SOURCE: http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2007-11-24/gdh-int’l-head-condemns-illegal-anime-distribution
As of late Fan subbing has gotten a lot of press on anime sites and social networking sites such as digg.com Now it seems the industry has finally woken up and now lashing out at it’s fan base. I wanted to share my opinion on the subject as a fan myself I really feel that industry is trying to copy the RIAA / MPAA in their tactics and single everyone out and in the end doing more harm then good.
First this quote “Viewing fan subbed versions before official release is not different from smashing the window of a Mac Store and taking an iPhone the day before it is released,
First I’d say thats a bad analogy we aren’t getting the episodes days before they air on teh contrary while residents of Japan get to enjoy them right away fan subbers must wait days or even weeks for a fansubbed version of a show to be released so in this sense we aren’t watching a show that hasn’t already been aired.
Smith then stated that fansubs are hurting the anime industry both in Japan and in the United States. According to the interview, because of the decrease in DVD sales caused by fansubs, G.D.H. has had to lower production budgets for a number of its current series and limit staff salary increases.
I call BULLSHIT on that whole statement. Since when are US anime companies feeling the pinch from fan subbing I don’t see ADV or Bandai blaming slow dvd sales on fan subbing. As for the budget costs technology has decreased the amount of money you have to throw at a series.
You don’t have to hire as many people as you once did what once needed someone a computer has taken their place and thus their job was eliminated.
At the same time, Smith acknowledged that fans are frequently dissatisfied with the long time it often takes for an American company to begin releasing an anime series it has licensed. In response to this, G.D.H. is looking into legal ways of distributing anime online (such as via Apple’s iTunes and Microsoft’s Xbox Live stores) and into any other possible ways of cutting the wait times.
This quote inspired me to write this post alone. Its crazy at the length some of these animes come out to American audiences. We have fans who dedicate their time to do subbing for people who can’t watch the show as it airs. Many times these groups in their subbing say “stop distribution once the show has been licensed”
The fan subbers themselves want to see the anime do good and be successfully outside of Japan they are just providing the means for none Japanese speaking peoples to enjoy the art form and entertainment.
I don’t think we’ll ever see the licensing process get sped up because it’s a lot of work to package a on US release just because we have distribution services like iTunes or the current generation of consoles doesn’t mean new licenses will be ready for an american audience any faster.
Plus I believe much of the anime that gets fan subbed DOESN’T GET LICENSED I honestly don’t think we’ll see a School Days license a Kodomo No Jikan license or a bamboo blade license. Again I may be wrong but there is always those anime series that are good but never licensed or it will take an awful long time many times years after the airing of it in Japan.
If the studios / broadcasters gave audiences out of japan a way to legally purchase subbed versions of the show at a cheap cost to the fan I think many people would jump on the idea but the studios have to realize people will still pirate anything if it’s there for free people will always choose the free option.
In the end I think the studios should give us an option and stop pointing fingers they haven’t given us much options to choose and just recently started using the internet as a medium to distribute trailers or full episodes fan subbing has been around for years and that’s all we have at hand to be able to enjoy the shows that are currently airing in japan.
We don’t have the opportunity to wait for big TV stations like CBS, NBC or FOX to whip out the checkbook and start airing the show in America so until you think of something don’t make the same mistake the RIAA / MPAA are currently doing by slandering their customers and assuming everyone is a criminal just because your profits are falling.
The only people I can stand are the jack asses who profit from fan subbing. When School Days was airing I did eBay searches for some memorabilia or stuff like that and often saw DVDs for sale from people taking the fan subbed versions and burning to the disc and passing them off as a legit product that is what pisses me off and I think this group should go after the real reason their profits are falling!
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November 25th, 2007 at 1:19 pm #kad22
Its times like this when I hope the industry does crash, not because it deserves too but because it will get rid of the idiotic higherups that don’t know how to run a business and appeal to the masses. The demand is there, but judging from the way anime is hated by the public, it seems that the industry has done a pitiful job in the way they handle their business, which imo is even more harmful than whatever effect fansubs brings to the industry. Hopefully another unknown company will riseup and make everyone realize how to market anime properly and if it takes the industry dying to do so, then I’m all for it.
November 25th, 2007 at 3:46 pm #tj han
Is that the official excuse for why GONZO shows are trash these days? Like the “GIOOOOOOOOO” Dragonaut? Yes, let’s blame fansubs for “JINNNNN”.
November 25th, 2007 at 11:06 pm #oru
they are damn idiots all the time the are looking for ways to kill the fanbase of theyer own industry, people wont just buy anime with out knowing who it looks or seeing episodes of it.. FANSUBS ARE THE BASE OF THE OUT-JAPAN ANIME COMMUNITY stop messing with us.
November 26th, 2007 at 3:28 am #NovaJinx
There’s also the fact to consider that whether an anime series is licenced in the US doesn’t affect the rest of the world one bit. In far-away Europe the latest anime you can find with reasonable prices is at least a few years old and the quality of releases is very poor. Even if say, School Days was licenced in the US, it can be years until it appears in Europe, if it does at all. In a country like Finland without the capability to order abroad fansubs are the only feasible option.
Also, saying that downloading fansubs is stealing isn’t that accurate. Stealing is taking something that is owned by someone and claiming rights to that object for yourself without the contend of the other person. The other person loses his/her possession of this object and is no longer able to use it. This isn’t the case in downloading - you merely create a copy for yourself but do not remove the rights of use from the original possessor.
I’ve invested several hundred euros in anime merchandise and I’m sure that without the discovery of fansubs and their continuous use this number would be zero. Fansubs keep me in touch with the field and allow me to pick the best of the bunch. Personally, I don’t see any different from watching anime on TV. If I see something awesome, I will buy it. I may be a pirate, but I’m also a considerable consumer.