One of the Biggest Manga Scan Sites Has Been Gutted (And Here Is Why It’s Bad)

In a massive blow to the international manga community, it has been confirmed that one of the biggest and most accessible manga scans has just been gutted, losing hundreds and hundreds of manga. After a massive DMCA takedown on May 14th, the site has just lost a huge amount of series and chapters, more than ever before. This incident has sparked worries about the future of manga and sparked discussions about the ethics and reasons for such strikes from publishers, as well as ways to allow fans to access the medium faster and more conveniently.

MangaDex is a non-profit site that is a hub for thousands of manga, manhwa, and manhua. It is one of the most popular manga reading sites, where manga from across genres, generations, and publishers are translated and uploaded by scanlators, fans who take it upon themselves to scan, translate, edit, and proofread manga from Japanese to many languages. It was the go-to site for most international readers, and while there have always been DMCA takedowns for many series, there has never been one on this scale, and it is yet another move in the takedown of manga and anime piracy by Japanese authorities and publishers.

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UPDATE:
A spreadsheet titled “MangaDex Masscar” is now circulating online, documenting over 1,016 manga titles that have been taken down so far. The list continues to grow, marking one of the largest content purges in the platform's history. https://t.co/5siwnAW7cQ

— Tachiyomi (unofficial) (@iiTachiyomi) May 16, 2025

Many Unlicensed Manga Have Been Wiped Off the Site

One of the major issues about this move is that fans will be unable to access manga that were never officially translated or made available by publishers. Scanlators were the ones who made them available, and these DMCA notices essentially undo all their effort and hard work over the many years the site has been up. MangaDex has historically always complied with the DMCA takedown from authorities and avoided posting official scans and translations of manga, as the site usually caters to unlicensed series.

However, this latest crackdown targets unlicensed manga as well, and on a huge scale. Series that would have never gotten an English or international release have been targeted, and now there is no way for fans to read them on the site. Shojo and josei have especially been hit hard, given how much the demographics have historically been underrepresented when it came to licenses. While MangaDex has been hit really hard, many scan sites source manga from this site, so fortunately, most of the series that were struck are still preserved on the internet. However, this latest incident might just be the first wave, and the chances that such strikes on not only MangaDex but also other sites are high.