I am public posting all over the place today.
As you've probably already heard, a group of Japanese and English manga publishers just announced a coalition to fight manga scans and scanlations. To keep myself from starting pointless arguments with strangers all over the internet, I'm just going to post my thoughts here.
I don't think scanlations are inherently a problem so much as their current accessibility is one. Scanlations absolutely expose people to new series, and they are an amazing resource to help people understand manga that they want to read but cannot access in their country or native language. However, I don't think that the scanlation groups that work to put out their favorite obscure seinen or oldschool shoujo series that have a 2% chance of ever getting licensed are the problem. With a series like, say, Kaze to Ki no Uta, you have no existing fanbase and little to appeal to new readers with: it's old, it's long, it's melodramatic. In that case, scanlations are really the only option if English speakers wish to read it, because it's simply not a good choice for a company to license if they want to make a profit. And in cases like this, scanlations can only help the fanbase grow, and that can lead to profit for the Japanese companies and possibly make the series popular enough to license in other countries.
I highly doubt that these will be the seriess that these companies go after. Rather, the problem is the big-name websites for reading manga online that are getting more hits than information about legal releases. I can google "Bleach manga" and quickly find several ways to illegally read it, and if I were a new reader that would probably teach me that reading manga online is the normal thing to do. Bam, you've got a new non-customer that very well might have bought Bleach if she had learned that she could get it in the bookstore before she learned that it was on the internet. I can almost guarantee you that Viz doesn't care if you're reading scanlations of Poe no Ichizoku, and scanlators who pick up obscure series generally don't care if their work is spread to all corners of the internet. I highly doubt that unlicensed and unloved manga will be impossible to find after this, if you know where; it's the wide variety of ways to read licensed manga that you already know that you enjoy without paying that's a problem.
So in a lot of ways, I support scanlations. They are the only way we can read many series without learning Japanese, they make handy previews, they create a fanbase. However, I think this is a great decision by the involved companies because the manga fandom is in a state in which many, if not most readers, rarely pay for their manga and make silly excuses as to why not. If this movement is paired with efforts to make legal manga more accessible to the general public, everyone will win... and even if not, there is nothing major that is wrong with the current state of licensed manga.
Can't afford manga? It's easy to find for half off or more online, you can make friends and lend series to each other, you can go to the library and check out manga or request for the library to start getting it (other fans will thank you!), and there's probably some source of income you can tap into, even if it's just your Christmas money and you can only afford a few series.
Can't wait? Are we really so impatient that a volume every two months isn't enough for us? First of all, this only applies to a handful of series, mostly the popular shounen jump titles; most of the scanlations I read get released at the rate of a chapter or two per month, if that. Are we really in a society that's so impatient that we think we have the right -- and the need -- to read Naruto the day after it comes out in Japan? If you get addicted to manga and literally can't wait for the next chapter, perhaps you should stick to complete series. I've been following Kaze to Ki no Uta at the rate of less than a chapter a month for years; I've waited years between reading a volume or two of a series at the library and being able to afford the rest of the volumes that they don't have. You are perfectly capable of waiting, and you're lucky to be a fan of a series that you're getting a steady, guaranteed release of.
Furthermore, scanlators can afford to release something more quickly than a legit company because they don't have to make any agreements with the Japanese license holder, don't have to have any quality checking or editing (although plenty of them do, plenty of them don't as well), don't have to worry about printing and shipping time. Do you honestly think that Viz has a pile of future D. Gray-Man volumes ready to go, and is keeping them away from you on purpose? No, I assure you they do not. Products simply take time to produce.
Don't like the translations? This could be a valid complaint, but how many people who claim this honestly know enough Japanese to judge what a good translation is? Most of the examples I see for this argument are series that were released years ago, or sound like the people who make them have just gotten used to a fan translation. Spelling a name differently than the scanlators did is not a bad translation. Wording a joke differently is not a bad translation -- and how do you know that it wasn't the scanlator who translated it wrong? Making things easier to understand is not a bad translation, it is a good one. I'm not advocating for removal of cultural references and such, but doing things like finding proper English equivalents for Japanese terms (suffixes and the like) makes a translation more accessible and more readable -- even for me, and I've been into animanga for five years.
I'm not saying that every manga publishing company releases perfect work that should be placed on a pedestal, but most release very readable books that are worth buying, even if you wait for sales or only pick up your favorite series. Would I like higher quality paper, more color pages, lower prices? Absolutely; every business and product always has room for improvement, and USA manga companies are no exception. But the lack of these things does not keep manga from being enjoyable and worth the wait and the money. Because I'm not reading manga because I like the translation or the speed... I'm reading it because I like to read manga. And if the only reason you read it is because it's cheap, easy entertainment, then perhaps you're really not a manga fan. There is nothing fundamentally flawed about the way companies are currently running. Despite what some have claimed, there is nothing wrong with a book publishing company publishing books at a rate that is normal for books to be published in, for the price of books, and translating books for the widest possible audience (assuming that they don't compromise the intents of the creator).
And seriously, some forum members I've seen, if you object to this? Stop making yourself look like an entitled asshole. You might be spending plenty on manga, you might read obscure series not published in your country, etc. etc. That doesn't make it any less ridiculous to bluntly say -- and yes, I have seen many people say this -- fuck you, copyright holders, I don't think you deserve my money. You're not withholding money from some faceless entity, you're keeping a salary from not only publishers, but also the original creators of a work. Sure, many artists love what they do and would love to make it free for everyone to enjoy, but they need to make a salary to live on just like anybody else.
IN CONCLUSION. I like scanlations. I do not like people using them as an excuse to not buy things, and I am in support of companies minimizing them (because let's be honest, they will never shut down determined scanlators) if they focus on titles that are actually available legally in English and continue to do a good or better job with their own products.
I don't think scanlations are inherently a problem so much as their current accessibility is one. Scanlations absolutely expose people to new series, and they are an amazing resource to help people understand manga that they want to read but cannot access in their country or native language. However, I don't think that the scanlation groups that work to put out their favorite obscure seinen or oldschool shoujo series that have a 2% chance of ever getting licensed are the problem. With a series like, say, Kaze to Ki no Uta, you have no existing fanbase and little to appeal to new readers with: it's old, it's long, it's melodramatic. In that case, scanlations are really the only option if English speakers wish to read it, because it's simply not a good choice for a company to license if they want to make a profit. And in cases like this, scanlations can only help the fanbase grow, and that can lead to profit for the Japanese companies and possibly make the series popular enough to license in other countries.
I highly doubt that these will be the seriess that these companies go after. Rather, the problem is the big-name websites for reading manga online that are getting more hits than information about legal releases. I can google "Bleach manga" and quickly find several ways to illegally read it, and if I were a new reader that would probably teach me that reading manga online is the normal thing to do. Bam, you've got a new non-customer that very well might have bought Bleach if she had learned that she could get it in the bookstore before she learned that it was on the internet. I can almost guarantee you that Viz doesn't care if you're reading scanlations of Poe no Ichizoku, and scanlators who pick up obscure series generally don't care if their work is spread to all corners of the internet. I highly doubt that unlicensed and unloved manga will be impossible to find after this, if you know where; it's the wide variety of ways to read licensed manga that you already know that you enjoy without paying that's a problem.
So in a lot of ways, I support scanlations. They are the only way we can read many series without learning Japanese, they make handy previews, they create a fanbase. However, I think this is a great decision by the involved companies because the manga fandom is in a state in which many, if not most readers, rarely pay for their manga and make silly excuses as to why not. If this movement is paired with efforts to make legal manga more accessible to the general public, everyone will win... and even if not, there is nothing major that is wrong with the current state of licensed manga.
Can't afford manga? It's easy to find for half off or more online, you can make friends and lend series to each other, you can go to the library and check out manga or request for the library to start getting it (other fans will thank you!), and there's probably some source of income you can tap into, even if it's just your Christmas money and you can only afford a few series.
Can't wait? Are we really so impatient that a volume every two months isn't enough for us? First of all, this only applies to a handful of series, mostly the popular shounen jump titles; most of the scanlations I read get released at the rate of a chapter or two per month, if that. Are we really in a society that's so impatient that we think we have the right -- and the need -- to read Naruto the day after it comes out in Japan? If you get addicted to manga and literally can't wait for the next chapter, perhaps you should stick to complete series. I've been following Kaze to Ki no Uta at the rate of less than a chapter a month for years; I've waited years between reading a volume or two of a series at the library and being able to afford the rest of the volumes that they don't have. You are perfectly capable of waiting, and you're lucky to be a fan of a series that you're getting a steady, guaranteed release of.
Furthermore, scanlators can afford to release something more quickly than a legit company because they don't have to make any agreements with the Japanese license holder, don't have to have any quality checking or editing (although plenty of them do, plenty of them don't as well), don't have to worry about printing and shipping time. Do you honestly think that Viz has a pile of future D. Gray-Man volumes ready to go, and is keeping them away from you on purpose? No, I assure you they do not. Products simply take time to produce.
Don't like the translations? This could be a valid complaint, but how many people who claim this honestly know enough Japanese to judge what a good translation is? Most of the examples I see for this argument are series that were released years ago, or sound like the people who make them have just gotten used to a fan translation. Spelling a name differently than the scanlators did is not a bad translation. Wording a joke differently is not a bad translation -- and how do you know that it wasn't the scanlator who translated it wrong? Making things easier to understand is not a bad translation, it is a good one. I'm not advocating for removal of cultural references and such, but doing things like finding proper English equivalents for Japanese terms (suffixes and the like) makes a translation more accessible and more readable -- even for me, and I've been into animanga for five years.
I'm not saying that every manga publishing company releases perfect work that should be placed on a pedestal, but most release very readable books that are worth buying, even if you wait for sales or only pick up your favorite series. Would I like higher quality paper, more color pages, lower prices? Absolutely; every business and product always has room for improvement, and USA manga companies are no exception. But the lack of these things does not keep manga from being enjoyable and worth the wait and the money. Because I'm not reading manga because I like the translation or the speed... I'm reading it because I like to read manga. And if the only reason you read it is because it's cheap, easy entertainment, then perhaps you're really not a manga fan. There is nothing fundamentally flawed about the way companies are currently running. Despite what some have claimed, there is nothing wrong with a book publishing company publishing books at a rate that is normal for books to be published in, for the price of books, and translating books for the widest possible audience (assuming that they don't compromise the intents of the creator).
And seriously, some forum members I've seen, if you object to this? Stop making yourself look like an entitled asshole. You might be spending plenty on manga, you might read obscure series not published in your country, etc. etc. That doesn't make it any less ridiculous to bluntly say -- and yes, I have seen many people say this -- fuck you, copyright holders, I don't think you deserve my money. You're not withholding money from some faceless entity, you're keeping a salary from not only publishers, but also the original creators of a work. Sure, many artists love what they do and would love to make it free for everyone to enjoy, but they need to make a salary to live on just like anybody else.
IN CONCLUSION. I like scanlations. I do not like people using them as an excuse to not buy things, and I am in support of companies minimizing them (because let's be honest, they will never shut down determined scanlators) if they focus on titles that are actually available legally in English and continue to do a good or better job with their own products.