Indeed, this is exactly what scanslation groups did with manga. There was a time when manga was largely unheard of in North America. It's now massively popula

Indeed, this is exactly what scanslation groups did with manga. There was a time when manga was largely unheard of in North America. It's now massively popular. When publishers like Viz was getting started, they were licensing volumes of manga for as little as $1000 per volume -- with no royalties!!! (I happen to know this because the scanslation group I was involved with actually tried to license the manga we were subbing -- we just got stymied with the complications of printing and distribution). I have to caution you, though, that you could get sued at any time. In some countries it's even a crime and you could go to jail. Our scanslation group was pretty under the radar and only scanslated manga that was no longer in print (the price I quoted was not for that... it was something quite a bit more popular. I just can't remember the title -- Possibly Inu Yasha... anyway, one of the big Viz titles). I am 100% certain that the Japanese publisher knew what we were doing and politely looked the other way in our case. This will not be the case for all publishers out there. You might be trying to work in their best interest, but they won't see it that way.