Various readers of manga used to read the series on its print version but with the technology change, manga piracy has become one of the hardest-to-beat competitors of the industry. Early this month, a publisher intervention has begun to combat this notorious problem but despite that, the situation remained the same.
Reports of piracy have been given to the Authorized Books of Japan organization and they answered with coverage on the ten largest piracy websites in Japan. The data showed a whopping 240 million viewership every month. That was a hard blow on the manga industry itself.
This is not the first time that manga piracy has been this rampant. In 2018, Mangamua shut down after illegal manga was found in their possession. Around that time, Mangamua was receiving more or less 100 million views in just a month. Despite the continuous efforts to fight this notorious problem, it seems that the numbers only doubled.
The handler of the press relations of Authorized Books of Japan organization, Atsushi Ito said in a statement about the new data they hold that things worsened as regards manga piracy compared to the time when they were only in pursuit of Mangamua.
It was suggested that the pandemic may have caused the rise in the numbers of the readership of these illegal sites because everyone was ordered to stay at home making it difficult to buy manga in stores. The same reason delayed the physical production of manga and its reprints as well.
Recently, Viz Media had to make their manga more accessible to their readers through digital subscriptions and despite their efforts, piracy still gets through. Various publishing houses have been facing the same issue as well.
For those in the manga industry, this is definitely not news at all considering that the industry is thriving. Piracy continues to be the most difficult competitor to shut down, more so for outlets outside of Japan.
Related: Why Manga is Read from Right to Left Explained
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