Square Enix E-Manga Store, Free 1st Chapters Preview!

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Square Enix E-Manga Store, Free 1st Chapters

The Japanese manga and game publisher Square Enix has announced on Wednesday that it will launch a digital manga store in North America and France this fall.

The first chapters of Fullmetal Alchemist, Soul Eater, Black Butler, and O-Parts Hunter are already downloadable for free from Square Enix's North American and European websites in advance of the paid service's launch, with other series planned for later. (The North American website lists The Record of a Fallen Vampire, Pandora Hearts, Sumomomo Momomo, and Spiral: Bonds of Reasoning as "coming soon.") The service requires Adobe Flash Player on Microsoft Windows or Mac OS X.

The service is on display at Square Enix's booth at Comic-Con International in San Diego this week.

Koutarou Ishii, a representative of Square Enix's Digital Publishing Section, confirmed with ANN that the manga title lineup will be different between the North American and French versions because Square Enix is releasing the titles that have already been localized in each particular region. To that end, Square Enix is working with both Viz Media and Yen Press for its digital manga releases in North America. Ishii cautioned that the titles listed in Square Enix's free download section now are not necessarily representative of the titles that will appear in the digital manga store in Fall.

Source: ANN
 
So are things like this eventually going to lead to the "Crunchyroll for manga" thing that people keep on wanting? Or is this more of a one-off "what was the point" sort of thing?
 
I doubt they would get you to pay on a monthly basis like crunchy but on a chapter by capter basis.
I like the idea of paying per chapter. I however don't like paying £3 less to read a digital cpyI can only read for 3 days when I can keep a real copy forever which is the case with netcafe.
 
Doubt this will do anything useful as they're only doing stuff they have licensed and translated. Also doubt it will be available to us, their UK site says nothing of it, and I doubt we can buy things from the US one.
Also this may have the classic problem of being more expensive than physical media. Rather than making it cheaper by the manufactureing, distribution and retail costs. $1-2 per volume for a permanent copy would be about right.
 
Well, let's face it. It's a 2 man job. One translates, another configure and post. It can't be that hard as long as there's nothing like Japanese vs Others involved.
BUT, anime reaching mainstream overseas mean suicide. ****, no thanks I've had enough of American TV series **** them and whoever supports it.
Anime is fine as a niche market. That's how it captivated me, and that's how I'll always love it.
 
Don't understand why there are free chapters of O-parts hunter considering all of the volumes have already been released by Viz.

I don't know why but I always think these things help fans that are cheap and inpatient, while the ones that do wait and buy manga get nothing.
 
kippy666 said:
Don't understand why there are free chapters of O-parts hunter considering all of the volumes have already been released by Viz.

I don't know why but I always think these things help fans that are cheap and inpatient, while the ones that do wait and buy manga get nothing.
Click to expand...
Square Enix is releasing the titles that have already been localized in each particular region
Click to expand...

They are ONLY doing stuff already done by Viz or Yen.
 
Reaper gI said:
kippy666 said:
Don't understand why there are free chapters of O-parts hunter considering all of the volumes have already been released by Viz.

I don't know why but I always think these things help fans that are cheap and inpatient, while the ones that do wait and buy manga get nothing.
Click to expand...
Square Enix is releasing the titles that have already been localized in each particular region
Click to expand...

They are ONLY doing stuff already done by Viz or Yen.
Click to expand...

Ah! But wait...if we're going to get the manga anyway why can't people wait?
 
kippy666 said:
Ah! But wait...if we're going to get the manga anyway why can't people wait?
Click to expand...
Eh?
Your sentance makes no sense.

They are releasing online stuff you can already go to a book/comic shop and buy in english/french.
This is not some attempt to compete with scans, just an attempt at digital distribution. Which unless they change it massively or it's realy cheap will fail. As the only people this would be good for are those that can't afford the existing print copies, but can afford the digital ones.

If you want to read manga legaly . You import the damn books yourself in japanese. Unless you only like realy realy popular stuff (I don't think even the top 10 are available legaly*)

*nope 1 isn't either for '09 or '10 to date we only have 9 of the top 10
 
Reaper gI said:
kippy666 said:
Ah! But wait...if we're going to get the manga anyway why can't people wait?
Click to expand...
Eh?
Your sentance makes no sense.

They are releasing online stuff you can already go to a book/comic shop and buy in english/french.
This is not some attempt to compete with scans, just an attempt at digital distribution. Which unless they change it massively or it's realy cheap will fail. As the only people this would be good for are those that can't afford the existing print copies, but can afford the digital ones.

If you want to read manga legaly . You import the damn books yourself in japanese. Unless you only like realy realy popular stuff (I don't think even the top 10 are available legaly*)

*nope 1 isn't either for '09 or '10 to date we only have 9 of the top 10
Click to expand...
Oh I see. Sorry for being so lame...
 
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