Of course, no one will ever do it because it makes sense.

Gonzo’s problem isn’t that they backed the wrong horse, Gonzo’s problem is that Gonzo sucks, but that’s another story.

The worst they ever did was dropping them and taking on crunchy.

The thing i liked a bout BBOOST’s releases were that i was getting my anime a few hours after it aird in japan and the subs were very good. Sure it lacked the fancy kareoke that seems to be the standard these days, but TBH i never watch the op/ed of a show after the first time.

More companies should follow suit and sign up with BOOST. Crunchy blows since they limit which countries can access the vids and no, its not the japanese licensor slapping the restriction, its crunchy)

Heck, I wish the Japanese would just put out their own manga online in English for subscription and entirely by-pass the American distribution model. They’d make more money, it would go back to the actual producers of the manga itself and we wouldn’t have to listen to all the incessant piracy whining we get at American anime cons.

The fact is, we now have really good evidence for companies like Viz making money just by doing things the right way. Now that they’re releasing episodes of Naruto right after the Japanese release, fansubs have virtually vanished. You can pay to get your Naruto fix right away or wait a week and get it for free and exactly what I predicted would happen is happening. The same is going to be true of scanalations. If Viz and Tokyopop would put up individual chapters online for a small fee, then collect them into volumes for later sale, they’d eliminate the need for scanalations, assuming they do a good job on the translations, of course. But I consider names to be a part of the translation and if, for whatever reason, they choose not to follow what the manga-ka has written, then why would I want to read it? That’s why we don’t buy titles like Detective Conan, simply because of the names. This shouldn’t be a problem, Viz has an in with Shonen Jump, etc. and wouldn’t have a problem getting pre-print copies of stories, if they were actually printing anywhere near when these things were coming out in Japan, so they really have no excuses for not making it available in a timely manner.

But I guess then they’d actually have to point the finger where it belongs, straight in the mirror, when they go looking for blame for their financial failures. They’re not earning the financial support of many American fans, they want to pretend it’s all someone else’s fault, but it’s not. It’s theirs.

Brian hits the nail on the head–Viz needs to release the manga timely and unmolested. The scanlations won’t stop and I think their will be legal arguments eventually to speak to this since the notion is that I as consumer have the right to purchase the work or seek the work in the format as it was intended by the creator and not by the views of a nitwit in a corner office whose kids think Naruto is a blond haired white kid. Likewise, piracy on the net does one thing and one thing well (ala what Blockbuster missed about Netflix and digital video almost ten years ago now)—piracy provides good customer service. Something these companies are too busy ignoring themselves to understand why people expect something free. I buy manga and anime even after I’ve witnessed it for free but I do it only out of respect for those creators who work touched me and I only know about this because I ‘sampled’ it thanks to the power of timely delivery (near simultaneous with original japanese release/ airing/ publication), perfect translations (in some cases going above and beyond by explaining the historical significance of some cultural gestures/ actions and lastly, because it’s convenient. Convenient doesn’t mean free per se but it does mean, the value has merit. In other words, my $7.99 for a Viz book gets awfully expensive when I see their out of date website, non-curse words in Naruto (even though the ninjas in the book kill characters left and right), delayed release schedule, silly licensing (I can’t shonen jump’s DS game because Viz thought they could make more money by licensing out each manga individually but I can get all of the hip hop hats and shoes I want) and overexposed company plans (Viz is trying to make a Monster american remake?–Why not let the creator broker that deal and you just get more manga published equal distant to the Japanese release?).

I think Viz and American manga are in trouble from bad practices and because scanlations and subbed content are doing their job for them. Keep in mind, Viz could do all of these things tomorrow..charge advertising for websites, professional scanlations with no edits and so on and they could do it for SJ content right out of Japan asap. Why don’t they do it..cuz what would the editor of the US mag need to get paid for if he’s just translating words as written by the japanese creator? What would the Bleach product manager do if they were just working to bring the anime/ manga out on time here?

I think nothing says Viz problems’ better than the fact that One Piece is one of the most read scanlations and most downloaded anime and yet Viz and Funimation can’t get their heads around bringing the product out efficiently without making it complicated by bringing their vast company resources into the mix. 3 or 4 college aged hackers bring the anime and manga of One Piece to millions every week, without fail making no profit and these “LEGIT” companies can’t replicate that? Says it all.

*I do not penalize companies for name changes/spelling differences, otherwise I would not have the wonderful series Miracle Girls, Detective Conan, Fushigi Yuugi, or Saint Seiya in my library. Content and translation editing do annoy me, but seem to happen very infrequently.