Has anyone read a licensed manga that was previously fan-scanlated, and that the licensing company totally ruined for you? Or they made too many mistakes or had such bad translations that they just got on your nerves? Or maybe they delayed releases too much, but because the manga was licensed, the original scanlation group had to stop, and you were left hanging without knowing what happened next?

Conversely, are there any licensing companies that have totally SAVED a series for you, or maybe brought a neglected manga to light that no scanlation groups had even noticed or bothered with, or maybe did a much better job than the fan scanlators, or really made releases at a brisk, reader-friendly pace?

I'm just looking for a healthy discussion about quality-control, release-scheduling or similar issues in licensing - and how those issues compare with the world of scanlations. I mean... We're paying the licensing companies, but the fans are doing it for free - so are the licensing companies really earning their dosh? (This is leaving aside the question of proceeds going back to the mangakas, which is of course one of the GREAT reasons to license a manga - I'm just talking about the quality of releases, here.)

Generally... In terms of quality, which do you prefer (licensed or scanlated versions of the same manga) and why? Or if the choice isn't that simple for you, then why?

Please name the licensing company, what manga(s) they saved/ruined for you, whether you'd prefer still reading fan scanlations (or actually are still reading fan scanlations), any further feedback/ideas you might have, etc.

licensed manga = fail
i dont read much in english but i have been in bookstores and all of the titles were extremely censored/watered down/badly translated that it made me sick
americans are too obsessed with keeping kids sheltered
i think the single worst publisher would have to be tokyopop

I'd probably say anything by TOKYOPOP.
It's true that I read "Zodiac P.I" by them, first, but - considering it's by Tokyopop, there were plenty of mistakes.

and that's really it, for now, but I swear if they mess up "Bloody Kiss" I shall seriously kill.
I mean, they've already made a few typos in Tsubasa: Those with Wings already, but I haven't seen any fan-scanlations of that one, so I guess it doesn't count XD.

VIZ adaptations don't tend to bother me, and the one time it sort of did was when they changed a few names Lenalee Lee to Linali Li. But after the next printing, I think they changed it back XD. CMX doesn't tend to make mistakes, so they don't bother me either; and DEL REY hardly ever makes mistakes, the only one I caught so far was in chapter 5 of TRC when Mokona was called "Monoka" I believe.

and I'll leave it at that. Not, I changed my mind.

Nagareboshi drops manga's after their licensed [I can understand that, they don't want to be sued if caught.] The first was Wild Damon, but that's coming out in December so it's only a little nuisance. Koko Ni Iru Yo! is coming out next fall, which is a bit troublesome, but they said they'd release the rest of the scanlations; now, the big one is ARISA. Del Rey's adaptation doesn't come out until November 2010. While it may be picked up by another scanlation group, this really, really, really annoyed me. They didn't have to pick it up now, they could've next year or so. So, now I have to wait more than a year just to get the first volume. Damn it, Del Rey.

tenjho tenge

it was actually such a big impact
and so much controversy erupted, because tenjho tenge is known for explicit sexual content. that when it was liscenced it was edited so much that the fans where really disappointed and so the company will republish it raw with no editing.

why because i am the president of the student council of course

[img]http://i707.photobucket.com/albums/ww73/chewy_bubble2004/2d360793.gif[/img]

I find that the best scanlation groups are better than the best publishers (they make lots of footnotes about Japanese cultural things instead of changing it, thus preserving the original work). but on the other hand, the worst scanlations are a lot worse than the worst publishers.
but all in all, I prefer scanlations because they're easily accessible (don't have to drive 30 min to the nearest bookstore >_>) and because they're free. I wouldn't mind paying for manga if it weren't $10 a volume... D:

I usually tend to buy stuff from Viz, only because they tend to sell the cheaper manga.

I mean, £8.50, for one volume of manga? No! Tokyopop, you charge way too much!

There are a few mistakes in some of the stuff they publish, and it is sometimes watered down. But there are times when they are better than scanlations. Only sometimes though.

I think I prefer scanlations overall.

Don't even get me started when the license company drops a project...

Quote from pearlized

I find that the best scanlation groups are better than the best publishers (they make lots of footnotes about Japanese cultural things instead of changing it, thus preserving the original work). but on the other hand, the worst scanlations are a lot worse than the worst publishers.
but all in all, I prefer scanlations because they're easily accessible (don't have to drive 30 min to the nearest bookstore >_>) and because they're free. I wouldn't mind paying for manga if it weren't $10 a volume... D:

Oh please, I knew someone would say the "free" thing sooner or later. Let me tell you something: Nothing in the world is 'free'. Especially now that you get charged for downloading things [at least, where I live]. And, those hard workers - aka, the scanlators, some/most/all of their projects are ones they have - aka. bought. Now, since when has buying manga been free? Never. And there is also the saying "Time is Money" and time is needed to publish/translate/scanlate manga.

Sorry if I come off as a jerk, but it's true.

Edit: I already had a debate with someone over this comment, and I'd appreciate it if no one else would try to start one with me, because repeating the same discussion -but with someone else- is pretty much pointless in my opinion.

Quote from robbit

licensed manga = fail
i dont read much in english but i have been in bookstores and all of the titles were extremely censored/watered down/badly translated that it made me sick
americans are too obsessed with keeping kids sheltered
i think the single worst publisher would have to be tokyopop

Del Rey manga on the other hand is fucking awesome though, they actually note down all kinds of references at the end of the chapter and explain stuff.

Quote from robbit

licensed manga = fail
i dont read much in english but i have been in bookstores and all of the titles were extremely censored/watered down/badly translated that it made me sick
americans are too obsessed with keeping kids sheltered
i think the single worst publisher would have to be tokyopop

Second.

Granted, some publishers actually do a good job with their translations, and they do have to change certain things in order to not get nagged by ignorant parents, but most of the time the translations are horrible. And then there are times where they would censor something that doesn't even need censoring (Tokyopop is guilty of this by a mile).

Quote from Mikashi

Oh please, I knew someone would say the "free" thing sooner or later. Let me tell you something: Nothing in the world is 'free'. Especially now that you get charged for downloading things [at least, where I live]. And, those hard workers - aka, the scanlators, some/most/all of their projects are ones they have - aka. bought. Now, since when has buying manga been free? Never. And there is also the saying "Time is Money" and time is needed to publish/translate/scanlate manga.

Sorry if I come off as a jerk, but it's true.

Wow, I haven't seen someone miss the point like this in a long time. 😐

It is free because everyone who isn't in a scanlator group just get the free scanlations and nothing else (And there are times when scanlator groups can get raws without even paying for them). We the readers are not obligated to buy the raws, or the volumes when they get translated by publishers when they come out in our countries. It's an option.

Besides, you shouldn't be charged to get scanlations because they're illegal already, so you're getting fucked over.

Quote from Klapzi

The cool part is that I never get tired of being deceived

Quote from tactics

Just because someone's head was chopped off doesn't mean they're dead. That's just silly.

[img]http://oi44.tinypic.com/vzy2qv.jpg[/img]

You should have put "rarely" on the poll and I'd have voted for that.

Of course I can only speak for the companies which publish in my country.

What I like in Trivial Pursuit style. Pick your category:[img]http://i379.photobucket.com/albums/oo233/Reid4891/Manga/trivia-1.jpg[/img]

Quote from loosecannon504

Second.

Granted, some publishers actually do a good job with their translations, and they do have to change certain things in order to not get nagged by ignorant parents, but most of the time the translations are horrible. And then there are times where they would censor something that doesn't even need censoring (Tokyopop is guilty of this by a mile).

Quote from Mikashi

Oh please, I knew someone would say the "free" thing sooner or later. Let me tell you something: Nothing in the world is 'free'. Especially now that you get charged for downloading things [at least, where I live]. And, those hard workers - aka, the scanlators, some/most/all of their projects are ones they have - aka. bought. Now, since when has buying manga been free? Never. And there is also the saying "Time is Money" and time is needed to publish/translate/scanlate manga.

Sorry if I come off as a jerk, but it's true.

Wow, I haven't seen someone miss the point like this in a long time. 😐

It is free because everyone who isn't in a scanlator group just get the free scanlations and nothing else (And there are times when scanlator groups can get raws without even paying for them). We the readers are not obligated to buy the raws, or the volumes when they get translated by publishers when they come out in our countries. It's an option.

Besides, you shouldn't be charged to get scanlations because they're illegal already, so you're getting fucked over.

Well it's mainly with music downloading, but i'm pretty sure that they've decided to charge you [unless if you are in a different country than me] on anything you download; so I pretty much rarely do it; I just wait for it to come out in book format, or if it's on onemanga or something.
Yes, I know that, they're called RAW providers, but that doesn't change the fact that someone else bought the book with the RAW's and then hosted them on the internet (if not the provider), which that provider happened to find.
[Well I personally like the published books better because I'd rather read them in my hands then via a computer screen -> which 9/10 times makes my eyesight worse XD.]
It may be an option, but at least that way you are supporting the manga-ka. The times I hardly do that is if it getting licensed and published by Tokyopop (especially because the drop a lot of what they license), which most of the time, the scanlator groups tend to do a better job, but I guess that's just my opinion.

Quote from Mikashi

Well it's mainly with music downloading, but i'm pretty sure that they've decided to charge you [unless if you are in a different country than me] on anything you download; so I pretty much rarely do it; I just wait for it to come out in book format, or if it's on onemanga or something.
Yes, I know that, they're called RAW providers, but that doesn't change the fact that someone else bought the book with the RAW's and then hosted them on the internet (if not the provider), which that provider happened to find.
[Well I personally like the published books better because I'd rather read them in my hands then via a computer screen -> which 9/10 times makes my eyesight worse XD.]
It may be an option, but at least that way you are supporting the manga-ka. The times I hardly do that is if it getting licensed and published by Tokyopop (especially because the drop a lot of what they license), which most of the time, the scanlator groups tend to do a better job, but I guess that's just my opinion.

Well, I'm glad that you at least know there's an option to get it for free because the way you were typing about it, it was like no one at all could get manga (raw or translated) for free.

And I don't know which country you live in, but for the one I live in, the only thing I have to pay for is the internet bill (And even then, I could just go to the library or a friend's house and download it there).

Quote from Klapzi

The cool part is that I never get tired of being deceived

Quote from tactics

Just because someone's head was chopped off doesn't mean they're dead. That's just silly.

[img]http://oi44.tinypic.com/vzy2qv.jpg[/img]

Quote from loosecannon504

Quote from Mikashi

Well it's mainly with music downloading, but i'm pretty sure that they've decided to charge you [unless if you are in a different country than me] on anything you download; so I pretty much rarely do it; I just wait for it to come out in book format, or if it's on onemanga or something.
Yes, I know that, they're called RAW providers, but that doesn't change the fact that someone else bought the book with the RAW's and then hosted them on the internet (if not the provider), which that provider happened to find.
[Well I personally like the published books better because I'd rather read them in my hands then via a computer screen -> which 9/10 times makes my eyesight worse XD.]
It may be an option, but at least that way you are supporting the manga-ka. The times I hardly do that is if it getting licensed and published by Tokyopop (especially because the drop a lot of what they license), which most of the time, the scanlator groups tend to do a better job, but I guess that's just my opinion.

Well, I'm glad that you at least know there's an option to get it for free because the way you were typing about it, it was like no one at all could get manga (raw or translated) for free.

And which country do you live in? Because the only thing I have to pay for is the internet bill (And even then, I could just go to the library or a friend's house and download it there).

I live in the big 'ol United States, unfortunately.
The law on music was passed a few months ago (In April [or around there], I think, I really don't watch the news too much, some of it is from other people's lips <.<...) due to people downloading music too much and the companies/artists losing money, the downloading thing could also apply with books/mangas/movies/etc.
I've only heard of the music part, though, if they aren't in that bill/law/whatever, I wouldn't be surprised if there was one eventually.
Sorry it seemed like that was my attitude, it's hard to show emotion over the internet, unless if you use emoticons <.<...

Edit: Shall we end this here (you can have the last word, if you want, though)? I think we're getting away from the topic too much <.<...

Quote from Mikashi

I live in the big 'ol United States, unfortunately.
The law on music was passed a few months ago (In April [or around there], I think, I really don't watch the news too much, some of it is from other people's lips <.<...) due to people downloading music too much and the companies/artists losing money, the downloading thing could also apply with books/mangas/movies/etc.
I've only heard of the music part, though, if they aren't in that bill/law/whatever, I wouldn't be surprised if there was one eventually.
Sorry it seemed like that was my attitude, it's hard to show emotion over the internet, unless if you use emoticons <.<...

Edit: Shall we end this here (you can have the last word, if you want, though)? I think we're getting away from the topic too much <.<...

But I live in the U.S. too...it does seem like you're getting fucked over though...

And I'll send you a PM because I wanna know more about this law on music, because it hasn't affected me at all...

Quote from Klapzi

The cool part is that I never get tired of being deceived

Quote from tactics

Just because someone's head was chopped off doesn't mean they're dead. That's just silly.

[img]http://oi44.tinypic.com/vzy2qv.jpg[/img]

I find Viz generally has good quality scanaltions, but I don't like tokyopop at all. From what I've read of them, they baby everything, often cutting out swearwords all together so the sentence looks plain... awkward. Like, one time I read one of their translations and it was like, "What the do you think you're doing!?" or something like that. Incredibly annoying, and they also over price EVERYTHING. I also like Viz a lot because they allow onemanga to host their manga online.

Del Ray I often find is as good, maybe a bit better then, Viz.

And, although I may not like the translations of legit companies vs. fan translations, I find the quality of the pages infinitely better, which is a no brainier, since they're scanned, but yeah. Just thought I should mention that.

Does the walker choose the path, or the path the walker?