Manga Streaming

In the wake of Internet censorship bills SOPA and PIPA, it is beginning to seem like the bills were never needed.  Popular file- and video-hosting website, MegaUpload, was taken down and the owner and CEOs of the website/company were arrested by American forces despite the fact that the owner did not live in the United States.  This came about without the assistance of either SOPA or PIPA, throwing into question the necessity of these bills.  However, other media besides movies and music are feeling the pressure of censorship.  While not nearly as popular in America as it is in Japan, the industry of manga and anime has a very large cult following.  Controversy abounds due to websites that illegally host copies of Japanese manga translated by fans.

VIZ Media, the Japanese company responsible from bringing many popular Japanese manga and anime series to the United States, demanded four days ago that popular fan website Mangastream.com cease illegal translation of manga.  The problem with what MangaStream has been doing is that they are involved with many series that have been licensed and officially distributed within the U.S.  However, MangaStream takes the manga and translates it into English as soon as it is released in Japan.  Normally, VIZ Media would translate these series and redistribute them in America within several months, but MangaStream and similar sites allow for rapid releases of the same series for free.

While many cite the loss of profits as the reason for halting MangaStream, that argument loses some merit when one thinks about those who would not spend money on official manga releases, series that are not even available in English, and fans living in other countries that cannot read manga in their own language.  Evidence has also been coming in for many years that a great percentage of profits in the manga and anime industry come solely from merchandise like toys, “plushies,” and video games.  Some margin of profit is still lost, but many who claim to read illegal translations online still buy official releases and merchandise.  For others, online translations serve as a preview of the series, an opportunity to see what a series is like before decided to spend money on it.

A cry of anguish sounded from fans of popular series after they were taken down.  For some that live in foreign countries, online translators are the only way to read their favorite series since VIZ Media rarely distributes series in countries like Indonesia or the Philippines.  MangaStream is still active, but only for a portion of the series which they used to translate.  In the wake of what many fans are calling a catastrophe, other sites continue to obtain and translate manga directly from Japan.  Some wonder if it is only a matter of time before these sites are taken down as well, but many remain optimistic that other websites will appear and the illegal manga distribution will continue.