Solo Leveling - Vol. 2 Ch. 113

[maisonaustyn]

And our third competitor for scanlation has arrived. Anyone got the scoop on the next three. This snipe fight is gonna be a mess cause of how popular this series is.

The old groups haven't even jumped in the fray yet. This should be entertaining.

 

[darklittle1]

Is this the beginning of another translation battle to the death?

 

[Cacklea]

in between the last chapter release and this one i started off at the same place in the light novel and finished the story lmao
I cant wait to see how they make it in the manga

 

[maguloketa]

Top tier image quality ... we appreciate it !

 

[FullDiver]

@DeoAduivante Thing is, when multiple groups are scanlating the same material, the readers suffer too. When groups scanlate for free, being "sniped" is of no consequence to them, except for the fact that it messes with the readers' experience and just brings chaos to an otherwise civil industry (if one of somewhat questionable legality). That's why there's an unspoken code of conduct among groups:
- The first group that releases the first chapter of a series, or is first to release after the waiting period is over, gets dibs.
- If a group doesn't release a series for 3 months, it's fair game for other scanlators; see above.
Those rules are there just as much for the readers as they are for the scanlation groups.

As far as I'm aware, Bored College Students had the honor of releasing chapters 111 and 112 first (technically the first chapters of season 2), and their translation and typsetting aren't abhorrent, so there's no reason to burden the readers with duplicate chapters.
If this had all happened on the first day, then maybe there could have been some leeway and room for discussion among all three groups. But all I'm seeing in Hero jumping in the fray on the second week are people trying to cash in on Solo Leveling's popularity. Not to mention the facts that they didn't bother with the first two chapters, and that their release was inferior to the other 2 in practically all aspects except font choice.
I have reasons I think FLAME should back off too, but I digress.

The outrage against sniping isn't a matter of hurt pride (though I could maybe name a few groups for which it might be). It's a matter of not condoning selfish, assholey behavior that benefits no one but one's self (if even), and inconveniences more than just victim of the snipe.

 

[BananowyJE]

But why?
It's been 2 weeks already and you just jump in for no reason only to try to monetize Solo Leveling popularity?

 

[WillLi]

@FullDiver Sniping actually benefits the community quite a bit. And it used to be that there wasn't really outrage over it. If multiple groups are doing the chapter than it means in order to retain viewers they have to keep their quality up. There have been many groups and scans that drop in quality over time because they're the only one doing them. Drama happens because the groups start drama and people want to try and get up in arms about who has the 'rights'. No one has any rights to anything here. Just don't start mudslinging contest and translate what you want. It shouldn't matter if another group is doing it as long as you're not copying their translations.

Now that doesn't mean I agree with groups jumping in to try and ride the hype train and get popularity off of a release, but that's a separate issue from whether or not multiple groups should translate a series.

 

[krispy]

Trust me when i say this group is not a group u want translating this...the English they produce for all their other stuff is rather bad

 

[pirate2014]

Happy to see Hero Manhua scanlating this work

 

[FullDiver]

@WillLi In an ideal world, that would be the case. However, considering the nature of the scanlation industry, very often competition is more about speed than it is about quality. After all, why read a somewhat better version of a chapter if you’ve already gotten all the major plot points? The first to release is generally the one that’s read, and you can tell by the number of comments each release of this chapter has gotten.

All any pointless competition does is encourage the competitors to release earlier, which generally means that quality gets sacrificed. Sure they still make an effort, but speed gets priority. Without the competition, people who do this (volunteers who do this) can balance speed and quality more evenly.

That said, this release was inferior to the others in both quality and speed, so my point: that all Hero accomplishes by releasing this is causing chaos and inconvenience for everyone, still stands.

 

[AMicrowave]

@WillLi the only time i see sniping being a benefit is when it gets LH to get off their asses and stop holding series hostage for donations

 

[banjomarx]

@AMicrowave actually LH doesnt hold series hostage just the vast majority of the staff are busy with IRL issues and stuff (im working more than 70 hours a week rn for example)

 

[RalekTheOne]

Bro lowkey thought that all that banging was S ranks fucking?

 

[WillLi]

@FullDiver "Speed" is also part of the 'quality' of a translation. If another group is doing it it's unlikely that groups will randomly take month+ long hiatuses for no reasons. Also it's not a 'perfect world' I speak of it's how it used to be man. And even happens now, Blue Lock for instance. The competition resulted it not only catching up to the 40 chapter gap, but the quality didn't drop. (It only did for a few chapters then went right back up)

And as for this release, even if it's inferior to the ones already released, it is a 'safety net' for us as long as it keeps coming out. Because it puts pressure on the other groups to maintain the quality they have. It's just like in business, if there is no competition, then we have to settle for whatever comes out, that's what LH translation had been doing for so long. The update shouldn't 'confuse' anyone as you can clearly see which group did it, if it's not the group you're waiting for just continue to wait. And it's not an inconvenience, because them releasing doesn't require anything on the reader's part.

@AMicrowave As mentioned, it helped out Blue Lock for one thing, despite the group that was doing it releasing once a week, they were 40+ chapters behind. They needed more staff for their process to work faster, and they weren't getting the staff. So the forecast was to be forever behind for the foreseeable future. New group shows up wanting to catch up, so they decide not to redraw and try to get chapters out as fast as possible.(like 3 a week) After like 2 weeks they had enough help that the quality was now the same as the old group and they were still releasing quickly. Blue Lock is now caught up and still going. Whether or not sniping helps the series is based on the intention. Which is why it fails so much recently, because it's been driven by ego. But I've seen lots of snipping over my years, and everytime the 'sniping' group isn't trying to 'steal' fans for some e-penis contest, the end result high quality releases.

 

[Roofy2004]

I really ship those 2

 

[GoodGuyMarko]

Who? Igris and Sung Jin-Woo? Same
@Roofy2004

 

[Roofy2004]

🤣LMFAO 😂

 

[djasindra]

Am i high or something? I felt like i already read the sparring part like way months ago.

 

[yarielist]

...
"Let me guess, someone stole your sweetroll"
😋😋😋😋😋

 

[aizj16]

Aw ffff. That high orc is adorableeeeeeeee