Shueisha has launched "Manga Million," a new platform offering over a million pages of manga across more than 100 languages, including titles never before translated outside Japan. This service is entirely free, eliminating the need for subscriptions and aiming to provide accessibility that piracy sites currently fulfill. The initiative is seen as a significant move to combat piracy by offering a legitimate, free alternative.
The SCREEN Act, which proposed stringent measures like digital ID, age verification, and biometric scanning for internet access, has officially failed to pass the Senate due to insufficient votes. This represents a small but significant victory for internet freedom advocates.
Call to Action: Oppose KOSA
Despite the legislative progress of KOSA, it is not yet law. The speaker emphasizes that there is still time for citizens to contact their representatives and voice their opposition to the bill, urging them to deny its passage and prevent further internet regulation.
The Broader Trend of Age Verification
Beyond KOSA, there's a clear and accelerating trend towards implementing age verification across various platforms and states. Examples include a Texas judge forcing Discord to adopt age verification systems similar to the UK's, New York mandating it, and even Newgrounds in Texas requiring it. This indicates a widespread governmental and judicial push for stricter online controls.
The CEO of Kadokawa has expressed a desire for the company to emulate Electronic Arts (EA), a move the speaker views as disastrous. This comparison is drawn from EA's history of prioritizing microtransactions, mistreating employees, and prioritizing stockholders over consumers, suggesting a similar fate for Kadokawa's anime and manga business. The speaker concludes that this ambition signals a dire future for the company and the industry.
Animator Pay: A 'Short-Sightedness' Problem?
The speaker vehemently condemns Kadokawa's CEO for suggesting that focusing on animator pay leads to 'short-sightedness.' This statement is seen as an attack on the very foundation of the anime industry, as animators are its backbone. The speaker argues that underpaying and overworking animators leads to burnout and industry drain, forcing outsourcing and jeopardizing the quality and sustainability of anime production. The CEO's stance is deemed dangerous and out of touch with the industry's realities, concluding that such a perspective is fundamentally flawed and harmful.
