WSJ issues statement regarding illegal scans

[http://users.livejournal.com/_debbiechan_/]

I'm not sure what this means exactly but Raw Paradise has taken everything down. WSJ has issued an announcement regarding illegal scans (click to enlarge)

The translation is:

To all our readers
There are now many people unjustly posting copies of manga on the internet. These unjust copies are inconsistent with mangakas' feelings. They are also distorting the authors' intentions of "I want the work to be read this way". The actions of posting these unjust copies on the net, into which the mangakas have poured their hearts, are not only hurting mangakas in real life but are also against the law, even if done in a light-hearted manner. Every time we discover such "unjust copies", we talk to the mangaka and consider every possible countermeasure. But the number of inconsiderate people is great, and at present we cannot deal with all of them. We have a request for all our readers. The unjust internet copies are deeply hurting the manga culture, mangakas' rights, and even mangakas' souls. Please understand once again that all of that is against the law. Also, the mangakas and Shueisha will severely deal with any unjust copies found on the internet. We ask that our readers please continue to support us.

~Weekly Shounen Jump editorial department

This morning people were tweeting Kubo congrats on this 400th chapter when the chapter hasn't even been released in Japan. Smart, guys. Really smart.

Comments

[lackasexical.livejournal.com]

*rips hair out at people's stupidity*

[sasunarufan02.livejournal.com]

and now thanks to these idiots i may now have to wait for the manga volume to be released in the U.S.

geez people can't we be a tad more smarter than this........at least wait a week or two before congratulating a mangaka about a certain chapter.

[doxxed-up.livejournal.com]

Yeah, and you're in the States. I'm in Argentina, where it's only started - it's been released up to the fourth volume!!! Fucking heeelllllll D:

[uzumebi.livejournal.com]

dvndndsjkvskvnsdvvkjsdvsd grr!!

[balladbird.livejournal.com]

*laughs* A wonderful faux pas... no doubt from a western fan.

these kinds of breeches of secrecy could have been avoided if only fans actually understood that the raws hit the internet BEFORE shonen jump runs the chapters. I wonder if this newfound attention comes from the recent popularity of Kubo's twitter following the Nick Simmons controversy. >.<

I can't imagine the announcement itself actually succeeding in denting the raw-internet-spoiler system, and I'd be the lord of hypocrites to feign outrage, given that I've subscribed to illegal raws for all my series but seriously... talk about ignorant fans setting themselves upon their own petard.

[atom-bunny.livejournal.com]

Good grief...

Come on people, have a bit of common sense and wait a while before doing stuff like that. *sigh*

[deathlike.livejournal.com]

...... Things get even harder now....

[manic-dreamgirl.livejournal.com]

FFFFFFFUUUUUUUUCCCKKKK.

Whoever did this is quite possibly the greatest moron to ever grace the Earth.

[windrider1.livejournal.com]

I find it hard to believe that the plethora of internet scans was unnoticed until now, and I'd be a complete hypocrite if I said I agreed with WSJ's assessment on how raws affect Mangaka. I say this not only because I enjoy the ability to sit and read a scan when I have free time--and as a mother of 3, free time is a luxury I don't often have--but because it is directly in relation to the 'freedom' of internet manga that I have purchased the actual mangas, as well as toys and art books. I never would have had an interest otherwise.

There is no secrecy of raw sites--anyone with a computer and google can find them, and no doubt they have been known of and about for as long as they've existed. Stopping them is unlikely, and WSJ and everyone involved knows this. It's more a matter of "hey, we know what you're doing, and we don't like it, so go buy the books and we'll feel better."

I am not saying I endorse stealing artwork, because as I said, I buy the books and toys and movies. I just think that having the scans available don't hinder that, but promote it. **shrug** That's just my opinion and I could be hissed to high-heaven for it. :P

[lackasexical.livejournal.com]

I happen to agree with you - if it wasn't for online scanlations I would never have come near Bleach or any other manga, let alone blown as much money as I have on merchandise. I understand they'd be upset when we get the copies before the official Japan release, and I can wait a few more days before spoilers come out if I have to - but to wait for the English volumes? I'd drop the series altogether.

[strawberries-85.livejournal.com]

"This morning people were tweeting Kubo congrats on this 400th chapter when the chapter hasn't even been released in Japan. Smart, guys. Really smart."

Nice one. No wonder they say common sense isn't so common after all.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_debbiechan_/]

I believe the worst that can happen (I pray that the worst that can happen) is that we'll lose our week early spoilers.

I can live with that. But Bleach and other manga will lose a big chunk of its overseas merchandising sales and potential buyers if it slams down on scanlations (there is no way conceivably to do that), and from what I understand, WSJ has made these sorts of statements before to no avail. You can't really stop the scanlators.

[hinodeh.livejournal.com]

Like the others I can live with the fact that we might loose our very early spoilers, unlikely as it may be.

That being said, there is a number of people who read scanlations but never buy the books themselves or any merchandise.
I have no idea how many they are, but they do damage sales, even if it's to a small degree.

On the other hand, scanlations do introduce many people to series that they might have never bought otherwise.

It's really a very mixed bag...

[spartydragon.livejournal.com]

*facepalm* This is why we can't have nice things.

Yanno, I'd happily buy Jump every week if I could get it in English. And I mean Weekly Shounen Jump, not the watered down version Viz puts out once a month. If anything the scanlation crowd as proved that something doesn't have to be Americanized (Or Russianized, or Frenched or whathaveyou) to be understood and appreciated.

Oh wait, this probably also has to do with the iPad. There's a bunch of comic aps for the iPad (or there will be soon), and people have proven quite adept at hacking things to display content not legally available in their region. I bet ya that Shuesia is attempting to cover their ass before reading pirated manga on the iPad is the new big thing. And rightly they should, if you can afford to drop $600 for an iPad, you sure as hell can be buying the manga/anime/merch. >.>

[karenai.livejournal.com]

Fck, if Shueisha released Bleach one week delay in English for view on the iPad? I would BUY an iPad for that alone plus a subscription price.

In the meantime, I blow hundreds on Bleach merchandise and random volumes, so I don't really feel like my dollars aren't going to them..

[karenai.livejournal.com]

I remember reading someone on NarutoFan saying something like, "Come on guys, how rare is it that you can actually communicate with an author directly! Don't screw this up!"

-____________________________________________________________-

Anyway, this really amounts to two things:

- we might lose 1 week early scans, but we wouldn't lose them the week they came out in Japan (officially). After that point, any random person can walk into a Kino's and buy SJ and scan it and that is not something WSJ is interested in stamping down.

- it'll be harder to acquire the volume in-between scans.

Sigh. Kubo-sensei, we really love you and your work, please don't hurt.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_debbiechan_/]

Sigh. Kubo-sensei, we really love you and your work, please don't hurt.

Given how much it matters to him (he's said this in interview before) that the majority of people are reading his manga in one way, it's got to be frustrating that there are issues of interpretation regarding his poetry and the ever-ambiguous Japanese language. Then again, there's VIZ and...
well, translations are never perfect.

The real issue with WSJ is financial, I suspect. Artistic integrity is secondary. Kubo made it plain not long ago in his tweets that he was aware of the early chapters and asked readers not to spoil his fans by tweeting the forums where you could read the scans but he didn't discuss his artistic integrity or personal offense, just the feelings of his fans. I thought it was rather noble of him not to complain but you know he felt some offense--any artist would.

[tempest-frost.livejournal.com]

That's down right sad. Though, it is also kinda funny. >___>
People can be so dense at times.

I have only access to Bleach and other mangas through the internet. D:
They don't sell them over here. T_T

GG.

[pcuppy.livejournal.com]

WOW. GJ SOBs that tweeted that to Kubo. I'm sure you feel special.

Can't blame Jump for trying to do this. Though I agree that it might just hurt their sales overseas even more.

[wdboldstar.livejournal.com]

I'm of two minds here.

On one hand, Mangakas (and publishers) have to make money. Pirating deprives them of that. And for every one of us who's faithful and buys the english volumes when they come out despite having already read scans, there's probably at least 2-3 people who just read the scans and don't buy a thing.

At the same time, they could be doing a LOT more to accommodate their english fans if they truly care about us (And by they I mean the publishers, I know Kubo sensei loves us). I know I'd pay a buck or two for a digital or paper version of Bleach's latest chapter in english if it came from the publisher. If I have to wait months or years to read what people in Japan and/or people who can read Japanese already have, it gets really, really hard to justify waiting so long, especially since by the time the volumes come out, internet conversation about the series will have left them behind long ago.

Either way, the people who tweeted were... not the brightest bulbs, for sure.

[descrime.livejournal.com]

It makes no sense to have the English fandom be so far behind the Japanese one in this age of instant communication. I think sales would significantly improve if readers knew that two weeks after a volume ended in chapter form in Japan, they could go buy the volume in English.

[r0ck3tsci3ntist.livejournal.com]

Ah, so it has come to this. I will be interested to see what sort of impact it will have on sales if all these sites go away. I actually think this should happen because strongly believe the impact would be negative in the long run and only this sort of experiment will prove it.

Then again, if it isn't, we'll know that too.

(but I know I'll probably lose interest if I can't keep up to date)

[(Anonymous)]

And now you all suffer the revenge of Nick Simmons, feel his wrath.

[taichou]

When Kubo tweeted about all the foreign fans congratulating him on 400 this morning, I had to let out a frustrated moan. How many times does he, himself, have to bring this up before people finally connect the whole, "Hey, Kubo is usually pretty chill, but the one thing that bugs him is people spoiling Bleach for other readers so I should STFU" idea? And how are there people out there who still don't realize we get the RAWs before Jump! is actually put out for sale? It's not hard to wait a week before tweeting Kubo about how awesome a chapter was - it's just common courtesy. Personally, I'm sure everytime he sees a tweet from a foreigner about the latest chapters, he raises an eyebrow in his Kubo-esque way, because we shouldn't even know about the chapters unless we all suddenly imported WSJ.

I get that people are excited - it is so rare to get to communicate with one of your favorite authors and Kubo is admittedly awesome enough to reply to fans and post about banana hangers, lol, but he's still a professional that cares about his work and there are still lines that common sense should tell people not to cross. But they do. Repeatedly. And it's because of actions like this that I fear him growing a negative perception of foreign fans.

I just wish people would use some thought when they tweeted, instead of being twits.
/Twitter!vent

[http://users.livejournal.com/_debbiechan_/]

argh, they're NOT STOPPING. THIS ONE JUST CAME THROUGH:


0, @alvriri said:


reply

I don't understand anything u wrote, but I love your #Bleach 400 & I love Gin's #Bankai RT @tite_kubo: なんか外国から「BLEACH400話おめでとうございます！」みたいなコメントが大量に来てて、最初ちょっとお気に入りに入れちゃったんだけど、よく考えたらまだ400話の載ったジャンプって発売してないんだよね。祝う気持ちはありがたいけど、どうしたもんだか。

[amy-core.livejournal.com]

Oh Jesus. It's torrents issues all over again.

The only two options SJ has to really prevent people from dl'ing their stuff online:

A) close internetz
B) stop publishing the magazine altogether

This morning people were tweeting Kubo congrats on this 400th chapter when the chapter hasn't even been released in Japan.

For fuck's sake... I want to laugh but I can't even do that. >__________>

[nightshade-ave.livejournal.com]

Honestly, I had no idea we got the raws before the actual issue of WSJ released in Japan. So it doesn't surprise me that there are western fans who didn't know this either. If we have to wait for scanlations when the actual chapters are published, that's fine by me--I thought that's how it was anyway.

We all need more education on the matter.

[adam-epp.livejournal.com]

This translation seems inaccurate to me. It should be:

To our readers
We want more money, so suck it.

~ Weekly Shounen Jump editorial department

[conquistadora.livejournal.com]

Well, I honestly don't think most online readers know that the chapter comes out a week early for us. Just look at how many people lurk on BA and don't post or aren't members. They're probably not reading everything being said and just fishing around for spoilers. Information like this gets missed because they aren't paying attention and thus you have people twittering at Kubo about chapters that aren't out yet.

This isn't that unexpected after he tweeted his displeasure about spoilers and how he was having people look into it. However, it's a losing battle, of course. There are many places you can get RAWs other than RP, and I'm sure that others will crop up in it's place due to this action.

[adam-epp.livejournal.com]

Well, I can understand mangaka disliking spoilers; those are an abomination of the internet that ruin chapters completely. I don't get why so many people read theme every week.

[jenny-jade.livejournal.com]

I don't know but... Recently, on twitter, spoiler for Bleach 400 like this can be all over the net. But instead of keeping it to themselves and feeling thankful that we have the chapter to read on net, why do some tard want attention from Kubo enough not to realize that he was reading Bleach for free and granted?

[peca-06.livejournal.com]

DAMN! @_@ . Some people should've kept their mouths shut.

If I didn't have the on-line scanlations I wouldn't have known about any mangas, specially Bleach. They take years to reach us thru the "proper channels" if AT ALL (in the less popular, but good gems out there I've seen), so the fact that we actually have that access makes the western culture expose to it and it means more sales and a new market that gains steadily in popularity. I felt privileged myself. I do support them by buying the products.
There is such a fine line though :((...

I feel shitty to think I might be hurting Kubo sensei in any way, when I love him dearly and his work so very much though T___________________________T.

[kashinosei.livejournal.com]

It's the usual. Unless we no longer have internet and IT stuff. People read free and buy, people read free and don't buy. People read free and leads to awareness -> licensing -> merchandise / movies / animes...

It's just the japanese yen and company profits they're talking about. Even if we buy, we buy them in the languages we understand. They want direct money, but well, I don't think they don't get mine with the merchandise and manga. There are plenty to crack down, including unofficial merchandise. Better things to tackle.

Spoilers create excitement. I love them. Love cursing when the spoiler is full of crap, love the discussions with the spoilers...Things tone down and will be up and running in no time.