Kohei Horikoshi/SHUEISHA Inc. Bungo Stray Dogs ©Kafka Asagiri 2015 ©Sango Harukawa 2015/KADOKAWA CORPORATION COMI-SAN WA, COMYUSO DESU ©2016 Tomohito ODA/SHOGAKUKAN FAIRY TAIL ©Hiro Mashima/ Kodansha Ltd. JUJUTSU KAISEN ©2018 by Gege Akutami/SHUEISHA Inc. KIMETSU NO YAIBA ©2016 by Koyoharu Gotouge/SHUEISHA Inc. OU NO KEMONO ©2019 Rei TOMA/SHOGAKUKAN OYASUMI PUNPUN ©2007 Inio ASANO/SHOGAKUKAN Princess Jellyfish ©Akiko Higashimura/Kodansha Ltd. Sasaki and Miyano ©Shou Harusono 2018/KADOKAWA CORPORATION SOSO NO FRIEREN ©2020 Kanehito YAMADA, Tsukasa ABE/SHOGAKUKAN Those Not-So-Sweet Boys ©Yoko Nogin/Kodansha Ltd. TOKYO REVENGERS ©Ken Wakui Kodansha Ltd. Vinland Saga ©Makoto Yukimura/Kodansha Ltd. Witch Hat Atelier ©Kamome Shirahama/Kodansha Ltd.

According to the Japanese website Comic Natalie, the Stop! Manga Piracy Thank You message appeared in newspapers in the United States, Italy, Spain, and France. The campaign's X (formerly Twitter) account also posted the thank you message in the corresponding languages (English, Italian, Spanish, and French), along with info on the newspapers in which fans could find the ad.

This is a wonderful sentiment from the manga publishers involved in the campaign. However, English-speaking manga fans were not without their criticisms. The X/Twitter account July July July, aaaaaah and stuff (@AmiPiki1118) responded to the Stop! Manga Piracy accounts post by saying:

IMO to reduce piracy you must increase availability and accessibility. Manga Time Kirara/Houbunsha once tried to expand to an English audience with a Facebook app back in September 2020, featuring a handful of series. It then shutdown and vanished without a word a few months after. They unfortunately haven't done something similar since. Manga Time Kirara has many series that most of which will never get official English localizations. And the ones that do can take years to get. Or in some cases the localization is cancelled then years later finally relocalized (e.g blend s & is the order a rabbit)

Other X/Twitter users were a bit harsher and less specific with their criticisms. X/Twitter user DJ Sumares (@DJ_SSumares) responded by saying, “It is so funny to see this. I would like to ask, what have YOU done to improve the accessibility to manga outside of Japan?” Another user, Ogata the Wildcat (@Wildcat_Ogata), also opined on the limited access to English translations of manga saying, “Piracy would be a lot less common if more series were licensed. There's loads of series I'd love to have physically but there's no English version so piracy would be my only option.” X/Twitter user Absolutely Noah Vale (@AdHocAdHominem) cheekily responded with a gif of Captain Jack Sparrow from the Pirates of the Caribbean film franchise.

One X/Twitter user, Rej (@RegM0613) was critical of several replies to the initial Stop! Manga Piracy post. Although the user is a bit vulgar, he or she notes, “Mfs in the replies still gonna lick the boots of their scanlator-samas who are just pests who're the reason there's less titles getting licensed. OFFICIALLY translated manga (DIGITALLY) in English has been around for years. you all acting you can't access them. Quit yapping.” So, there's a clear divide among the English-speaking manga fandom regarding the message from the Stop! Manga Piracy campaign.

This is a noteworthy gesture by the Stop! Manga Piracy campaign to manga fans around the world. However, there is some legitimacy to the criticism's made regarding the advertisement. There is a limited number of official English translations of manga. And those manga series that are translated are generally the popular series in Japan. But we also must consider the amount of official manga translations currently available. And while the content isn't always presented in the most ideal manner, it is better than nothing. It could be much worse after all. We could go back to the days where it was just according to keikaku (Translator's note: keikaku means plan).

Sources: Stop! Manga Piracy's X/Twitter account (link 2, link 3, link 4), Comic Natalie, July July July, aaaaaah and stuff's X/Twitter account, DJ Sumares's X/Twitter account, Ogata the Wildcat's X/Twitter account, Absolutely Noah Vale's X/Twitter account, Rej's X/Twitter account

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