{"id":47600,"date":"2025-04-30T19:33:32","date_gmt":"2025-04-30T10:33:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?p=47600"},"modified":"2025-04-30T19:37:30","modified_gmt":"2025-04-30T10:37:30","slug":"japans-war-on-manga-piracy-can-only-end-with-faster-and-more-widespread-distribution-of-official-translations-myanimelist-ceo-suggests","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/japans-war-on-manga-piracy-can-only-end-with-faster-and-more-widespread-distribution-of-official-translations-myanimelist-ceo-suggests\/","title":{"rendered":"Japan\u2019s war on manga piracy can only end with faster and more widespread distribution of official translations, MyAnimeList CEO suggests"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Anime and manga have in recent years become more than just a \u201cgeek\u201d thing in the West, according to MyAnimeList CEO, Atsushi Mizoguchi.&nbsp; What used to be a stigmatized subculture that was only reserved for \u201cthe nerds\u201d in the West has now gone mainstream, thanks to streaming services such as Netflix and Crunchyroll offering a wide range of officially localized anime to the western audience, as well as the medium\u2019s quick rise to popularity during the COVID-19 pandemic, says Mizoguchi.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>However, what about manga \u2013 especially the ones whose western fanbases only exist because of numerous pirated editions and scanlations? <a href=\"https:\/\/www.oricon.co.jp\/special\/70960\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">In a special Oricon News article<\/a>, Mizoguchi talks about his aspirations for further expansion of Japan\u2019s manga industry in the West.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"796\" height=\"480\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 796px) 100vw, 796px\" src=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/20250430-476000001.jpg\" alt=\"MANGA Plus homepage.\" class=\"wp-image-47602\" srcset=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/20250430-476000001.jpg 796w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/20250430-476000001-380x229.jpg 380w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/20250430-476000001-768x463.jpg 768w\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em>MANGA Plus <a href=\"https:\/\/mangaplus.shueisha.co.jp\/updates\">homepage<\/a>. <\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Recently, with some official online manga distribution services such as MANGA Plus and K MANGA appearing, the number of works that overseas readers can enjoy without any time-lag between the Japanese and translated release has greatly increased, and they have been met with mostly positive reception. Nonetheless, Mizoguchi believes that this should be taken a step further, by creating a bigger, more comprehensive digital distribution service for manga.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He explains that the only way to battle piracy is for Japan to offer an even wider range of localized manga works. There are over 500,000 titles published digitally in Japan, and according to Mizoguchi, only a small percentage of them have been translated to English. Of course, he adds, \u201cjust translating the words in the bubbles\u201d is not enough \u2013 the illustrations and sound effects also need to be localized accordingly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>\u201cBattling piracy poses a big challenge to us, but to win the fight, I strongly believe [publishers in Japan] will have to work together to increase the output speed and number of translated works, and to succeed in creating a comprehensive manga distribution service which would offer many different manga titles, like the ones available in Japan.\u201d<\/em> &nbsp; <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1129\" height=\"591\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1129px) 100vw, 1129px\" src=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/20250430-476000002.jpg\" alt=\"K MANGA homepage.\" class=\"wp-image-47604\" srcset=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/20250430-476000002.jpg 1129w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/20250430-476000002-380x199.jpg 380w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/20250430-476000002-768x402.jpg 768w\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em>K MANGA <a href=\"https:\/\/kmanga.kodansha.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">homepage<\/a>.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>While some major publishers in Japan do translate works at their own expense, most of the times, they sign license agreements with overseas publishers, and in that case, the translation and distribution are handled by the overseas publishers. However, gathering the needed workforce and covering the costs of localizing such a huge number of titles isn\u2019t that easy \u2013 which is why most international releases of manga are only limited to titles that have been picked up by the publishers themselves, Mizoguchi explains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>MyAnimeList&#8217;s CEO says that the only way to battle manga piracy is by making a better online manga distribution service for overseas readers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":79,"featured_media":47601,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_gspb_post_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3,65],"tags":[17],"class_list":["post-47600","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-nongaming-news","tag-japan-related-news"],"blocksy_meta":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.2 - 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