In addition to the most popular anime and manga rankings in 2021, the revenue of the manga industry in Japan is also very interested. Recently, Yahoo News Japan published a statistical article showing that manga piracy increased sharply in 2021. Compared to 2020, pirated stories and revenue of this activity increased 26 times, a alarming number in a country that values copyright like Japan.
Specifically, the Japan Book Commission found 400 different pages of pirated stories. Among them, the number of visits to the top 3 pages increased 26 times, reaching 326 million visits in just one month. According to estimates on the top 10 pages of pirated stories, the profits of the manga industry have lost more than 780 billion yen. Meanwhile, in 2020, the amount of lost profit is 210 billion yen. In terms of profits, pirated comics in Japan have nearly quadrupled compared to 2020. In early 2021, laws dealing with violations of comic book copyright laws were passed to tighten protection. protect the gray matter for the mangaka.
Currently, the police and major publishers like Shueisha are trying to identify the operators of pirated websites to handle according to the law. Under Japan’s revised copyright law, downloading copyright material from illegal websites is an offense, punishable by up to 2 years in prison or a fine of 2 million yen, or both. For websites that post illegally, the penalty is 5 years in prison or a fine of 5 million yen, or both.
Pirated stories are never a good thing for mangakas or readers. They can be handy in the short term but will have huge consequences in the future. That’s why the authorities in Japan multiply the alarming number and this pirated manga also calls on readers to be more responsible to protect the creative work of mangakas and publishers in 2022.
What do you guys think about the 26-fold increase of pirated manga in 2021, making Japanese mangakas stand still. Please leave your opinion on this issue!
