What happened to Asura Scans? Explained
There are some big changes going on at Asura Scans, one of the biggest scantalation sites on the internet. The biggest change? As of the writing of this article, the site is down. What does this mean for Asura Scans and the asura fans? Read on.
Reddit, as usual, has the answer.
Reddit user RoiHurlemort posted a letter from Asura Scans on r/manhwa subreddit. According to the letter, the eponymously named founder and leader of the site Asura has decided to step down from their position as leader of Asurascans.com. The letter citied “future legal concerns” as the reason. When you run one of the biggest scantalation websites around, legal concerns are something that you have to take into account.
Why legal concerns? It’s in the name. “Scantalation” is a portmanteau of “scan” and “translation”. Scantalations is the process of scanning, editing, and translating a comic from one language to another, almost always without the copyright holder’s position. The process is performed by amateur fans, usually in groups, and Asura Scans was one of the big ones. Smaller operations might not get noticed by the holders of the copyright, but considering the open reddit letter referenced the “millions of readers around the world” who visit the site, it’s likely that one or multiple copyright owners threatened legal action against the site. Legal action that the leader Asura was not prepared to become embroiled in.
According to the letter, leaderdership of Asura Scans has passed on to a member known at Kita. The writers of the letter acknowledge that Kita “has been a crucial part of our team and has the abilities and commitment required to steer Asura Scans into the future”. It sounds like Asura Scans is in good Asura Hands.
At least, in theory. If the website ever comes back.
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