The news of Jmanga’s closure came as a big surprise to just about everyone. Although they suspiciously had a very steep sale running for the last few months, no one seemed to pick up on the sinister church bells ringing in the distance, signalling their inevitable demise. While at the same time it’s a shame to have a purveyor of so many obscure licenses bite the dust, it’s not very surprising that they did in light of their distro model.

People were also extremely angry that Jmanga failed because it essentially screwed them out of products they had already paid for and this is a stance I can understandably support. Renting a thing only makes sense if it’s an all you can eat buffet because otherwise, why not just go to the local library for free. Buying a thing is an entirely different experience that implies ownership and material support. With that in mind, my stance on the issue is clear.

I want nothing to do with ‘rent to own’ unless they adopt the Crunchyroll buffet model of distribution. I understand the risks involved in backing a niche product in a struggling market and I want to support my thing made by that person I admire and be exposed to new things by new people I would like to admire. But I also want a piece of that thing, be it a digital download or an actual book/DVD/whatever otherwise what the hell is the point in even bothering.

With that off my chest, let’s talk about the hot yaois and how to buy them digitally and not get screwed over. E-manga and Sublime are purveyors of hot yaois who will actually let you download to own your material and aren’t completely skeezy about it. (Let’s also keep in mind that digital distributors were literally freaking out all over twitter, trying to assure their customers they were download to own and not future Jmanga incidents. If nothing else, Jmanga has left a deep and unsettling gouge in the psyche of manga purchasers). What was surprising, was how many companies are still trying to slip by using this method, including (to my great surprise) Vizmedia. Here is the conversation I saw via twitter. Seriously, guys? That’s one company I won’t be purchasing from digitally anytime in the near future until they change that policy (I am perfectly fine with purchasing their physical books, which have always lived up to quality standards and don’t come with sketchy service rules).

But back to my beloved yaois, E-manga had a sale in light of all the Jmanga kerfuffle and it was the perfect time for me to pick up a boatload of yaois. I had already purchased a bunch of physical yaois a month or so ago, and of course I have already pre-ordered by Tagame book (and if you are a fan of BDSM and manly men getting trussed up like turkeys and sodomized, you should too) but that won’t be here for another month or so. So, when they had some manga on sale for around 7$ a pop and some for the startlingly low price of 3$ a volume (I’ve bought bad coffee for more than that) I had to load up.

How much yaois can you get for 50$ from e-manga? About 8 volumes, no extraneous charges and it comes with award points to stack for future purchases. Amazing~

And how does it hold up? Easy to read, easy to use, instantly in my inbox (downloadable in various formats, extra copies cost only 1$) and they were very helpful when I encountered a technical issue with the check out. I still don’t like DRM but if you’re going to use it, this is probably the most non-intrusive way to do it. They’re also on twitter and often answer questions and generally faff about in a friendly manner. And I don’t think I’ve had this much conversation from a company since Vertical Inc.

I look forward to the day I sample Sublime’s digital offerings which I’ve also heard good things about. In the meantime, I at least know they aren’t going to vanish into the ether, taking all my purchased goods with them. That is at least, one comforting thought in the maelstrom created by a distributor’s crash.