Manga Rock Shuts Down, Aggregator MR Comics to Launch

by ImperfectBlue
Sep 8, 2019 9:22 PM | 40 Comments

The Manga Rock manga aggregator was removed from the App Store and Play Store on Thursday, September 5. Manga Rock developer Not a Basement Studio was behind the removal, intended as the first phase of their plan to rebrand as a new, legal manga aggregator titled MR Comics. Within the next week, the Manga Rock website will also cease operations and redirect to the new MR Comics website.

In a statement on the MR Comics website, Not a Basement Studio describes the decision as one to combat piracy and support manga creators. They take responsibility for promoting the distribution of illegally scanlated manga, a realization made when they revisited the application in 2016, as what started as a project by college students learning to develop mobile applications grew larger than anticipated. In those early days, the Manga Rock library was also limited to scanlations already available online.

MR Comics will include new features to keep licensed material protected and help independent creators gain exposure on the platform. Measures to limit piracy currently in development include offering users options to purchase restricted titles, tip authors, or share content over social media to gain access. Over the last few years, they've spoken to and worked with publishers to become familiar with the comic industry and how they've impacted it, as well as to establish a mutually beneficial relationship.

Though new users will soon be unable to access Manga Rock, its servers will remain active indefinitely, allowing current users to back up their data.

Source: Official Statement

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20 of 40 Comments Recent Comments

I don't think that won't stop piracy. So another failure if you ask me.

But, we have to wait and see what's going on, I guess.

Sep 14, 2019 5:25 AM by sniper23

Accelerator48 said:

Erika___ said:
Any other app as good as mangarock? I dont like reading in browser. Pls suggest an app with many sources and as user friendly as mangarock. Thanks

if you're using Android, Tachiyomi is the way to go. https://github.com/inorichi/tachiyomi/releases/tag/v0.8.4

Tried it and it seems great. Thanks!

Sep 11, 2019 5:45 AM by Erika___

Erika___ said:
Any other app as good as mangarock? I dont like reading in browser. Pls suggest an app with many sources and as user friendly as mangarock. Thanks

if you're using Android, Tachiyomi is the way to go. https://github.com/inorichi/tachiyomi/releases/tag/v0.8.4

Sep 11, 2019 1:33 AM by Accelerator48

God bless Tachiyomi

Sep 11, 2019 1:25 AM by Accelerator48

Any other app as good as mangarock? I dont like reading in browser. Pls suggest an app with many sources and as user friendly as mangarock. Thanks

Sep 10, 2019 5:40 PM by Erika___

No worries. There are other sites out there.

Sep 10, 2019 3:34 AM by Magito

@StarManOfAtmora

A manga monopoly doesn't sound bad at all. Manga companies will never be big enough for their ego to afflict them. Manga is easy to pirate, and easy to upload. No DRM, and western governments around the world won't protect them. If a manga company decides to be a piece of shit, immediate backfire. This isn't a case where a company needs to have competition to behave, this is a case where a company needs to behave to even have an audience, otherwise what's stopping us again from just pirating the thing? Of course, this only works outside of Japan, this is a shit idea in Japan because you need different publishers to be competitive, but from outside sources where Manga isn't catered for western culture, we need a centralized platform to get legal manga.

Sep 10, 2019 12:50 AM by Elegade

Kinda sad, cause I loved Manga Rock. But is also a good thing that they will become legal. If they add many manga to their catalog, I will happy pay 5$/month. I hope it won't be like Crunchyroll with only 5 anime /season and available only in some countries

Sep 10, 2019 12:18 AM by joshua10red

irenic said:
what am i supposed to use now?? ;n;

juts use tachiyomi. that's all you need. it's ads free, not aggressive bot generator, and lot of source.

Sep 9, 2019 4:54 PM by Kuma

And I only just discovered this app recently (╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻

Well off to find a different one.

Sep 9, 2019 4:32 PM by Swizze

That's sad. For too many years a global and legal service is needed to read the manga online. In his tweets Takahashi stated that they tried the 5 biggest publishing houses, but then they couldn't find an agreement.

braquiador said:

Kaiser-kun said:
A pirate trying to combat piracy after making profit of it for years. Hmm,okay.

So, just like Fakku and Crunchyroll?

Basically!

Sep 9, 2019 2:33 PM by D8cbeidnd7dne

StarManOfAtmora said:

Elegade said:
Damn those overzealous manga creators. Piracy this, piracy that, how about you tell your publishers to put all manga in one platform instead.

So what you're advocating for is a platform with monopoly of all content? That doesn't sound very good.

There are some people who don't get how a market works. I have seen too many people request for a single streaming website for anime, and I am glad no one's listening to them. Imagine giving literally all media to one single service.

Sep 9, 2019 12:35 PM by The-Ray

what am i supposed to use now?? ;n;

Sep 9, 2019 11:52 AM by rose

Shame. I found some nice but really obscure series there. I don't like "official" sites. Aside from paying for a cat in a bag, they have garbage readers, translations and lineup. Paid translators don't look for interesting manga to translate, they work with bland crap the management picked.

Sep 9, 2019 10:33 AM by Antanaru

Its sad that pirate sites are being shut down but then the artists need to earn money as well. so Im not angry or disappointed as this

Sep 9, 2019 8:47 AM by ccbestgirl1411

StarManOfAtmora said:

Elegade said:
Damn those overzealous manga creators. Piracy this, piracy that, how about you tell your publishers to put all manga in one platform instead.

So what you're advocating for is a platform with monopoly of all content? That doesn't sound very good.

Better than what we have now, which is buying each volume on Book Walker at 10 bucks a pop.

May all the Gods in this universe have mercy on my wallet...

Sep 9, 2019 8:17 AM by removed-user

This is fucking bullshit. Fuck them for being retarded and not understanding piracy. God bless Gabe!

Sep 9, 2019 7:57 AM by Stiff99

Hopefully I can just continue using the app without touching anything

Sep 9, 2019 7:48 AM by 024

You can never stop piracy, the best option is to make content quality enough that people actually want to go out and support it

But no matter how good the app is and its catalogue, the fact that they were charging a subscription fee is pretty sketch as it is

Sep 9, 2019 6:54 AM by Short_Circut

braquiador said:

Kami-Koto said:
Wish them the worst.

But why though?
..

I don't really feel like supporting a bunch of dudes who made money for years by taking free scanlations made by fans or actual publishers and hosting them on their website and now that the jig is up are trying to take the moral high ground. It's the most hypocritical bullshit I've seen in a while, but fortunately I don't think there's any way they will ever succeed with this.

Sep 9, 2019 6:50 AM by Kami-Koto

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