R.I.P One Manga D:

[Melman Harris]

So recently I found out that sometime in a few days, the website onemanga, where I read most all of my manga online, will be shut down. I'm so sad!!! I believe it's because manga puplishers decided it can no longer be approved. Anyone else have a problem with this?

[Jayde]

Well, I can see both sides of the issue. I used to use OneManga to preview manga that I had heard about to see if it was worth my money. Naruto and Bleach have taught me not to trust the hype, so it's nice to check things out for myself. All the same, I know that there are people who used the site exclusively. Therefore, the artists never saw payment for their work from these people. So as much as I say it's an inconvenience, I do think that people should just suck it up and actually buy stuff from time to time.

[Zirror]

Well, yes, it is a sad day for manga lovers everywhere.

My problem with the published manga, especially here in Germany but also in the US, are those horrible, horrible, horrible translations.
The problem is that the translators change over time, that they are not fans of the series and don't do the translation out of love for it. So they don't have any passion translating and don't know alot of the background. Especially in story driven Manga like one piece it is really neccessary to know alot about Oda (the author) and the world of One Piece when you try to translate.
So I tend to stick to online translations/scanlations. I kinda hate Viz and Carlsen (the german publisher which publishes One Piece) for ruining the franchises in the US and in Germany respectivly. One Piece is such a great Manga, but I wouldn't read it either if I had to read it translated so it suits children better.

I tend to buy artbooks and data books by the author, so he gets some money and I don't have to endure that crappy translation.

[Jayde]

Oh Gods, I don't touch anything translated by Viz! That includes anime. That's just a horrid company on all accounts, so I agree with you there. Del Rey does a rather good job of translating in my understanding. They've been a good publishing company for decades in sci-fi and fantasy novels so their branching into manga is done with the same passion from what I've found. They actually do their research, you can tell from the notes on translation at the back. It's actually reminiscent of what I read when reading translation notes in scanlation circles. Whoever translates xXxHolic, for example, is obviously a fan. So if you can find anything in Germany with English translations from Del Rey then I would say go for those.

[Zirror]

Thanks!
I'll keep an eye out for Del Rey then :)

[Michelangelo Rollf]

This is very sad indeed. But on the other hand the rise in sales will be good for Tokyo pop who was not doing so good. Also people abuse the site. It was made to preview manga not to READ the whole series, and for that i do not blame the people for having them shut down. But if they close down this site then they should also close down torrent site because they are costing many companies money. also they would need to end Emulators which cost video game companies thousands of dollars a year.
this is an assumption not a fact.

[Jayde]

I wasn't aware that was what OneManga was for. But if it was for previewing manga, then they shouldn't have put up every (globally) available chapter for the series. They should have put up the first ten chapters, or the first volume and left it at that. 500+ chapters of Naruto is not what I would call a preview.

[Sean Cannon]

Haha I completely agree with this. Last time I checked you don't update "previews"
I'm actually a wee bit annoyed about this mainly because I only just found the site because my sister told me about it and I finally used it. Oh well c'est la vie.

[Wolf Raven]

In a way I can completely understand since many people would read the manga online as opposed to buying the volume therefore the manga publishers wouldn't get their money however I feel that it's a bit sad that we have to wait until basically the next volume of a manga is translated and then released before we can get it which could be months :( It's a shame to see Onemanga close down though since I would always read a series or a few chapters before going online and finally buying the volumes and it let me read some series that I now absolutely adore.

[Michelangelo Rollf]

I don't know about all of you but i like my hard copies of manga any way. Starring at the computer screen does not give me the same feeling that the physically tangible volumes do. But then again nothings is quite as good than being surrounded by over five hundred volumes, it is quite the feeling to have. I gladly support the production companies even though there manga is slightly over priced. With people abusing the system all the time its no wonder i have to pay over ten dollars for a single volume when i use to get them for less then seven.

[Jayde]

Yeah, the hard copies are infinitely more satifying to read. I cannot stare at a computer screen for long periods of time without getting a headache anyway, so I can't quite enjoy it that way.

There are other ways of perusing manga besides buying every single volume, by the way. For example, back in high school my friends and I had a joint manga collection because we bought volumes of series we were all interested in reading and traded them around. Manga are now also available at libraries and not just in the cities either. Small town libraries also carry manga, although their selection is rather eclectic. You can also buy them used at places like garage sales, thrift stores, used book stores. One just has to get creative when looking for manga on a budget.

[Michelangelo Rollf]

That is correct there are many ways to get manga cheaply. I shared with my friends for a while and still do the only reason i have so many of them is because i have become an avid collector. and the one thing i hated the most was when people bend the spines so that the covers never stay down. a little is ok but you dont need to damage the whole book people be respectful, especially if you are checking it out from the library, other people want to read that. I know this first hand for i worked in the library repairing the spines of damaged books. i apologize for the brief tangent.

[Jayde]

That's ok, I don't blame you. I'd be quite frustrated if I were in the same boat.

The only reason I pointed out ways of getting manga cheaply is that the most common excuse for pirating manga is "I can't afford to buy them."