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If you've been living under a rock and don't know what I'm talking about read this article
http://www.animenewsnetwork.com.au/news/2014-07-31/anime-production-companies-manga-publishers-crack-down-on-piracy/.77121

Obviously, this is not going to work out. Whoever came up with this idea is completely ignorant to the fact that the entire western anime fandom is built on piracy so I don't think I even really need to explain what's wrong with this logic. But I guess that's exactly what I'm doing here.

We all know Crunchyroll right? They're basically one of the biggest names in the western anime community today and since late 2008 they've been subtitling and legally streaming anime on their website for a reasonable price. But let's go back to the period before then shall we? Do you want to know what Crunchyroll was doing before they went legit? They were charging people to stream illegal fansubbed anime on their site. Making money off of something that isn't even their property. Basically, the worst kind of pirates. Personally I don't hold it against them. In fact, I've been a paying member of the site since early 2012. But considering they wouldn't even exist without piracy it just goes to show how much it helps the western anime community.

For a more recent example let's take a look at one of the most popular anime of 2011: Puella Magi Madoka Magica. For those who don't know, there was no legal method of watching this show while it was airing. Hell, it didn't even get put on Crunchyroll until some time after the show had already gotten a western release. So where did Aniplex look when they came to the conclusion that it was popular enough to give it an English dub and release it as three super special limited edition Blu-ray boxes? Because it certainly wasn't Crunchyroll.

Not to mention before Crunchyroll went legit the only way of watching anime legally was waiting two years until the DVD came out. But if it got a DVD release chances are it was fairly popular in the first place. I don't think I even need to explain where that popularity came from.

The one thing this has proved to me is that the Japanese do care about making money off of us if only a little bit. After all, why else would they be doing this in the first place? In fact, that's exactly why this is such a misguided plan. Yes, there is probably some money that they could be making but aren't as a direct result of piracy. But piracy accounts for a very large majority of anime's current popularity in the west. It's a classic example of biting the hand that feeds you.

You might be a bit confused where I stand in all this so I'll explain. Yes, I do pirate anime on a regular basis. But at the same time I also have a sizeable collection of locally purchased anime, a Crunchyroll membership, a handful of shows I've imported from the US and quite recently I've got into importing Blu-rays directly from Japan with my collection currently consisting of the first two volumes of Love Live Season 2 and Madoka Rebellion. I also have great respect for the people who make the anime I love, the Japanese and English voice actors who bring the characters to life and the Australian companies such as Madman, Siren and Hanabee who make anime available to me. So if you're going to go and criticise me for being a leech you'd best think before you speak.

To be honest, I would be perfectly fine with going fully legit and paying for everything I watch. But if that's the route we're going to go the Elevens better come up with a legal method for me and everyone else to watch every single fansubbed anime to ever exist. You can start with all 500+ episodes of Precure and all those obscure shows from the 80s and 90s that have no legal subs. If that seems unreasonable to you, then I think it's plain to see where the problem lies