So... Since my last post, my life has done a complete 180. My car was stolen, I nearly became homeless, things have just been really bad in general. I'm in the process of trying to get my life back together, hence why I haven't started the one post a week minimum I had imposed on myself. Of course I'm going to start doing that as soon as I can, but its just not easy right now. It's not like anyone is actually reading these anyway, but if you are then feel free to say hi in the comments section!
Sunday, September 2, 2012
Tuesday, July 24, 2012
What is wrong with the manga industry in America?
So what exactly is wrong with the manga industry in America? Well, a LOT honestly.
From what I have noticed, there seems to be less and less manga being brought to the U.S. these days. There are a lot of larger series that are aimed at the teen demographic still being licensed and published here, but not many series that only have 10 volumes or so, or that is aimed at an older, more mature audience.. Why is that? I'm honestly not sure, as I don't have any real knowledge of the industry, but I am going to try to explore this a little anyway.
What got me thinking about this in general? A little over a week ago, I noticed that a website that I used regularly to read manga, called OneManga, had shut down. After browsing their forums a bit (they left those up for everyone), I found a post explaining why they were shutting down. A decent portion of the reason was due to the lack of readers visiting their site anymore, and due to a lack of donations to cover server costs. But the real kicker was their constantly being hit by DMCA requests to pull various series from their site.
That is where the problem is with the manga industry in the U.S. For some reason, these companies are seeing the sites that host manga as "Pirates". Though it can be argued that it technically is piracy of a sort, it is also a form or piracy that is actually HELPING the manga industry gain readers and more recognition in the U.S. People go to manga websites and read manga that aren't currently translated into their language and available in their country for purchase. Once a series becomes available for purchase, many of those readers then go ahead and buy it. The manga industry doesn't seem to realize this though, and will have a series pulled from a website under the assumption that these sites are keeping publishers from making money off of various series.
In my opinion, I think part of their problem is fear. They are afraid a series won't do well in the U.S., so they won't publish it here. Then they see it on a site and pull it for the reasons stated above. What they SHOULD be doing is using these sites as a tool to gauge the amount of readership these series are getting from various countries. They should work WITH the websites, and scanlators. A prime example of this happened just within the past few months. A scanlation group called Soba Scans has been working on a manga by the author Chihiro Harumi for the past year or two. Shortly before the series had completed, they came into contact with a publishing company called Project-H (They translate and publish Hentai/Ecchi manga, but that's not the point here.), Project-H liked the work they had done with the series so much, that Soba Scans actually became the official translators for the series. Why don't other publishers and scanlators team up like this (with permission from the authors of course) and help to bring the more obscure series to the states, or even other countries?
If Publishers, Mangaka, and Scanlators could start working together, we could see a lot more awesome manga here. Lets hope more companies start embracing this business model as a method of releasing their products to a broader audience.
P.S. If you read this and want me to elaborate or clear up something, or you happen to know more about the industry and can provide some insight on this, feel free to comment!
From what I have noticed, there seems to be less and less manga being brought to the U.S. these days. There are a lot of larger series that are aimed at the teen demographic still being licensed and published here, but not many series that only have 10 volumes or so, or that is aimed at an older, more mature audience.. Why is that? I'm honestly not sure, as I don't have any real knowledge of the industry, but I am going to try to explore this a little anyway.
What got me thinking about this in general? A little over a week ago, I noticed that a website that I used regularly to read manga, called OneManga, had shut down. After browsing their forums a bit (they left those up for everyone), I found a post explaining why they were shutting down. A decent portion of the reason was due to the lack of readers visiting their site anymore, and due to a lack of donations to cover server costs. But the real kicker was their constantly being hit by DMCA requests to pull various series from their site.
That is where the problem is with the manga industry in the U.S. For some reason, these companies are seeing the sites that host manga as "Pirates". Though it can be argued that it technically is piracy of a sort, it is also a form or piracy that is actually HELPING the manga industry gain readers and more recognition in the U.S. People go to manga websites and read manga that aren't currently translated into their language and available in their country for purchase. Once a series becomes available for purchase, many of those readers then go ahead and buy it. The manga industry doesn't seem to realize this though, and will have a series pulled from a website under the assumption that these sites are keeping publishers from making money off of various series.
In my opinion, I think part of their problem is fear. They are afraid a series won't do well in the U.S., so they won't publish it here. Then they see it on a site and pull it for the reasons stated above. What they SHOULD be doing is using these sites as a tool to gauge the amount of readership these series are getting from various countries. They should work WITH the websites, and scanlators. A prime example of this happened just within the past few months. A scanlation group called Soba Scans has been working on a manga by the author Chihiro Harumi for the past year or two. Shortly before the series had completed, they came into contact with a publishing company called Project-H (They translate and publish Hentai/Ecchi manga, but that's not the point here.), Project-H liked the work they had done with the series so much, that Soba Scans actually became the official translators for the series. Why don't other publishers and scanlators team up like this (with permission from the authors of course) and help to bring the more obscure series to the states, or even other countries?
If Publishers, Mangaka, and Scanlators could start working together, we could see a lot more awesome manga here. Lets hope more companies start embracing this business model as a method of releasing their products to a broader audience.
P.S. If you read this and want me to elaborate or clear up something, or you happen to know more about the industry and can provide some insight on this, feel free to comment!
Wednesday, June 20, 2012
(Rant) So apparently history really does repeat itself, on the internet anyway.
*Note: This is kinda pointless to 99% of you out there, and may very well be boring, but I figured I'd post something relatively intelligent for a change*
I never used to believe that history repeated itself, but over time I'm starting to, and it's all thanks to the years I've spent using the internet.
Before I explain why (which is a short story in itself), a little background history. I first started using the internet more or less when it became publicly available and easily accessible. Back before there was flash, and mpeg videos, or even mp3's. Before streaming chats, or instant messaging clients, or even website names and you had to find a site by its IP address or even during it's phone number. So it's safe to say, I've seen a lot of different things happen on the web.
So, as to not bore you with more examples, onto the meat of the story. When I was in my teens, I used to spend a LOT of time on Yahoo chat. I'm not sure if any of you are familiar with it, but it was a standard text based chat that had a twist, voice communication. Because of this, you were no longer just a string of text. You now have a voice, a personality. You were now able to develop even more personal relationships with people. It was easier to tell jokes, it was easier to express emotion, and it was easier to tell someone off.
Due to the stronger bonds that people gradually developed, they started to form cliques. These cliques eventually started to become more organized and became crews or gangs. They had names (such as Alliance of Domination) and many of them had ranks for their members (generally based on a military system). As time passed, the crews grew in size, as did the numbers of crews themselves. After a while, the crews started getting into cyber fights with each other, many of them lasting for weeks. Often, people would defect from one crew and go to another, or even pretend to do so as to more or less spy on the group. After about a year of this, the crews gradually fell apart, people learned to not put so much trust into someone on the internet, and it pretty much became a regular everyday chat again where most of the people are just acquaintances, and not trying to be best friends or anything.
Well, strangely enough it's happening again 15 years later. Except now it is on the mobile chat apps. It seems to be the most prevalent on one I use called CB Radio chat (No, it is not an actual CB). So far it has been going through the same thing, but it seems to be at a more rapid pace. And strangely enough, it's a lot more personal. Many people on there call each other, text each other, send messages on apps like Kakao, and when one of them leaves a crew for another, or gets kicked out of one, to no surprise they get harassed by phone. But outside of that last part, it seems to be a carbon copy of the old Yahoo days, and that's one of the many reasons why I'm fairly convinced that history does in fact repeat itself.
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