I became aware of the recent editorial at ANN by Justin Sevakis after I saw it mentioned at Nigorimasen. CalAggie has a good summary of the main points, but I was particularly interested in something he didn’t quote:
People watch fansubs because the American releases take years to come out (if they come out at all). Once on DVD, they often have to be bought sight-unseen, which sometimes works for movies on DVD but is an unrealistic commitment for TV series.
This gets to the heart of the whole problem with the rampant downloading of both fansubs and raws. It often has less to do with the “free-ness” of the downloads and YouTube than simply the ability that they grant fans to follow the latest TV series, and associated fandom, in real time. Back in the 90s, Japan was a more distant place and fans had to anxiously await releases from the US companies, often eagerly embracing available titles, like Bubblegum Crisis, that were already old or even obscure in their native land. Fansubs existed, of course, but they took much more effort to acquire, involving the sending of money orders for VHS tapes of series that had likewise been around for a while in Japan. College anime clubs were a more important resource than today for exposure to anime not yet commercially available. And back then, even if one had knowledge of Japanese, expensive and less-then-easy-to-get LDs were the main way to see the latest shows, unless one had access to a Japanese grocery store with VHS tapes of TV taped in Japan and shipped over!
Well, now the barn door is open and the horses will never return! They are happily hanging with their Japanese counterparts, doing Haruhi & Lucky Star dances and laughing about NICE BOATS and totally forgetting there even is a domestic commercial U.S. anime scene at all and not realizing its interconnected state with the industry in Japan, which is hurting as well. Like those in Japan, they know what shows are good and worth getting on DVD because they’ve seen them, although with the rapid pace of changing fan interest there, by the time older shows appear in America, they’ve already been forgotten like a poor Fuko or Ayu, languishing out-of-sight. The internet really has made the world smaller, and international fans can’t be expected now to just ignore what they see for sale in Japan, what their favorite seiyuu are doing right now, and what the fans are coming up with on YouTube and Nico Nico Douga. Perhaps a visionary will appear who can cut through the bureaucracy and find a way to get anime to an English speaking audience in real time by having anime officially subbed as it appears in Japan. Like a Shana-messiah, cutting down the Yuuji-like middlemen with her flaming sword of justice so that all may partake of the freshly-baked melonpan!
Anyway, read the stuff here and here!
Edit (Nov. 30): I’ve decided to link some blog posts I’ve found on this issue here, partly for my own reference:
In Search of Number Nine
Anime Banzai
Nigorimasen
Hop Step Jump! (Part 1)
Author, Author
Pinku Bento Box
Tripeman
Unfunny Internet Meme Comic
Anime Diet Radio
JP (Part 1)
Avatar
“Can you stop talking?”
Orion
Hop Step Jump! (Part 2)
Dr. Matt
JP (Part 2)
End of all Animu
Justin’s a Twat?
Bateszi
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Or if you hadn’t noticed, a lot more anime fans are starting to learn Japanese enough to not have to require subtitled animes - hence why watching them raw as they come out is a far better option.
Fansubs and raws do the same damage to anime industry though. However, raw watchers would only need access to what’s on Japanese satellite & cable in order to “go legit”. That’s why we need something like my idea for the Society for the Teaching of Anime Japanese!
It’s an ugly situation that’s been brewing for years; I think the collapse of Geneon finally brought it home to a lot of people. Who knows what can be done at this point? Maybe the industry can work out some way of maintaining itself in the new technological and economic environment, a system of carrots and sticks to wean people off of illegal downloads. I have no earthly idea of what that system would look like, though I think a lot of commentators underestimate the “stick” end of the deal: there are laws about these things, and ways of identifying those who are doing the uploading and downloading.
I suspect that it was a very delicate economic balance that for the past few years has brought us both a staggeringly productive and creative industry in Japan, and a robust community of legitimate importers in the US. That balance has obviously been disrupted, and I fear that the new equilibrium will–at best–support much smaller and more conservative anime industries on both sides of the Pacific. Sic transit gloria mundi…
some people just cant get enough anime, they will watch whatever is new.
btw, if anyone wants to learn japanese, japanese dramas are the better alternative. its more realistic (the language, not the plot) and accurate in depicting japanese culture. it also has a very active fansubbing scene so tons of stuff to download.
I didn’t want to quote too many things but nice grab, I totally missed that one.
I definitely have to agree that the Internet has made access to recent anime near ubiquitous and made waiting for series to come across the Pacific near impossible. The digital revolution has changed the concept of “ownership” in not only anime but also music and movies and while there are the immediate or somewhat delayed business-end impacts, there also might be the opportunity for a better structure of distribution. I’m currently unsure if legitimizing fansub groups, one of the solutions being thrown around, is a viable option but if it is, then I think there should the translators should met certain Japanese competence qualifications to maintain a sense of quality.