OneManga Shutting Down

[b0mb3r]

Wahh I feel sad. I've been reading onemanga for about 5 years now but they finally gonna be shut down. Is due to anti-manga distribution online thing or something by the publishers so they had no choice. I hope that baka-tsuki won't face the same in the future. Sayonara....

[rpapo]

Saw this several days ago now, since my habits in the past year have included a daily check of their update list, following several series. I've gotten the impression, from several sites, that this is not a unified effort on the part of the whole Manga industry, but is rather the action of a couple of large players acting unilaterally. Since the market in the USA for translated manga and anime is -far- larger than the market for translated light novels, I don't see BT in any immediate danger. The industry may be using the site as a barometer of interest, and then issuing C&D letters if they think the demand is high enough to pay for a "real" translation, plus publication costs and a profit.

[Noproblem]

well i also feel sad that onemanga.com is shutting down, been reading there for more than 4 years now and genereally check it several times daily, i do hope that some other sites will start delevering the same services as they did, since it's alot of work to go around the different groups scanlating, to get the weekly updates. Also, i do now hope that this will affect other sides in the future

[chrnno]

It's sad indeed, it was the first manga site I read and by far the best. I hope other sites develop to be as good and off course don't close down but in the worst case one can simply go directly to translators.

I don't really see much sense on the decision, at least for me reading something online just gives me more reason to buy it not less. I won't buy a manga if I don't know I will like it.

[rpapo]

Absolutely. As a computer geek, I like to try before I buy when it comes to software, and for a reader imported and translated manga on paper ain't cheap either.

[p0l3r]

I dont know why people like one manga so much the quality is pretty bad. Its not hard to go to manga updates and download as the manga chapters as they comes out. Or just get them from www.mangatraders.com

[rpapo]

It isn't OneManga that has the quality problems. They are simply an aggregator site, where individual scanlator groups post their product so everybody can find it easily. Other such sites include MangaFox and MangaHelpers. The errors in the translations, and there were tons of them, are the fault of the contributors. OneManga didn't try to alter anything they were sent.

[chrnno]

It's just that onemanga has a good interface. The updates are clearly separated from day and you can see the most recent ones at another place. The ads don't bother you. Etc...

Off course you can look at other places but nowhere else you find so many mangas and so easy to read online.

[FNX]

I was under the impression that they decided to shut down the page for the reasons that you mention in earlier posts, the point is that it was a decision made by them meaning that nobody made them do it, or am I wrong?

[rpapo]

To quote their site: "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 "made it clear" no doubt took the form of letters delivered by lawyers. Defending yourself against debatable charges in civil court can be very expensive, and sometimes you find yourself forced to concede to the opposition rather than face financial ruin.

[chrnno]

Well, a group of major publishers basically said that whoever doesn't take down is going to be sued. They send messages to a lot of manga sites don't know all of them though.

[ainsoph9]

The problem here is that manga publishers are not offering an alternative so much as an alienation policy towards their readership. Many fans are willing to pay and do buy the manga even if they have read it online. Nothing can truly substitute for the feel of a graphic novel in your hands. While the need to protect intellectual property can be the difference between the life and death of a company, it needs to be offset by the need to offer consumers another avenue for obtaining the product. Like the anime industry, the manga industry suffers from a lag time. This is the number one problem for fans, which for the most part causes people to go translate the manga themselves and offer it to others. Of course, exceptions exist to this rule, especially in light of the variety of manga brought overseas. Unless the manga industry wants to end up like the music and movie industry in the United States, which have both alienated and angered consumers, the manga industry would be wise to follow a crunchyroll-like model that the anime industry is following. Although Tokyopop has discussed making an option for fans to translate manga for them and post it online, nothing seems have happened yet. None of the other major manga licensors in the United States have done anything either nor has Kodansha or any of the Japanese companies put out a better alternative. Quite frankly, it seems that many in the manga community are scared stiff because of this manga licensor partnership. Given the lack of creativity in the anime industry for the most part in recent years, this partnership, if it continues in the direction it appears to be headed, will kill both the manga and anime industry worldwide. Smooth. Real smooth.

[ben1234]

I'm actually curious what'll happen with 1000manga

Because it's plain obvious that they're related

[rpapo]

As far as I know, they are the same people. The second site houses everything they decided was a bit too racy or mature for posting on a PG-rated site. This was a recent change: only about 2-3 months ago.

[Noproblem]

I'm actually curious what'll happen with 1000manga

Because it's plain obvious that they're related

1000manga will be shutting down also, onemanga has announced that