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Yen Press is expected to release [Volume 14 of Watatemote on September
2019](https://yenpress.com/9781975331825/no-matter-how-i-look-at-it-its-you-
guys-fault-im-not-popular-vol-14/)

[![Watamote Volume
14](https://i.stack.imgur.com/FphLn.jpg)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/FphLn.jpg)

however the scanlations have already been translating Volume 14 and beyond

[![Chapter 150 Page
1](https://i.stack.imgur.com/mTwPZ.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/mTwPZ.png)

The above is the first page of chapter 150 that was scanlated and was uploaded
to the site i got it from a month ago while the same site lists up to Chapter
152.

also said site also posted a Bookwalker special edition chapter Chapter 144.5
and this was posted 4 months ago

[![Chapter 144.5 Page
1](https://i.stack.imgur.com/hYXVO.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/hYXVO.png)

and as you can see in the image it says Volume 14 went on sale in January
(assuming this year).

these 2 pages suggest that in Japan Volume 14 is already out and being sold.
yet despite this for an official translation we have to wait 9 months for. but
since Yen Press already has the licenses why does it take them so long to
release when a scanlation group, which doesn't get paid and done in the
group's free time (since they have lives and their jobs) can release it much
faster? is this some sort of bottle neck that all licensed releases have?


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2019-03-14T03:41:45.603
51162
2019-03-14T08:23:12.563
1587
question
manga-production localization
How is it that Scanlations are still faster than Licensed releases?


This might be a case-to-case basis but here's what I noticed and what I think:

As we know, _the Japanese release of manga is always the first thing that
happens before it is licensed for an English translation_. Using your example,
the first chapter of _Watamote_ released on August 4, 2011, and the first
scanlation released two weeks after. Yen Press, however, did not announce that
they licensed the series [until on Sakura-Con in March
2013](https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2013-03-30/yen-press-adds-inu-
boku-ss-watamote-wolf-children-kingdom-hearts-manga). **That's a gap of almost
2 years**. This gap cascades and builds on until the recent volume release.
_This gives scanlations quite a lead in terms of time since they started
earlier in translating the series_. This I think is the reason why the release
is much later than scanlations.

Also, using _Watamote_ again as an example, the [scanlation
team](http://www.world-three.org/about/) and the Yen Press team more or less
have the same manpower (around 2-3 persons; Yen Press has Krista and Karie
Shipley doing translation and Lys Blakeslee on lettering in _Watamote_ ), not
to mention that the official release has an additional job of lettering
(especially on Japanese 'sound effects' in some panels which scanlations
usually, if not always, leave it as it is), stricter proofreading and
sometimes,
[censoring](https://www.reddit.com/r/watamote/comments/55vx3p/why_the_censorship_yen_press/).


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answer