Depends on the series and just how bad the scans are... Poor translations tend to irk me more than scan quality.

If it's a really popular one with spoilers all around the net, and for some reason or another only sub-par scans are available, I'll read them.

TheLittleE already mentioned JJBA part 5; I only made it halfway through because I have high hopes better quality scans will be available later. Plus, all the major stuff has already been spoiled for me so I can care less about trying to experience said wonders first hand.

Usually, if it's a new series I'm picking up, I'll drop it and move on to another if all the scans are horrible.

My Japanese is poor, so I rarely ever bother with raws, unless I know the series has been dropped and just want to see end relationships. Even then, I'd rather just read summaries on some random blog/ wiki page if they're available.

So yeah, in the end I'll abstain from voting because it's so situational. I'd disagree if the poll asked about official translations or dubs though... I like to pretend plenty of dubs don't even exist.

I guess we have a vocal minority here. And I'm gonna add to that, bad translation will always be worse than no release in my opinion. It doesn't even matter how bad because it's the translation, bad will never work in translation. Might as well be looking at raws.

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It's interesting how the dominant opinion in the comments is the opposite of the dominant opinion in the poll itself.

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I just thought of something.

This reminds me of the movie industry ... You know, how they keep making awful crappy movies, and when they make something not as bad people just go with it, instead of demanding better quality movies.

"Oh hey, I'm okay with poor quality scanlations. Just keep giving me something to read."

*sigh*

It's a slap in the face to the mangaka, and is just ... isn't the whole point of scanlating to make people support the mangaka in the long run? I don't see how that works with poor quality releases.

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It shows who really cares and who really doesn't.

If your talking poor translation, I kinda agree
...but if you're talking poor editing, scans, proof reading and the like...
The important thing about a manga, isn't the visual quality. It's the content.

...
Wh... Uh...
What?
In what possible way, does that make any sense?

Difference between A movies and B movies. B movies aren't expected to make the box office, just reel in the profits

I agree that its a slap in the face when it's a low quality/bad scanlation and it's immensely disrespectful too...

As for the point of scanlation...not everyone agrees with that. Supporting the mangaka in the long run can be done in two ways - buy the raws or buy it when it is translated into local language. Unfortunately most prefer the latter but it's not easy to get the manga that you want published and translated in your preferred language. Also for some the point of scanlation is simply just to spread the love for a great story than it is to support the mangaka. There are different reasons and values for those who do scanlate and those who passive participate by reading/leeching.

That's why voluntary reports are hardly a reliable source. Only those who really care will do

I voted "agree" in the last poll, but I don't intend for it to come across as being indifferent to the scanlators work. I was referring to how some nervous groups will stall a release til they either disband or give up on it because of relatively minor qualms like they can't localize the puns, the redrawer is having a tough time with the textures, a typesetter is struggling to find fonts that match the originals style, etc. I've seen these things happen more than a few times in smaller, new groups, and committed one of them myself (I was quite a slow typesetter...).

As long as the group or individual is doing the best they possibly can, I'm okay with a slight drop - or rather, deviation - in quality, and it's silly for me to refuse a release on the basis that a more seasoned scanlation crew would have done it better, especially when I'm a freeloading consumer. It doesn't help that most of what I read would never be picked up by a publishing company like Viz due to their short length and/or non-existent popularity, so I'm grateful to everyone who is genuinely interested in sharing their passion.

I didn't mean that the groups who couldn't give less of a shit about accuracy are fine and dandy. When there are multiple teams competing for one series, I'll gladly wait for the one that puts the most effort into their work. Can't say I've ever read a translation based on a summary, but I probably wouldn't be crazy about that either unless no one was going to pick up the series anyway, there are no twists that have subtle referencing early on (Pandora Hearts), and the person writing the dialogue rivals Stephen King. Actually, even then, I'd most likely avoid it. Sorry.

Last edited by Luati at 3:46 pm, Dec 26 2015

Nonsense.
A movies try to pander to the lowest common denominator.
B movies know that they're not going to get a massive audience, so some of them try to just do their thing. Hence you get a lot of B movies, that are a lot more made to be good, rather than just made to get profits (as well as a ton of profit grabbing shit), whereas you barely ever get any A movie, that isn't purely calculated to make profits.

+1

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