Vertical’s Chavez on licensing | Scanlation community makes overture to Viz?

If there were an award for best U.S. edition manga cover, Moyasimon would win it hands down.

As a purist, normally I’d prefer localized manga to keep as close to the Japanese edition as possible, and that includes cover layout.  But in this case, I’ll make an exception.  Is that not the spiffiest thing you’ve ever seen?

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Via MangaBlog… a draft letter written by scanlation site Manga Helpers, intended for US manga giant Viz, was apparently leaked onto the internet.  Manga Helpers is the same site that received a cease and desist letter from Japanese publisher Kodansha earlier this month for posting raws and scanlations.  The letter proposes a partnership between Viz and the scanlation site, although it does not contain any real plan on what that partnership would entail, and how it would benefit Viz beyond the usual “promotional” angle.

Let me put my cynic hat on… Manga Helpers is doing this because, whether they admit it or not, the site IS a commercial operation – just look at those ads they have for Toyotas and Pampers.  They are worried about having to pull more content at the request of Japanese companies giving increasing scrutiny to the scanlation scene, and in the process lose a great deal of their user community and the advertising profits from it.  Shueisha and Shogakkukan are larger manga publishers than Kodansha by volume, and through Viz, Manga Helpers hopes to secure their remaining content.  As other commentators have said on MangaBlog… man, these guys have some huge cajones.  (I think they also see the writing on the wall for the era of open, wanton disregard of manga copyrights by the scanlation fandom.  So maybe they’re prescient, too)

But, I’m not willing to dismiss this proposal as delusional fantasy just yet.

The fact of the matter is, Manga Helpers is just one of dozens of large scanlation aggregation sites on the web.  And as far as I know, they’re the first to show even a hint of willingness to go legit.  Maybe that’s only because the site’s operations reside in a country where they are legally vulnerable, but that’s kind of irrelevant… this is the border-less internet we’re talking about, after all.  Machiavellians may say that stopping all pirate sites just can’t be done, so why not work with the ones you can squeeze to out-compete the ones you can’t?  And this isn’t without precedent… obvious comparisons can be drawn from Crunchyroll, the fansub site that secured online distribution with several anime production companies, although one important distinction is that Crunchyroll went after investor money first.  Manga Helpers probably doesn’t have that kind of working capital.

But there are still many roadblocks and questions, in addition to the absence of a concrete plan.  The reason print publishers have yet to fully embrace free online ad-supported publishing on the PC is largely because ad profits do not outweigh the diminished print sales due to free distribution.  It doesn’t matter that scanlations have legit promotional qualities when the result is still a net loss for the publisher.  Otherwise, publishers would be doing this themselves.  (Anyone who points out the apparent success of other scanlation sites gets a dunce cap and an afternoon in the corner.  Of course they can make money when they don’t spend a single cent on the production of their content.  Crunchyroll, in all likelihood, is still burning through its initial investment capital.  Youtube isn’t making a profit.)  What does Manga Helpers provide that Viz cannot do themselves, if they should embrace open online distribution for all their properties?  SigIkki certainly seems to demonstrate that they don’t need much outside help.  And what of material owned by other publishers?  Do they get removed, or does Viz, as a partner, become complicit in the illegal distribution of content from competitors?

These are just a couple out of a universe of questions that must be answered.  The leaked letter makes not a single attempt to address them.

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ANN reports manga from many of Japan’s top manga publishers will soon become available on the PSP network.  The Wii, Playstation 3, Nintendo DS, as well as all cellphone networks in Japan already enjoy similar services.

See, Japanese publishers are embracing online distribution.  They have been for quite a long time.  Why not in the U.S.?  Simple… too many gatekeepers.

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Anime on DVD has an interview with Vertical’s Ed Chavez which ends up being a nearly insufferable tease because of non-disclosure agreements.  But Chavez does share some insight into finding licenses in an environment where Japanese publishers are increasingly becoming exclusive to select licensees, and how Vertical’s varied literary pedigree gives them an edge on this front.

Also at AoD… hate mail fodder.  But it’s fun…

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Horror mangaka Kazuo Umezu will be hosting an 8-episode television series on drawing manga.  It will be immediately followed by another instructional program on how to beat your home owners association.

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Comic212 presents a photo essay of the anime and manga-related billboards that dot Akihabara’s landscape.

Coincidentally, Wired also has a small photo gallery of retro video game shops in Akihabara.

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Kuriousity notes that Digital Manga Publishing’s yaoi-heavy eManga website has added a trio of titles from other publishers: Games with Me by Tina Anderson and Linsley Brito, and the anthology Yaoi Hentai 1 and 2, published by Yaoi Press.

Umm… d.. do you guys want some ero? @_@;