Slimeread Starts Petition to Ensure Access to Japanese Culture

Last week, we published a news story about the Civil Police of the state of Mato Grosso, which, through their operation “Slimeread,” shut down a pirate manga site whose name was not disclosed. However, the operation’s name raised many questions, as it was called Slimeread, the name of a popular site for translated manga.

Slimeread Starts Petition to Ensure Access to Japanese Culture

Due to recent events, if you visit the Slimeread website at the moment, you will be met with a notice stating that they are running a petition to be submitted to the Ministry of Culture. So far, the petition has gathered over 50,000 signatures on the old link. The Slimeread team moved the petition to Change.org, and it can be accessed here.

Slimeread’s petition advocates for access to culture as a fundamental right for all Brazilians, especially in the context of a country that is increasingly diverse and plural. The project has always operated legally, aiming to value Japanese and Eastern culture, which is already part of Brazil’s identity.

In light of the lack of official translations, the community has turned to fan-made translations. The petition proposes that the government adopt public policies that encourage the translation and legal dissemination of these works, ensuring broader, ethical, and high-quality access to culture.

The goal is to transform access to culture into a guaranteed right, not a privilege reserved for a few.

Slimeread Team Clarifies Police Operation

The Slimeread team reached out to Você Sabia Anime to provide their side of the story regarding everything happening with the site and the investigations. The site’s lawyer, Alessandra Ferrari, explained to us that the persecution of aggregator sites that offer unofficial translations, like Slimeread, is a constant issue within the community.

The so-called “scans” — usually made by children and teenagers — do this work with the sole purpose of providing others access to a culture that is denied to them by large industries, which deliberately ignore the Latin American audience.

She emphasized that Brazil, the fifth-largest consumer of Eastern content, continues to be treated with neglect. As a result, many end up giving up: closing sites, abandoning years of involvement with communities that have become like families, and discarding all the volunteer work done with dedication — all because of pressure from large corporations that label them as “criminals,” “thieves,” and other unjust insults.

Regarding the Blocking of Slimeread

The lawyer also clarified that the Slimeread site is temporarily blocked due to a precautionary judicial measure. This means that, during an investigation — which does not imply any crime or guilt — the judge ordered the site to be blocked to ascertain the facts and prevent potential damages, based on the allegations made.

This measure is preventive and temporary, and there are no ongoing legal proceedings, sentences, or arrests related to it. What occurred was a data search and seizure — only copies — with judicial authorization. In fact, the police themselves released this information.

Images circulating online show the police at a previous residence of one of the Slimeread team members, but this was solely for data collection. Additionally, some of the information released does not fully align with the facts. For example, it was claimed that the site makes money from donations and ads, but according to the Slimeread team, the site is non-profit and does not have ads or sponsors.

The site relies on donations from its users to cover expenses, and these amounts are transparent, with any excess being directly reinvested into the community through contests and promotions for local authors. They also clarified that most donations are around R$1, which does not lead to enrichment.

No official materials have been released by the site’s administrators due to the confidentiality of the case. The distortions in the information shared by certain media outlets are, according to her, a result of ignorance and create fake news that harm the site. The site was voluntarily handed over in compliance with the court order — something done responsibly and transparently, according to her.

The Importance of the Petition

It was out of this indignation that the petition was born. Its objective goes beyond Slimeread: the idea is to give a voice to the community and seek real, effective, and permanent change.

With a minimum of 100,000 signatures, the petition could lead to the creation of a Bill (PL) or a proposal to amend the current Copyright Law (Law No. 9.610/1998). The proposal aims to ensure that the constitutional rights outlined in Articles 215 and 216 of the Federal Constitution — which deal with access to culture — are respected.

Among the suggested points is the legal recognition of fan-to-fan translations, as long as there is no official translation made available by the rights holders. It also aims to propose the use of national labor in official translations, further strengthening Brazilian cultural production.

via Você Sabia Anime