Manga Creator Goes Viral Over Piracy Pleas

The creator of the manga Gangsta, Kohske, recently made something of a social media splash by [...]

By Rollin Bishop

The creator of the manga Gangsta, Kohske, recently made something of a social media splash by explicitly requesting people to stop pirating her work.

Kohske took to Twitter recently to express her frustration with the ongoing piracy of her work. The initial tweet which set off a series of them from the creator begin with four periods, a "thinking face" emoji, then read as follows before ending with a "crying face" emoji: "Scans translated / uploaded by someone have robbed my readers, my income, and publishers advertisement revenues . PLEASE STOP translating / uploading. (Some Japanese are also searching and reading for your scan.Really disappointing.)"

You can check out the tweet embedded below:

Kohske went on to say the following in a second tweet: "If I can't earn money, I will quit a cartoonist soon. Please do not forget it.😠Please purchase a copy of trusted stores."

You can check out the tweet embedded below:

She went on to note that she'd love to go on a trip with her family and assistants should revenue increase, and to also criticize her own language skills given that English is not her first language. She also noted that someone had suggested what appears to be Patreon, a service that allows folks to back creators monetarily, though she expressed concern about how she might actually compensate patrons.

Kohske is of course referring here to the practice of scanning and translating foreign manga in order to circumvent the traditional publishing model. When fans read these pirated versions, none of that revenue -- if any -- makes it back to the creator. Despite this fact, many fans continue to participate in this piracy, often citing availability the fact that manga can takes years to get an official translation.

The manga Gangsta began publishing in Shinchosha's Monthly Comic @ Bunch in 2011 and has released eight volumes since then. It follows two "Handymen" called Worick Arcangelo and Nicolas Brown as they take on odd jobs around their crime-infested town. Viz Media publishes the English version of the manga with an upcoming volume due out in early 2019. A spinoff and anime series have both been produced as well.

What do you think? Are you the type of person that would be turned off from pirating work by this kind of direct request? Let us know in the comments!

[H/T Anime News Network]

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