Shulou(Shulou.com)06/02 Report--

A website that provides pirated resources secretly uses visitors 'computers to mine for free. It can't be too much to criticize.

Fortunately, this website "Manga Village", which made the Japanese government helpless, was removed from the list of works directly searched by Google, and the operator had to take the initiative to shut down the website.

Despite its notoriety, manga village was japan's largest manga piracy site before it shut down, with 100 million monthly active users, surpassing livedoor.

Although the closure of the website has brought the storm to an end, it is worth continuing to think about: intellectual property protection, Japan was once the moon in the clouds by the pool, is the envy and catch-up target of the majority of peers. How come fans in other countries are knocking on genuine comics, but the Japanese comics industry is making a pirated website bigger and stronger?

The misery of District 11 people, as well as online surfing anxiety

I'm afraid the story starts with the absence of genuine digital reading platforms.

With the popularity of the Internet and smart phones, the publication of paper books is becoming less and less powerful. Many Japanese netizens also said that "fewer and fewer people are willing to buy physical books now."

According to statistics made by the National Publishing Association of Japan, the sales volume of Japanese comics in 2016 was 194.7 billion yuan, down 7.4% from the previous year; the sales volume of comic magazines was 101.6 billion yuan, down 12.9%. Electronic comics, on the other hand, increased by 27.1%, and users who read comics on their mobile phones increased by 51%. For the first time in 2017, sales of Japanese e-comic books exceeded those of print editions.

However, in such a large environment, Japan actually does not have a legal, convenient, one-time reading of all genuine works of the website!

If Japanese fans want to surf the Internet, they can only read the "electronic version" already published in paper comics on their own or cooperative online reading platforms, such as Jiying Society's "Juvenile JUMP+," the "Mangazine Pocket," the "MangaONE" of the elementary school hall, etc.

For example, the girl comic book Six Half, which officially ended in 2011 and was published in the form of a paper book, was only electronically re-launched in 2016, when the hair of those readers was almost thick.

If you want to watch a new book, I'm sorry, either go to a pirated website with a relatively complete category such as Comic Village to watch it, and experience the "fun" of being a free miner by the way;

Otherwise, they could only rely on the porters to organize and generate electricity with love. Update speed is fast, but once the team has an accident or abandoned the pit, readers will return to the "no food to knock" situation.

Paper comic-style micro, and there is no large enough, rich genuine digital reading platform "life extension," in addition to leaving survival space for pirated websites, the impact on the comic industry is also very huge.

Many comic book magazines have to face the fate of suspension, and cartoonists who originally cooperated with publishing houses have found it difficult to live solely by serializing their works in publications. Sometimes they have to publicize their publications on their own social platforms, but they have little effect.

Why is the Japanese comic book industry so slow to become electronic?

It is not that no one is aware of the importance of the problem.

The three major comic book societies all started to act one after another. The elementary school hall launched an electronic comic magazine Moble Flower for 200 yen (200 pages per issue), and serialized new works that had not appeared in print comic magazines. Jiyingshe also cooperated with electronic platforms to hold mobile comic newcomer awards to tap new people.

Line webtoon, BookLive!, Comics platforms like eBookJapan offer free trial reading.

Despite the endless stream of comic apps competing for users, readers 'real needs clearly don't stop there.

In addition to being able to read the latest content online, you can see all the works of publishing houses at once, avoiding the process of searching repeatedly. I'm afraid this is the ultimate appeal of readers willing to stay on the website for a long time.

Ken Akamatsu, founder of the pirated website Comic Library Z, even said that such a comprehensive platform,"even if I don't do it, Amazon and Apple will do it." At that time, Japanese manga culture will be judged by foreign values." To do piracy and make patriotic feelings is also very 666.

So why is there no formal organization willing to shoulder the responsibility of becoming Netflix in the comic world when pirated websites can do the service?

To answer this question, it is necessary to understand what logic and how the Japanese manga industry is electronic.

70% of the sales volume of Japanese comics (including online and offline) is monopolized by several giants. Publishing houses are all "all-round players." Planning, editing, creation, publication and distribution are all grasped by one hand. It is good to give all resources to their own "pro-son." Fat water does not flow to outsiders. Naturally, there is no motivation for integration.

In addition, the Japanese comics market is dominated by authors, head comics such as Jiying Society's "ONE PIECE," talk about society's "Attack Giant," enough to make a lot of money for publishers.

Big clubs are also more attractive to newcomers. Starving Anonymous-received 500,000 downloads as soon as it was launched on eYoung Mangazine, an electronic comic magazine owned by Tan Society. The first volume of the paper version exceeded 200,000 copies. The publicity effect was not comparable to that of ordinary third-party platforms.

This kind of market pattern of "writer breeding integration" makes it difficult for small platforms to come up with any attractive benefit distribution scheme, and it is difficult to attract high-quality contributions, so naturally there is no energy for integration.

Another obstacle to the emergence of the "unified" platform is the technical barriers faced by the comics themselves.

In addition to providing the latest serial services, the platform also needs to monitor and filter content, and provide additional functions such as automatic translation and online payment. The problem is that manual translation is extremely inefficient and costly, so what about machine translation? Hehe, at the current level of AI, I basically can't read comics.

Unlike film and television pictures or lyrics dialogue, there is too much information in comics outside the picture and text, to understand requires superb "brain supplement" skills. If the painting style changed randomly like Spider-Man Parallel Universe, the machine would be completely confused.

If you can't read the stem, you can't read the picture, and the machine translation doesn't work, it can only be a good wish to go out of Asia and into the world.

Overall, the Japanese comic book industry, which is tightly knit, wants to jump out of the traditional model and usher in a new explosion curve, which means high industry barriers and technical problems. The brand-new business model is not clear yet. It is really difficult to create a universal digital platform like Netflix. No wonder readers will drink poison to quench thirst and throw themselves into the arms of pirated websites.

Chinese characteristics that seem to "look beautiful"?

Having said that, it seems necessary to interrupt the discussion on how Chinese comics achieve electronic attack.

While Japanese comics struggle with digital diversity, Chinese platforms for genuine comics are surprisingly thriving.

Tencent animation, Netease animation, iQiyi, quick look at cartoons, there are more than a dozen platforms with hundreds of millions and tens of millions of users, and all of them are equipped with very rich domestic and foreign genuine comic resources. Not only the works blowout, member payment momentum is good, overseas implementation plans are also overwhelming.

For many years, Chinese comics have been busy making up lessons. Now the tables are turning. Is it going to be reversed?

There are many special soil and water conditions for the incubation of Chinese genuine electronic cartoon platform.

For example, the running period of Chinese comics happened to meet the maturity period of the Internet. Whether it was the free mode of "wool on pigs" in the early stage, or the popularity of pay walls, the rise of electronic comics by Internet enterprises, the online business model of exploring a virtuous circle, or even the globalization of works, it played a decisive role.

Capital's "second dimension" complex also makes comic studios bloom everywhere from green to yellow. Most studios or freelance creators, in order to reduce production risk, do not mind working with multiple platforms and go into a split model.

Some exclusive works, sometimes get 60% of the platform revenue share and other cash rewards. Another part of the works adhere to the principle of "there are dates without dates to hit three poles" and "grasshopper legs are also meat." The more platforms on shelves, the better. At worst, they can gain popularity and data volume.

The rapid replacement of technology, such as online mobile payments, is also the cornerstone of the rise of Chinese electronic comics.

However, no one has foresight, there must be worries in the near future. Although Chinese electronic cartoons have found a way to "get rid of poverty and become rich," there are also many hidden worries worth referring to by their counterparts in other countries who are still groping on the digital road.

For example, the electronic caricature driven by capital and data makes the output quality and quantity of caricature works not proportional, and the content tends to be younger and girlish.

IP derivative development model "data-only theory," also let many comic studios use the data brush crooked brain. A little-known fast-food work, often the whole network billions of readings, I am afraid only "stupid speed" investors will believe. Author-based Japanese comics may be able to keep the "initial heart" for a longer time.

On the technical side, in addition to using AI to achieve content risk control, there is no convincing solution for comic translation, mainly relying on professional translators for manual translation. A translator can update 30-50 new chapters of cartoons a day, and the supply is obviously insufficient.

In order to reduce the difficulty of translation, some platforms will adjust in advance when planning and producing content, changing the connecting fragments or story rhythm, which will certainly make the translation work easier, but the works of "dancing in shackles" can only be done well if they are strong enough to push heaven; or they are a mass of craftsmanship and collapse like a landslide.

How far is the beloved online comic platform?

It is not difficult to find that genuine online comic platform wants to do well, the restrictions are really all aspects.

The market demand should have enough energy to shake up the original interest system, especially to give the mature industrial cluster of Japanese comics "loose soil," which is no less difficult than Yugong moving mountains.

However, it is not impossible for online integration to change from passive to active. After all, the times have begun to change. If you don't jump out of a pool of "warm water," I'm afraid you'll be overripe.

However, the technical path that can make comics enter the global network world faster, image recognition, semantic understanding, etc. can only be realized at a very high level. At present, it seems that there is still no way out, and no one has found a way. Standing on the same starting line, everyone still has a chance, right (^_-)

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