In the past decade, manga has become a global force. The industry makes billions each year, and forecasts suggest revenue is only going to rise in the coming years. With so much money on the line, publishers are working overtime to prevent their content from being leaks. This week, three major players in the leak community were arrested in Japan for their part, and now Shueisha is breaking its silence on the ordeal.
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The letter comes straight from the publishing house in the wake of the arrests. Shueisha says these arrests are overdue as leaks have not only harmed manga creators but unsuspecting fans. And as leaks pop up in the community, Shueisha promises to investigate their origin.
“On February 4, 2024, managers of corporation in Tokyo were arrested by Kumamoto Prefectural Police and Niigata Prefectural Police Joint Investigation Headquarters on suspicion of violating copyright law. The suspect is suspected of having obtained Weekly Shonen Jump, published by our company, before its release date, digitized it, and uploaded it to a pirated site without permission,” Shueisha wrote.
“Early leaks, where the contents of a manga magazine are illegally uploaded before the official release date, often spread through social media and other sites, depriving reads of the pleasure of anticipating a series’ release. Authors are also very saddened by this, and our company views this as extremely problematic. As such, we believe that the recent arrest… is a major step forward in resolving the problem, and we have that uncovering this leak route will prevent future damages,” the statement reads. “We will continue to actively take all possible measures to protect the works that creators have put their heart and soul into creating and to allow our readers to enjoy manga.”
As you can see, Shueisha is onboard with the recent arrests, and that is hardly surprising. The publisher oversees the Jump magazine line which houses some of manga’s top titles. From Dragon Ball to Naruto and Jujutsu Kaisen, Jump is the premier home for manga in Japan. Shueisha wants to protect its IPs as well as their profits, and both these things are impacted by manga leaks. Copyright infringement laws give Shueisha the ability to take legal action against those leaking content straight from Jump, and the publisher most certainly has lawyers on standby.
What do you think about this Shueisha update? Do you believe the manga fandom is ready to let go of leaks? Let us know what you think in the comments below as well as on Twitter and Instagram. You can also hit me up @MeganPetersCB to share your take!
