Japanese Manga Artist Uploads Self-Translated Work to Piracy Site, Forced to Take it Down by Publisher
Recently, Japanese manga artist Mitsuten Akiyama did something unusual to attract international readers and allow overseas fans to access his work: he personally used AI to translate his manga and uploaded it to the piracy manga website MangaDex.
According to his social media posts, his manga "HORIZON" is serialized in a small magazine in Japan, but he hopes to have more people around the world see his work. However, this act was halted by the magazine's publisher due to copyright disputes. Financial pressure also forced him to face reality, stating that the royalties from his manga's collected volumes are very low, not even enough to buy a cheap cup of coffee, and he even relies on donations from others on the subscription website Ko-fi to make a living.
He said, "The number of overseas manga fans may not be able to grow anymore. Even so, I am still grateful to have met you all. I always do my best to draw the manga in front of me, and other things are irrelevant to me."
However, his actions have been effective, and readers and fans from different countries have been impressed by his dedication. Seeing his impoverished life, many have contributed what they can. Currently, Mitsuten Akiyama has received 1301 sponsorships on Ko-fi, totaling over 1 million yen.