Japan Asks America to Stop Illegal Net Releases of Anime

[Kimmie-chan]

http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2007-10-23/japan-asks-america-to-stop-illegal-net-releases-of-anime

Just read this over at ANN.

Thoughts anyone?
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[xenocrisis0153]

there must have been substantial shifts the accounting books over at the Japanese production companies in order to get this put on the agenda for the Japan-US Trade Forum Meeting.

For years, the companies have appreciated the widespread exposure of anime across the globe, but now they seem to be officially renegging on that stance. Personally, I agree with it because I don't believe free anime is a right that everyone has. I can overlook it in most cases because young teens who don't have much money don't have the means to get their anime fix elsewhere, and by giving them a freebie for a while, they'll grow up into more hardcore fans and be more willing to shell out some cash.

The problem is college kids and older fans who still mooch off the system though they can easily afford to purchase legally licensed DVDs. I've said it time and time again... ANIME IS NOT EXPENSIVE!! I hear people complain that anime costs too much, but again, like I've said, if you look for bargains, you can find cheap anime. www.rightstuf.com sells DVDs for as low as $4 and www.animeonestop.com has new releases for as low as $17.99.

So yeah, I can easily side with what Japan is trying to do. I'd like to see some actual numbers, because there seems to be a lot of anonymosity concering the true state of the anime industry. Geneon's fall left a big hole in the R-1 market, and I'm sure a number of production studioes have fizzled out over time. If illegal copies are putting the whole system into danger, then I say it's time to revamp the system and make sure we don't see a total collapse.

Of course... it's one thing to design a plan, but to put it into motion is another. Technology will still continue to stay one step ahead of the law... despite YouTube and GoogleVideo (or are they the same now?) taking down most of the anime links, P2P networks seem a little more tricky in trying to stop.

and no... anime-source isn't in any danger from this move. We don't host anime on our servers, only resource links.
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[du5k]

[xenocrisis0153]

[Keitarou]

[sakib]

this is quite interesting, never thought this would hit the board meetings. I am more interested in what the US officials have to say about this, heck are they even willing to dignify this request? From a political standpoint, it seems to be a complete joke, a country's worried over the sales of "cartoons". Nonetheless I suppose it's becoming a major issue.

Anyway my take on this is that the US will listen and might fulfill it half-heartedly or even less then that but I doubt they will do much, if any. After all, the whole issue of downloading music illegally off the net is not something the federal government actively follows, rather it's the record companies and the artists that are taking the stand. While it is illegal, the government doesn't forcefully act upon that, it's the companies that find the major players and then sue them. This in turn sets an example if you will, very much like in the middle ages, of what will happen if someone does this.

So in the end the major companies, what's left of them anyway (without Geneon they lost a lot of influence), will have to individually find the major players and file a class action lawsuit so large that people will stop doing it. Now the question is if they are willing to put in the time and the resources into doing this. With music it was pretty easy, but with the multitude of fansubbing groups it's not going to be that easy. Plus most of the companies don't have a lot of influence in the US so that is also against them.

Anywho those are my thoughts, anyone agree?
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[Faraz]

I'm with Keitarou on this issue. I do not own a single DVD of any kind. But I also have never ever downloaded a movie off the internet. If there's something I want to see, I'll either see it in theatres or wait to see it on Movie Central at home. I do not have that option with anime save for the very few titles that are carried by the Rogers stores in my area or the few decent shows that are shown on YTV or G4 Canada.

I never watch anything more than once, so buying DVDs is pointless for me.

[warhead]

wouldn't think this is a problem since the people that creates the anime usually asks the subbers to back off, and usually the subber stop doing it so they can avoid any problems.

a matter a fact, i think we should laugh at jap. for asking america this, especially since we have bigger problems than just stupid cartoons on the internet

i know that the anime brings in big bucks for japan, but downloading anime is not doing anything wrong since the subbers are not making any money off of this, so i think that our country will not do anything about it any ways.
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[GRC]

Actually, this is a very controversial issue. There are arguments which can be put forward to support fansubs, but in contrary there are also some arguments which can be put against too. I think it's all has to do with how each individual who watch fansubbed anime will do after they watch that anime as a whole.

I for one am not a person who buy every anime he has seen on fansub. There are some anime which I watched through fansubs which I certainly will not buy. I won't mention any names, but just know that those anime are either too bad or not my cup of tea that I won't buy them when they are released on official DVDs no matter how cheap the price is.

On the other hand, there are also some anime which after I watched them on fansubs, I put them on my 'to have' list that I will need to have them in my collection. There are also many anime I knew through fansubs, and without fansubs, I won't know anything about those series and would not have bought them on DVDs at all.

I also have one philosophy that if one anime has already been licensed in the English speaking world and it is possible to acquire the DVDs which have English subtitles, I will not watch fansubbed version of those said anime. I also notice as well whether the directors of my favorite anime had directed some other anime as well. For example, Rose of Versailles is one of my most loved anime. Now I know that the director of RoV also directed Nobody's Boy Remi and Ulysses 31; thus, I did not even bother to watch both series through fansubs to test them whether they are good or not. I know that I must own both anime when I saw that they will be released.

There can be arguments put forward that there are a lot of people who do not buy anime DVDs, even for the series which they absolutely love, but only watch fansubbed anime.

There can be arguments put forward as well that there are a lot of people who can afford to buy anime DVDs, but they will not buy because they can watch anime through fansubs.

I think these people are people whom the Japanese anime industry do not find in favour, because they do not generate any revenue to the industry.

But what about people who still cannot afford to buy anime DVDs, but they are planning to buy them when they can afford? I know a number of my friends who are like that. They watched fansubbed anime when they were in college, but when they graduated and they could find a full time job, they start to build up their anime collections.

But what about people like me, who don't consider fansub rip DVDs as a 'final' version of my collection, but will buy official anime DVDs of series I like when they are released?

There need to be a reliable statistic about this matter before I can support that fansubs should be completely eradicated. Set up a poll in a reliable anime community. Ask the fans to vote which type of people they are amongst these four HONESTLY.

I have to say that I would not mind very much if fansubs get eradicated, but I still find them useful in some occasions. Thus, before this gets done, they should prove to all of us that the number of people who d/l and don't buy even though they can afford outnumber those who use fansubs to get to know the anime they want to buy vastly. To say that, "fansubs are destroying anime industry" without any evidence, is something I can't be convinced. Sure, they lose SOME revenue through fansubs, of course. But how much? There will be people who will never buy anyway, and if fansubs get eradicated, they just wouldn't watch anime and will just watch something else which is available. If the eradication of fansubs will make people who rely on fansubs as 'samples' stop supporting the industry, that would do more harm than good.

I must say again. I won't mind very much if fansubs get eradicated. This year I watched 90% of anime from official DVDs in my collection. But I still find fansubs useful in occasions. Eradicating fansubs completely will make me become unaware of many good anime which I am likely to buy but will never know about them and thus I won't buy.

I also don't buy R-2 DVDs as well, because they don't have English subtitles and I don't understand Japanese. Thus any series which is not licensed and subtitles in languages which I can understand will not be bought by me. I can't see a point supporting the industry just for the sake of it if the product I buy is not of any use for myself.

[LeTensai]

Whoa... that was long GRC.
I try to do my part but I really am not at your level I must be around 60% dvd 40% fansubs still -.- bah I still intend to buy the series that I like the most in everything I watched but they are not all out and even if rightstuff got pretty good prices you still have to wait for the bargains... and being canadian I usually wait to have a 150$ order to make. Bah I still watch plenty of fansubed anime but hey I wont start buying every single anime out there if I like it enough if not too bad.
If fansubbing would no longer exist I guess I'll miss some good series .... but nothing exeptional probly only things with smaller fan base like this ugly yet bieutifull world... Maybe I would have wasted some $ but nothing to bankrupt me .....
Shhh I am tired and this post starting to look pointless bah maybe I'll edit it afther some hours of sleep

oh and Warhead 3 little things :
1. it usually company like ADV and FUNimation that ask fansubber to remove the anime that are allreally licensed from their site but it not because something is removed from 1 site on the internet that it cease to exist and they dont know the website of every subbing gorup out here and when you close a torrent site it usually only stop for a few days and reopen somewhere else
2. Having bigger problem is only a question of different priority if my first priority is to make a living by creating music/animation/movie/software/etc. illegal downloading on internet can easilly be on top of theyre main problem, bah at least beiing the source of some of them
3. Ok so following your logic.... It isnt wrong to steal a car because I dont make any money out of it ?

just my 2 cent

[drickiss1]

I'm probably going to be redundant, but I wanted to put in my thoughts on this topic.

I think they should have a U.S. channel that is completely dedicated to anime viewers. The only station that we have in the U.S. is cartoon network and for those working a 9 to 5, the midnight option of watching most new anime is out of the question. Also as stated before, it takes about 6 months to a year for anime to get dubbed and sent over here.

On top of the lack of delivery/disturbution of anime in the U.S., there is also the fact that most anime is expensive if you go to places like the mall, Best Buy, Circuit City... other major retail stores in the U.S. where you can find good anime. Its expensive for what you're getting. I gave in and purchased the last 3 DVDs for Rourini Kenshin season 2 because I enjoyed that anime so much so I wanted to add it to my collection. Some would call me a fool because I paid close to $30 bucks for each DVD with 3-5 episodes because I could not find them any where else. You can get the entire season 1 of Dave Chappelle or Friends for about that much at Target.

Also, what about an anime like Naruto which has 220 something episodes. Its marked with fillers so if you don't have access to it, how are you suppose to know which episodes are worth having in your collection if you collect. Are you suppose to buy all the DVDs for $30 for three to five episodes or should anime makers start coming out with more anime that just get str8 to the point instead of having these redundant flashbacks that if you've been following from the beginning, you won't need an entire episode that is dedicated to Ichigo remember why he needs to be more powerful. We wouldn't need an entire episode that is just there to provide substance just to lead up to the ending. An anime with more consistancy, gets str8 to the point and invest more time on fight scenes, that's what I would pay for. I'm definately buying the DVD release of the Naruto vs Sasuke battle because that is probably the best and most cohesive fight scene I've ever seen. You can actually see all of the action. You can tell that who ever put that piece together deserves to be paid well. I honestly don't think I've seen an anime that has such a clear fight scene. I mean, I know the reason I love anime so much is because anime stretches the realm of reality, so to see good quality anime is sometimes a rare thing.

Overall, I think that anime that is quality and gets straight to the point should be rewarded. I don't want to have to buy 220 episodes 5 on each DVD for $30 each and still not have a conclusion unless every single episode was clear and str8 to the point with no fillers. And if there are battle scenes, the time to make it all come together is clearly indicated like my example from before. I still don't want to pay for 220 episodes though. Like I was saying, they should dedicate a channel specifically to anime and some how make an entire season more affordable. They should start showing anime in the movie theaters to get more of a fan base. Those are just my thoughts for now because I'm out of time.
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