Hi,
My name is Justin. I have read scanlations.
Don’t hate scanlations.
Back in 2006 or so, or whenever I was a high school student, my interest in manga was nonexistent. I picked up some volumes back in middle school, but ultimately threw them away (I weirdly still kept Psychic Academy), and stuck mostly with anime on TV. The generation was moving towards online watching, and while I did have a computer to use, I shared with my mom and sis, and I could only use it for a certain amount of time. I was very much into games too. So I kept my anime watching to whatever was on TV, which meant watching Toonami, Adult Swim, and Anime Unleashed, or buying DVDs with only a few episodes on them.
One day though, I can’t remember how I found out about it, but I stumbled onto Youtube and discovered a ton of anime that was uploaded there. That was how I blitzed through a lot of episodes of Naruto (that most definitely includes what I later learned to be fillers), and loved it. I ended up catching some of the Dragon Ball Z movies. That was how I discovered School Days. Aside from that, I either listened to random soundtracks or watched something sports related (I’m also into sports too.)
That was when lots of elements came into play. I think first was Youtube taking down videos as companies realized people were putting content up for free. Then Toonami eventually bit the dust, which meant Saturdays (yes, Toonami was on Saturdays) lacked much anime. By then though, I had moved into creator mode. I liked writing a lot — in fact, I thought I’d be trying to write novels and be famous. So I believe it was in 2009 when I started to get into the manga reading game, in order to see how the creators did it and came up with their stories. As someone that tried to create something and knew people who also created comics and stories, a lot of hours were put into it, and I felt at the time, I had a job, I could support what I like.
At that point, I still read scanlations. Not a lot, as I mostly was overwhelmed by the amount of choices to read. I did read Naruto. Bleach was also on my list. I was recommended a manga called The Breaker (which, I soon later learned, was a manhwa), and I even read a title called Akumetsu. I probably read a few more, but I was definitely still entrenched with scans.
It was about when I started this blog, that was kind of when I started taking some things a bit more seriously. Well, anime wise at least, as I heard of Crunchyroll in 2010, but I ended up watching a lot of shows after starting OASG and blogging them. I finally did learn about fansubs during this period (and managed to not learn how to download until 2012 or 2013), but it was either Crunchyroll or finding one of those illegal sites if a title (Detective Conan for example) wasn’t available. I’m certain FUNimation’s site was not very good then.
I still read scanlations at this point. I found out about GTO thanks to watching the first live action version of it. I proceeded to finish that, then read the manga. I spent my days finishing it, and only regretted that I had never heard of this title sooner. I think I added more titles to my reading list, like Zetman, but at this point, I was reading what I could from what I brought from Borders and Barnes & Noble. At least, until Borders got offed since buying books was (or is?) slowly on the downturn. What was great about Borders for me was convenience — after getting back to NY from the PATH train, I’d just walk down 33rd St and head to 7th Avenue and either pick up a book, read it, or choose to buy it. I brought a lot of Negima this way.
Borders didn’t exist anymore, which meant I had to turn to what my mom had not let me do previously because of identify theft or vital information getting out there — ordering online. I’m gonna guess I started ordering more in 2012, but back then, it was literally me just asking my mom if I could place an order. I thankfully have my own card now, so I don’t have to worry about that too much.
As a side note, I was still reading scanlations.
Now, these past few years. I’ve talked to a lot of industry people for articles (like this, this, and this), which means I can sound somewhat normal yet evil when I write something like this, so I already knew buying stuff if I have the means and care level was going to be what I would do. There’s still a lot of manga I want to buy, but as I need to save money, I have to cut back on spending.
I guess that means I get back on the scanlation train…well, not really. This, out of all the years, made me realize that I don’t keep up with a lot of current happenings in Japan as I used to, so knowing all of the artists and what they draw is beyond me right now. There’s Crunchyroll manga, there’s English Shonen Jump, MangaBox, and then it’s manga I buy. If something gets announced and I see a description, two things will happen: one, I ignore it, or two, I buy the first volume. Four things will most likely happen after I buy it:
- I’ll pick up the next volume immediately.
- I’ll pick up the next couple of volumes when I have enough money saved.
- I’ll donate the volume I don’t like to the library.
- I’ll get money back by selling it at Book-Off.
Some true stories: I had been buying every volume of Negima without reading the scans, until an event happened in the books where I had to find out what happened next, and I could not help myself. I still completed buying all the volumes.
20th Century Boys was another that I read every volume of until an event happened in the books that got me to go to the scans. I have every volume of 20th Century Boys.
Monster I had basically relied on the scans because volumes were missing in stores and I could not order at the time.
Freezing I’m not sure how I found out about it, but I read it, and with it being so long, never thought it could be licensed.
Well, Monster now is being released as Perfect Editions, and I’m buying that. Freezing has been licensed by Seven Seas and I’m currently trying to blog the hell out of this work that I’m not even sure is any good anymore.
Other than that? I’m only keeping up with series that I’ve stuck to for a long time, that have no shot at getting released in the states (looks at Bokura no Kiseki)…and it’s not that much. I’m generally too busy to find out about the 1000s of manga out there when I have stuff that’s in my face for me to worry about. I’m under no obligation to find out about those 1000s of manga are until I learn Japanese. (Japanese is hard.)
So, as I sit back and see people wondering about reading scanlations, you’re not alone. The problem is that this has been the only way to know about any of this stuff, and well before this became a massive issue. I still question how today’s kids even get into manga or anime. How do they find out about this stuff? Who is telling them to go to X site and read X here? From just growing up, this was my way. And from knowing some people who grew up with anime and manga back in the day, that was their way, but with more reasons why they had no choice. There has rarely been a legal way, because at the time, there wasn’t, or if it was, it wasn’t realized or understood.
Now, and I’ll have to be specific: anyone that lives in the U.S can watch a lot of anime online on a lot of services. Manga still has some ways to go, but yeah, you can definitely find some manga out there on legitimate services. It may not be enough, they may be clunky or clean, but they exist.
For those outside of the U.S: sorry. The industry doesn’t seem to have realized the potential of an international audience for reasons that may involve the economy, author or publisher requests, or who knows what. It’s only taken until now to finally realize you want to help support the industry. Or at least support the author. This aspect may take longer than we think.
So, to conclude, I don’t get actually hating scanlations. Dislike? Ok, but hate? Nah. It has been the past, present, and may be the future if nothing changes from 2015 on. You already know I support the industry when I can. You also know I’m probably done reading scanlations outside of what I’m reading right now. There’s not much more to say.
My name is Justin. I have read scanlations.
Don’t hate scanlations.
