Anime/manga stock pictures?

I've been developing a website that will cover some articles about Japan(ese), and I have also been searching high and low for some pictures to go along with the site.

What I'm looking for, is some editable (meaning layered, or transparent background) pictures of fair quality released free of royalties, such as creative commons. The content should be something cute and saturated, the usual stuff I guess. I don't know yet what eactly needs to be depicted, because I first want to see what's available to see what would be fitting for my project, as long as it's SFW :)

I don't mind if the site is in Japanese. However if I do searches in English for things like "manga stock" or "manga stock images" I get nothing very useful apart from the usual stockphoto-libraries which are proprtionally too expensive for now (maybe at a later stage I can justify higher costs).

Is there a site that has a comprehensive library of such images, kinda like stockphoto-like websites?

I'm sorry if this is a weird question, I just couldn't think of another place to be asking this. Thanks in advance!

Manga and Anime pictures are almost always copyrighted. Japan has the tightest copyright laws in the world. It is technically out of law to reproduce Anime/Manga contents without authorization but if it's not done for commercial purposes, and if it's meant for introductory purposes (with pictures scaled down from the original and links to the source website clearly indicated), I think people get away with it without being fined (or potentially arrested, if a whole content is copied, uploaded and sold).

There are very few authors of Manga who have openly abandoned their copyright (for non-commercial use).

There are anime/manga fans producing secondary creations (Niji Sosaku 二次創作). Posting anime characters' drawings by fans and uploading on popular internet sites like Pixiv or Nico-Nico Seiga (Still Picture 静画) falls under a grey zone, in which creators never get punishment, as it is generally considered fair-enough use by the public as long as it's non-commercial and not intended as a breach of copyright. Freedom of expression wins if used without commercial intentions.
http://www.pixiv.net/
http://seiga.nicovideo.jp/


Things could be more complex when a secondary-creation Manga is sold at Comiket events, although it is a rare case that original copyright owners (publishers) caution or even sue the secondary creator. The author of a secondary-creation Manga presenting the "final episode" of Doraemon the Robot-Cat was sued (or was threatened to be sued[?]) by the publisher, though.

In any case, I think copying and uploading fans' drawings without permission from the drawer's side is problematic, even if your intended website is for non-commercial purposes. It's a rather immoral practice to copy and use anything without permission, so at least you should state in both languages that if the original creator want the picture to be taken down, they can leave a message.

My best bet would to be find some fanart on DeviantArt or Pixiv or Zerochan that is more or less what you're looking for, contact the artist and ask if you can use the image (don't forget to explain for what purpose). If they say no, rinse and repeat, unless copyright issues don't bother you.

Thanks for looking into it.

I wouldn't have though that the third largest economy in the world would be so thin on creative commons (or alike) material. I know copyright laws in Japan are very strict, even towards the rediculous, but I don't want to get arrested when I go on a holiday to Japan.

Legal issues aside, what if I were willing to pay a fair amount for some drawings, would that open up more possibilities?

I'll check out those sites and see if it's for me.