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Manga piracy continues to be a significant issue for creators in the industry, impacting their livelihoods and artistic endeavors. Naturally, for manga artists, even casual mentions of piracy websites can be jarring, especially in everyday settings.
This was recently highlighted by manga author Yukari Nekota (Sakura Taboo, Tenku no Hachi), who recounted an uncomfortable experience with her hairdresser involving Mangamura.
Nekota’s hairdresser casually mentioned Mangamura—a piracy website that was shuttered last year – and this did not sit well with her.
“To hairdressers, please refrain from talking to your customers about how inconvenient it is that Mangamura is gone. You might be cutting the hair of a manga artist right now,” the author said in a post on X.
For those unaware, Mangamura gained notoriety as a large-scale manga piracy website that significantly impacted the Japanese manga industry. Last year, the Tokyo District Court delivered a landmark ruling, ordering Romi Hoshino, the former operator of Mangamura, to pay 1.7 billion yen in damages to publishing giants Shogakukan, Kadokawa, and Shueisha.
Nekota’s experience appears to be not isolated. Hiroki Hoshi, another manga artist, responded to Nekota’s tweet, sharing a similar incident in reply to her post.
“Nekota Yukari-sensei, I understand your feelings… I have had exactly the same experience, and I have also gently tried to caution them, but that person didn’t seem to understand how their actions are perceived. It makes you feel lonely and helpless, and creates a truly indescribable feeling…,” the author wrote.
Manga piracy is something that continues to affect authors both financially and creatively. With many creators relying on their work as a primary source of income in an industry marked with many other issues, casual comments about piracy are seen as particularly insensitive.
Recently, Toshio Sako, the author of Usogui manga, had curtly asked his fans to not consume his manga illegally. While it was entirely the author’s right to do so, he ended up receiving severe backlash from overseas fans.
Source: X
