(no subject)
So Onemanga and another big manga site (Can't remember name exactly...think it was Mangahelpers) got shut down due to the manga industry coming down on free hosting sites.
I'm a little torn on this. On one hand I can completely understand where the publishing companies are coming from. Their hard work is being given out freely and they're obviously not making a profit. On the other hand I think it's a little foolish. I certainly am not going to go out and spend money on a manga I know next to nothing about. Cutting off a way that a lot of people use to get to know manga is like the publishing company cutting off their own legs. This will likely hurt their sales, at least over seas, because people aren't going to be exposed to the manga and therefore won't want to spend money on it. I only spend money on manga/anime I really, really like. Buying stuff blindly seems like a waste and I sure as hell don't plan to do it with as little cash as I have. If I were living in Japan and/or spoke Japanese it'd be completely different, and I'd be more than willing to sign up for their magazines, issues, what have you. But unfortunately that's not the case and 90% of the time the only way I get to enjoy manga is via fan translations.
Additionally official translations can take an exceptionally long time to come out. I recall reading over Kuroshitsuji forums about how slow the volumes are being released and another manga I enjoy quite a bit and would like to buy (Alice in the County of Hearts) is going to take another three months before I can even pre-order it. That long space of time is likely to cause a big loss of interest in a lot of fans. Not to mention those fans who live in countries where it is close to impossible to get official translated manga.
I wish the manga publishers would allow their manga to be posted via the web BUT only for a short period of time, like Mangastream does. As far as I know Mangastream only keeps the fan translations on the site for about 3-4 chapters worth. Eventually the chapters get taken down to be replaced by new ones which I think is a great idea. People can read them and get exposed to the manga but it's not like they can go there anytime and read the entire series whenever they want. It encourages people to go out and buy it. Or there could be a site you have to pay to use to download, kind of like what they've done with music downloads these past few years.
Anyways.
In real life news my mother got a nice rebate on her taxes or something. So we bought a washer and dryer. I. am. so. excited. We haven't had a washer and dryer here since my second year of college. Which wasn't too bad since I didn't live here for most of my time in college but being here this past year has been less than convenient. I've lost my favorite pair of jeans, several shirts, and more underwear than I care to think about going to the laundry mat. How it gets lost I have no idea. But it does.
Also I started watching Munto. And I read through what was available of Alice in the Country of Hearts manga. And Faster than a Kiss manga. Munto's pretty good if a little slow and the main heroine is a bit...ditsy? Or oblivious. Possibly both. Either way her friend is fucking awesome and so is Munto and his friends, especially the poorly named Time and Space guardian Gas. It's a terrible name but he's so badass it doesn't matter.
Observe:
He's going to die though. FUCK. Y u do dis
Bleach meme.
I don't know jack all about seiyuus. It's been an incredibly long time since I watched the Bleach anime but I guess I'll go with:
Urahara in a suit. Where have you been all my life?
Other days
13. Character you’d go camping with
14. Character you wouldn’t mind being roommates with
15. Character you’d want to cook for you
16. Character you wouldn’t mind prancing naked for you
17. Your OTP
18. Character you wouldn’t mind having as a parent
19. Character you’d like to go karaoke with
20. Character you wouldn’t mind having as your butler/maid
21. Character you’d have in your party if you were in a RPG
22. Another OTP of yours
23. Your favorite character of the opposite gender of #1
24. Character with your favorite uniform/outfit
25. Character who would be your band-mate if you were in a band
26. Character you wouldn’t mind having as your boss
27. Character you wouldn’t want to run into in a dark alley
28. Character you’d want personified into a dog
29. Character you’d want personified into a cat
30. Character you’d want to cosplay as
I'm a little torn on this. On one hand I can completely understand where the publishing companies are coming from. Their hard work is being given out freely and they're obviously not making a profit. On the other hand I think it's a little foolish. I certainly am not going to go out and spend money on a manga I know next to nothing about. Cutting off a way that a lot of people use to get to know manga is like the publishing company cutting off their own legs. This will likely hurt their sales, at least over seas, because people aren't going to be exposed to the manga and therefore won't want to spend money on it. I only spend money on manga/anime I really, really like. Buying stuff blindly seems like a waste and I sure as hell don't plan to do it with as little cash as I have. If I were living in Japan and/or spoke Japanese it'd be completely different, and I'd be more than willing to sign up for their magazines, issues, what have you. But unfortunately that's not the case and 90% of the time the only way I get to enjoy manga is via fan translations.
Additionally official translations can take an exceptionally long time to come out. I recall reading over Kuroshitsuji forums about how slow the volumes are being released and another manga I enjoy quite a bit and would like to buy (Alice in the County of Hearts) is going to take another three months before I can even pre-order it. That long space of time is likely to cause a big loss of interest in a lot of fans. Not to mention those fans who live in countries where it is close to impossible to get official translated manga.
I wish the manga publishers would allow their manga to be posted via the web BUT only for a short period of time, like Mangastream does. As far as I know Mangastream only keeps the fan translations on the site for about 3-4 chapters worth. Eventually the chapters get taken down to be replaced by new ones which I think is a great idea. People can read them and get exposed to the manga but it's not like they can go there anytime and read the entire series whenever they want. It encourages people to go out and buy it. Or there could be a site you have to pay to use to download, kind of like what they've done with music downloads these past few years.
Anyways.
In real life news my mother got a nice rebate on her taxes or something. So we bought a washer and dryer. I. am. so. excited. We haven't had a washer and dryer here since my second year of college. Which wasn't too bad since I didn't live here for most of my time in college but being here this past year has been less than convenient. I've lost my favorite pair of jeans, several shirts, and more underwear than I care to think about going to the laundry mat. How it gets lost I have no idea. But it does.
Also I started watching Munto. And I read through what was available of Alice in the Country of Hearts manga. And Faster than a Kiss manga. Munto's pretty good if a little slow and the main heroine is a bit...ditsy? Or oblivious. Possibly both. Either way her friend is fucking awesome and so is Munto and his friends, especially the poorly named Time and Space guardian Gas. It's a terrible name but he's so badass it doesn't matter.
Observe:
He's going to die though. FUCK. Y u do dis
Bleach meme.
I don't know jack all about seiyuus. It's been an incredibly long time since I watched the Bleach anime but I guess I'll go with:
Urahara in a suit. Where have you been all my life?
Other days
13. Character you’d go camping with
14. Character you wouldn’t mind being roommates with
15. Character you’d want to cook for you
16. Character you wouldn’t mind prancing naked for you
17. Your OTP
18. Character you wouldn’t mind having as a parent
19. Character you’d like to go karaoke with
20. Character you wouldn’t mind having as your butler/maid
21. Character you’d have in your party if you were in a RPG
22. Another OTP of yours
23. Your favorite character of the opposite gender of #1
24. Character with your favorite uniform/outfit
25. Character who would be your band-mate if you were in a band
26. Character you wouldn’t mind having as your boss
27. Character you wouldn’t want to run into in a dark alley
28. Character you’d want personified into a dog
29. Character you’d want personified into a cat
30. Character you’d want to cosplay as