This is more of a solidarity post. MarzGurl‘s Anime News Editorial returned to the realm of manga. Over the past couple editions, she’s tacked the story of fan translations of manga, known as “scanlations” are being taken down as Japanese comic producers are taking a stand against what they feel is a violation of their creative rights. She explains more in her Editorial.
Here’s a link to the site discussed. Side note before I get into this. It’s funny that she brings up That Guy With The Glasses’ fair use rule straining in light of recent developments that I’m debating discussing, involving reviews of The Room done by Doug Walker and Obscurus Lupa being ordered taken down by the directors’ lawyers.
On topic: I think she has very good presence and voice for an editorial. No, that’s not what I wanted to discuss. Oh, right, creators rights. Scanlations are pretty much like fansubs (or even fandubs). I’m not sure what issue can be taken from a moral perspective when you have no plans to bring a property over, but at the same time I was at a panel at copyright panel ConnectiCon that made one case. While it may appear that they aren’t losing money because someone isn’t bring over, to use an example close to my heart, Beast Wars II (a Japanese sequel to the Beast Wars: Transformers series that has seen both a fandub and an excellent fansub that’s near professional grade) they really are.
One thought by fandubbers is that by bringing the story over and showing English-producing video distributors that there might be a market for Beast Wars II, some distributors are convinced that people won’t buy their version if a free one already exists so it wouldn’t be worth the money. And let’s be honest, for some that is the case. When I (poorly) interviewed the Media Blasters guys at ConnectiCon this year, I mentioned that I had picked up fansubs of Magic Knights Rayearth when they didn’t have a distributor and it didn’t appear that it was getting one (despite Mixxzine officially publishing the excellent manga). But when an official release came out, I really wanted it, and did pick up the remastered first season after the interview. I did the same with Brave King GaoGaiGar, now also distributed by Media Blasters and far superior to the fansub.
(Then again, I’ve actually and I wish I was kidding seen comments by people in the fansub community who would insist that the fan version was “more accurate” that the professionals. I’ve seen more than my share of crap fansubs, let me tell you.)
Somehow, Rayearth and GaoGaiGar did receive official releases. However, that doesn’t mean that it necessarily served the cause. I think a “sampler” is a good idea, since there are plenty of anime and manga that will never see the light of day in the west, that you can show people, and let them say “hey, licensing company, we want this in our language”. However, you have to realize that it’s still a case of people receiving nothing for their hard work. Is there a way for these fan works to benefit the creators financially? I would love to see the TF Cog guys hired to officially make fandubs of Transformers anime.
Maybe there is. In a previous Editorial on the subject, as well as a recent Four Color post, it was announced that much like sites like Crunchyroll started doing with anime, some manga publishers are actually planning to work with “scanlators” to create legal translated digital manga. A business model is being worked that will allow the scanlators to not only do their work legally, but make a profit for it, as will the legal copyright holders and (hopefully) the creative talent behind the work. It’s a win-win for everyone. Fansubbers (the good ones) may also qualify for this, until the inevitable union people come in and ruin everyone’s fun.
However, does that make it still legally alright? No, it doesn’t. MarzGurl is right that unless someone allows you to use their work, it’s still wrong even if you’re not making a profit yourself for it, like any other illegal torrents. Your still screwing people over, especially if you are doing fan translations of anime and manga actually on the shelves. (I’ve seen fan translations of Naruto for example, still available online although Viz is slowly putting out the entire thing, and on the anime side is getting subtitled works online almost as soon as it comes in Japan out on sites like Hulu and Crunchyroll. It used to be Joost as well, but they sadly don’t have much of anything anymore.)
It is, however, nice to see the Japanese studios using this to their advantage. These guys are already doing it on the side for free, so why not hire them relatively cheap. They get paid and still get to put this stuff where everyone can see them, which is the point of scanlations, and with the right business model the people who worked hard to create the content in the first place aren’t screwed out of the fruits of THEIR labor. Everybody wins in the end, so it’s nice to see a happy ending.
And if you think MarzGurl is wrong on this, sorry that would be you. The “everything should be free on the internet” bit only works for free speech and I don’t think we should pay an extra tax for ordering online that we don’t for using a catalog just because state or federal governments can’t think of a way to balance the budget without increasing revenues. (I wish I could do that with my budget.) But these are people who make comics, music, and shows for a living and get paid to do something they love. They need to eat tonight just as much as you do, and as previous Editorial postings have shown, they’re hurting, too. So why not thank them for the entertainment they bring you with letting them live off of their success?
(For that matter, hit up MarzGurl’s site. She has a follow-up here.)
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