If this was 2010, I would be fine with people reading my stuff in One Manga, as there was no such thing as Batoto (back in 2011-17, when everyone liked them, then MangaWindow bought the domain and ruined everything). But this is 2018, and Kissmanga is thrash when compared to the superior MangaDex.
For some reason people still somehow think that sites like Kissmanga and Mangakakalot translate the mangas by themselves, which feels kinda sad and stupid as scanlators themselves made manga popular in the West. And before I talk about everything wrong with aggregator sites and other scanlation-related stuff, let me teach you the basics of scanlation in 3 parts:
- Discover what’s scanlation about: They’re the actual people behind most manga you see on aggregator sites. If it wasn’t done by a scanlation group; then it’s a official scan stolen from fucking KissManga. Steer away from these, Book Depository has free worldwide shipping if you want to read them if you are poor.
- Learn what MangaDex is: MangaDex is pretty much the only scanlator-friendly aggregator website (or as I prefer calling them, manga reading site). They credit the scanlators themselves and adhere with the group’s rules. There’s also Dynasty-Scans, but the content they allow is quite limited (read: 99% yuri only).
- Follow your favorite groups on MangaDex/Dynasty and avoid using any other manga reading site, specially if you need to pay for it (unless it’s MangaStream with Adblock, a legal website or the scanlation group’s reader)
Now that we’re done with the basics, let’s move to everything wrong with aggregator websites:
Number 1: Official Scans
Aah, official scans. We’re in 2018; you must be really poor to not afford the actual volumes at this point. As I said in the basics, Book Depository has free shipping worldwide. While scanlations are, for the most part, in a legal grey area; official scans are already breaking the law. MangaDex bans them (unless the license publisher is dead), making it less shady than, let’s say; KissManga.
Number 2: Ads, Ads , Ads
See the “This site doens’t work with AdBlock” message there? It’s a lie.
Advertisements. We all hate them, and there’s a reason why: They are ANNOYING.
Also, clickbait and free viruses.
KissManga is pretty much the master of earning money through ads; they reccomend people to disable their adblockers and IP ban them if they don’t do that.
MangaDex, instead uses donations. Donations are pretty much a neccessary evil if you are wanting to do a non-profit; but hey, if there’s something better than the absurdly annoying and shitty ads for supporting a manga-reading site; it’s donations.
Number 3: Bots
Despite what you might think, sites like KissManga and Mangakakalot do NOT translate their own manga. Official scans aside, they mainly survive by using bots to rip the latest chapters from MangaDex or Dynasty. These chapter-ripping bots have caused tons of things, from forcing some scanlations groups to add watermarks and/or using “Do not read this on aggregator sites” pages to being one of the main causes behind the original closure of Batoto (the other one being the fact that the old owner felt too busy).
Number 4: The Fact that they Seem to be Doing it for Money
Stealing from already morally-gray pages and scanning official releases? Yes. Using shitty ads for the sake of profit? Yes. Stealing via bots? Yes.
The practies of these ethically-questionable sites are pretty much illegal. If you want to support the industry, buy the official translations if they exist. If they don’t, you might want to get your hands on the original Japanese version, period.
Sites like KissManga are ruining the lives of scanlation groups too. We scanlators hate these ad-filled, content-stealing sites for a reason.
-Yakisoba.
Oh boy What might I tell? Really… really liked the contentThank you so much!