The English version of the recently released Manga UP! from Square Enix, didn’t please fans after they learn that Square Enix had censored depictions of “sexual” body parts, from various manga titles offered on the service.
Here is the official press release from Square Enix:
TOKYO, Japan (July 25th, 2022) – SQUARE ENIX CO., LTD. (“the Company”) released the global version of its MANGA UP! manga app on July 25th, 2022 (JST). Demand for online entertainment content has mounted over the past two years both in Japan and around the world, and English translations of its manga titles have enjoyed brisk sales. These trends have inspired the Company to offer a global version of its app for the first time with the goal of bringing manga content to even more readers outside Japan.
The app will offer 160 titles, including 100 new English translations. Manga UP! will also provide readers with the latest installments of ongoing series as soon after their Japan releases as possible. The app will be available everywhere but Japan and works with both iOS and Android, including on tablets.
MANGA UP! Global addressed the fans discontent with a statement on their Twitter account about the censorship:
“In consideration of each mobile platform’s policies, some modifications were unavoidable to release the app…” No! those modifications were not unavoidable. Does Manga Up! knows that applications can also run from a website? A website doesn’t need the approval of Google or Apple, and is only restricted by the laws the country in which it is hosted.
In our day and age, an adaptive website can reshape itself to fit on any device. Call me a dinosaur, but I don’t understand this obsession with having an app for everything, when in most cases you can do the same from a website without having to bend the knew to Google or Apple app store.
Once you removed all the sexual content from your mangas, do you think that it will be enough to appease the censorship tyrants? What will you do when they will ask you to remove everything gore or even violent, will take a stand? How about when they ask you to (and you know they will) diversify your manga characters, will you take a stand then?
If Manga Up! can’t find a way around censorship, they will never find the way to my wallet. You can bet that I’m not the only one feeling this way. BTW, are scanlations still a thing? Just asking for a friend.