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Editorial: An Open Letter to the Industry

In terms of supply and demand, there is an infinite supply, and therefore the product is worthless regardless of how many people want it – it's like trying to sell buckets of sea water to people on a beach. The only people who would pay for it are either older fans who are attached to the old ways of consuming media, or worse, are doing so out of charity.

Arthur Smith, president of Gonzo Digital Holdings International, recently compared the downloading of fansubs to breaking into the Apple Store and stealing an iPhone the day before it's released.

There are myriad ways of supporting such a venture. A low subscription price. Advertising. But it has to exist, and it has to be easier to use than bittorrent. It has to show new anime DAYS after it airs in Japan. It has to be available to most of the world. It can't lock out Mac or Linux users. All of these are reasons people will use to justify continued piracy.

To make matters worse, as budgets have fallen the producers have compensated by making more shows that appeal to very specific niche audiences. (Moe, anyone?)

You see, this is the problem. I'm the sort that refuses to watch dubs;

Most recently, a boy asking where he can find Black Lagoon on the internet for free. I told him to just buy it. He told me "f*ck that, I'm not paying for anime". THAT is where we are, ladies and gentlemen. THESE are the people you are trying to sell anime to.

Splitter wrote:

Most recently, a boy asking where he can find Black Lagoon on the internet for free. I told him to just buy it. He told me "f*ck that, I'm not paying for anime". THAT is where we are, ladies and gentlemen. THESE are the people you are trying to sell anime to.

If anime was harder to get for free, he would not be so offended by the idea of paying for it. Sort of like how, three years ago, we would have laughed at the opportunity to pay $3 for a gallon of gas. Funny how people adapt, huh? Just because people have those attitudes doesn't mean they'll keep them forever.

This makes me think of Russia circa 1990; they had no economy, so they legitimized the mafia. What if American distributors contracted the fansub organizations? I think it would be a great combination; on the one hand its legitimized and regulated, but on the other hand you have the fansubber sensibilities, like let's get this out quick and do it nice. If they would both keep each other in check the end result could be interesting.

dewlwieldthedarpachief wrote:

This makes me think of Russia circa 1990; they had no economy, so they legitimized the mafia. What if American distributors contracted the fansub organizations? I think it would be a great combination; on the one hand its legitimized and regulated, but on the other hand you have the fansubber sensibilities, like let's get this out quick and do it nice. If they would both keep each other in check the end result could be interesting.

This isn't a half bad idea. Turning a fansubber's work into paid work would no doubt give them an extra motivation to release early and often. The companies may lose money initially, but if fansubbing was legitimized, they'd slowly begin to gain it back. It'd be a hell of a turnaround, but it's just crazy enough to work.

jsevakis wrote:

Splitter wrote: Most recently, a boy asking where he can find Black Lagoon on the internet for free. I told him to just buy it. He told me "f*ck that, I'm not paying for anime". THAT is where we are, ladies and gentlemen. THESE are the people you are trying to sell anime to. If anime was harder to get for free, he would not be so offended by the idea of paying for it. Sort of like how, three years ago, we would have laughed at the opportunity to pay $3 for a gallon of gas. Funny how people adapt, huh? Just because people have those attitudes doesn't mean they'll keep them forever.

But in order to accomplish this, there's a lot of work that must be done, and a lot of it involves the rights of public domain. It's not just torrents you're dealing with. What about broadcast anime? Is that not also getting anime for free? What about ADV's new streaming site? No doubt the chokehold must be placed around the consumer, and it's not like you'll lose any more money. The people who complain and say they'll never "listen to your demands" most likely never paid for it before anyway.

This makes me think of Russia circa 1990; they had no economy, so they legitimized the mafia. What if American distributors contracted the fansub organizations? I think it would be a great combination; on the one hand its legitimized and regulated, but on the other hand you have the fansubber sensibilities, like let's get this out quick and do it nice. If they would both keep each other in check the end result could be interesting.

I think Japan will do just fine if all our overseas profits just withered and died. They did just fine without our money years ago when Anime was just a gleam in our eye, and they'll do OK now. The only people this hurts are the international distributors.

Honestly, I think the Japanese execs still don't give two craps about international viewing being a prime money source. Just sell the license and make some chump change, that has been and always will be the way international distribution is handled.

I've said this before on several threads, but the industry (in terms of US distribution companies) needs to learn from fansubs on how fans want to see anime. Yeah, they can't compete on the speed or the price, but they could at least take some steps to take away the "fansubs are better than DVDs!" ammunition from the fansub afficcionados. Why is it that I can download Death Note fansubs that properly translate and position all the written text in the series, but if I buy the DVD from Viz and choose to watch it in English, I have to leave the one subtitle track on or miss out on all the written text translations? (According to posts on the AnimeonDVD forums, the Death Note DVDs don't have a secondary subtitle track for songs and signs, even though the [as] broadcast version had that stuff hardsubbed.) Why can I download Rumbling Hearts fansubs that perfectly translate the storybook at the end of episode 14, while the Funimation release just leaves these massive blocks of text untranslated? Why can I download fansubs (and R2 DVD-rips) of the Saikano OVA that have properly translated subtitles, while the Viz DVD release has 75% dubtitles that are completely and unprofessionally wrong at many occasions? Why are the subtitles in Bang Zoom releases like Kannazuki no Miko, Gankutsuou, and Haruhi clunky, stilted, and over-literal compared to the flowing, enjoyable, and almost-as-accurate fansub subtitles of the same series? Why do many fans choose to download fansubs even when presented with the equal opportunity to download straight rips of the R1 DVDs?

I mean yeah, there are problems caused by fansubs, and they are serious, but there are low-cost, feasible steps that can be taken.