Battle Through the Scanlations with Zhiyin Animation
Gaining a foot in the door to legitimacy in the comics industry
Since its birth in April 2010, Manga Rock has been a free comics reader by aggregating content that has grown to millions of users worldwide. We acknowledge its pitfalls for comics artists. It’s not our intention to “steal” and profit from artists. Instead, we wanted to make comics easier and more fun to read. But now, we’re changing.
We envision a world where comics are affordable and accessible to everybody, and artists who can make a living following their passion — making comics.
By shifting from hosting scanlated comics to acquiring licensed content, we believe we can disrupt the industry for the better good of readers and creators.
It’s common for us to receive copyright infringements (which we all honored). One particular case was especially forthcoming as we pivoted our business model — Zhiyin Animation.
Who is Zhiyin Animation?
Founded in early 2006, Zhiyin Animation is one of the oldest and most reputable comics producers and publishers in China. Many of their works have been translated into languages and regions from all over the world.
In just a decade, Zhiyin Animation has produced more than 100 comics series. It includes Pharaoh’s Concubine, Brave Girl, and the wildly successful Battle Through the Heavens (which was adapted to games and film). Also under their belt is their influential comics magazine, Zhiyin Manke.
Following Through with the Opportunity
There’s no lying. We’ve been takers of the comics community. Now we want to give back.
In February, Zhiyin reached out to us about taking down their content. Following some back-and-forth conversations about our vision, we suggested setting up a meeting at iABC (International Animation & Game Business Conference) in Hangzhou back in April.
And so, our team set our eyes on China to meet with Zhiyin and the manhua artist community.
Show. Don’t Tell.
Upon arriving in China, we were looking forward to the event. Though anxious, we were confident with our plan, booklets, and video describing our vision.
We met with a large number of publishers and artists explaining our goals. But Zhiyin Animation was the big fish in the pond. And we, by all means, wanted to make a strong impression. And we did.
But our meeting didn’t go entirely smoothly. Zhiyin requested we take down all their titles. The thing is, if we did, our business model wouldn’t work. We need to keep our readers to convert them into paying members.
We envision a world where comics are affordable and accessible to everybody from artists who can make a living following their passion — making comics.
It was a dilemma. Remove comics and lose its very readers to acquire the titles meaning no possibility of conversion. Or refuse the takedown and forfeit what little image we have towards being a legitimate player in the industry. Fortunately, there was a win-win outcome.
We managed to convince Zhiyin to keep the fan-created versions, and they officially licensed their titles to us. Why? Because they believed in our vision. We struck a deal to acquire Battle through the Heavens and other successful titles. And as a result, a partnership was formed.
Looking Forward
Our first trip was a huge success, and we couldn’t be happier with the outcome. We struck a deal with one of the largest Chinese comics publishers for some of the biggest titles in China today.
It confirms that our vision is possible. And we don’t plan on stopping.
