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INTEREST: Southeast Asia, India Fans Disproportionately Affected by Pirate Site KissAnime Closure

Even in the US where we have a lot of options* it's getting crazy because if you want to watch everything it would cost you over $600 a year in subscription fees. This is a problem outside of streaming, too, and I won't waste time going into too much detail but basically it's "Subscription fatigue"

* "options" is misleading since each service is built upon exclusives so in reality you have to subscribe to them all to watch even 50% of the new anime that come out each season

ErikaD.D wrote:

But what about Europe, including Central and Eastern Europe(and the Baltics)? There's Wakanim but I think Wakanim won't welp in Central and Eastern Europe because in C. and E. European countries Wakanim website is in Russian and it has Russian subs and dubs instead English subs/dubs. Ironically, most youths in Central and Eastern Europe(excluding Russia,Ukraine and Belarus) doesn't speak/understand Russian. I don't think Wakanim won't help lowering piracy in C. and E. Europe.

Exactly! Try to live in Poland and watch anime legally - outside of Netflix we basically have nothing. CR is very limited, especially with newest series, and Funimation is not aviable at all. We had Daisuki, but we all know how it ended. So yeah, it's really hard, almost impossible even.

On a worldwide scale, 55.46% of respondents aged 17-21 said that they were "angry or sad" or "extremely angry or sad" compared to 40.74% overall.

No one is blaming anyone overseas, i think...

A lot of people were and are to this day. I saw a dub voice actor telling those for anime they can't get to "wait until its on DVD". You know, titles that EVERYONE can totally get outside of Japan. Many were telling him that not many people can get it in their country or cannot afford it which he didn't budge how understandable it is. Illegal sites are wrong but at least be able to understand if someone desperately can't. Kid you not, many like him said to use VPN to get American titles too.

Even in the US where we have a lot of options* it's getting crazy because if you want to watch everything it would cost you over $600 a year in subscription fees. This is a problem outside of streaming, too, and I won't waste time going into too much detail but basically it's "Subscription fatigue"

* "options" is misleading since each service is built upon exclusives so in reality you have to subscribe to them all to watch even 50% of the new anime that come out each season

Kougeru wrote:

Even in the US where we have a lot of options* it's getting crazy because if you want to watch everything it would cost you over $600 a year in subscription fees. This is a problem outside of streaming, too, and I won't waste time going into too much detail but basically it's "Subscription fatigue" * "options" is misleading since each service is built upon exclusives so in reality you have to subscribe to them all to watch even 50% of the new anime that come out each season

That is very misleading. It is also not the first time you've posted ridiculous claims and numbers that are misleading....

No one is blaming anyone overseas, i think...

You don't have access to any legally licensed anime dvd's, manga or merchandise in the Phillipines?

If your pirating anime, please stop. Your excuses are invalid. Please learn the concept of “then you don’t get to have it.” You are not entitled to consume it merely because it exists and is out of your reach. That’s some colonizer bullshit.
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Quote:

Dear Answerman, In all the fuss made in the comments for last week's column, a question occured to me that might be worth exploring. Now, I agree that buying items new is obviously a good thing for American anime companies, since they like to do things like 'make a profit' and 'be able to accurately track sales numbers, so as to better determine demand.' These are things that go without saying. But what happens when you buy a new item for a nonexistant company? Say I go poking around Right Stuf or the shelves at a store like FYE or Frye's and I decide to buy a brand new copy of some ADV boxset or a volume of a series licenced by Geneon or even some long forgotten OVA from Central Park Media, sitting on those shelves unwanted and unbought until that point. Now, obviously some percentage of that price goes back to the store that sells it, and how much depends on the specific store, whether it's an actual, physical location or a website, and whether those items were still close to normal price or slashed practically to nothing. But where does the rest of that money go? Does any of it go back to a parent company (like Geneon-Japan or BEI) or even to a related spinoff company (like Section 23, in the case of an ADV product)? Does it go to whatever company or bank with which a distributor filed for bankruptcy? Or does it just float about in some sort of financial purgatory?

Having worked in retail as long as I have, that's an interesting question I never had to consider. I wasn't sure. I sent an email to Justin Sevakis about it, which I will now present to you with the power of Conceptual Art. Which takes the form of these following words.

Whenever an item arrives at a store, technically, that item has already been paid for. The supplier, licensor, and publishers have already been paid their "due" in order to have the item stocked and ready for purchase. Then, theoretically, you buy it, which pays for the money that the retailer paid the publisher, as well as the other things they earn from marking up the price, and a little tiny sliver of profit.

Now, if those items don't sell, retailers (usually) have the option to return them to the publisher and get a refund, usually in the form of a credit towards future purchases and things of that nature. Which coincidentally is one of the reasons Geneon folded as quickly as they did; a rash of MASSIVE returns in rapid succession essentially killed whatever hope they had. So now Geneon's dead, and you can't return them anymore. Bogus. So you either keep 'em on the shelf or in the warehouse, hoping that some day somebody might be amenable towards buying Papuwa on DVD for full MSRP.

Either way, the publishers in this case already got their money for their product. (Well, hopefully. A few noxious retailers have skimped out on payment and stiffed a few of these now-dead companies, but that's rare.) So, why bother, right? Justin put it pretty succinctly:

Buying it now would tell that retailer, "hey, anime still sells! Keep buying it!" Which, in this day and age, is probably a good thing.

And the other thing is - that DVD is out-of-print now! Maybe it'll be rare in a few years and worth a lot of money! Either way, that's basically your last chance to own a brand-new copy on DVD. Smoke 'em if you got 'em, I'd say.

Even if you get Netflix to bump up that percentage of anime it's basically $400 a year. That's $200 under your $600 plus figure for 90-95% of new anime released in a year, plus you get back catalogs...You could subscribe to just VRV (Crunchy and Hi-Dive) and Funi for roughly $235 and get the vast majority of new streaming anime each season. Netflix only gets a handful in a year.

capt_bunny wrote:

A lot of people were and are to this day. I saw a dub voice actor telling those for anime they can't get to "wait until its on DVD". You know, titles that EVERYONE can totally get outside of Japan. :roll: Many were telling him that not many people can get it in their country or cannot afford it which he didn't budge how understandable it is. Illegal sites are wrong but at least be able to understand if someone desperately can't. Kid you not, many like him said to use VPN to get American titles too.

Not for nothing, I really hate to be on the voice actor's side on this, but my only guess is because we're too used to taking a lot of services for granted (in the US). While there is unfair comparisons (I've seen a link of one or two VAs that really went in), I feel the frustration is due to the fact that people here still obviously can afford to support the shows, but the obvious convenience is that it's "free." It only serves the uploaders who put the sites up and make millions of dollars for a market that is competitive. And of course, yay viruses!

And people who are unsubscribing as a protest in favor of piracy aren't helping the areas that have no access, at all. And I have friends who would support legal streaming services overseas if they're availble (And affordable).

I wish for once we can focus on accessibility and making it easier for them to support the shows that they love.

However, I would never EVER want to be one specific streaming services for all anime titles. Look at Facebook--they're domininating social media. Look at Dish Network only being available in a certain region, and they suck.

Having one controlling entitiy that streams all anime? That sounds really bad. I prefer something similar to VRV to be revived again. That would be lovely.

Sorry if I sound rude so please don't think I'm saying this in any mean tone.

I don't think you're getting my point. Its not about the USA. It the fact that many cannot afford in their country or don't have it in their country. The fact that some have said "oh, just use VPN" or "wait and buy it on DVD" sounds so ignorant of other countries besides their own. If you can afford it then good for them. If they want to protest then that's their own dumb choice. However, the fact that they completely do not understand the struggles of overseas fans and non-first world countries says a lot to me. BigonAnime is exactly right about blaming overseas when you said you don't think so when they are. Go read what Christopher Wehkamp said on his replies about this.

I agree on wanting VRV again but my 2nd paragraph and what you quoted is based on blaming those fans. The 1st paragraph relates to more of your reply. Maybe I'm just misunderstanding your reply to which, again I say, sorry.