Last and final scanlation post....for now.

What bothers me about articles such as this one written by Kuriosity's Lissa Pattillo is she is placing all the blame for the downward spiral of manga squarely on the shoulders of the fans. Want to read manga? Learn Japanese. Want to own manga? Import from Japan. These are all great suggestions but they're very much detached from reality. The majority of individuals don't have time to invest into learning a foreign language just to enjoy a leisure activity and despite her skewed facts the majority of people do not have the money to import manga from Japan.

However, people are more than willing to pay for entertainment if they believe it's worth it. Sita Sings the Blues is a great example of how fans will clamor behind a product they like. Even though Sita was free to the public the creator, Nina Paley, made a fifty-five-thousand dollar profit. Paley embraced the internet and in turn was rewarded. Such an acceptance of the internet has yet to happen within the corporate world of manga. There's no Netflix for manga. But maybe the aggregator's have shown companies there is a need for a similar service for manga fans.

I believe, for the most part, the fans have done their part. We've shouted loud and clear, "we want this". Now it's up to the companies to provide. If they don't, we'll find our own way. People such as Lissa may point their fingers and cry "thief", but I'll sleep soundly tonight regardless.

Where do we go from here?

This week DMP officially released information on their new translating venture to ANN:

The program is set to feature over a thousand manga titles or as many as "a few thousand," mostly in the boys love genre, to establish a following before branching out into other genres and possibly novels, Sasahara said. The business model will allow for DMP, the Japanese licensors, and the translators to each receive a cut of digital sales, and additional revenue will come from derivatives such as advertising, and possibly television or other adaptations of manga titles. Titles that perform well online may also go into print.

According to Sasahara, the venture was established as a reaction to the high up-front costs of licensing manga titles, coupled with long production time. He states that he was not aware of the Digital Comics Association's plan to work with U.S. publishers in a coalition against scanlation aggregators. He said that DMP's new program has been in development for over a year, and that "a few" unnamed content providers in Japan have verbally agreed to participate.

Sasahara also indicated that DMP would like to invite translation/lettering groups to the DMP offices at the company's expense for a presentation on the program in the near future.

It would seem DMP wants to become a legal BL aggregator site. But how do they intend on getting thousands of titles overnight? I believe they want those scanlations already in existence. All those titles Dangerous Pleasure, Nakama, and Arigatomina have been working on for years. I'm sure some scans will need touch ups here and there but for the most part I believe DMP just wants all these scans under their name. They're just doing what One Manga or Manga Fox already do but are actually asking the scanlators for permission to post their work and promising pay someday...maybe.

I can't really make heads or tails of this. My knee-jerk reaction is to not trust DMP because they are the big evil company who only cares about money. However DMP is at a disadvantage in this situation. They do not have the scans and they do not have the fans. By teaming up with scanlators they gain both. However, once DMP has a hold of those scans and the fans the power balance will shift, this is one reason why scanlators are probably wary about negotiating with DMP.

I wish the scanlators luck. And who knows, maybe this new initiative will transform the corporate manga world. A BL aggregator is a wonderful idea and if done right has the ability to be beneficial to all. So I'm just gonna wait to see how this all pans out.

Brother, where art thou

Ever since I returned from Japan I haven't read comics, BL included. This mostly has to do with school and the amount of work I have to do this semester. Workshops. Ugh. So much reading. BUT I made time this weekend to read a couple of BL works and downloaded Giglio and Brother X Brother from Dangerous Pleasures. Giglio, by Inariya Fusunosuke, made me miss the time I devoted to reading my favorite manga genre. Brothers X Brothers, by Kisaragi Hirotaka, had me running to my homework.

This isn't the first time I've read Brother X Brother. In fact I can recall having a soft spot for this manga. However, whatever the author is doing with her current plot line isn't working for me. It's too predictable. I found myself rolling my eyes on quite a few occasions as I read chapters 12-15. And the sad thing is I like the characters and I feel there is so much potential for them to grow.

I mean, the author was pushing it with the whole "my ptsd makes me want to sex someone up". And maybe I could be more forgiving if that plot device was used for lots of sexing. The thing is, this story is definitely not sex driven, it's plot driven, therefore, the plot must be intriguing. And Brother X Brother just isn't anymore. For me, that is, what drove the story was the history behind Kaname and Masato. But with that all explained in previous chapters the mystery is gone.

From this point on there will be spoilers.

Okay, yeah, I like Kaname and Masato as a pair. But I don't dislike Souichirou and I can see him with Kaname, I just don't like how things seemed to have ended between Kaname and Masato. Kaname's all like "I'm gonna go get help for this problem I have" and Masato replies "yeah, you know, I think we shouldn't be using each other sexually anymore" and that's that. It shouldn't be so simple, especially if someone is suffering from PTSD, that's some hard stuff to overcome. I know Kaname wants to make a change, but I can't help but believe he won't need Masato there to hold his hand until he gets to a point of stability. Yeah, Souichirou is suppose to take his place, but the story would be far more interesting if Kaname and Masato continued on with their relationship as Souichirou realizes his feelings for Kaname, but recognizes that for the time being, Kaname needs Masato.

So, yeah, that's just my two-cents. Brother X Brother isn't godawful (this is), I'm just a little disappointed it hasn't lived up to it's potential.