But Greg, there's no way Sanji's role in this arc will be something like baking a cake!
Greg: Teacher of SUPER " OP " course !
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Greg what character are you most excited to see re-enter the story? For me it would have to be Crocodile, can’t wait to see him again, I want to know his past, his secret, how he got his wounds, and would love if he becomes an untrustworthy ally who your always afraid will stab you in the back
After that it would have to be Gecko Moria, although I’m sad he didn’t get into shape during the time skip
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Assuming that Who's Who is actually his opponent and not a switcheroo ( I believe that's the case, especially with Robin and Brook on the way) then I wouldn't think too much of that comment. Jinbe was a Warlord, part of the three great powers. Many people have seen him at some point, especially anyone in the Marine/Pirate bizz. It was an opportunity for Jinbo to set priorities right - he's a commander of a Pirate King and not a mere Warlord anymore.
However, if Who's Who is Jinbe's fight of the arc and his secret identity is a big thing + Oda wants to impress/reward his attentive readers, then Rear Admiral Kadar could be an option. He looks a lot like Who's Who, at least his defining features are there (thicker lips + glasses). His only role in the story was being beaten by Fisher Tiger because he demanded the liberated slaves back, but him being an Ex-Marine could also conveniently explain why he had X-Drake on the radar.
The timeline is not a problem either, he would have been 23 at the time he got his ass kicked (it was 15 years ago, Who's Who is 38 today).
Of course, this is also a great option:
Basically Jinbe's polite version of "I don't remember the face of every insect I crush" (Mihawk)
Jesus where did you pull that one out…
If it ties to the Fisher Tiger Otohime flashback, would be great. -
I think we're ignoring a more obvious candidate for Who's Who's identity:
They both cover their faces, have a similar mouth and share a feline theme. Who's who hangs out in a cat's cafe and this guy literally wears a (leopard?) skin as a hood. And he is known to have ties to Kaidou.
Plus, according to the wiki, he is secretly a D.
!
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But Greg, there's no way Sanji's role in this arc will be something like baking a cake!
About the cake, sanji and BM have yet to meet after that, BM may still think that only pudding made it.
Since there is honor even among pirates, would this count as a favour. And when will sanji collect.
It's same how BM said that kaidou has a lifetime debt, because she gave him the fish fruit.
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Greg are all the ninjas in Wano based off the seven lucky gods?
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Greg never answered me ;-(
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Greg are all the ninjas in Wano based off the seven lucky gods?
Let's run it down together. :)
Fukurokuju = Has the exact name as one of the Seven Lucky Gods (complete with huge head)
Daikoku (The one with a horned helmet) = Named after Daikokuten of the Seven Lucky Gods
Fujin (The guy also with a helmet, but with big eyebrows) = The same name as the Buddhist wind deity.
Raijin (The guy wearing a mask with a smiley face on it) = The same name as the Buddhist thunder deity.
Hanzo (The fat, masked one) = Named after ninja Hattori Hanzo.
Chome (The girl who kinda looks like Carrot) = Named after kunoichi Mochizuki Chiyome
Jigoku Benten (The other girl with the shamisen) = Jigoku is the Japanese word for "Hell". Benten is a Japanese Buddist deity of arts
Bishamon (The fat guy with mustache) = Both the name of one of the Seven Lucky Gods, and also one of the Four Heavenly Kings
Yazaemon (The mummy-looking one) = Named after ninja Kido Yazaemon
Kazekage (The guy with a scroll in his mouth) = Not named after any diety or ninja. Just means "Wind Shadow".
Sarutobi (The masked one with the teeth on it) = Named after ninja Sarutobi Sasuke.
In addition, the leader of the Mimawarigumi, Hotei, is also named after another of the Seven Lucky Gods.
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@Johnny:
Let's run it down together. :)
Fukurokuju = Has the exact name as one of the Seven Lucky Gods (complete with huge head)
Daikoku (The one with a horned helmet) = Named after Daikokuten of the Seven Lucky Gods
Fujin (The guy also with a helmet, but with big eyebrows) = The same name as the Buddhist wind deity.
Raijin (The guy wearing a mask with a smiley face on it) = The same name as the Buddhist thunder deity.
Hanzo (The fat, masked one) = Named after ninja Hattori Hanzo.
Chome (The girl who kinda looks like Carrot) = Named after kunoichi Mochizuki Chiyome
Jigoku Benten (The other girl with the shamisen) = Jigoku is the Japanese word for "Hell". Benten is a Japanese Buddist deity of arts
Bishamon (The fat guy with mustache) = Both the name of one of the Seven Lucky Gods, and also one of the Four Heavenly Kings
Yazaemon (The mummy-looking one) = Named after ninja Kido Yazaemon
Kazekage (The guy with a scroll in his mouth) = Not named after any diety or ninja. Just means "Wind Shadow".
Sarutobi (The masked one with the teeth on it) = Named after ninja Sarutobi Sasuke.
In addition, the leader of the Mimawarigumi, Hotei, is also named after another of the Seven Lucky Gods.
Thank you! This is exactly what I was looking for!
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It's Foxy. Foxy is the one Oda doesn't care about. He had anime filler almost immediately after his first appearance and is pretty much the only pre-timeskip enemy to not get a cover story. (Aside from Kuro and Krieg. Krieg and gin though seem promised for later, and Kuro got his 10 second broken cameo in the anime specifically approved.)
I always assumed Foxy'd be absorbed into Buggy's crew over the time skip and eventually Buggy would have a full set of one time C-stringer enemies, especially after adding Mr. 3, but that never really happened and now the warlords are broken, so…
I totally can see that, but I do hope the concept of the Davy Back Fight or Davy Jones does come back around in some way shape or form. It doesn’t have to and just be a fun World building thing, but a Pirate Bound law to have crewmates join other crews?
Probably me having another case of “here’s how I’d write things”, especially since Luffy’s probably too smart now to ever accept such a challenge now, nor can I see someone like Robin “accept” Pirate law like that, but what better way to “capture” her?
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Final battle in Laughtale is Luffy wining the DBF vs Blackbeard pirates, and wins Blackbeard as the new chopper.
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Knowing Luffy, he would prefer a weirdo like Vasco or Wolf.
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So, chapter 1000 was fantastic. Beyond just what it contained, as an experience. Reading this chapter is something I’ve imagined many many times in the past, and it really lived up to my expectations for it. This series has left a profound impact on my life, and I’m sure many of you here can say the same. Looking at how far this series has come… it’s really something special isn’t it? I hope everyone here had a positive experience with chapter 1000, and here’s to the next however many chapters are left. Cheers y’all
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Let’s talk dragons: like in Pokémon:
Triceratops, pachicephalosaurus, brachiosaurus, pteranodon, spinosaurus, allosaurus: Dragons
An actual eastern dragon: not a dragon, but a fish.
I guess the distinction is that dinosaurs existed, and still exist in little garden, while the mythical fruits (Buddha, kitsune, Phoenix and now eastern dragon) didn’t, and that the know western dragons going around could be the base form of the dragon fruit (as in model nothing)
Speaking of the other mythical, people are jumping to the conclusion that Kaido started as a carp/koi, but that makes not much sense because:
1- momo, a much weaker user of the same fruit (likely) could transform to full dragon from the beginning
2- there is no indication that sengoku started as a haughty prince, katerina as a resentful single tailed fox, or Marco as a pile of ashes or a regular bird before becoming their actual mythical forms, even when those legend, or most of them, include the transformation from the mundane to the supernatural as well.
There are three conspicuously absent zoans now: lion, plain dragon and tyrannosaurus.
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Greg, toki said there were nine shadows that would take down Kaido, so far we have five characters there for the fight, do you have any guesses as to who the last four are?
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Big mom, zeus, prometeus and napoleon.
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Hawkins, Apoo, Drake and Caribou [Super Rookies ftw]
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Greg, toki said there were nine shadows that would take down Kaido, so far we have five characters there for the fight, do you have any guesses as to who the last four are?
I mean, she just said there are nine shadows, anything outside of that is ultimately conjecture even if it makes sense to interpret it that way
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Welp, act 3 surely is taking its time..
I don't know, I'm starting to feel like Greg was right all along, there no longer any reason for a "great tragedy" now that none of the Scabbards are up there, and I mean, who's gonna get sad in the entire universe if Kidd gets killed??
What I mean is, there's isn't even a setup for a tragedy anymore, we wouldn't even felt it for most of the Scabbards really, it had to be Kin'emon only, since it's the only one we all would have cried for, that was the "Freezer kills Krillin, so Goku goes super saiyan" moment, and it's gone. pooff!
It seems like this 5 vs 2 is goint to stick for a while, and act 3 is already over 40+ chaps, so maybe, is actually going to last until the very end of the arc apparently(?)
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It seems like this 5 vs 2 is goint to stick for a while, and act 3 is already over 40+ chaps, so maybe, is actually going to last until the very end of the arc apparently(?)
Great tragedy doesn't seem to be getting any closer indeed, however there are still so many threads dangling that a single battle act could get quite crowded.
- For all the hype in chapter 1000 I don't believe the 5 Supernovas are going to be enough if the 9 Scabbards couldn't inflict any serious damage on Kaido alone. There are 2 emperors up on that roof and 3 Calamities who will want to barge in sooner or later, so it seems to me that extra help must come eventually. Can be the other Straw Hats, can be Drake, can be Yamato, anyone really, but this fight ain't wrapping up anytime soon.
- Orochi can't not make a come back at the worst possible moment, possibly after Kaido has fallen and everyone's too tired to so much as lift a finger. He could also turn against Kaido in an attempt for revenge, but he seems beyond redemption so I won't be surprised if he tries to destroy Wano until his very last breath.
- Inevitable ticking bomb of (crash-)landing Onigashima
- Plus whatever surprise Oda has in store. Marines, Shanks, Weevil…Lotsa people could still join the show
I'm fine with either way
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RE: Greg’s recent tweets. So, if I’m not mistaken, this applies to scanlations and leaks as well as youtubers who use manga panels? If shuiesha is really gonna crack down on these things it absolutely is a win for fans, who read the official release at least, but I also am a little confused as to why shueisha can strike down videos using their material that clearly fall under fair use. Is there something I’m missing? Either way, if this leads to the end of leaks I’m all aboard, because that makes for a better reading experience for many. Youtubers can adjust how they make content, whether it’s inconvenient or not, but readers can’t adjust their reading experience to accommodate for being spoiled about stuff they’d have rather read on their own terms.
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I don't know too much of what's going on, but it seems that Shueisha is striking anyone sharing any content Shueisha owns, like picture (not only leaks) and gifs or whatever… which I believe is a breach of fair use, but also it's kinda dumb and will impact the community that helps promoting and socializing their brands.
Hope I'm misunderstanding something.
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but I also am a little confused as to why shueisha can strike down videos using their material that clearly fall under fair use.
Youtuber's idea of fair use is different than the law's idea of fair use.
Its why parody/reviewer sites like Todd in the Shadows and SFDebris and Team Four Star run into trouble. They may be transforming/reviewing a work, but they're still throwing in tons of actual footage and sound clips which on the whole can be problematic for the copyright holders… at least to the degree that a bot scanning for things is going to flag it.
Yes if you get an actual human looking at it, they might well agree "yeah, this is transformative and fair" but mostly the thousands of daily flags are automated and no human ever sees them.
This is also why the shueisha bot snagged a couple of actual on-the-payroll official artists.
It's almost certainly a third party service taking care of the bot filtering, and they're probably going to tone down the settings a smidge pretty quickly since its hitting super hard right now.
but readers can’t adjust their reading experience to accommodate for being spoiled about stuff they’d have rather read on their own terms.
And yet people were posting One Piece 1000 tags and posting full pages and spoilers weeks before the official chapter came out. That's… not great.
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Thanks for the insight! I was misunderstanding. Yes, it’s absolutely frustrating that people were posting spoilers for 1000, just as they do every chapter. That’s what I’m saying. If what shueisha is doing right now prevents or even limits the amount stuff like this is shared, I believe it’s a good thing. As an official release reader, being spoiled by some doofus who just wants to ruin my fun is my least favourite part of being online. It’s the reason I’ve deactivated many social media accounts. Like I was saying, if I get spoiled I can’t accommodate for that during my actual reading experience. I’ll still know the details, but youtubers could simply not use panels from the manga (like Greg has been saying for so long)
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Thanks for the insight! I was misunderstanding. Yes, it’s absolutely frustrating that people were posting spoilers for 1000, just as they do every chapter. That’s what I’m saying. If what shueisha is doing right now prevents or even limits the amount stuff like this is shared, I believe it’s a good thing. As an official release reader, being spoiled by some doofus who just wants to ruin my fun is my least favourite part of being online. It’s the reason I’ve deactivated many social media accounts. Like I was saying, if I get spoiled I can’t accommodate for that during my actual reading experience. I’ll still know the details, but youtubers could simply not use panels from the manga (like Greg has been saying for so long)
I feel bad if any youtuber used footage/images, but waited until after the official release, but for anyone who didn't, eh. Since Viz and Mangaplus made it so easy to follow the official release, they should have waited.
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I'm going to disagree here.
In order to protect your copyright from piracy, you're not entitled to just randomly hit people who are under the right of fair use just because your bots are programmed in a stupid manner. The same principle (of not damaging those who did no wrong) is true for any area of law with very few exceptions. You either make your bots 99% perfect or remove them.
You could say that today's episode is just a one-time thing, but if Youtube has taught me anything is that this kinda of abuse by big corporations just keep repeating with no discrimination because these corporations have the resources to tire their victims and they're never punished. Both in the anime and music communities, content creators who are not pirating content keep having their videos flagged despite fair use, which is dumb and harmful to their work… but, hey, Universal and Shueisha have their asses covered, so they don't care.
Obviously we can discuss the law itself, but this is a little complicated since this is an international affair and a lot of nuance changes from country to country in regards to legislation. Anyway, I went to law school and know something of theory (obviously, this is not an unanimous subject matter), and I think the way big corporations have been handling copyright in the internet age is messed up, retrograde, greedy and an abuse of law in bad faith.
What's ironic is that it's not even a smart move.
Once again, I'll repeat that I hope I'm misunderstanding the situation.
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I'm going to disagree here.
In order to protect your copyright from piracy, you're not entitled to just randomly hit people who are under the right of fair use just because your bots are programmed in a stupid manner. The same principle (of not damaging those who did no wrong) is true for any area of law with very few exceptions. You either make your bots 99% perfect or remove them.
You could say that today's episode is just a one-time thing, but if Youtube has taught me anything is that this kinda of abuse by big corporations just keep repeating with no discrimination because these corporations have the resources to tire their victims and they're never punished. Both in the anime and music communities, content creators who are not pirating content keep having their videos flagged despite fair use, which is dumb and harmful to their work… but, hey, Universal and Shueisha have their asses covered, so they don't care.
Obviously we can discuss the law itself, but this is a little complicated since this is an international affair and a lot of nuance changes from country to country in regards to legislation. Anyway, I went to law school and know something of theory (obviously, this is not an unanimous subject matter), and I think the way big corporations have been handling copyright in the internet age is messed up, retrograde, greedy and an abuse of law in bad faith.
What's ironic is that it's not even a smart move.
Once again, I'll repeat that I hope I'm misunderstanding the situation.
From your law school perspective, how do you feel about the use of early scans and images before an official release of a product?
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more evidence that copyright as it is now must be destroyed
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So now they're going from targeting platforms to targeting individuals?
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I can comment on this in somewhat vague terms.
If you'd appreciate that, I'd be happy to do so as well as explain why, beyond gifs, this is really no different from how it's been for years.
However, I reiterate that I can only comment in vague terms and you will not get full satisfactory explanations for every question you have. If we can agree on those terms, I'll break down what I can
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I feel bad if any youtuber used footage/images, but waited until after the official release, but for anyone who didn't, eh. Since Viz and Mangaplus made it so easy to follow the official release, they should have waited.
yup! It’s complicated, and I won’t even pretend I understand it to the fullest extent. I have absolutely no sympathy for youtubers who actively promote these leaks, and use images from said leaks being issued DMCAs and whatnot. At the end of the day it’s far out of our control and whether it puts a stick in my, and others, craw or not, spending extended amounts of time discussing and raging online (like I have seen many people on YouTube do) is a pointless waste of time.
–- Update From New Post Merge ---
I can comment on this in somewhat vague terms.
If you'd appreciate that, I'd be happy to do so as well as explain why, beyond gifs, this is really no different from how it's been for years.
However, I reiterate that I can only comment in vague terms and you will not get full satisfactory explanations for every question you have. If we can agree on those terms, I'll break down what I can
I’m very interested in what you have to say, even if only in vague terms.
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Final battle in Laughtale is Luffy wining the DBF vs Blackbeard pirates, and wins Blackbeard as the new chopper.
I think we can both agree that only Dox Q's horse can be the new Chopper.
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From your law school perspective, how do you feel about the use of early scans and images before an official release of a product?
If you're asking me strictly about piracy, it's obviously illegal. Leaking scans before (or after) the official release is piracy according to my understandment of the law and its common practice, and perhaps the most harmful type. So any company will always have the moral right to fight against it. (If you're asking me about my feelings though, I don't hate piracy, and it's important to acknowledge that certain industries only became super popular in the west because of piracy.)
That said, there's some nuance. While sharing the chapter before or after the official release for others to consume is piracy… what if I post a single page of the chapter (after release) on twitter saying that I love it? Is this piracy or fair use? What if I make a fanart? Is this piracy or fair use? What if my profile pic is an anime character? Is this piracy or fair use?
All these questions are trickier and I'd define those actions as fair use, and there's room for this interpretation in the law, at least where I live, especially considering the current role of culture in our lives and how normal people behave and socialize with their favorite series and artists. However, since those things are still very ambiguous in the face of law, what companies do is just strike anything to protect their copyright.
That's what happened today as far as I know. Fanarts, profile pics, gifs and a lot of other stuff were blocked on twitter.
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If you're asking me strictly about piracy, it's obviously illegal. Leaking scans before (or after) the official release is piracy according to my understandment of the law and its common practice, and perhaps the most harmful type. So any company will always have the moral right to fight against it. (If you're asking me about my feelings though, I don't hate piracy, and it's important to acknowledge that certain industries only became super popular in the west because of piracy.)
That said, there's some nuance. While sharing the chapter before or after the official release for others to consume is piracy… what if I post a single page of the chapter (after release) on twitter saying that I love it? Is this piracy or fair use? What if I make a fanart? Is this piracy or fair use? What if my profile pic is an anime character? Is this piracy or fair use?
All these questions are trickier and I'd define those actions as fair use, and there's room for this interpretation in the law, at least where I live, especially considering the current role of culture in our lives and how normal people behave and socialize with their favorite series and artists. However, since those things are still very ambiguous in the face of law, what companies do is just strike anything to protect their copyright.
That's what happened today as far as I know. Fanarts, profile pics, gifs and a lot of other stuff were blocked on twitter.
I would agree with you from an ethical standpoint, that after the chapter is posted, sharing most things, from pictures, to pages, to especially fanart, seems to be ethically fine. For me though, ethically, I think at this point when Viz and Shueisha have made manga so easy to access, scanlation sites and content creators should be waiting until that release, if not for the sake of the publishers, than for those who follow the official route and want to join in on the conversation. Conversations about most manga these days start when spoilers release and end when the next one comes out, often leaving those who wait for the official release schedule out of the equation.
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This seems very short sighted and petty of them.
I don't really envy Greg right now, having to try to explain how this is 'great, actually'. But I am interested to hear what is the corporation's angle!
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Oh noes, does this mean they will be coming after me and my toon-Jabra?
Will you guys rat me out or can I hide in Wolfwood's attic? :unsure:
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Wolfwood's attic sounds like a modern classic in the making. A tale of internet pirates huddled together in a dusty attic, reminiscing about the good old days, laughing, loving and living as much as they can before the corporations inevitably find them. Just needs a good tagline and it's sold
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Wolfwood's Attic: Arlong Park's Top Floor
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I can comment on this in somewhat vague terms.
If you'd appreciate that, I'd be happy to do so as well as explain why, beyond gifs, this is really no different from how it's been for years.
However, I reiterate that I can only comment in vague terms and you will not get full satisfactory explanations for every question you have. If we can agree on those terms, I'll break down what I can
If we haven't all given that impression, I'll speak on behalf of many in saying we definitely are interested in the explanation.
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Wow, you can even get strike for posting your own One Piece fan art now:wassat:
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Right, so let's begin. No doubt some readers will be coming here just to read this post so I'll add the caveat from before.
This does not include the entire story. There is key information missing that frames this in a very different light. It's not my place to bring that forward and you won't find that answer here so if that's all you want, please stop reading, this will be a waste of your time.
If you're looking for a perspective from someone who has some insight into the situation, a review of standards, and most importantly, how you can protect yourself, reading this may be beneficial.
Let's address the most important aspect first since in some cases, it means people's livelihoods…
Fanart
Any attack on 100% original fanart that is clearly distinguishable from the original material and isn't being presented to the public on a level that damages the source, is wrong and should be fought.If such strikes are being made, I would love to be made aware of them and bring them to Shueisha's attention as evidence of how damaging these attacks can be if they're automated or carried out manually without proper research.
However, as of writing this, I haven't been made aware of any fanart strike that's occurred against a piece of 100% original distinguishable work. Nor has one been presented to me despite asking for one among artist friends and on Twitter. One popular fan source claims to have located a source where that has occurred but they rejected my request to know their identity and offer help in pleading their case to Shueisha. If they're looking to help the individual ASAP I'm not sure why they wouldn't tell me so I remain suspicious. If you know of any such case, I would love to know because those cases should be treated extremely seriously.
I've heard of the case of a Dragon Ball artist who apparently has (apparently?) done some level of official artwork and received a strike resulting in a (temporary?) account lock.
I have a few questions about this case. I'm asking because I don't know the answers. None of these are presented in an accusatory manner:
To what extent and in what way was their account locked? I saw a tweet from them commenting on the matter that came post-strike. Was that from a sub acct?
What material of the artist was the offending material?
Can it be linked to leaked material?
Was it official artwork or did it contain official artwork?
Could it be easily confused for official artwork?
Protecting Your Monetized or Viral Fanart For monetized fanart, the rule is a simple one. Avoid making monetized fanart that may be easily mistaken for the source material. This is especially true for tracing but extends to artwork that is extremely close to the original artist's style. This kind of artwork is not usually a problem. However, it can become a problem when the artist monetizes their work, gains recognition specifically for said monetized work, and attempts to thin the line between their work and the original artwork.
This is why doujins are so strictly self-policed in Japan.
From this particular fandom, I'd present the case of OP artist Ponio whose work is just barely distinguishable from Oda's. Originally he was well-accepted by the community and even Oda, appearing frequently in the SBS artwork headers. He eventually started publishing his own books and that was fine until he titled them, "Ponio's One Piece". His artwork was already well-known, his artwork was very close to Oda's, and now he was borrowing the name. He was instantly cut from the fandom due to doujin self-policing and (to my knowledge) has not appeared in the volumes since.
I'm not saying what's right or wrong. That's not my job. What I'm saying is, if you want your fanart to be monetized, the safest way to do so, is to make sure it's easily distinguishable from the source.
As far as non-monetized artwork that is completely original and indistinguishable, you're likely safe from any such strikes but the fact remains that you are taking a risk by having it out there. A very small risk. But a risk that exists. This has always been the case, always will be the case, and the vast majority of the time, publishers happily look the other way because their property isn't being affected and fans are just expressing love.
"Why is This Happening?"
I can't answer that question and I know just one part of the answer. That partial answer is an awesome one. One that could potentially give creators a level of breathing room they haven't been ale to experience before. That might seem easy to scoff at right now, especially reading reactions that are making the situation sound far more dire than it is in the overwhelming majority of cases, (ie. original, distinguishable fanart being stricken vs official artwork/scans). I won't bother asking for patience from fans because that's a very difficult thing to ask for when things look bleak. Although, as someone who knows what's (partially) motivating this action, fans are closer than ever to having unprecedented levels of interaction with official sources….if they can help make it so by reading the room.
Some of the angriest voices out there don't realize just how (incredibly) close they are to being legitimized, if only they could follow some standard practices. The kind I've been suggesting to people for years now.
What's more, this is not a dead conversation at the powers that be. I don't know which way it will sway but there are some remarkable freedoms that might be afforded to fans in the very near future. The reaction to this might be credited for it, but that's not the case. These are things that have long been in motion.
Apologies for the vagueness, but I did mention it would be so. Your frustration is valid and I empathize with it.
What's the Target? I've seen some posts remarking on how material unrelated to Ch1000 weren't affected. Content being Ch.1000 or otherwise doesn't have much to do with this.
Here's what's an easy target:1. Full-page source material (chapters and ads):
This is the number one culprit that is inexcusable on any level. Just because people have gotten away with it for years, doesn't mean they've been in the right or that Shueisha hasn't been watching. I know a very cool legal-only follower who RTd a full-page scan and got hit. Yes. That will happen. This is why I've suggested that following scan leakers and RTing their material is not a safe practice and the publishing side is sending out that message.
2. Clean panels
Users often run to 'fair use'. Fair use has some very vague definitions and the rights holder will almost always have the advantage in that argument when push comes to shove. Just because 'people do it' doesn't mean it's acceptable from the business side. When one posts on social media, they take that risk. I take that risk. Clean panels are not, and have never been safe to post. Any amount of wanting them to be such will not change that until there's a policy change. And that very well may happen someday. If you didn't know it before, now you do. If you think its unfair because you're expressing love or creating a dialogue, I empathize with that feeling and further below I'll discuss how you can continue to express that love or have those conversations is a somewhat safer manner.
3. Anime
As possible, don't use it. Toei is nothing if not unpredictable. I do not know their policies but they're swift and harsh when they want to be. If you post their work and get hit, you can't say you weren't warned now.
4. Gifs
This is where things get really scary. Gifs are easily accessible through official applications and so it can be easy to use something that turns out to be troublesome. I have no idea how they work and so I can't offer any advice. For me, I don't think there's a big enough risk associated with sparing use so I mat use them in non-monetized work but I understand that I'm not free from any repercussions that may come from that.
?. Fanart
So is anyone deliberately hunting fanart? Unless it's described as I mentioned above, no, I don't think so. If someone is affected by it who does fit the above description of 'safe' fanart, it's likely the result of bot error or human error and should be appealed immediately. I do not think anyone at Shueisha would willfully target fanart that is original, distinguishable from the source, and isn't damaging the series. All cases of unfair fanart strikes must be brought to their attention ASAP.
"How Can I Protect Myself?"
If you want to be 100% free from any threat of strike EVER….don't post source panels of any kind.
But that doesn't work, does it? Nor is it the publisher's intent to cease all harmless expressions of love or conversations. But if they want to, they can. They just can. But as you've seen for a long time now, the majority of the time they do not. ….but they can.
So what's a fan to do? Pretty easy.
When you post panels (which I myself will continue to do) you can attempt to avoid strikes by:
1. Taking off-screen/angled pictures instead of screenshots.
2. Altering the color/contrast severely with filters.
3. Significant cropping.
4. Use of stickers.These do not and will not guarantee any post will be free from a strike, but it will likely avoid bot detection and a clear-thinking manual worker may be forgiving if it cannot be easily replicated and thereby mistaken for the original material.
These are the practices I often use and have for years.
"Is there anything safe to use?" Yes.
Manga covers, JUMP covers, and (for the most part) color works that are spread via mass media such as banners, posters, and special events where filming is allowed are safe to use.*
*posters, banners, etc. are generally safe in their public form. In other words, because a color spread was on a poster, doesn't mean that color spread itself is safe to use.
Sorry if I missed something.Stay safe and (where needed) fight for original fanart! I'm happy to lend a hand there.
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Thanks for your insight Greg, it’s very interesting to read. One thing that instantly came to mind when you said “legitimize” was the recent buster call exhibition (not sure if that’s still going on or not). To me, the whole buster call thing felt like official sources were proudly sharing fan art from around the world. One thing very noticeable about that was the many different art styles present, none of which as far as I can recall looked anything like Oda’s. It seemed weird to me that fan art would be taken down knowing this, and I’m always hesitant to jump to conclusions about what is or isn’t happening in regards to anything, so I didn’t. “Unprecedented levels of interaction with official sources” is reassuring, and I’m very curious as to what exactly that means. Bot detection and auto flagging, things of that sort, are tricky because it’s never going to be perfect. It’s also a lot of work if someone were to do it manually. I’m not gonna pretend I know the answers to everything, I just think a lot of people are too eager to point fingers and blow things out of proportion.
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4. Gifs
This is where things get really scary. Gifs are easily accessible through official applications and so it can be easy to use something that turns out to be troublesome. I have no idea how they work and so I can't offer any advice. For me, I don't think there's a big enough risk associated with sparing use so I mat use them in non-monetized work but I understand that I'm not free from any repercussions that may come from that.
The new law that went into effect January 1st actually allowed the use of gifs though?
From Crunchyroll:
The new laws include provisions for “minor offenses” and “special instances” such as education, news purposes, small clips for social media networks (gifs), unintentional capture (such as when taking a screenshot, or taking a picture), parody, and minor uses of frames from a manga or lines out of a book "where it is recognized that [the use] does not unduly harm the interests of the copyright holder." -
Greg, any way you can provide a definition of "clean panels"? Want to get a sense of this :)
Also. Has Oda ever confirmed that the Yomi Yomi no Mi has not re-entered circulation, or is that just what fans have assumed?
If not… then I think we know Rocks' DF.
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The new law that went into effect January 1st actually allowed the use of gifs though?
I see a good number of people talking about the law. I don't know that this does or doesn't have anything to do with that. I know about a different force behind.
One that's not interested in the letter of the law half as much as it is making an atmosphere as such that I described above.
As far as the legality of gifs, I have zero idea which is why I don't want to suggest anything about them and their safety.
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I know you’re typically in the dark when it comes to this Greg, but seeing as how it’s related to chapter 1000 which is a big deal… any idea when your next column is gonna be out?
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That's a more comprehensive post than I was expecting.
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As much as I shrugs understand from the corporate point I just don't like those rigorous copyright laws, it always gives me the Ulrich and Record Companies vs Napster vibes imo, or basically Disney enforcing their copyrights left and right.
But i'm interested in your talk about a certain degree of legitimization, would it be for content creators or only fan artists? -
Good to see that some misunderstandings are being cleared, especially in regards to fanarts. (although even Greg is not completely sure about what happened today).
In any case, the entire "What's The Target?" section is very dubious to me as a whole from a legal point of view. As I said before, this is a difficult topic because legislation is different in different countries. Besides, in this case, it's even hard to know from which country is the applicable law in case someone wants to go to the Judiciary against Shueisha. For instance, if I, from Brazil, publish a manga page in my Twitter account, which legislation applies to me, brazilian or japanese? Not an easy answer. Anyway, in case someone is wondering, I personally don't use my twitter account to tweet and I only talk in forums, so I'm not afraid for myself because my life has nothing to with it.The complications of international law apart, I'll explain my point of view in regards to copyright. As Greg said, there's some vagueness in the meaning of fair use and I'm not completely sure what's the main jurisprudence in most countries (Japan and the west as whole). However, I believe in most countries there's copyright legislation that reads something like this just like the brazilian copyright law (which I'm sharing because it's the one I know best):
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_"Brazil - Law No. 9,610 from 1998 - Copyright Law.
Article 46. It doesn't constitute offense to copyright:
[…]
VIII - the reproduction, in any work, of a small fraction of pre-existing works, of any nature, or the integral reproduction of a work of visual arts, whenever the reproduction itself is not the main goal of the new work and if it doesn't disturb the normal exploration of the reproduced work or cause unjustifiable loss to the legitimate interests of the authors."_ -//-As you can see, this item of the article is considering the case that someone is publishing a new work of his own authorship and including sections of pre-existing works from other authors… which is something even more relevant from a business perspective than common people sharing images via the internet, privately or publicly, as part of their daily lives. What we can use from this article, which is something we can learn from theory too, is that any offense to copyright needs to disturb the normal exploration of the reproduced work or cause unjustifiable loss to the legitimate interests of the authors. This is the case, for example, of real piracy like unofficial scans of the chapter that are released weekly. However, it's hard to argue that people sharing online random full-pages from the source material, or clean panels, or anime clips, or gifs, etc, be it on Twitter or any other social media, does any harm, economical loss or trouble to Shueisha. Therefore, legally I don't see those practices as an offense to copyright.
I don't know much about the japanese copyright law, but the link Cruchyroll's article provided by member Boboyo in this thread* shows something very similar to the brazilian law. I quote, "The new laws include provisions for 'minor offenses' and 'special instances' such as education, new purposes, small clips for social media networks (gifs), unintentional capture (such as when taking a screenshot or taking a picture), parody, or minor uses of frames or lines out of a book 'where it is recognized that [the use] does not unduly harm the interests of the copyright holder.'"
In my opinion, without more knowledge of the japanese law (as I don't speak the language), these special instances should also apply to people sharing copyrighted content on social media of all the things Shueisha is considering illegal use of their copyrighted content.
Besides that, as mentioned, there are many other points that also don't constitute offense to copyright, like the use of material for educational purposes and other types of obvious fair use. So how is Shueisha verifying if someone is not using the full-pages from source material, clean panels, gifs, etc, for any of those special cases besides the normal daily use that I mentioned above? The answer is that Shueisha probably doesn't look this deep because they're probably using bots.
What big companies do is claim their copyright whenever able because that's easier and because they're control freaks. Unfortunately, people don't have the means or the time to fight back, ot to go to court, or to do anything at all about it, so the companies just don't bother with the possibility of backlash because they have no incentives to be ethical and lawful.
At last, as a more general opinion besides the japanese law, I'd like to say that most of these copyright laws were redacted before the internet was a thing, much less social media. In the past, a normal person would only share this kind of stuff with their friends privately, personally and physically, and that was not illegal. Nowadays, we do those same things via the internet. So while most of these copyright laws don't describe scenarios that only exist in our new world of social media interaction, it doesn't mean people are without protection from copyright abuse from companies. The principles and constitutional rights of copyright law shouldn't restrict common people from communicating and socializing their passion for art and culture, after all this betrays the entire social purpose of art in the first place.
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smart stuff.
From a perspective of someone completely uneducated on the law, it seems like places such as twitter would be more like public events or spaces, at which, as I understand , one typically has to get a license in order to share copyrighted material. A forum seems more like a private space with the doors open. No one's getting a strike for playing Who Let the Dogs out loudly at a house party, but they might come for you if you do so at a mall.