Hi everybody. If you remember, I am the guy who recently finsihed a PhD on scanlation. Even if I spent 4 years researching the scanlation community, when I look back at my thesis, I feel like it only scratched the surface of the phenomenon of scanlation. I want to say a few things about the topic of doing research on scanlation, and see what you guys think about it. I may be wrong, and it would be good to learn more.

One of the things that I could not really explain in detail in my thesis is the issue of motivation. There is a motivation to read scanlations (maybe because there is no other way to get some manga series) and there is a motivation to scanlate, which is different, because for example a translator can already read the Japanese raws, so her/his motivation is not just to 'read' but having other people to share with their passion.

Also, there is the motivation of people who do not translate, but they do other kind of jobs, all related to the community (administrators, etc.) whithout which scanlation would not be what it is. This is my biggest regret, as I had to focus on one specific aspect of scanlation, and I could not go into details about the 1000s small everyday contributions that sustain the practice of scanlation.

Anyway, I am thinking that in the future, if I get to publish a book, I will try to include more details about the commnity at large. Feel free to suggest whatever you have in mind, you may be quoted in my future book!



Last edited by mattfabb at 10:54 am, Aug 23 2015

Well, most people who are involved in scanlation can not read Japanese. As you probably know, there is much more to do in scanlation than just translating the source material (and I'm not talking about website administration either).

For me as a translator and leader of a scanlation group, the main motivation is to give people who don't know Japanese the ability to read the manga I like and thus give those manga the popularity they deserve in the West. I think that most of the manga that get translated into English are horrible, so scanlation gives me an opportunity to correct this and propagate the manga I like instead.

Also I can improve my Japanese and providing services to people makes you feel good and important about yourself.

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For me, it's not that they are horrible, its more that the selection criteria seem to be quite narrow. In comparison, the selection available in scanlation is much broader in terms of generes and target demographics. This is something that I don't fully understand. Do josei/seinen manga sell so poorly, or is it because they touch upon topics that are not considered 'suitable' for the 'comic book' medium?

Anyway, thanks Shiratori, I like the idea of 'propagating' manga ahah.

Well, in Japan many people from all demographics read manga, whereas here in the West it's a much smaller fanbase, and also much more influenced by anime than in Japan. So I guess publishing manga that do not specifically target anime fans is just not profitable on the international market.

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well you can say the main motivation of scanlators (except translators) is that if we don't scanlate and continue this tradition its obvious that one day scanlations will die. and even in scanlation groups, only raw provider and maybe translator has the physical form of manga, and maybe it is some use to them while to the other group members weather they have the original manga or not its totally useless because they can't read Japanese so they try to continue this tradition to keep the manga coming and to keep this tradition alive. its kind of like a dead multiplayer game but you like it a lot so you try to spread that game so that you could play with someone.

good luck on your thesis. hope i was of any help
if by any snowball chance i get a mention in your book use my real name 'Neel Kanwal'

Last edited by graffhead at 12:23 pm, Aug 23 2015

Spiegelman´s Maus or Onward Towards Our Noble Deaths were part of the "comic book medium" the last time i checked and we also have loli/shota listed as demographics (have fun exporting those) so you can write about whateven you want as long as the publisher approves or just self publish. A lot of the anthology magazines have low print runs too so they need to differentiate themselves from the pack and most manga are short lived experiments anyway. Thus niche tales will never go away and one of the longest manga of all time is about restaurant culture (Oishinbo) while another one is about being a saleryman (Kachou Shima Kousaku) so you can have a huge success with a wide variety of topics. Never forget that Death Note was published by SJ which could have easy backfired so even the biggest manga magazine on the planet can surprise you now and then. None can get rich of publishing Josei but Seinen series regularly show up on bestseller lists (just look up Golgo 13) so saying that these don´t sell is shortsighted and most Tezuka winners are Seinen too. All of this and "internet fame" though don´t directly translate to manga sales in America as Vinland Saga is shifting units around cancelation range. The very same thing can be said about US comics that are "huge" on Tumblr too and piracy can´t be the only culprit. US comics further barely sell to a younger crowd so Shonen/Shoujo manga are currently filling a very interesting gap in the US market.
Tokyo Ghoul on the other hand is selling well in the US so don´t burry more grown up licensed manga just yet. I also agree that having an anime to your name us a major factor to boost popularity as these are low budget commercials for it a lot for the time.
The majority are based on male publications too so clear cut girls manga should have a harder battle and the most important thing i learned from looking at bestseller lists for my job is that one can never know what will move the needle as a Twilight fan-fic recently became the best-selling Kindle eBook of all time...

Manga is considered to be a pastime for children and young adults even in Japan and i don´t think that toons or comics will ever be recognized as a "high art" by the majority but who cares. Most adult targeted publishers don´t go for a crowd above 30 too so it is only logical that youth focused tales sell the most. I will soon age out of the Seinen demographic (age 18-30) but my reading list is only expanding every year and i plan to stick around for the next 40-50 years.
Manga is ultimately a storytelling medium and thus an escapist hobby so easy to swallow tales will be more likely to be scan- or translated than ones about adultery, hard science or other complex topics. Most reader and movie-goers want light or at least easy to comprehend narratives in the end so mature subject matter and a high level vocabulary tend to be the exception when popularity is concerned. (R-rated anime have become quite rare these days btw. unless we are talking about soft core porn.)
Expect manga views to be flooded with DBZ clones, high school/romance tales, the now popular RPG power fantasies, web comics and a lot of pr0n in the future too but even these can be good. I for example constantly wonder why Berserk shifts units and why it blew up on 4chan. Is it because of the deep storytelling or is it due to the testosterone filled rape + slaughter as most message boards devolve into blank statements that it now isn´t as good as it used to be because the story shifted it´s focus from NC-17 content for a bit.

Fan translations lastly aren´t unique to anime/manga as video games and especially Bande Dessinee live of these too so also look into those for a more rounded view on scanlation culture.
Edit: I should have mentioned that being "new "is also a decisive factor for popularity.
Late in the game anime/movie adaptations thus tend to move up the story to present day and most remakes sadly replace the original product in the eyes of younger viewers. (Anime remakes are currently all the rage but these tend to be better then the first version.)

Last edited by residentgrigo at 1:13 pm, Aug 23 2015

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