Site Update - 14th of May 2025

[slyss]

Some literally don't care about dmca, they even upload official translations lol

For now. I've been reading manga since the 90s. I come from an era when you could seriously say the internet was free, and if you had told me back then that things would be as bad as they are now (Not just for manga, but in general), I would've laughed at you.

Sure, Nep can laugh in the face of DMCAs right now because his servers are in the middle of a forest in the Republic of Congo or something, or he simply doesn't give a shit, but as the internet moves forward, corporations tighten their grip even more, and it all just gets worse, like it has been getting worse and will keep getting worse as the internet grows, you bet your ass even websites like his will be in danger. Sure, not today, not even in 5 years, but it'll get there eventually. And sad thing is, as much as people say "Kill one website, 3 others pop up" the truth is something always, always gets lost every time a site gets nuked.

 

[Zen44]

I wouldn't be upset about the take downs if most of the stuff I was reading had official English translations and I could buy for a cheap price. Hell, it would be better if I could read all of the past and current chapters for them online with just a subscription like on VIZ.

 

[T-sama]

For now. I've been reading manga since the 90s. I come from an era when you could seriously say the internet was free, and if you had told me back then that things would be as bad as they are now (Not just for manga, but in general), I would've laughed at you.

Sure, Nep can laugh in the face of DMCAs right now because his servers are in the middle of a forest in the Republic of Congo or something, or he simply doesn't give a shit, but as the internet moves forward, corporations tighten their grip even more, and it all just gets worse, like it has been getting worse and will keep getting worse as the internet grows, you bet your ass even websites like his will be in danger. Sure, not today, not even in 5 years, but it'll get there eventually. And sad thing is, as much as people say "Kill one website, 3 others pop up" the truth is something always, always gets lost every time a site gets nuked.

Maybe, it's hard to say how things will  really go in the long run, so I cant deny thst possibility

Honesty? What pisses me the most in the long run is that people don't learn lol, in the 2000's didn't a bunch of sites go down? Then in the 2010's we had the same issue over time, with Batoto being one of the last victims of that decade, with Mangadex rising from Batoto ashes.

Now we're at 2020's, and once more we're getting a purge, but many sites not going down cause they did learn and host in places that can avoid dmca.

I do think  that in itself might not change, what might change is them try stop us from accessing the sites, we'll see.

Anyway, about me being pissed? It's mostly about Mangadex, it's effectively Batoto 2.0, fact that this is happening doesn't it mean that they didn't fucking learn anything from when Batoto died? It's like asking for this situation to happen.

As for Nep, I think manga will simply not become big enough for the lawmakers and authorities in the west to care lol, yes laws might change, but unless the Japanese make a entire group just to fight piracy they simply won't win, manga is just not relevant enough in the west lol.

Now series, movies and gaming piracy might be fucked for real in a few years :v

 

[xEternalSoul]

Maybe, it's hard to say how things will  really go in the long run, so I cant deny thst possibility

Honesty? What pisses me the most in the long run is that people don't learn lol, in the 2000's didn't a bunch of sites go down? Then in the 2010's we had the same issue over time, with Batoto being one of the last victims of that decade, with Mangadex rising from Batoto ashes.

Now we're at 2020's, and once more we're getting a purge, but many sites not going down cause they did learn and host in places that can avoid dmca.

I do think  that in itself might not change, what might change is them try stop us from accessing the sites, we'll see.

Anyway, about me being pissed? It's mostly about Mangadex, it's effectively Batoto 2.0, fact that this is happening doesn't it mean that they didn't fucking learn anything from when Batoto died? It's like asking for this situation to happen.

As for Nep, I think manga will simply not become big enough for the lawmakers and authorities in the west to care lol, yes laws might change, but unless the Japanese make a entire group just to fight piracy they simply won't win, manga is just not relevant enough in the west lol.

Now series, movies and gaming piracy might be fucked for real in a few years :v

If the grapevine is right, Kakao is the one behind all this and it's pretty convincing when you take into account that this is the third wave of mass-dmca in the last two months. First being KR novel translations, followed by Manhwa groups. In that case no, it's not really a JP thing and more of KR publishing getting over their heads now that Manhwas and KR novels are booming. On the other hand, why would you say series, movies and gaming piracy might be fucked? They are in fact more resilient than manga piracy since most of them are shared through torrents. The only reason why piracy would decline for these content is that the companies involved have managed to fix or somewhat mitigate the service problem that manga publishers have not adequately adapted yet. You have Steam, you have tons of tv/movie streaming services like Netflix. Some people may not like them or aren't fully satisfied yet but it's undeniable that these companies have been very widespread and successful thus far.

 

[T-sama]

If the grapevine is right, Kakao is the one behind all this and it's pretty convincing when you take into account that this is the third wave of mass-dmca in the last two months. First being KR novel translations, followed by Manhwa groups. In that case no, it's not really a JP thing and more of KR publishing getting over their heads now that Manhwas and KR novels are booming. On the other hand, why would you say series, movies and gaming piracy might be fucked? They are in fact more resilient than manga piracy since most of them are shared through torrents. The only reason why piracy would decline for these content is that the companies involved have managed to fix or somewhat mitigate the service problem that manga publishers have not adequately adapted yet. You have Steam, you have tons of tv/movie streaming services like Netflix. Some people may not like them or aren't fully satisfied yet but it's undeniable that these companies have been very widespread and successful thus far.

By a Japanese thing I meant their anti piracy attitude as a whole, so I guess it's not just the Japanese lol

As for series, movies and games, I feel they're infinitely bigger industry, move way more money globally, so lawmakers and authorities have more incentive to go at it, unlike manga and such.

Hopefully you're right they're way over their heads and in the long run fail and stop at this, I still just hope mangadex successor will be smarter to fight against dmca.

 

[xEternalSoul]

By a Japanese thing I meant their anti piracy attitude as a whole, so I guess it's not just the Japanese lol

As for series, movies and games, I feel they're infinitely bigger industry, move way more momey globally, so lawmakers and authorities have more incentive to go at it, unlike manga and such.

HHopefully you're right they're way over their heads and in the long run fail and stop at this, still, just hope mangadex successor will be smarter to fight against dmca.

There have been cases and anecdotal experiences of people getting a cease and desist before from torrenting but they are really a small minority, involves specific movie publishers and the collaboration of the local ISPs. The latter is something localized and difficult to obtain the cooperation of since data privacy is a thing. As series, movies, and games are mainly distributed through torrents and do not have a fixed host for publishers to dmca like Mangadex, it is really difficult for lawmakers to stop even if they have the incentive for it. Additionally, this is just for public trackers and people who do not take precautions. Nowadays, VPN services are really widespread and you could even get free ones. Seedbox and private trackers are out of sight of authorities as well.

If we look at series/movies piracy, they are actually even easier to pirate compared to manga if you think about it. Official sources already translate them for you with their subtitles. All it takes is to rip it from the online streaming site. Meanwhile, gaming piracy is famously difficult to stop. Most DRMs are relatively easy to remove with the exception of Denovo which legit paying customers hate because of the impact on performance (don't tell me this is just rumor, not the point of discussion). So when companies want to implement Denovo, they have to consider lost sales from displeasure of legit customers, the huge cost of implementing it in the first place, and that it will eventually be crackable; meaning few actually go with it. Because of these issues, I actually think piracy here is more resilient despite greater incentive to stop. Hell, even online-only multiplayer games aren't safe due to private servers existing.

 

[T-sama]

You make some very fair points @xEternalSoul

 

[Oculunus]

Scanlating is fun and all but let’s be real here—in the end, we’re not helping anyone but ourselves here and showing off to our friends. These publishing companies won’t fold, word of mouth ain’t that hard with the internet simply being what it is even without scans, and it’s not just the publishers you’re hurting it’s the authors. Publishers don’t go into scan sites and count views, hits, comments, and then cut the authors a check like ‘Hey, big dog, your MD readers are LOVING THIS CHAPTER giving you a RAISE’, like that is literally not how this works.

It is real unfortunate that if a site had to get hit it was the one that doesn’t have shitty ads or charge—that’s why we posted here because yeah we know what we’re doing is illegal but at least no one is profiting off it—but it has to happen and it really should.

You are right. But I would argue that depending on the case, scanlation doesn't actually hurt the publishers nor authors. Like, sure an English scanlation of a major work like Dragonball being available certainly means less people in New York are willing to go to their nearest bookstore to pick up a physical manga. But many smaller titles that also got taken down don't have an official English translation, not to even mention in other languages. Like, I certainly won't accept an argument that me reading a scanlation of "Isekai Walking" was somehow hurting the publisher or author when it won't see the shelves of my country ever.

Also, scanlations create a market where it doesn't exist otherwise. I got into anime and manga when I was in elementary school. It started with Pokemon and Naruto airing on tv, so legally, but it developed through illegal sites later. Manga definitely wasn't available in bookstores in my area at the time. I also wouldn't be able to convince my parents to pay for some legal service like Crunchyroll. Now I can find some popular manga in a bookstore or watch anime on Netflix and I can afford it with my own money, but if not for watch/reading it all illegally when I was still in school I definitely wouldn't be such a weeb like I am right now. And right now it is to the point, that just last year I was in Japan, putting money into local businesses, buying official merch, visiting official stores and I even bought a few volumes of "Frieren" (in Japanese, cause I'm learning), which I loved on MD before it got an anime. And sure it is a convoluted 'what if...', because maybe I would still like anime and manga at some point even without the illegal sites. But I dare to say that sites like MD and even those with shitty ads bring Japan more good than harm. If there would be no scans, then even with internet being what it is, manga would still be a niche interest worldwide

 

[RorqMayajo]

Man I'm gonna cry, half my favorite mangas got nuked (Three Days of Happiness, Pen Pal at the End of the World, Land of the Lustrous, Blue Period, and so on). I wasn't even done reading some of them. I hope whoever orchestrated sending that DMCA request finds their car tyres slashed.

 

[Thelegendarytaeyamada]

Cool, can I still upload '90s obscure manga here or will they be DMCAed too?

 

[volodyuka]

Now we're at 2020's, and once more we're getting a purge, but many sites not going down cause they did learn and host in places that can avoid dmca.

for now. and soon it will be moot as tech will get more sophisticated and access to this sites will be restricted with ease no matter the country where the servers are. or they would just go offline all the time due to 'unknown attackers' and/or DDOS

 

[jeezits]

That's basically the worst part of all this. I recall how often titles licensed in the early oughts would get licensed, swept away, and then MAYBE we'd see one or two volumes over one or two years and that was the end of it. It was almost as if they'd bought it to squash it.

And even if they didn't stop it might still have shitty translation compared to fan translation and expensive as fuck to boot.

Now they're all gonna be on region locked smartphone apps with pay per chapter gacha systems and MTL, and it's going to make Tokypop's trash look like a golden age...

 

[Sleabedybarb]

Just reupload everything, they can't actually sue anyone

 

[T-sama]

Just reupload everything, they can't actually sue anyone

If only they did that

 

[IdanaHamz]

I'll be honest, situations like this make me wish people would go "fuck it" and made a new site to not only upload fan translation, but also official one, there is already a few that do that, but having more is never bad

The ones that do are scaring me. (iykyk)

 

[Sleabedybarb]

If only they did that

How many of those suites ever go through?

 

[Yanqui9]

It's interesting to see what got zapped and what didn't. Frieren is gone, no shock there as its one of the most popular titles lately. Isekai Ojisan is still there even though its been popular as an anime. Go Home Miss Akutsu got totally zapped though even though its just a goofy little title with no anime! (And one of my favorites)

 

[JJTheWeeb]

Ah thanks for bringing it up, I myself bought a copy and was wondering how do you buy more copies


Oh wow, I had no idea, tha'ts a great idea, what a shame it was hindered by big companies creating obstacles to their own profit, reminds me how you can't gift anything XBOX outside of your own country, meaning that someone in France can't gift Doom through Xbox to someone in Spain where the prices would be the same, can't imagine how much money they are losing every year with people using Steam instead.

there is an actual reason for game stores to not allow cross region gifting (steam does it too, tho there's a bit more leway): regional pricing. Games change price depending on store location, and if any gifting was alllwed, people would just get someone who lives in a country where the currency is worth basically nothing and then buy games for cheap.

ofc, this isn't applicable in this situation because bookwalker doesnt have that regional pricing thing and juat charges in jp yen, so yea.

 

[T-sama]

It's interesting to see what got zapped and what didn't. Frieren is gone, no shock there as its one of the most popular titles lately. Isekai Ojisan is still there even though its been popular as an anime. Go Home Miss Akutsu got totally zapped though even though its just a goofy little title with no anime! (And one of my favorites)

I saw some manga from the publishers that had other series taken down, so my take? There's two possibilities:

1 - the dmca are based on specific magazines

2 - it really is Koreans doing it and just grabbing random series just to make massive damage

Either one would explain why it feels so random what series got removed

 

[shwiftyshfifty]

0%, its a copyright takedown and they're technically in the right

It's certainly arguable depending on the state of 'official' translations (read: quality/if they exist), even regardless of that it might be argued that the scanlator has proof of work on their translations; this is especially relevant if they were released for free or they were released before the official translations were started.