Important -- Manga related

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Important -- Manga related

Postby Wing-0 » Mon Nov 29, 2010 7:53 pm

Ken Akamatsu, of Love Hina and Negima fame has launched recently a site of his own for manga distribution.

The method this site uses to function is this:

The service is completely free and without any time restrictions
Authors receive payment based on ad views/clicks
J-Comi themselves take a 0% commission
The comics will also be distributed as PDFs so anyone can read them
There is no DRM and copies can be made freely and given to friends

It's still in a Beta form, so the content is pretty much Love Hina's 14 volumes. YES, they're completely in Japanese, YES, I know it's hard to read. However, the Kanji (most) are also accompanied by furigana (little hiragana attached to the kanji to help less proficient readers understand what those pesky ideograms mean). I'd say there's no best way to learn Japanese by oneself, and practice my Kanji reading AND WRITING abilities to fill the only BIG hole I have with the language (I have smaller holes, but I can deal with those rather easily).

Also, I know it's a romantic comedy with harem touches, yes, I hate those, but this first attempt is too badass by Akamatsu to ignore.

So go ahead, give it a try. If you have time, I advise you to look for a good online dictionary for the words, and when you need a Kanji, you can go after the furigana and look it up that way.

Also, if you do, please do click every single advertisement, and if possible, try to buy something if you can. The reason is that the revenue for this site is driven by ad views, affiliate revenue and all that.

The reason I consider this important is because in Japan, editorial houses like Kodansha, Jump, etc. grab mangaka by the balls (and ovaries when female) and never let go, profiting from their work, while allowing them to get a paltry sum for their hard work.

The idea is to help, even if a little bit. That way, maybe one day we can see something translated for us as well. In the meantime, I'll see if I can email Akamatsu directly to throw some ideas his way, because this is a platinum (better than golden) opportunity to reach to western markets that shouldn't be missed by him.

The link is here:

http://www.j-comi.jp/
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Postby Drake Reaver » Mon Nov 29, 2010 8:04 pm

Great justice! Finally, take off every zig! All your base will no longer belong to Jump! :D
Chaos.... suits me just fine!
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Postby Wing-0 » Mon Nov 29, 2010 8:13 pm

Drake Reaver wrote:Great justice! Finally, take off every zig! All your base will no longer belong to Jump! :D


Nor fraking Kodansha...
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Postby Drake Reaver » Mon Nov 29, 2010 8:16 pm

That too. :3 Let's hope our manga artists will get the profits they verily deserve!
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Postby Wing-0 » Mon Nov 29, 2010 8:21 pm

Yes, that's one of the reasons I believe this to be very important not only for the industry, but for us as well. If we can convince them that they can deal directly with US, they'd be spared a lot of money from dealing with intermediaries like publishing houses.

"Sell to me" is what I want them to know.

Anyone who checks Akamatsu's site, please spread the word.
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Postby Drake Reaver » Mon Nov 29, 2010 8:23 pm

I'm already on it, bro.
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Postby Wing-0 » Mon Nov 29, 2010 8:41 pm

WING-0 wrote:Yes, that's one of the reasons I believe this to be very important not only for the industry, but for us as well. If we can convince them that they can deal directly with US, they'd be spared a lot of money from dealing with intermediaries like publishing houses.

"Sell to me" is what I want them to know I say.

Anyone who checks Akamatsu's site, please spread the word.
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Postby BenoitRen » Tue Nov 30, 2010 12:09 am

Love Hina? Blehhhhh. AI Love You is a much better series.
Get Xenoblade Chronicles!
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Postby Black Sword » Tue Nov 30, 2010 12:59 am

Great idea, one tiny problem.

http://www.sankakucomplex.com/2010/11/2 ... t-a-thing/

Which is why I support WING-0's idea here, but also must point out I don't have a dog in this fight yet.
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Postby Drake Reaver » Tue Nov 30, 2010 4:03 am

Black Sword wrote:Which is why I support WING-0's idea here, but also must point out I don't have a dog in this fight yet.
Did Michael Vick beat it?
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Postby Wing-0 » Tue Nov 30, 2010 4:06 am

Sankaku Complex can't be taken at face value. Artefact only posts half assed news. I was checking Akamatsu's Twitter (in Japanese), and he reports that for a Beta version, two days after launching, he saw the revenue was above what he had initially expected.

In short, Artefact only posted about the initial surprise of Akamatsu when he thought there was no single contribution, but afterwards, he posted on the pleasant surprise. Artefact made no update on it. He only goes for shocking or scathing posts.

After all, Sankaku Complex is nothing more than a tabloid. It's not journalism in any stretch of the word.
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Postby Wing-0 » Tue Nov 30, 2010 4:10 am

Here's a translation by Google Chrome (I'm way too lazy to translate it myself).

Woooahhhh! ! Come come! Large amount of affiliate revenue came two days later! This is after I purchase shares (^^;). cases Were a politician but this is on purpose, because it permits a natural! M (__ __) M # Lovehina01 # Jcomi
About twenty-two hours ago via web

So, while I think it's a little bit early to sing victory praises for J-Comi, I think we can go and support the guy by clicking advertisements like mad and spreading the word. After all, if he succeeds, we might be in good grounds to ask Akamatsu and other creators that join his bandwagon to deal with us western fans directly.
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Postby Black Sword » Tue Nov 30, 2010 5:15 am

To be fair to Artefact, he did note that it takes time for Amazon to cough up the money, and he did note that it's a bit disturbing that Akamatsu didn't know this before he leaped into this venture. If you're launching a start-up, you need to know everything before you get into it.

Besides, tabloid or not, too much of his information checks out for him to be dismissed as non-journalistic. There may not be follow up a lot of the time, but come the hell on, I work public relations. Most "real" journalists are even lazier than bloggers when it comes to following up and source citation.

Depressing, isn't it?
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Postby Wing-0 » Tue Nov 30, 2010 11:25 pm

I don't say Artefact's sources don't check. What I dislike about his management and his style of blogging is the usually mocking and scathing comments he makes, disregarding what real journalists should take in mind when communicating. Lack of bias.

Another thing I dislike is his extreme fixation with getting page views, resorting to following a certain person's stupid antics on the internet, like the case with Aya Hirano, which to be honest, just bores me. Hence, I avoid every post with her in it.

The art collection, however, is quite varied and worthy of praise.
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Postby Black Sword » Tue Nov 30, 2010 11:58 pm

"Art collection." Is that what we're calling it these days? =p
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