This story is being continuously updated….new updates are being added at the bottom…..
Original story (from September 03) follows:
A well-known manga piracy site Manga Rock announced through the J-Cast news website that they are shutting down after almost a decade of operation.
According to Not a Basement Studio, a subsidiary to a technology company Noizer Limited who manages the scanlation website, Manga Rock launched in 2010. A group of college students started it as a project, gathering scanlations that were already released.
The popularity of the site increased over the years to the point where they launched their own app, charging customers with $4.99 monthly subscription. As people continued to patronage the site and the app, it is clear that their customers had no idea that the scanlation site was illegal.
During their announcement, the company stated:
Manga industry supporters tweeted their disapproval of scanlation websites saying these are illegal and must not be supported. @daleydonuts expressed in a tweet that there is no need for scanlation websites to see latest episodes of manga since they are available at Shonen Jump and Manga Plus apps for FREE. Shonen Jump and Manga Plus are available in Google Play and App Store.
Currently the website for Manga Rock is inaccessible for a lot of users, while the app is still up and running. But we should see it shutting down too in the coming days. Readers are now taking to discussion platforms like Reddit to know about the available alternatives.
Update 1 (Sept 05)
Manga Rock app has been taken down from Google Play Store, however, it’s still available on the App Store (as of writing). The cached version shows the listing was available, but now it has been taken down for reasons unknown.
According to J-Cast news, Not A Basement Studio shared the following info with them over this development:
Update 2 (Sept 06)
Manga Rock team announces a new platform, apologizes as well as explains everything about the shut down. Complete story here. Feature image credits:Viz Media/ Funimation
Update 3 (Feb 13)
Manga Rock officially dead as reading scanlations are no longer possible. Complete coverage here.
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Update 4 (April 22, 2020)
Alternatives for Manga Rock such as Mangazone and Mangadex rise. Head here for more details.
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