Afterword
There you have it, the History of Scanlation! We hope you enjoyed your time here and learned something new. This project aims to chronicle the history of the fan translation and scanlation scene from around 1996 to today. In addition, the project also looks at a number of major and influential scanlation groups and sites throughout the years and contains additional background information and interviews for context.
But why? Well, no matter how you look at it, scanlation is a big part of the online manga scene in the U.S. Search for "manga" on Google and over half of the results on the first page are related to scanlation. Despite its widespread popularity, scanlation is almost never a topic of mainstream coverage or study. Most scanlation analysis has come from the scanlation community itself, leaving the general public out of the "know." As a result, to this day, most manga fans are divided into two camps: those who are in the scanlation scene and those who don't know what scanlation is really about. We hope to provide a comprehensive study of the history and some important aspects of scanlation and to provide a resource for those who wish to learn more about the side of the manga world that is rarely talked about.
This project was originally conceived back in 2006 during brainstorming for a "History of Manga Jouhou" feature. Although that idea never came to fruition, you can see traces of it in the History of Scanlation article. The Manga Jouhou spotlight feature, for instance, is significantly longer than the other spotlights, and the interview with Manga Jouhou's Deathscythe was completed years ago.
The original plan was to first do a "History of Jouhou" feature similar to ComiPress's Backstage features and gradually expand it to include other major scanlation groups, eventually compiling everything into a History of Scanlation. After the History of Jouhou feature fell through, things stayed quiet for a while. Then around mid-2007, the Jouhou project that never came to be and the History of Scanlation project were discussed with Omanga's Zyph, and Zyph expressed his support for the concept. At the time, the idea of dividing the History into three sections was already in place, and Zyph provided much valuable information that later helped jump-start the project.
After that, things were put on the backburner, and nothing was done for the next two years. When May 2009 rolled around, the scanlation community had become a totally different place, and groups and people from the old scanlation scene were disappearing one after another. Under a desire to complete an unfinished project, as well as to create something to bring nostalgia to the old-timers and teach the new scanlators what had come before them, a draft of the first part of the History section was written in early June.
Since then, the project has almost taken on a life of its own. The original intent was to have a three-part History section, a Spotlight section that featured eight to nine old and influential groups and sites, a Background section that looked at two or three popular trends, and some interviews with whoever was still around at the time. As you can see, things have obviously grown way beyond what was initially planned, for the better, of course. The site was originally planned to be released in July, then the end of August, then the end of September. There were many delays, but the final product was well worth the extra time and effort.
The History section of the site is obviously one of its biggest attractions. Drafts of all three sections were completed well before the end of June; but, as the days went by, each part grew in size and content. By the end of September, all three sections had grown by four to six pages. It happened more than once that interviews with a certain person or looking up old groups would uncover a whole new aspect of scanlation to research. The same applies to the Spotlight features. Writing the History and the Spotlight sections was probably the most enjoyable part of this project (aside from designing the website and randomly chatting with scanlation-related people on IRC).
As for the Spotlight sections: The number of groups covered almost tripled as time went on (the original lineup included Manga Jouhou, Toriyama's World, MangaProject, MangaScreener, ShoujoMagic, DailyManga, MangaUpdates, Lurk, and MangaHelpers). Of course, as many of you may have noticed, quite a few newer groups weren't covered at all. One of the main goals behind this project was to provide an (hopefully) accurate history of what has been. Many of the newer groups are still in the middle of their "current history," and it can be hard to write about them without knowing the bigger picture of their history (additionally, sometimes there isn't much to write about since they haven't been around as long). If follow-up articles are added to this project in the future (as in, years from now), rest assured that these new groups will be added to the Spotlight lineup.
As for the Background section, the content grew from simple information about Tazmo and the IRC Migration to cover a variety of other trends and information, much of which was added after receiving additional insight from interviews and research. There were a few topics that weren't included, however, mostly due to a lack of time and resources to finish them, and partly due to contributors being too busy. Will they ever see the light of day? We may never know.
On to the Interviews section: The interviews are one of the most interesting parts of this project. Through the interviews, I met many, many scanlators, some of whom are legends in the world of scanlation. Of course, scanlators are people too, and some are busier with their lives than others. As a result, not everyone was able to get back to us with their responses in time. If you are one of them, keep in mind that you can send in your responses any time, and we will update the site with your interview.
MangaHelpers and MangaUpdates were the first ones to be interviewed, and the interview with MangaUpdates was one of the most grueling interview sessions we did, stretching over five hours (9pm–2:30am) on IRC. Compiling and formatting the IRC log into a document was equally grueling, and the interview seemed excruciatingly long by the time it came to proofread (multiple times at that). It is, however, probably one of the most in-depth interviews on the site.
Thanks to MangaUpdates's Manick, vio55555 got involved with the project and played an integral role in reaching out to other scanlators, as well as contributing a large amount of content. More on that will come in the credits section. As for the other interviews, Snoopy's interview was one of the most interesting (especially with Snoopy's essay responses), Robb's interview was probably one of the most fun to read, and, although the person’s name shall not be mentioned here, there was one instance in which we practically filled in the responses ourselves (don't worry, the words are still from that person, compiled from the chat logs we've had over a period of several months). Also, it was a great honor and a pleasant surprise to be able to interview figures from the industry, from companies such as Tokyopop and Icarus Publishing, and Jason Thompson.
The purpose of this project is to document the history of scanlation, how it became what it is today. It is meant to act as a resource where anyone can find the information they need. We hope you have enjoyed reading this feature so far.
Thank you for reading!