Jun 24, 2012 1:51 AM
My Stance on Fansubs and Scanlations
Blog Index
(Read the edit note at the bottom first.)
So this is an issue that has gotten me a lot of crap in the past before. I'll be blunt, I feel fansubs and scanlations are hurting the anime industry in North America.
Fansubs have not a whole lot of use anymore in North America. With the advent of streaming and simulcasts, you can watch just about anything legally for free, or a small subscription fee at like The Anime Network's site.
Years ago they were more useful. You had to wait two years for the show to come out on DVD, and this is when anime was still released in 2-4 episode singles for $30 a piece ($40 if you got a volume with an artbox). 12/13 episode series would cost you $90, 24/26 episode series, over $200.
There were no legal streams, so if you wanted to try a show, you pretty much were going to spend at least $90 on a show you had never seen, and if you didn't like the show, you were screwed. With fansubs, you could watch shows as they aired, and you could preview them so you knew what they were like, and would know whether or not it was worth the money to you. And of course, you could watch those shows that would never get licensed as it's very unreasonable to expect everything to get licensed in some way.
Now, most shows every season get simulcasts. If there's a show you want to watch, it's pretty much going to get a simulcast from Crunchyroll, VIZ Media, or FUNimation. Of course, there will be that one show usually that nobody picks up, but may or may not get picked up later. Now, how are fansubs hurting the industry?
A problem today is the anime industry in North America is crumbling. Sales have been falling every year since 2005 as I pointed out in one of my previous blog entries. Why? One reason is fansubs. People sticking with just fansubs, and not going back and buying shows.
Many will just watch fansubs for shows they can watch legally online for free (Or for a small subscription fee), through DVD's, BD's, Netflix, etc. and ignoring the legal options they're given. While this irks me, what really irks me is never going back and buying and supporting those favorite shows you watched through fansubs. Is Clannad your favorite anime? Did you watch it through fansubs? Then go out and buy Clannad.
Now I'm not saying you need to go out and buy every single show you watched through fansubs. It's completely unreasonable, especially when for some shows, you'd have to import them, and that puts you at around $600 for 12 episodes, and around $1000 for 24/26 episodes as Japanese anime DVD's and Blu-rays are expensive. Then there are also shows that are OOP, and going for like $200 on Amazon. Buying from sellers only supports sellers, not the show or company that released the show. And of course, why pay for a show you did not care about (Except for a few reasons I won't cover)? Hated Ikki Tousen with a passion? Watched it through fansubs? Then you don't need to go out and support it as why should you spend money on something you didn't like?
I find fansubs more okay on stuff that doesn't get picked up, so for something like Hyouka which as of this blog post hasn't been licensed in any way, shape or form, I find watching it through fansubs fine. However, if it comes out here and you really loved the show, I feel you should support it. Then there's stuff that only part of it came over here legally, like SD Gundam and MAR. Support the half that got put out, and then watch the other half through fansubs.
Now, as for people in other regions, I find it okay. The markets in places like the UK and Europe will get the short end of the stick at times, and have far fewer shows coming out. Does this mean they can't watch these shows? No, they can watch through fansubs. However if that one favorite show of yours comes out in your region, I'd go out and support it.
Next up, scanlations. We all know how in recent years companies have gotten more aggressive with them. One Manga removed everything, VIZ Media ordered Mangastream to stop doing a few Shonen Jump/Shueisha series, and Manga Fox removes a manga after it gets licensed in North America. While we've had stuff like JManga and Weekly Shonen Jump Alpha, there are still lots of series that just don't come over here, so scanlations have plenty of meaning still.
Scanlations I'm more lenient with as there are still so many series that you can't read legally here for free, or the series got cancelled/put on an indefinite hiatus (Zatch Bell!, Katekyo Hitman Reborn!, Strawberry 100%, and Gintama to name a few), so only part of it is here legally. I have a problem with reading scanlations and not going back and buying the series if it's available here (Same logic from the fansub argument applies here. This is where scanlations hurt the market.), but when it comes to those series that aren't licensed here, I'm fine with it.
You could in the end import the manga if it's not licensed here as while the shipping costs would be kinda painful, manga is relatively cheap in Japan, with the average manga volume costing around $5 (Half the usual price here in North America). It would be ideal, but it's not for everyone because of those shipping costs.
So in the end, if your favorite manga or anime is out here, and in-print, go out and support it if you watched through fansubs/read through scanlations. Also if you watched through Netflix, or legal streams, it would be encouraged to do it as well as legal streams and Netflix doesn't bring in nearly as much money as buying the Blu-rays and DVD's does.
[Edit: March 2016]
A good amount of my thoughts still remain the same as of March 2016, others do not. I no longer feel it's fansubs that are hurting the industry, but rather the illegal streaming sites (some of which now rival the legal sources in Alexa rank and also have ads, torrenting is not as bad as giving money to pirates with ads) which actually are now more full of rips of legal streams than fansubs. Fansubs are not what they used to be. Also fansubs can still serve good uses, sometimes the official release drops the ball in some way, it can be video quality, or it can be severe translation errors not present in the fansubs. Still, I do feel you should try to support a series you love in some way if possible.
Also as for costs of importing, when I made this blog post, the yen was rather strong compared to the dollar ($1=80 yen, now it's much weaker (currently a little more than $1=113 yen), so the costs of importing aren't as high. A one cour show will currently cost you $300+, a two cour show will cost you around $500+. Still expensive, but not as expensive as I made it out to be at the time. These aren't exact figures, and are mainly based off Amazon Japan after discounts, not other stores such as CDJapan who charge full MSRP.
Lastly, as I've come to learn in recent years, one of the main factors for a decline in disc sales was not fansubs, but rather the market being inelastic (not to the same extent the Japanese anime market is of course), and the lowering of prices not being enough to increase revenue. So when singles died in 2010 (very few shows came out in singles that year, and in late 2008/part of 2009 were starting to fade away), the cost of anime went way down, and as such, sales didn't increase enough to offset things, and sales plummeted.
https://fandompost.vbulletin.net/forum/anime-manga-discussions/us-blu-ray-dvd-and-simulcast-industry-news/23997-jetro-north-american-anime-market-2012-report
https://twitter.com/Xythar/status/707723326072852481
https://i.imgur.com/u6hVSjI.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/e622UO6.jpg
http://www.twitlonger.com/show/n_1snsi4f
(Read the edit note at the bottom first.)
So this is an issue that has gotten me a lot of crap in the past before. I'll be blunt, I feel fansubs and scanlations are hurting the anime industry in North America.
Fansubs have not a whole lot of use anymore in North America. With the advent of streaming and simulcasts, you can watch just about anything legally for free, or a small subscription fee at like The Anime Network's site.
Years ago they were more useful. You had to wait two years for the show to come out on DVD, and this is when anime was still released in 2-4 episode singles for $30 a piece ($40 if you got a volume with an artbox). 12/13 episode series would cost you $90, 24/26 episode series, over $200.
There were no legal streams, so if you wanted to try a show, you pretty much were going to spend at least $90 on a show you had never seen, and if you didn't like the show, you were screwed. With fansubs, you could watch shows as they aired, and you could preview them so you knew what they were like, and would know whether or not it was worth the money to you. And of course, you could watch those shows that would never get licensed as it's very unreasonable to expect everything to get licensed in some way.
Now, most shows every season get simulcasts. If there's a show you want to watch, it's pretty much going to get a simulcast from Crunchyroll, VIZ Media, or FUNimation. Of course, there will be that one show usually that nobody picks up, but may or may not get picked up later. Now, how are fansubs hurting the industry?
A problem today is the anime industry in North America is crumbling. Sales have been falling every year since 2005 as I pointed out in one of my previous blog entries. Why? One reason is fansubs. People sticking with just fansubs, and not going back and buying shows.
Many will just watch fansubs for shows they can watch legally online for free (Or for a small subscription fee), through DVD's, BD's, Netflix, etc. and ignoring the legal options they're given. While this irks me, what really irks me is never going back and buying and supporting those favorite shows you watched through fansubs. Is Clannad your favorite anime? Did you watch it through fansubs? Then go out and buy Clannad.
Now I'm not saying you need to go out and buy every single show you watched through fansubs. It's completely unreasonable, especially when for some shows, you'd have to import them, and that puts you at around $600 for 12 episodes, and around $1000 for 24/26 episodes as Japanese anime DVD's and Blu-rays are expensive. Then there are also shows that are OOP, and going for like $200 on Amazon. Buying from sellers only supports sellers, not the show or company that released the show. And of course, why pay for a show you did not care about (Except for a few reasons I won't cover)? Hated Ikki Tousen with a passion? Watched it through fansubs? Then you don't need to go out and support it as why should you spend money on something you didn't like?
I find fansubs more okay on stuff that doesn't get picked up, so for something like Hyouka which as of this blog post hasn't been licensed in any way, shape or form, I find watching it through fansubs fine. However, if it comes out here and you really loved the show, I feel you should support it. Then there's stuff that only part of it came over here legally, like SD Gundam and MAR. Support the half that got put out, and then watch the other half through fansubs.
Now, as for people in other regions, I find it okay. The markets in places like the UK and Europe will get the short end of the stick at times, and have far fewer shows coming out. Does this mean they can't watch these shows? No, they can watch through fansubs. However if that one favorite show of yours comes out in your region, I'd go out and support it.
Next up, scanlations. We all know how in recent years companies have gotten more aggressive with them. One Manga removed everything, VIZ Media ordered Mangastream to stop doing a few Shonen Jump/Shueisha series, and Manga Fox removes a manga after it gets licensed in North America. While we've had stuff like JManga and Weekly Shonen Jump Alpha, there are still lots of series that just don't come over here, so scanlations have plenty of meaning still.
Scanlations I'm more lenient with as there are still so many series that you can't read legally here for free, or the series got cancelled/put on an indefinite hiatus (Zatch Bell!, Katekyo Hitman Reborn!, Strawberry 100%, and Gintama to name a few), so only part of it is here legally. I have a problem with reading scanlations and not going back and buying the series if it's available here (Same logic from the fansub argument applies here. This is where scanlations hurt the market.), but when it comes to those series that aren't licensed here, I'm fine with it.
You could in the end import the manga if it's not licensed here as while the shipping costs would be kinda painful, manga is relatively cheap in Japan, with the average manga volume costing around $5 (Half the usual price here in North America). It would be ideal, but it's not for everyone because of those shipping costs.
So in the end, if your favorite manga or anime is out here, and in-print, go out and support it if you watched through fansubs/read through scanlations. Also if you watched through Netflix, or legal streams, it would be encouraged to do it as well as legal streams and Netflix doesn't bring in nearly as much money as buying the Blu-rays and DVD's does.
[Edit: March 2016]
A good amount of my thoughts still remain the same as of March 2016, others do not. I no longer feel it's fansubs that are hurting the industry, but rather the illegal streaming sites (some of which now rival the legal sources in Alexa rank and also have ads, torrenting is not as bad as giving money to pirates with ads) which actually are now more full of rips of legal streams than fansubs. Fansubs are not what they used to be. Also fansubs can still serve good uses, sometimes the official release drops the ball in some way, it can be video quality, or it can be severe translation errors not present in the fansubs. Still, I do feel you should try to support a series you love in some way if possible.
Also as for costs of importing, when I made this blog post, the yen was rather strong compared to the dollar ($1=80 yen, now it's much weaker (currently a little more than $1=113 yen), so the costs of importing aren't as high. A one cour show will currently cost you $300+, a two cour show will cost you around $500+. Still expensive, but not as expensive as I made it out to be at the time. These aren't exact figures, and are mainly based off Amazon Japan after discounts, not other stores such as CDJapan who charge full MSRP.
Lastly, as I've come to learn in recent years, one of the main factors for a decline in disc sales was not fansubs, but rather the market being inelastic (not to the same extent the Japanese anime market is of course), and the lowering of prices not being enough to increase revenue. So when singles died in 2010 (very few shows came out in singles that year, and in late 2008/part of 2009 were starting to fade away), the cost of anime went way down, and as such, sales didn't increase enough to offset things, and sales plummeted.
https://fandompost.vbulletin.net/forum/anime-manga-discussions/us-blu-ray-dvd-and-simulcast-industry-news/23997-jetro-north-american-anime-market-2012-report
https://twitter.com/Xythar/status/707723326072852481
https://i.imgur.com/u6hVSjI.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/e622UO6.jpg
http://www.twitlonger.com/show/n_1snsi4f
Posted by
BigOnAnime
| Jun 24, 2012 1:51 AM |
1 comments
 |
VoxPhantom | Jun 27, 2012 4:05 AM
Very interesting blog. If a lot more people followed your suggestions, the anime business outside of Japan would be a whole lot healthier. So many people seem to just watch a show via fansubs, then move on to the next anime they fancy. I think there's a sense of entitlement amongst many anime fans, with many believing that they have every right to be able to watch all anime for free. As someone who lives in the UK, we don't get quite as bad a deal as you suggest. Crunchyroll streams a fair amount of stuff over here, and we have a new anime streaming site (run by Viz Media's European branch, Kaze) in its infancy. Plus there's always the option of picking up cheaper titles from anime retailers' back catalogues - sometimes people seem to get caught up in only watching airing anime and don't release how cheap physical releases of older series are. I agree with you on the issue of buying every series being impractical. Fate/Zero, for example, is hugely expensive in its current state of release. However, there are streaming methods available through Crunchyroll, so people shouldn't be thinking fansubs are the only answer to the huge cost of buying the show. |