In the airport yesterday, I grabbed a copy of Future Anime. Amusingly, there was an Editor’s Note on the state of anime since mid-2006 and how downloads have been hurting the industry as the progression of broadband has changed the world of media. With U.S. distributors closing shop and selling off their rights to others such as Geneon, you seriously have to wonder if the fans even want to bother with supporting the people that make their entertainment.
This goes beyond the movie industry; in the U.S., the movie industry has been very vigilant in fighting anyone that pirates, regardless of where you stand in the game. However, the anime industry has long since allowed fansubs to exist, based on a little known decree that if the series happens to finally be published here (eg. where you live), that people would stop watching it and get it based on those ethics. Funny thing is that most current anime viewers that I’ve spoken to actually say this but don’t mean it. Why? They’re happy to watch whatever series online or downloaded from bittorrent, but the moment it gets released here, they shirk from paying for those series because they’ve seen it already or what not.
It’s a classic justification rap, and it sucks for those of us that actually purchase what we watch. Some Japanese publishers are now looking to release a paid for version online with subtitles — hopefully that has some more luck although I’m personally thinking that Stateside anime is looking bleaker by the minute. What’s ironic about all of this is that many of the hardcore otaku from years before have long since supported both imports and fansubs. They have actually lived by the code where they would buy U.S. distributed when they were actually distributed.
So those bittorrent anime watchers, I got news for ya: Regardless of what your excuse is for doing what you do, you’re busting up the industry and making it worse for all of us. Those voice actors like Vic Mignogna (Edward Elric in Fullmetal Alchemist) depend on this support. This entire issue has been an ongoing problem for a couple years now, but it’s about time that people stood up and said enough is enough.
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Crystal wrote:
You know it is pretty sad that anime watchers are hurting the industry. As of right now I’ve watched anime before its been released here and when it is release I have no urge to buy it because i know I will never watch it. The biggest reason is that I don’t like dubbed because it annoys me to hear the same voices over and over again although I understand the reasons behind that, but the main reason for me is that I love fansubs. I love their customized fonts and karoke openings and ending and officially released anime just doesn’t have that. I think if American companies worked with some fansub groups and hired them and made their subs look as “pretty” as fansubs and then had pay per view anime online, or they can have them for free just chock full of advertisements. I think people like me who like the aesthetics of it would watch it. As of right now I’ve watched anime before its been released here and when it is release I have no urge to buy it because i know I will never watch it. I know my reasons are kind of shallow but thats my view on it.
Posted on 22-Aug-08 at 11:19 am | Permalink
Jeff C. wrote:
So wait, all we have to do is stop buying U.S. distributed anime and they’ll stop butchering the episodes with that horrible dubbing?!
Honestly, from a business perspective, the anime market in the US is so niche that it was expected to be a hard profit. However, regardless of we do state-side, anime will continue to be produced in the motherland because the base there is just so large. The sad part is that hardcore otaku in Japan will pay $30 for two episodes whereas we won’t even pay $30 for an entire season…
Posted on 23-Aug-08 at 12:59 am | Permalink
Ben (not the author) wrote:
Put me down as one of the old timers that will buy US releases. But only if it’s a kickass series to me. And I’ll usually wait for them to release the entire series as one whole box set at the end. The US companies could really cut down on the titles that they release here. There’s a lot out there these days that’s just so mediocre they probably weren’t worth the trouble and money to bring over (like Suzuka or Shuffle to name a few). Is it possible that the US companies just overextended themselves? I remember being astounded by the number of anime and manga titles available these days in English. A far cry from when I first started 16 years ago and it was just a bunch of college students with multiple VHS (or SVHS) tape decks copying and trading fansubs.
Posted on 23-Aug-08 at 6:59 am | Permalink