Scanlation
Subsequently, Schodt, Jared Cook, Shinji Sakamoto, and Midori Ueda formed a group named Dadakai.
[citation needed] Scanlation groups began forming in Europe before the United States, translating into their respective languages, the largest of which was the French.
[6] To help kickstart the initial publication of Shounen Jump, Viz Media partnered with several scanlation groups including Toriyama's World to promote the magazine and subsequently received a cut of the revenue through Viz's affiliate program.
The first step in scanlation is to obtain the "raws" or the original content in print form, then to scan and send the images to the translator and the cleaner.
The cleaner removes the original text, corrects blemishes that arose from scanning, adjusts brightness and contrast levels so that the finished product looks like officially published volumes, etc.
Jake T. Forbes, a manga editor and columnist, stated at a Comic-Con 2010 panel that scanlation aggregator sites that offer many different titles all in one place have recently become part of the distribution process.
Patrick Macias, a columnist for The Japan Times Weekly described fans "addicted to page-turning narratives" as impatient with the "agonizingly" slow pace at which official translations are released.
[6] Douglass, Huber and Manovich say that enthusiasm by fans about a particular series, coupled with delays in official translations led to the formation of scanlation groups.
The owner of the now defunct manga-hosting site Ignition-One, Johnathan, stated that "The entire reason I joined the scanlations community is to promote manga that I was interested in and, coincidentally, that no one else would translate.
In other cases, scanlation groups are formed to get around perceived or actual censorship in the official translation or in the decision to obtain the series license.
Commercial releases often have titles, names, puns, and cultural references changed to make more sense to their target audience.
However, due to large-scale fan complaints that this 'flipping' has changed the finished product from the original (e.g. A flipped manga image will keep the speech translations legible, while any graphics such as the wording on clothes or buildings will be reversed and confusing), this practice has largely diminished.
Steve Kleckner, a former VP of sales for Tokyopop, stated that "Frankly, I find it kind of flattering, not threatening... To be honest, I believe that if the music industry had used downloading and file sharing properly, it would have increased their business, not eaten into it.
[6] Jake T. Forbes, an editor and columnist, criticized the work of scanlation groups in that they in no way are in "legal grey area" and are blatant copyright infringement.
He describes the current fandom as taking "unfettered" access to copyrighted works "for granted" due to advent of torrents and scanlations.
[20] Steve Kleckner, former VP of sales for Tokyopop, stated that "hey, if you get 2,000 fans saying they want a book you've never heard of, well, you gotta go out and get it.
"[33] Johanna Draper Carlson says that some readers of scanlations do not wish to spend money, or that they have limited mobility or funds, or that they are choosy about which series they wish to follow.
[34] Forbes describes the cost of keeping up with new manga as "astronomical", stating that "fans expecting to read any manga they want for free isn't reasonable, but neither is it reasonable to expect your audience to pay hundreds or thousands of dollars a year to stay up to date with content that their Japanese kindred spirits can get for a quarter the cost.
"[32] Forbes urged the scanlation community to instead direct their energies toward providing original, creative content as opposed to infringing on copyright laws.
Finally, he addressed the fame-seeking side of the scanlation community by stating that they should try their hand at creating fan art instead of placing their name on an unofficial translation of copyrighted material.
[32] During a panel on digital piracy in Comic-Con 2010, the comic and music critic and writer for Techland, Douglas Wolk, expressed concern in response to the actions of Manga Multi-national Anti-Piracy Coalition stating that he had seen the music industry "destroy" itself by "alienating its most enthusiastic customer base" in attempts to fight piracy.
