r/OtomeIsekai • u/Purple-Hippo-8961 If Evil, Why Hot? • Jan 29 '26
News Operator of the World’s Largest Manga Piracy Site BATO.TO Criminally Investigated in China
According to Japanese, Korean, and Chinese law enforcements, the dev of bato has been caught in Shanghai and all his stuff related to the website has been seized and investigated. It seems that they intend to use the website to also track other scanlation groups and uploaders in a massive takedown: https://coda-cj.jp/en/news/830/
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u/Forsaken-Carpenter36 Jan 29 '26
I suspected as much. For the person to just disappear without a word these past few months…I thought it had to be they caught him or he was in hiding.
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u/Purple-Hippo-8961 If Evil, Why Hot? Jan 29 '26
They did say operator instead of developer, maybe they just took down a mod or admin?
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u/somethingspecificidk Divine Being Jan 29 '26
Yes, but the dev is the one who has been missing and it seems the dev did all the technical stuff themselves, so they would be the easiest to catch.
The investigators probably got their info from the hosting company and domain registration since those are publicly accessible to see.
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u/anonymous_phoenix123 Jan 30 '26
Its standard practice for piracy sites to use resellers and fake names for everything regarding the site...
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u/Forsaken-Carpenter36 Jan 29 '26
Anyone associated with a significant role on the operation of the site would be liable. It’s why the Discord team decided to disband. I don’t know what happened behind the scenes and how the signs of trouble unfolded for those in the know but the threat of legal fees and criminal indictment is a big deal.
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u/Kwershal Questionable Morals Jan 29 '26
Lol at the "increasing infringement" caused by scanlation teams. The whole reason these exist is because so much shit isn't available in English and other languages? Or the official translation is months or years behind? Sometimes, I'll find series locked behind a paywall with no english release at all, legal or otherwise. Irritating.
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u/lovely-liz Jan 29 '26
I’m honestly surprised the dev/hoster was located in China. It would’ve been way safer to run it from a country with lax or no piracy laws (Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, some Eastern European countries, etc)
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u/SparklyGlitterHenna Jan 29 '26
China doesn't care about pirated foreign stuff. So it seems like he fucked up when he allowed Chinese manhua to be uploaded.
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u/INCREDIBILIS55 Jan 29 '26
I think it was more that large companies submitted formal requests for investigation.
They can’t exactly deny requests to investigate a breach of law, especially from a group of corporations. Though I wish they did.
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u/the_ok_doctor Jan 30 '26
If what ive heard is correct, the intial requests by the companies were not entertained until Tencet(chinese company) realised their stuff was also on Bato aand joined the legal claims and that got the chinese gov to move.
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u/hedonist_777 Jan 30 '26
That’s my understanding from the article too. That the nail in the coffin / kick in the authorities back here was copyright infringement of Chinese manhuas from a Tencent subsidiary. From the article:
“The site employed geoblocking to prevent access from within China, thereby creating the appearance that no infringement was occurring domestically…”
“… to strengthen the effectiveness of anti-piracy measures, CODA sought cooperation from China Literature Limited, a subsidiary of Tencent Holdings and one of China’s largest online literature platforms. China Literature confirmed that its comics had been unlawfully distributed on [The Site], and filed a criminal complaint in coordination with CODA.”
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u/SparklyGlitterHenna Jan 30 '26
Exactly, so the whole time people thought it was because of Korean manhwa but in the end we lost the 🦇 because of Chinese manhua...
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u/hedonist_777 Jan 30 '26
To be fair, the most immediate aftermath announcement was publicly claimed by KK Ent… Someone else mentioned the already pre-existing negative perception of them. And because their team seem to be the loudest in the room of social media, like they’re the frontman / spokesperson for the multi-cooperative&lateral anti-piracy campaign.
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u/SparklyGlitterHenna Jan 31 '26
I didn't mean as criticism. Like you said, we didn't have any other information than Kko proudly claiming responsibility on every public platform in existence, so it's no wonder that we believed them.
I just though that it was ironic that all our assumptions couldn't have been more wrong.
Korean publishers, who we thought were the ruthless destroyers, weren't even mentioned in the article.
Japanese publishers, who we thought didn't care much about digital pirating because they're all about physical sales, actually care very much and have been working very hard behind the scenes to snuff it out.
And Chinese publishers, who weren't even considered as a factor, turned out to be the ones with the power to end it all.
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u/hedonist_777 Jan 31 '26
Yep indeed, and well said. (no worries I didn’t see your response as criticism + I was adding on to your previous response ☺️)
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u/ScreamSmart Jan 30 '26
A few years ago a bunch of Movie/TV sites got taken down because the Vietnamese government did a large scale operation to catch the hosts. So Vietnam isn't safe either.
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u/lucky_husky333 Jan 30 '26
kissasian?
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u/ScreamSmart Jan 30 '26
Not sure if it was affected but it was a good chunk of popular websites that shared same server pool.
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u/lucky_husky333 Jan 30 '26
if it was around 2017-2019, that was the biggest I remember being arrested and sued in Southeast Asia.
However, I hope something like Bato or other similar systems are already in place and have all the necessary backup in case they are compromised, such as preparing the successor of the new operator and maintaining data backups. They can also make the old operator didnt knew the identity of the new operator in any way if they were investigated and interrogated by the authority.
Anyway, I am sure they be back in some year with rebranding or another new site took they places.
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u/Purple-Hippo-8961 If Evil, Why Hot? Jan 30 '26
Same, he had to leap over the great firewall and go through all these loop to keep bato alive, he's a hero we never knew we needed.
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u/Creeper4wwMann Jan 29 '26
Running a piracy website is one thing... making bank is another.
I hope official manga websites are taking notes on how to run a profitable business.
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u/Purple-Hippo-8961 If Evil, Why Hot? Jan 29 '26
They said an official site doubled in sale after the takedown, so fml...
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u/Unhappy-Strain-5387 Jan 29 '26
Just remember to take all numbers mentioned in press releases (not just this one) with a grain of salt - the figures are probably correct in some sense, but they'll put forward the best possible interpretation for whatever they want to prove.
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u/Irrane Horny Jail Jan 29 '26
This! Bato went down around December so people buying for the holidays probably contributed to the sales more than the loss of the site.
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u/ScreamSmart Jan 30 '26
Yes. Every "Anti-Piracy" discussion gives astronomical numbers to justify their position.
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u/SgtCarron Unrecyclable Trash Jan 30 '26
It's such a nonsensical argument.
If a mom & pop hardware store went after Home Depot/Leroy Merlin/etc because of "lost sales", they'd be laughed out of the court.
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u/mangagirl07 Jan 29 '26
Damnit. I actually was an official site user but trying to make a statement by avoiding them. This just justifies what they did.
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u/fawnesst Jan 30 '26
Same. I would love to support companies that don't resort to such scummy tactics to drive up buisness.
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u/Bubbly_Set8489 Jan 29 '26 edited Jan 30 '26
There’s a screenshot floating around from 2021 claiming about 3 petabytes of Cloudflare storage, which based on rough estimates could mean $30,000-$50,000 USD per month just in storage costs. That doesn’t factor in growth by 2026 or other expenses, so it doesn’t look especially profitable... Maybe they would have made bank if they charged for their chapters or charged a subscription like some of these paywalled scan teams are doing
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u/Wosota Jan 29 '26
There’s not really any lessons to learn, making money off a website where your only operating costs are hosting isn’t exactly the same situation as needing to pay staff, authors, artists, advertisers, etc.
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u/Linooney Jan 30 '26
I don't understand why people don't understand why it's so much easier for pirate sites to give a better UX. They don't have to pay anyone else anything (except hosting costs, which legitimate platforms would have to pay anyway), can spend all their time implementing only what readers/watchers want... it's like asking why pharmacists don't make as much money as drug dealers or something.
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u/coldfeet8 Jan 30 '26
Is it that hard to implement something like a folder feature? It’s fine if you read a few series but I probably have over a hundred webtoons bookmarked and scrolling through to find the ones I’m reading, the ones I’ve had on hold, the ones I haven’t started yet is so annoying… I feel like this a very basic functionality any reading site should provide.
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u/Linooney Jan 31 '26
Is it hard technically? Maybe, maybe not, depends on your existing codebase and how many engineer hours you have available. The main thing is, official platforms need to pay software engineers after paying license holders, tech infrastructure costs, legal compliance and accounting costs, and they also need a lot of technical features on the backend that a pirate site wouldn't have to worry about, and that a reader/watcher won't see, so it might feel like nothing is being built.
I also think most of these official platforms are not that profitable (revenue != profit), and piracy does harm sales (most research puts it at ~15-30%, which is higher than the 0% that pirates claim, but also not as bad as like 100% that publishers claim), so it probably becomes a vicious cycle where Asian publishers think the foreign market sucks, gives these platforms less funding, they can't afford to build out more fun features, ad nauseum.
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u/coldfeet8 Jan 31 '26
But they pay software engineers to make changes nobody asked for. Like the webtoons shorts feature and the cramped new UI. I can’t think of any change they’ve made where I thought « wow, this really improves my experience ». The changes aren’t for the authors either, afaik, their experience on webtoons has only gotten worse over time. So if they’re gonna implement new features anyways, why not implement changes people actually want?
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u/Linooney Feb 01 '26
If they've tested shorts in Asia and it seems to drive engagement, they're probably going to try it in other markets, I don't have any of their internal numbers to know whether it's a dumb idea or just taking a calculated risk.
I also think there's a lot of tension between consumers, producers, and distribution platforms in general for media and entertainment industries.
I think it's actually very hard to come out with features that will make everyone happy. Did you know most authors in Asia want the pay per chapter system and not subscriptions? It's not just the platforms being greedy, many authors and publishers won't agree to their work being distributed under subscription plans because they see it as devaluing their work (see Manta having to go to a coin system to grow their library despite having an all you can read system at first). Or Spotify, where many users keep saying they want artists to be paid more, but also not understanding how the payout per stream number is calculated.
But as someone who has worked on software systems for consumers, a lot of the time, there are considerations that outsiders won't be able to see or understand, limitations, etc. I'm not saying what the companies are doing is the best path or even good, but I guarantee that most people would change their opinions if they had to run these platforms themselves, and it's not as easy as "just copy pirates".
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u/coldfeet8 Feb 01 '26
Look, you are making good points. I’m sure they have their reasons for actively making the platform worse. But nothing you’re saying is a good reason not to implement basic features, like folders, that users have been requesting for years. The point is readers are always the last people they are listening to when it comes to changes. They’d rather focus on implementing predatory techniques to extract more time and money from us than actually listen to us but that also has a cost. The cost is that readers have no loyalty to these platforms and will jump ship at any occasion. That’s why they have to stamp out pirating to make themselves the only option and why they try to license everything, even if they don’t do anything with it. Licensing companies probably have their reasons, but that’s not a reason for us to cut them any slack.
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u/Linooney Feb 01 '26
Again, didn't say it's good, but it's a lot more complicated than most people think. I do think it's a vicious cycle for the industry, because at the end of the day, I really do believe piracy hurts the original creators these days more than it helps (I'm not innocent, but I've been in the translation scene since the early 2000s, and stuff like ripping actual official releases and not just fan translations is insane to me), but the way that the industry is trying to combat it is also not helpful for the industry. It's really sad because at the core I really do think most people (even many of the industry people at these companies that people hate on) love the content and just want to see it flourish.
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u/Throwawayfaynay Feb 22 '26
it's like asking why pharmacists don't make as much money as drug dealers or something.
Have known a few pharmacists, I'm pretty sure they do. Pharmacists make bank.
Also if your big official manga/webtoon website doesn't have enough of a profit margin to hire a UX designer, you've got bigger problems.
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u/DrawingDangerous5829 Jan 30 '26 edited Feb 08 '26
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u/No-Bike-4382 Jan 29 '26
My problem, aside from losing the only online community I was regularly involved in, is that none of this has to do with the artists or readers. The fact that I could easily drop $100 in a week to get the various coins/ink to read a few chapters that are not only unable to be saved but are only unlocked for a short period of time, means that they only care about money.
Thanks to micro transactions and subscriptions we no longer own anything. I moved to bato after I realized that the amount of money I spent was ridiculous and untenable. And I work a full time office job and don’t have kids so I could afford it more than a lot of the rest of my country, so if it was that bad for me, it’s impossible for many others.
Did I feel bad? Yes, at first, but only for the artists who were getting ripped off. But then I reminded myself that they are still going to get ripped off regardless of Bato getting shut down. You really think the publishers are going to pay them better now? When they could just keep their profit and continue to wring the artist dry by blaming the scanlators? If you do… I want to know your secret to naivety. I hate the feeling of looming dread this whole thing brings.
In the end, yes piracy is bad mmmk but the people who are the true root of the problem, imo, are the ones that make it impossible to enjoy the content without dropping ridiculous amounts of money for something we eventually won’t be able to enjoy again and do it all in the name of lining their own pockets. I’m not saying that it should be free or even that publishers shouldn’t exist, I am just saying that had it had remained affordable then I would have never felt the need to look for other avenues.
Also, We all know that eventually (soon even) AI is also going to take over the actual artists and writers jobs. And you just know that they will continue to charge the same. Why stop something that is working for them? It’s disgusting.
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u/Marzipan_moth Women’s Wrongs Supporter Jan 30 '26
This is exactly it. I didn't mind spending some money on it, but I could spend a decent amount and not even be able to read the entire manhua, vs being able to buy a physical copy of a manga for a small amount for something that I would permanently have.
And don't even get me started on the fast pass system webtoons has, which is a complete scam. I pay money to read ahead...and now I have to wait the exact same amount of time for the next upload. And if I stop paying, then I have to wait double or triple the amount of time.
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u/Cool_Human82 Grand Duck Jan 30 '26
Yeah, I just don’t fast pass, it’s the same amount of waiting if you think about it, you’re just a little behind. I much prefer it to the ones where you have to pay for every chapter. I can’t afford it. If tapas, tappytoon or Lezhin had a subscription model I would totally go for it though.
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u/RiversideTides Guillotine-chan Jan 30 '26 edited Jan 30 '26
Totally and I especially hate it when I only want to reread a webtoon and I have to either watch ads or pay again... for every single episode.
edit: I mean completed series becoming Daily Pass. It's downright awful.
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u/Fawndalou Jan 30 '26
I was using bato and also paying for multiple legitimate sites like webtoon and mangaplaza. But that is because I want to support the creators of whatever media it consume. I can also afford it. I used bato to find new manga and manhwa that wasn’t available here and never would in the states and also discover ones I could find legitimately and pay for. Sites like that seriously drew me in and actually spend money on legitimate ones!
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u/Jericho_Acedia Questionable Morals Jan 30 '26
I'm in the same boat. I don't mind paying for manhwa. My main issue is that stupid apps restrict me so much. Why can't I download chapters to read later whenever I want. Why do they have a 1 week limit. I've already bought the chapter let me keep it!! Then the scummy practices they make, like not paying their artists a living wage, continuing to push an artist to keep the story going just to milk it, or cancel the story and rush the ending. Also most official translations suck and are filled with ugly names and misspelling.
I always used sites like this to try out and read a manhwa because no one is going to be invested in a story after reading the first 3 free chapters. If I find something I really liked I would go and buy the official.
Also waiting for physical copies is a pipe dream. They only get printed if they're really popular and if you don't buy the digital version and sales drop they get cancelled and never get printed.
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u/lanlikespizza Side Character Jan 30 '26
Honestly, let's be FR piracy will never go away as long as companies keep being greedy or wealth inequality still exist everywhere.
I feel like artists and authors should be made aware of these issues and be motivated to expand their works to other platforms or publishers or find other ways to generate income on the side. Depending on how these publishers for a living, despite how they operate, is only going to cause them health issues while being promised big money on flimsy contracts/
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u/doverkan Jan 30 '26
This is how I'm feeling. I went a period of 2 years where I would devour licensed content, and with some of them closing down and that money just vanishing, some apps being so terrible with spotty signal, or just bad coding and a frustrating experience, I kinda stopped due to general fatigue, except following a few series I'm invested in.
I've more recently started reading light novels (almost entirely Japanese, still crying after my "Positively Yours"), and there are official store fronts selling DRM free digital versions. Which I can store locally, read on my tablet in an app at any time with full customisation, and all that. Even Google Play Books allows some purchases to be downloaded DRM free. Some manga might be similarly available (looking at J-Novel Club's offering).
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u/coldfeet8 Jan 31 '26
I hate how predatory the model is. The prices are opaque on purpose. Chapters are of equal « value » regardless of the length and quality of a chapter and you just have to trust it’ll be worth it. Last year, I also realized buying coins in bulk is actually more expensive in my country.
I dont even know what we are paying for. So many series are poorly translated lately and full of typos. And its the fast-passers who get to see the word version of the chapter.
It should be a subscription service. I would have no issue paying a fixed amount that gave me access to, say, 100 or 200 chapters a month. Have tiers if you want. Just make it transparent for people to know what they’re paying for. It would be more honest since we don’t own anything we “ buy “.
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u/luv4ev3R Feb 02 '26
yup. and unlike comic book where you can get a full story per purchase, this kind of chapter subscription doesn't feel worth it, especially since many manhwas move at a snail’s pace.
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u/DrawingDangerous5829 Jan 30 '26 edited Feb 08 '26
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u/No-Bike-4382 Jan 30 '26
I’m going to be hyperbolic for a moment here but since you seem to feel that your experience trumps that of a majority of the rest of us, I’m going to call your claim false and that you are a company plant here to try and downplay the complaints. Is it true?? Who knows! My opinion is that it is so it must be!
In all seriousness, if you want to argue in opposition to my claims, feel free. But claiming that I’m lying about my experiences when it is clear that it is the experience of a majority here is not a very strong or compelling argument, especially when you do not touch on the crux of my argument which is the rapid move in the entertainment industry towards the removal of ownership.
In short, perhaps you aren’t a plant and you really do read hundreds of thousands of pages a month for less money than what I do. I’m glad you can still enjoy (and afford) it but that isn’t my experience nor does make my experience false or my complaints invalid.
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u/DrawingDangerous5829 Jan 30 '26 edited Feb 08 '26
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u/bhjgaard Jan 30 '26
It really isn't false. I spent around 40 USD on a single manwha on Webtoon, that i read in a day, and I couldn't even keep the chapters!!
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u/DrawingDangerous5829 Jan 30 '26 edited Feb 08 '26
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u/Background-Diet-4703 Simp Jan 29 '26
Oh.. my god. That's actually insane
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u/Purple-Hippo-8961 If Evil, Why Hot? Jan 29 '26
Man it's a dark age to be sailing the seas...
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u/Background-Diet-4703 Simp Jan 29 '26
Oh absolutely.. now it makes me want to quickly read everything right now in case another site gets taken💔💔
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u/languid_Disaster Feb 04 '26
I’m sorry but the phrase “quickly read everything” gave me a bit of a much in these dark times
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u/paulthetic If Evil, Why Hot? Jan 29 '26
Maybe fucking make things more accessible?? Pay your artists better? Treat them with dignity, perhaps? Noooooo you'd rather waste your time going after illegal sites (in which there will ALWAYS be illegal sites).
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u/Half-Beneficial Jan 29 '26
That'll make them lots of friends.
My brother runs a company and I keep trying to tell him this: there's not as much money in the world as you think there is!
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u/Uruvi Jan 29 '26
Maybe it's time to return to real books. At least I'm paying for something I can keep.
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u/Awkward-Swimmer7978 Jan 29 '26
Ooh they were making bank. I hope they don't shut down any other sites.
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u/Purple-Hippo-8961 If Evil, Why Hot? Jan 29 '26
I don't think they'll be able to take down all the sites, but this is really sad news. It seems that the authorities are very determined to take bato down, so I guess it's time to move onto another community.
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u/pinknotes Jan 29 '26
This makes me concerned for the scantalation groups tho. Without their work we wouldn’t even have any of the sites.
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u/etssuckshard Jan 29 '26
How will we ever find GlenMcQueenSimp........the way I still have bato tabs open........what a disaster
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u/languid_Disaster Feb 04 '26
That’s what I was thinking too!! So many manhwa list in profiles that I haven’t copied yet :((
And our non binary meme lord GlenMcQueenSimp 😭 where will they go now
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u/FrostyBuns6969 Jan 30 '26
I wonder how feasible it would be to shut down all piracy websites. Anna’s Archive just got sued for 13 trillion dollars for scraping the entirety of Spotify and they don’t seem to give a fuck.
ThePirateBay is still up too, despite attempts to bring it down. Filelist (a torrenting website from my home country) got taken out by the government a while back and just popped right back up on another domain no worse for wear. Despite these companies and governments having such vast resources, it seems they’re having difficulty actually tackling piracy.
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u/Linooney Jan 30 '26
Impossible, but some pirates today seem to have forgotten the love for the game and have gotten just as greedy as corporations. The moment you start making big money off of your piracy, you need to centralize operations, get organized, etc. which all make it easier to catch you. You can't kill piracy, but you can destroy individual pirates/organizations.
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u/KekatD Jan 30 '26
If an official manga/manhua/manhwa site or app would get its shit together and offer quality English translations on a monthly subscription model, I would be happy to pay for it. But they don't. We pay per chapter and don't even get to actually own it. Fuck that. The main thing that taking bato down will do is reduce discoverability of new content for Western audiences, and probably cause a decrease in official merch sales.
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u/RuleCharming4645 Jan 29 '26
And those publishers would complain why their product isn't selling and why would people buy their products in bulk complete with current volumes instead of buying the book per volume
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u/Extreme_Restaurant Jan 29 '26
Whelp. I guess I'm never supporting manga sites either. I will not buy another manga either.
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u/sagewren7 Jan 30 '26
Corporations just dont understand that people have always and will always find ways around their controls. No way in hell I'm paying for a dozen pages every time for some generic slop, bato is just one site of many
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u/AwareBunny Jan 30 '26
Nah, Tencent did this. You think China would cooperate with Japan right now over pirated Japanese mangas? They’re currently beefing. China doesn’t care. But Tencent is a powerful Chinese company. Because THEY complained, the police did something.
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u/MiniJ Jan 30 '26
The more aggressive they go the less I want to pay for content. Specially because they are getting super greedy about pricing
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u/Motor_Setting2717 Jan 30 '26
This is so sad because I use pirate sites to filter what I want to buy. I won't be spending more than $50 in a few chapters, specially if the story ends up being shitty.
If anything happens, I'll stick to books and movies/shows, and some mangas I still follow and like.
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u/languid_Disaster Feb 04 '26
SAME! I do it with library books too. If I really like one I’ll buy it. With manga and manhwa, if I like the story then Ill find a way to post the author for it even if the official isn’t in English yet
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u/Amazing_Spray_1919 Jan 29 '26
Boycott these altogether
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u/Extreme-Recording125 Jan 30 '26
So you mean... we don't read manga/manwha for years to come until they get their shit together? 😅🤣
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u/Pibiiii Feb 02 '26
We read from scanlation sites, pay authors and artists directly after doing so (via donations?)
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u/Immediate-Shelter986 Jan 30 '26
And the Bato comment section?? Elite. Unmatched. Half the fun was reading the commentspeople explaining plot twists, roasting characters, crying together. Damn, I miss that so bad. It’s not the same anymore fr.
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u/languid_Disaster Feb 04 '26
The horny reaction image chain were the best part :((
Will we ever see our local celebrity commenters around ever again
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u/FlatWinner6733 Jan 31 '26
I have a friend in Korea who does her own bl and she was pissed when she found out because without btt and other sites, her work wouldn't have had as much exposure as it did...like she told me she continued the series because people loved it and were buying her merch and she was so happy she could cry....
This is a disaster and I am saying this as a person who was paying for stuff before and it was not freaking worth it...like I would spend money on a manga/manhwa that was not even worth it in the end....
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u/languid_Disaster Feb 04 '26
Yup! The publishing companies are incredibly ungrateful and out of touch. Fan scans are the reason why anime and manga and manhwa got as popular as it did and a big reason why these artists got over seas recognition.
Otherwise how else would these stories that haven’t been translated have so many fans buy all that merchandise and support the artists’ patron etc
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u/FlatWinner6733 Feb 05 '26
Yes, I agree...I mean we don't even get the official translations on time or even the physical copy of the manga 90% of the time 😭
Not to mention I just came back from a trip where I met a lot of my Japanese friends and they were pissed off too and told me that what they believe and what circles in their communities is that the only reason btt was taken down was because the "leader" is Chinese 🙄
Oh and they are pissed too because they also read stuff on other sites.
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u/adultdrink Jan 30 '26
Omg noooo! Everyone kept wondering where he was, while I was thinking people should stop looking, ha.
I feel bad for the guy, a bunch of corporations vs 1 man can't feel great. I am deleting my accounts on the official apps rn ✌
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u/superfreakygyal22 Jan 30 '26
Can we bail him out?
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u/Trez_0 Spill the Tea Jan 30 '26
The article said he's been bailed out, but his assests have been seized and is being investigated
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u/Immediate-Shelter986 Jan 30 '26
People like us who can’t afford to buy manhwa chapters...this site was a lifesaver. Now it’s gone my entire manhwa list is wiped I can’t remember half the names, and I’m stuck reading trash translations. Damn. This hurts fr. 💀📉
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u/Purple-Hippo-8961 If Evil, Why Hot? Jan 30 '26
Also manhwa chapter prices are ridiculous nowadays, in my latest experience a long manhwa costs around $100 to finish. Meanwhile you only get access to them for like 3 days, so if you want to reread it you have to pay again. At this point why not just buy a fucking video game or book? I really want to support artists but I can't seriously pay that shit.
The increased pricing certainly isn't being used to help authors either, since many great series get cancelled due to the artist getting severely sick or having major disagreements with the publisher, Roxanna is a great example of how shitty manhwa artists are treated in the community. I am confident most people in this sub have had experience seeing a great manhwa axed because either the artist is dying or the publisher is being a waste of humanity.
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u/Mountain_Device4752 Jan 30 '26
We lost a great hero today. Without him I would never have fallen in love with manhwa so much
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u/Ok_Grab4433 Jan 31 '26
I actually one of those ppeople don’t know how to find or pay the official read manga/manhwa in English. Current ones available are payment process is too complicating, no English translation or not enough content that interests me. Bato content library was huge they cater to almost every possible interests. If bato had payment option I would’ve happily to pay. Instead of taking down these sites these money hungry companies should’ve found a way to work with bato or similar sites.
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u/Purple-Hippo-8961 If Evil, Why Hot? Jan 31 '26
Generally manhwa can be found in Tapas and Webtoon, but with the pricing nowadays.
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u/Purple-Hippo-8961 If Evil, Why Hot? Jan 31 '26
Same, I was official reader until 2 years ago. The prices have gotten too high and the transactions so ridiculous that buying manhwa chapters is a bad financial decision to make. (you pay about $100 for temporary access (3-day) to all the chap in a manhwa)
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u/julcyfruit Feb 19 '26
Same, I loved bato for uploaders linking to where I could buy. They're arresting for lost money but now people like me won't buy at all cause theres no way for me to find it 🤷♀️ and how is it any different reading for free on the apps? Im still waiting for official english translation years after I read fan translations.
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u/modmartha Jan 30 '26
What's absurd is that these companies are clearly money avaricious and yet they're so short sighted in recognizing that large aggregator sites like Bato, in some ways, could contribute to official sales.
They introduce works to a wider audience, spawning communities like this subreddit, and in turn flaming more widespread interest. As others have mentioned, this helped people discover what was truly worth their investment. I saw a lot of people here post physical copies they had purchased once they hit their local stores! Now we have comics making it to anime adaptations, like Raeliana, that likely got to that level thanks to the traction they received from better sharing, promotion, and access. I'm grateful to Bato. It gifted me a community I so desperately needed.
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u/languid_Disaster Feb 04 '26
Absolutely true. I’m sorry but anime and manga would be nowhere as popular without fans scanning and translating them. Scanlators have done so much for that industry and they’ll only ever get villainised for it
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u/Hot-Tip6709 Jan 30 '26
Wait wait wait- the coda article said closure of all new sites confirmed on Jan 19, but new one came 2 days after that. How is that possible? Even if I was on bail, I would do absolutely nothing and lie low..was it sold to someone else before the arrest or something?
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u/languid_Disaster Feb 04 '26
Maybe they found something on him that allowed them to get the okay to shut the website down by force
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u/Over_Scallion3852 Jan 31 '26
How to bail him out💔💔💔
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u/Purple-Hippo-8961 If Evil, Why Hot? Jan 31 '26
He did get bailed according to the article, so the question is what the authorities are going to do with all these information they got from obtaining the bato site.
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u/Upbeat-Researcher232 Mar 29 '26
Is there any latest news about this? It seems like it just died down.....the rumored new mirror site is still under maintenance soooo.....
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u/lucifurr_008 Chronically OInline Jan 30 '26
I wish we could do something to protect the developer and the mods, it's only because of them that we had such a great community
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u/Htsw Jan 30 '26
They’re talking about the guy who bought the site after the original batoto closed right?
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u/Your_Marinette Jan 30 '26
There are so many people who have done heinous crimes that can't be commented roam free and these countries don't give a shit about them. And here they are arresting the owner. Like, have your priorities straight
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u/Street_Bar2304 Jan 29 '26
The actual news aside, reading that japanese publishers were the ones that kickstarted this whole thing after manga fans have spent the last week escalating to the point of racism because they thought koreans were responsible for it is strange.