J-Comi
Encyclopedia
J-Comi Jコミis a website that distributes out of print manga
and doujinshi as DRM
-free ebooks, with the permission of the authors
and supported by advertising. The first beta test began on 26 November, 2010, and included all 14 volumes of CEO Ken Akamatsu
's Love Hina
. Over the first two days of the beta, there were more than 1 million downloads. Publishers Kodansha
and Shueisha
are collaborating with J-Comi, and Shueisha provided some additional manga titles for a second beta test. One of the titles in the beta test, Mayu Shinjo
's "After School Wedding", earned 52,5000 yen over a month. J-Comi worked with Google
on a comic viewer which could be expanded to American consumers. J-Comi created an amnesty program for unauthorised scans of out of print manga, the "Illegal Out-of-Print Manga File Purification Project," whereby users of J-Comi would upload them anonymously to J-Comi, J-Comi would seek permission from the author to publish them, add advertising to the manga and publish them, giving the author the revenues. Readers can add commentary or translations to J-Comi titles. As of September 2011, J-Comi hosted 103 works. In October 2011, J-Comi added a pay service for erotic manga, including a title which was banned under the revised Tokyo Metropolitan Ordinance Regarding the Healthy Development of Youths
. J-Comi is limited to out of print titles so that quality of the work is assured and so that J-Comi does not compete with publishers.
Manga
Manga is the Japanese word for "comics" and consists of comics and print cartoons . In the West, the term "manga" has been appropriated to refer specifically to comics created in Japan, or by Japanese authors, in the Japanese language and conforming to the style developed in Japan in the late 19th...
and doujinshi as DRM
DRM
-Information technology:*Digital rights management, access control technologies that limit the usage of digital content and devices*Data Reference Model, one of the five reference models of the Federal Enterprise Architecture...
-free ebooks, with the permission of the authors
Mangaka
is the Japanese word for a comic artist or cartoonist. Outside of Japan, manga usually refers to a Japanese comic book and mangaka refers to the author of the manga, who is usually Japanese...
and supported by advertising. The first beta test began on 26 November, 2010, and included all 14 volumes of CEO Ken Akamatsu
Ken Akamatsu
is a Japanese manga artist from Tokyo.Sailor Moon was his introduction to anime and manga fandom.In his teens, Akamatsu applied himself to Film Study . Eventually, he became famous as an illustrator featured in Comiket . He used the pen name...
's Love Hina
Love Hina
is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Ken Akamatsu. It was originally serialized in Weekly Shōnen Magazine by Kodansha from October 21, 1998 to October 31, 2001 and was published in 14 tankōbon volumes by Kodansha. The series tells the story of Keitaro Urashima and his attempts to...
. Over the first two days of the beta, there were more than 1 million downloads. Publishers Kodansha
Kodansha
, the largest Japanese publisher, produces the manga magazines Nakayoshi, Afternoon, Evening, and Weekly Shonen Magazine, as well as more literary magazines such as Gunzō, Shūkan Gendai, and the Japanese dictionary Nihongo Daijiten. The company has its headquarters in Bunkyō, Tokyo...
and Shueisha
Shueisha
is a major publisher in Japan. The company was founded in 1925 as the entertainment-related publishing division of Japanese publisher Shogakukan. The following year, Shueisha became a separate, independent company. Magazines published by Shueisha include Weekly Shōnen Jump, Weekly Young Jump,...
are collaborating with J-Comi, and Shueisha provided some additional manga titles for a second beta test. One of the titles in the beta test, Mayu Shinjo
Mayu Shinjo
is a Japanese manga artist. She debuted in 1994 in Shogakukan's Shōjo Comic with "Anata no Iro ni Somaritai". She continued writing for Shogakukan until 2007, with her works appearing in both Shōjo Comic and their other magazine Cheese!...
's "After School Wedding", earned 52,5000 yen over a month. J-Comi worked with Google
Google
Google Inc. is an American multinational public corporation invested in Internet search, cloud computing, and advertising technologies. Google hosts and develops a number of Internet-based services and products, and generates profit primarily from advertising through its AdWords program...
on a comic viewer which could be expanded to American consumers. J-Comi created an amnesty program for unauthorised scans of out of print manga, the "Illegal Out-of-Print Manga File Purification Project," whereby users of J-Comi would upload them anonymously to J-Comi, J-Comi would seek permission from the author to publish them, add advertising to the manga and publish them, giving the author the revenues. Readers can add commentary or translations to J-Comi titles. As of September 2011, J-Comi hosted 103 works. In October 2011, J-Comi added a pay service for erotic manga, including a title which was banned under the revised Tokyo Metropolitan Ordinance Regarding the Healthy Development of Youths
Tokyo Metropolitan Ordinance Regarding the Healthy Development of Youths
The is a prefectural law passed by the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly in 1964. Its purpose is to promote the healthy development of people under the age of 18 by restricting their access to published material that is considered harmful...
. J-Comi is limited to out of print titles so that quality of the work is assured and so that J-Comi does not compete with publishers.
External links
- http://www.j-comi.jp
- Official blog of Ken Akamatsu, includes many entries on J-Comi