Square Enix Launches English Version of Manga Up! Web Manga Site, App
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They have a mix of Yen Press Manga, their original Square Enix manga, and some new stuff.
Of relevance to JNC readers is the Are You Okay with a Slightly Older Girlfriend? manga adaptation, My Friend’s Little Sister Has It In For Me! manga adaptation, and The Greatest Magicmaster's Retirement Plan - The Alternative - manga adaptation.Chapters are broken up into smaller parts, you can read up to 8 parts a day with renewing “UP” points.
You can
purchaserent chapters with coin, but you’ll only have access for 3 days.There are significant censorship concerns.
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@LegitPancake said in Square Enix Launches English Version of Manga Up! Web Manga Site, App:
You can purchase chapters with coin, but you’ll only have access for 3 days.
There are significant censorship concerns.
Yeah, I don't see this going over very well. How long do you think until this goes the way of Daisuki(former Japanese-initiative streaming site), any bets?
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@LegitPancake said in Square Enix Launches English Version of Manga Up! Web Manga Site, App:
You can purchase chapters with coin, but you’ll only have access for 3 days.
That's not a purchase, that's a rental.
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Um, yeah.
That level of censorship combined with the brevity of access doesn't seem to be a good combination.
It's an attempt at manga as gacha, using trash gacha, only worse since a proper gacha system allows you to retain what you purchased as gacha.Um, with that as their business model, any bets concerning how good the translation would be?
Maybe I'm weird in thinking that a licensed version should at least be on par with a scanlation.
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@Geezer-Weasalopes said in Square Enix Launches English Version of Manga Up! Web Manga Site, App:
Um, with that as their business model, any bets concerning how good the translation would be?
Most of the ones I've seen people take a look at, are actually the ones that got published in full volumes, so they're all quite good. Haven't heard from the new ones that hadn't been revealed up until now.
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this is an interesting concept
use the app to read manga (portions) per dayat the very worst you get what you pay for (if you pay nothing)
from Square Enix's POV - this is a way to gauge the popularity of titles in different markets at a (maybe?) a lower cost than other types of marketing campaigns, (this is a 'demand generation exercise') and maybe a way to get paid subscribers/customers
I'm in favor of supporting the industry (demand with profit = more supply and choices) but I want to support in a way that I can afford and that is in the direction that I'd like to see the industry go .
my concerns:
- what is the quality of the translations? is it an enjoyable read?
- 8 chapters free/day; how long is a chapter? (I know reading speeds are going to vary) is this 15 minutes of reading? an hour? (is a chapter = a chapter as published or does this app slice up content?) I don't just want free samples.
- if I use xp/coin to rent content, is it still censored? If I pay I should get content as the creators intended/as initially published
I suppose I'm going to have to give it a try
I read banned books
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@Jon-Mitchell A majority of the translations are sublicensed from existing US publishers. No word on the new exclusives.
Parts are usually 16-20 pages. If the original chapter was longer than that, it will be broken into multiple parts, requiring you to use multiple UP points for a single chapters.
From what I can tell, censorship is there whether you rented it with coins or read it for free UP points. Possibly so they don’t get in trouble with the app stores, but the censorship is still there even if you’re on the website. -
well I installed the app
I have a few disappointments (so far):- as @LegitPancake mentioned the 'censor bars' or whatever those black boxes are called are still deployed when using XP, even though app asked for age verification (over 16?) and series in question, My Dress-Up Darling, was tagged with a warning that it contains "NSFW" content.
- the 'chapters' are short (most are 1/2 of chapter as published elsewhere)
- this is not anywhere close to simultaneous to publishers (I didn't do an exhaustive search - but my sample had 38 chapters [76 parts] which I think is somewhere around end of volume 4? Volume 5 in English was released in May )
ok not irredeemable
it's easier to censor to the most strict where app is being used (age 13 in the EU? I really don't know) vs. building in country codes, and 'real' age verification, still annoying however.short chapters? I guess I got what I paid for
speaking of which - what is a coin?
I mean I see that 1000 coins cost $7.99 (US) which is about what a LN would cost or in the ballpark of a kindle edition of a manga (175-190 pages usually) - I can't figure out how far a 'coin' goes -
@Jon-Mitchell said in Square Enix Launches English Version of Manga Up! Web Manga Site, App:
- as @LegitPancake mentioned the 'censor bars' or whatever those black boxes are called are still deployed when using XP, even though app asked for age verification (over 16?) and series in question, My Dress-Up Darling, was tagged with a warning that it contains "NSFW" content.
My Dress-Up Darling's main theme is cosplay. If it's littered with black boxes, what's the point?
I mean I see that 1000 coins cost $7.99 (US) which is about what a LN would cost or in the ballpark of a kindle edition of a manga (175-190 pages usually) - I can't figure out how far a 'coin' goes
How many coins does a single chapter cost(rent)?
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@Korppi said in Square Enix Launches English Version of Manga Up! Web Manga Site, App:
@Jon-Mitchell said in Square Enix Launches English Version of Manga Up! Web Manga Site, App:
as @LegitPancake mentioned the 'censor bars' or whatever those black boxes are called are still deployed when using XP, even though app asked for age verification (over 16?) and series in question, My Dress-Up Darling, was tagged with a warning that it contains "NSFW" content.
My Dress-Up Darling's main theme is cosplay. If it's littered with black boxes, what's the point?
I mean I see that 1000 coins cost $7.99 (US) which is about what a LN would cost or in the ballpark of a kindle edition of a manga (175-190 pages usually) - I can't figure out how far a 'coin' goes
How many coins does a single chapter cost(rent)?
I can't tell- that's why I'm annoyed
most chapters can be obtained free
some cost 30 "up" points (and you're given an allowance of those per day)
some cost 60XP which you get included with coin purchases or as incentives for something else (like initial sign up) since I have an XP balance - it doesn't say how many 'coins' it would be for a chapter that costs 60 XPI don't see value of a coin anywhere on the site- only the cost to buy them
I don't see it in FAQif it's 1 coin per chapter (or chapter portion)- it's a good deal, if it's 60 (same as xp) then it is a BAD deal- that would be somewhere around $10 to rent a manga volume (the same as buying it, and purchase would be uncensored)
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Ugh.
I'd like to support the platform like I'm doing with Mangaplus but that censorship is a deal breaker. -
@Korppi So, does that mean I can buy a volume for about £4. Otherwise, what is the benefit of this over me buying a physical copy?
3 days just sounds stupid. I would have thought they'd do it like the Koreans do it.
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@Tremarl said in Square Enix Launches English Version of Manga Up! Web Manga Site, App:
So, does that mean I can buy a volume for about £4
no idea - that's why this is frustrating:
we know what coins cost but not what they are worthI read banned books
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@Jon-Mitchell said in Square Enix Launches English Version of Manga Up! Web Manga Site, App:
@Tremarl said in Square Enix Launches English Version of Manga Up! Web Manga Site, App:
So, does that mean I can buy a volume for about £4
no idea - that's why this is frustrating:
we now what coins cost but not what they are worthWhatever they are worth...
It's a rental with a time limit, you don't get permanent access to any of the sections that aren't permanently open to everyone.
So in some ways it doesn't matter what they are 'worth' since they can't be used to obtain permanent access. -
So, I just heard that they changed their policy and remove the censorship bars. I checked the first chapter of I time traveled and confessed to my crush teacher and indeed Hiiragi chan's cleavage was visible in all its splendor. I want to believe that SquareEnix received a lot of negative feedback and decided to listen to us.
