What will be future of reading manga online for free? (a random rambling)

With the closing of key sites such as Onemanga and Mangafox, among others, one is left to wonder what to do next?

Last week I looked for Naruto 504 and Bleach and it was a nightmare struggling on sites that want to charge you $$$ for subscribing, not to mention tons of annoying pop up ads.

Either I succumb to that new site Openmanga.com, or get my scanlations on torrentz and private forums.

:-/

URGENTE: One Manga cierra sus puertas!

La guerra contra los sitios de scanlations continua y esta vez el sitio afectado no es otro que Onemanga.com.

En un comunicado que salió hoy en la portada principal del sitio web de manga online, Zabi, uno de los dueños, informó que las editoriales japonesas y estadounidenses le dijeron que su posición con respecto a la publicación de scanlations habia cambiado radicalmente, y que por eso ellos deberían remover todo el contenido para la semana que viene.

Esto es un duro golpe para nosotros los fans, que estabamos acostumbrados a leer nuestro capitulo semanal de nuestra serie favorita aunque fuese traducido al ingles!

Onemanga.com fue uno de los sitios web mas visitados según el ranking de Google, ocupando el puesto numero 935 de los 1000 páginas con más visitantes. El foro seguirá activo, mientras tanto.

Todo indica que la iniciativa de crear OpenManga.com como plataforma en la que todos los mangakas puedan publicar su trabajo directamente está más cerca de lo que pensamos. OpenManga sería el equivalente de Crunchyroll, si nos ponemos a ver.

Espero que esto sea para lo mejor!

Este es el texto del comunicado de Onemanga.com:

It pains me to announce that this is the last week of manga reading on One Manga (!!). Manga publishers have recently changed their stance on manga scanlations and made it clear that they no longer approve of it. We have decided to abide by their wishes, and remove all manga content (regardless of licensing status) from the site. The removal of content will happen gradually (so you can at least finish some of the outstanding reading you have), but we expect all content to be gone by early next week (RIP OM July 2010).
So what next? We're not really sure at this point, but we have some ideas we would like to try out. Until then, the One Manga forums will remain active and we encourage all of you to continue using them. OMF has developed into a great community and it would be a shame to see that disappear.
You can also show us some love in this moment of sadness by 'liking' our brand new Facebook page. It would be nice to see just how many of you came to enjoy our 'better than peanut butter and jelly' invention.

Regardless of whether you stay with us or not, on behalf of the One Manga team, I would like to thank you all for your unwavering support over the years. Through the ups and downs you have stuck with us, and that is what kept us going.
As a certain Porky was fond of saying... That's all folks!
Time for me to go lay down and let this all sink in.

- Zabi

The famous website, along with others, has removed 350 titles in their stock. Their manager is currently negotiating with representatives of Japanese and U.S. publishers, who formed a coalition on June 8th, for the removal of many manga scanlations that represent financial losses for them.

Mangafox is owned by a Chinese company called Hangzhou Noez Technology Co., Ltd, and it was in the Alexa ranking as one of the 2,000 most visited sites with a million daily visitors from around the world (!!!).

The company has other sites dedicated to streaming anime episodes, a download site and a social networking site exclusively for fans of anime and manga like us.

Wow, this is quite a blow to those who are looking for a specific title, although some people might think that reading manga online legally is much better.

(yeah, right)

Mangafox elimina 350 mangas de su lista de scanlations

El famoso sitio web, junto con otros mas, ha removido 350 titulos de su stock. Su administrador esta negociando con representantes de las editoriales japonesas y estadounidenses que formaron una coalicion la semana pasada para la remoción de los scanlations de muchos mangas que representan perdidas financieras para ellos.

Mangafox es propiedad de una compañia china llamada Hangzhou NOEZ Technology Co., Ltd, y estaba en el ranking Alexa como uno de los 2,000 sites mas visitados con un millon de visitantes diarios (!!!) de todo el mundo.

La empresa posee otras paginas dedicadas al streaming de episodios de diversos animes, un sitio de descargas y otro sitio de red social exclusivo para fans del anime y el manga como nosotros.

Wow un duro golpe para los que quieran conseguir un titulo en especifico, aunque hay quien pudiera opinar que leer manga online de manera legal es mucho mejor.

OpenManga: the new online 'official' scanlations platform

The 'Crunchyroll effect' has entered the world of scanlations as MangaHelpers, one of the largest distribution sites of manga scans and scanlations, has announced its decision to close due to pressure from Japanese and U.S. publishers.

In its place will rise OpenManga, a new platform that will allow manga creators to distribute their work digitally, which will also allow them to sell related merchandise and accept donations.

The new system will also allow users to translate and adapt the manga of their interest in a legal way. The site, http://openmanga.org , is now online, anticipating its launch.

US and Japanese publishers declare war to scanlation sites!

It seems the future doesn't bode too well for scanlation sites, this could mean a definitive hit against free access to manga scans for people everywhere in the world that doesn't have the means to obtain their favorite manga!

From ANN:

The 36 publishers in Japan's Digital Comic Association and several American publishers are forming a coalition to combat the "rampant and growing problem" of scanlations — illicit digital copies of manga either translated by fans or scanned directly from legitimate English releases.

The coalition asserts that "scanlation aggregator" sites "now host thousands of pirated titles, earning ad revenue and/or membership dues at creators' expense while simultaneously undermining foreign licensing opportunities and unlawfully cannibalizing legitimate sales." Google lists one site on its list of the 1,000 most-visited sites on the web. An unnamed spokesperson for the coalition also pointed to smartphone applications designed to read such sites as an escalation of the problem.

The coalition is reportedly threatening legal action against 30 scanlation sites, whose names were not revealed. The organization currently includes Japanese publishers Kodansha, Shogakukan, Shueisha, Square Enix, and the Tuttle-Mori Agency, as well as North American manga publishers Vertical Inc., Viz Media, Tokyopop, and Yen Press.

Editoriales estadounidenses y japonesas le declaran la guerra a los sites de scanlations!

Las 36 editoriales de la Asociacion del Comic Digital Japonés y varias editoriales importantes norteamericanas han formado una coalición para combatir "el rampante y creciente problema" de los sitios web que distribuyen scanlations, copias ilegales digitales de mangas, sea traducido por los fans, o escaneado directamente de su versión en ingles.

La coalicion afirma que hay miles de paginas agregadoras que cuelgan miles de titulos ilegales, ganandose el share de publicidad y cuotas de membresias a la expensa de los creadores originales, mientras que a su vez representan una amenaza para la licencia de los derechos de autor en paises foraneos y un golpe severo a las ventas de los mangas.

Tal es así que incluso Google tiene a uno de esos sites (se dice el pecado pero no el pecador, uy) entre los 1000 mas visitados de toda la web. Un portavoz de esta coalicion tambien indicó que hay aplicaciones para smartphones como BB y iPhone que permiten leer contenido escaneado ilegalmente, lo que se ha convertido en un agravante del problema.

La Coalición va a demandar a alrededor de 30 sitios de scanlations, cuyos nombres no han sido revelados. La organizacion incluye a editoriales como Kodansha, Shogakugan, Shueisha, Square Enix y la agencia Tuttle-Mori, asi como los ya conocidos Vertical, Viz Media, TokyoPop y Yen Press.