Forum - View topicNEWS: GDH Int'l Head Condemns Illegal Anime Distribution
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james039
Posts: 103 |
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So what about those properties which they never intend to release in north america? Some of us who understand Japanese well may be willing to pay for imports, but those relying on an English translation will get their only exposure to the property through a fansub.
I'm really just saying Japanese companies need to find a better way to get their productions exposed to North American audiences, as even niche titles could develop a dedicated following. Late night anime broadcasts are free if you live in Japan and are able to purchase an antenna for reception, so how can we access these productions for free to discover new series? Advertising is fine, if that's necessary to pay for delivery. |
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Spotlesseden
Posts: 3514 Location: earth |
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i would think if we can't donwload any raw or fansub, they will release more anime.
Since most not so popular anime can be easily download online, many companies don't think it will be profitable to bring those anime to NA. |
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halo
Posts: 356 |
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Well, let's see. It could be competition from other media such as manga and games. It could also be that a lot of the titles produced in Japan are becoming less marketable in America. There is a lot of moe and otaku oriented shows that, even if licensed, have never shown to be big sellers. It could also be that people are spending less on entertainment in general, hence the overall 15% DVD sales slump, and that anime fans in particular are younger and have less money to spend on luxury items so sales figures on items targeted to that demographic show a larger loss. I suppose fansubs probably do factor into lost sales but how much do they factor into the "GROWING much faster than other types of programming..." he mentiones? I would go after the bootleggers and those distributing licensed shows before I tried to tackle the fansub issue. |
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dewlwieldthedarpachief
 Posts: 751 Location: Canada |
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Well look at why we have fansubbing: it grew out of a niche audience's wants from an unaccommodating market. There's no question that unauthorized distribution is wrong, but what else were people supposed to do back in the '90s? The industry has a great deal of catching up to do before people can finally turn to an equally satisfying service. Which is why I'm glad that the GDH honcho is cluing into the fact that you don't get something out of nothing.
Even logically though, it is not be our place to support fansubs. The ethics of this are really that no matter how much we kick and scream, we're never going to be justified. That said, in some ways I'm glad that fansubs still do exist. Competition is usually a good thing, and its useful to be able to screen stuff you'd potentially buy; I hate it when companies try to sell me crap shows. Unfortunately, as anime continues to rise in popularity, the competition generated by fansubs is too forceful; it will, and perhaps already has, damaged the final product, which is what we're all in this for anyway. Fansubs are in the end parasites unto anime. I understand people don't want to deal with that, but they should. If not for morality, then for the fact that fansubs will continue to precipitate negative effects on anime. Let's grow-up already. |
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zalas
Posts: 100 |
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Maybe they should think about this some more... Is the drop in DVD sales really fully caused by fansubs? I mean, it really can't have anything to do with their drop in animation quality and writing, right? I'm sure decreasing production budgets has no effect on the quality of animation they produce and that reducing the number of series they tackle at a time is totally not going to help increase their animation quality, right? |
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otaku_freak92
Posts: 1 |
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I have a great idea! LOWER THE DVD PRICES!!! The price of an anime dvd in english with 3-6 episodes is the same price as a season box set for an American tv show. Thats why I only own one. If they lowered the prices, it would be easier for us to buy their dvds. Who wants to pay $20 for a 4 episodes of Fullmetal Alchemist (only an example!), when they can go online and watch it for free. Now, if the dvd was $10-12 then I would buy it, but for 4 episodes on one dvd, it isn't worth it.
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N-Bomb
Posts: 3 |
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I'm sure in a perfect world animu wouldn't be a stale genre now. The industry's big boom was almost a decade ago now. Is it not possible that fans have GROWN UP or otherwise MOVED ON to other things? That surely couldn't be... the shows being produced now are entirely original and not aimed at a narrow audience in the slightest.
I'm also sure it's not a problem that potential new fans just couldn't care less about a type of entertainment that arguably has nothing to offer them. I know when I first got into animu, it was partly because I fell out of gaming somewhat, and was disgusted with the domestic crop of shows... now that's been largely reversed and I'm enjoying the new crop of American TV shows (and modern video games) much more than the tired animated material I see coming from The Land of the Rising Sun. But what do I know. |
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rankothefiremage
 Posts: 523 Location: Michigan |
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First we pay far less for anime than the japanese do, where we pay 20-30 for 3-6 episodes their lucky to get 2 episodes for ~50$.
Example Geneon's release of Gatekeeper 21, was 2 dvds 3 episodes each for 26-30$ where a japanese fan had to pay about 60$ for 6 dvds one episode each and way months between them, where we wait maybe 1 between the two. Second i'd have to say the bigger loss in sales is less to fan subs, since most people who i know who don't buy after watching fan subs are cheep ****tards anyway and more to do with the slumping econ here state side. Maybe if their automakers would lay off us a bit we could have true free trade and buy some more of their entertainment. {yes while it seems odd that a guy who rants about domestic vs import cars would be into anime, i find that 1 domestic producers don't seem for lack of box office returns, and 2 they seem the most likely to by import cars anyway.} and third do the admins really really really want another bloody fansub debate around here? |
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Cowpunk
Posts: 168 Location: Oakland - near the Newtype Lab |
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A few things to remember:
1. Fansubs were originally distributed between clubs, rarely to individuals. This meant folks would go to club showings, see new stuff and talk about it with others. This was a good way to expose folks to a few episodes of a show, rarely were whole program fansubbed. This changed with digital distribution as folks could just stay home. 2. Anime is an imported product, such are always more expensive than domestic shows. $30-35 a disc is not unusual, heck at one time, early - mid 90s, $75 a show for foreign movies was common. 3. Fansubs may not be the only thing resulting in lower sales but a drop of 30% is pretty bad. One local retailer is not planning to stock Death Note as his experience is that popular shows that have been fansubbed tend to be very poor sellers. Now this is in a college town so high speed access is faily common. |
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Cowpunk
Posts: 168 Location: Oakland - near the Newtype Lab |
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TOPIC DRIFT ALERT
Dear rankothefiremage: On imported cars these days if you want an import buy a GM, made in Mexico, a domestically made car get a Toyoda, made in Fremont California. Unless you consider California not part of the US <grin> Back to our regular programing. |
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Brians9824
Posts: 281 |
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I stopped listening when he said
For starters your not getting the same thing as the US release and every person who watches a fansub might buy the dvd. Your also assuming everyone who watches the fansubs would have bought the dvds otherwise Biggest problem facing anime IMO are bootlegs as they detract from sales and are bought by people who don't know better. |
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FlavorOfSand
Posts: 6 |
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Good read, just about what you would expect to hear from the President of such an organization. Hearing that they're looking into quicker turn around times is very encouraging. I would have no qualms with dropping fansubs if I knew I wouldn't have to wait a year or more after the ending of the series in Japan to have a legitimate copy in my possession. Considering this and some of the stuff ADV is doing (and I am totally digging on ANNs new push to inform people about legit alternatives) I hope this becomes a trend in the next year or so.
As an aside, in the comments section of the article, the interviewer mentions numbers and figures that substantiate the statements made by Mr. Smith. Aside from the 15% and 30% decrease in DVD and anime DVD sales (respectively), I didn't really notice any additional information. Is there more information linking fansubs and the decline in sales that can't be posted publicly? I mean, it's kind of common sense that an increase of getting stuff for free would cause a decline it sales, but I'd be interested if there were some reports done on behalf of the NA anime industry that has more specifics.
That's an interesting thought. It leads me to wonder whether the continued popularity of fansubbing is due to advances in Internet technology and content distribution that have rendered the current market as unaccommodating as it was in the 80s and 90s, or if downloading is just that much a part of our society now. I'm leaning towards the latter, but if you have industry execs talking about changing things up, I think the former has some merit. |
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Zac
ANN Executive Editor
 Posts: 7912 Location: Anime News Network Technodrome |
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I gotta ask - this guy works for Gonzo, a big animation production studio. They pay people to analyze the market for them, professionals who know a lot more about this than any of us do. Why then is the immediate response to assume that these people are all morons who didn't really think about it and are blindly and falsely blaming fansubs for their woes? Maybe I'm less inclined to believe everyone but me is a drooling idiot and can't possibly know what they're talking about more than I do, even if they work for the industry I'm analyzing, but that seems arrogant to me. I'm not saying the guy is automatically 100 percent right, but he is speaking from a position of authority on the matter, and has every reason to know what he's talking about. |
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Mohawk52
 Posts: 8202 Location: England, UK |
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ruro niko
 Posts: 109 Location: Tennessee |
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American TV shows also make a lot of their money when they actually air on television, thanks to advertising. Unfortunately, most anime doesn't have that luxury on American television, so they have to make up more money from DVD sales, which translates to higher prices. Of course, there are cases of just plain overcharging like Bandai Visual did with the Diebuster releases. $40 for a two-episode release that doesn't even have the expense that a dub track adds like most releases do is just not right for this market. |
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