Between fan culture and copyright infringement: manga scanlation

Abstract

There might be a variety of driving forces for this phenomenon: Western society's increasing fascination with contemporary popular culture in Japan; the critical and commercial success of Japanese animation, which is often based on manga; Japanese governmental agencies' support for manga-related studies and events overseas; and a variety of manga for girls, which immediately created a new,

Crossing Cultures: Guides and Models for Development, Selection, and Application

“…Effective influence through leaders -global or otherwise -is characterized by ambiguously complex interrelated relationships, communications, values, missions, motivations, and visions (Gundling, 2003;Kupka & Cathro, 2007;Lee, 2005Lee, , 2009Lee & Sukoco, 2008;Service & Arnott, 2006). This complexity shows when one views the varied constituents commanding attention with their all-too-often mutually exclusive desires (Furrer, Tjemkes, Aydinlik, & Adolfs, 2012;Takeuchi, 2010;Takeuchi, Yun, & Tesluk, 2002).…”

Tracking the distribution of non-professional subtitles to study new audiences

“…Along with fansubbing's expansion, there also came a change in the motivations behind NPS. While fansubbing came into existence as a way to fight the censorship exerted in the early translations of anime and the low number of anime products that were being imported to the US, the NPS of US TV series was an opposition to the lengthy delays in international releases (Cubbison, 2005;Lee, 2009). This growth also generated more complexity in the NPS sphere in general.…”

Cultural consumer and copyright: A case study of anime fansubbing

“…Online connectivity allows cultural consumers today to easily access and share both free and copyrighted cultural contents across national borders. Utilizing their own skills, available digital technologies and free software, consumers are capable of carrying out even 'mediated copying and sharing' of foreign cultural products: consumers translate and edit foreign films, TV shows, anime, novels and comic books and release the translated version on the Internet in order to share it with others (Barra 2009;Lee 2009Lee , 2011. Frequently this is almost synchronized -with a time difference of a few hours at its most speedy -with the release of the original.…”

“…In addition, unauthorized uses of copyright works that have strong fandom elements demonstrate a distinct culture. For example, the communities of anime, manga (Japanese comics) and TV drama fan-translators see their activity as illegal, but inevitable for these cultural products to reach a wider audience across linguistic borders, which would eventually benefit the industry (Lee 2009(Lee , 2011Leonard 2005). In this context, striking a good balance between broadening the products' accessibility to overseas consumers and helping the industries to prosper is likely to be the nexus of their ethics.…”