OneManga.com, the largest source of Manga Scanlations (translated manga scans) on the internet, will be removing all manga content from their site.
The announcement was suddenly made Thursday (July 22) on the site’s home page, by One Manga webmaster Zabi. He mentions the changing stance of publishers on scanlations and their decision to comply with his wishes.
Just weeks earlier, 36 major Japanese manga publishers and several American publishers had formed “a coalition to combat the “growing and rampant problem” of scanlations.” Among them are the publishing giants Square Enix, Viz media and Tokyopop.
The coalition is concerned that scanlation sites “now host thousands of pirated titles, earning ad and/or membership revenue at creators’ expense, while undermining overseas licensing opportunities and illegally cannibalizing legitimate sales.” .
The coalition has also reportedly threatened legal action against 30 scanning sites.
Square Enix has announced that it will launch its own online manga site in the fall, which will be available to visitors in North America and France. It will not be free, however, as they aim to establish a “paid digital distribution channel” to “better serve the diverse needs of their global customers.” Square Enix is best known for the popular Final Fantasy series of games.
One Manga has been listed as 935th in Google’s 1000 Most Visited Sites, which obtained its data in May this year. It states that One Manga received 4.2 million unique visitors and 1.1 billion page views that month.
So is this the end of One Manga? Unlikely. Although the site will no longer offer visitors the translated scans that made them so popular, they already have a thriving community forum with more than 100,000 members. They also rank very high in many Google search results, offering huge potential for developing a site that targets the same target audience.
Among the titles enjoyed by One Manga readers are Naruto, One Piece, and Bleach.