Mangastream and Jaiminisbox alternative: A new era of piracy?

With the thought of helping the manga industry, scanlation sites shut down one by one. It was initiated by Manga Rock when they decided to shut down as their business is hurting the manga industry to some extent. This was followed by two more scanlation sites, Mangastream and Jaiminisbox.

As was reported recently, the two big scanlation sites providing early scans of fan-favorite mangas have shut down. Mangastream shut down their whole operation, while Jaiminisbox has given up their work on Shueisha’s Weekly Shonen Jump.

Contrary to its purpose however, this operation shut down may be the dawn to a new era of manga piracy.

Wrong move?

Jaiminisbox announced on December 18, 2019, that it will follow Mangastream and stop releasing raw scans of Shueisha’s Weekly Shonen Jump manga series. According to the announcement, their main purpose is to give way to a new era of free access to legal digital copies of manga.

This move, however, did not gain much popularity with the global manga community. While countless fans support and pay for legal manga platforms, it could not be helped to still patronize scanlation sites. An avid fan of One Piece and other mangas expressed how this closure of scanlation sites is a wrong move.

Newworld-Artur wrote a full-length article talking about the issue. He first pointed out that contrary to its purpose, this shut down may usher a new era of piracy. He then explained why scanlations exist, the reason people read them, and what can be done to avert the situation.

Newworld-Artur’s argument

According to Newworld-Artur, raw scans exist because of break street dates.

It means that in preparation, hard copies of manga are available at stores a few days prior to the official release date. Some stores then sell copies even if it’s not officially released yet. These copies are then spread throughout the internet as spoilers, and eventually as scanlations.

People patronize this method for a multitude of reasons.

It’s not just because it is free since official online manga platforms like Manga Plus and Viz media release them for free. Newworld-Artur gave six reasons why people read scans. Among these reasons, however, I think the most relevant are the spoilers, the official release site, and the translation.

While Viz media’s services are more tolerable, Manga Plus, on the other hand, is not so much.

There have been several complaints about bugs on both the site and the app. Newworld-Artur further expresses that the best way to avert the situation is for the official and legal platforms to give better services than the scanlation sites.

Where to ream manga now?

When Mangastream and Jaiminisbox gave up Weekly Shonen Jump scanlations, fans of course scramble for alternatives. For a moment the One Piece community specifically, were bummed out by the late appearance of early release of the upcoming chapter.

Many scanlation sites may have already shut down. But people can still have free access to fan-favorite mangas. Officially, people can read their favorite manga through the official website of Viz media and Manga Plus. Fans can also download the apps for a more convenient read.

However, there are still some scanlation sites where fans can expect early releases but at the poorer quality. Some alternatives are Imgur and manga panda.

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