krelyan's Blog

Disclaimer: This is not intended to be an attack on those who “responsibly use” fansubs, but to show that fansubs are outdated and have long since devolved from beneficial to parasitical. It may be idealistic (I realize fansubs aren’t going anywhere) and even condescending, but at least I’m not wallowing in ignorance. While I certainly have no credentials, I like to think I’m reasonably well-educated and intelligent and all the information below is easily accessible via Google. It’s also really, really long with many, many tangents.

Fansubs aren’t illegal; they’re just in a gray area of the law.
Fansubs are still illegal even if the title is not licensed in your region if you’re government has signed the Berne Convention. Just because license holders (for a variety of reasons) have long since turned a blind eye towards fansubs in general doesn’t give fansubs any sort of legal backbone. Ethically, that’s a different story.

Fansubs lead to more exposure and therefore increase sales.
Yes, fansubs do increase exposure. But at the same time exposure doesn’t mean anything if you can’t monetize it. And businesses, which the anime industry most certainly is, all need their spokes greased with cash to run. Anime DVD sales have decreased every year since ‘04, now reaching 50% of what they were selling years ago while mainstream DVDs have only fallen a fraction (15%) of that figure.

It’s estimated that a “smaller” show (i.e. not Naruto or Bleach) will get 100,000 downloads across the various fansub groups. Yet a show is considered a huge success if it can move 10,000 DVDs these days. So yes, exposure to anime is certainly increasing but sales assuredly are not. This is not just coincidence that for every year as broadband has become more prominent and illegal alternatives have become more convenient that DVD sales have plummeted.

But the leeches wouldn’t buy anyway.
This is true to an extent. But the argument is flawed due to it being a lot easier to state you never had any intention of buying the product when someone actually is offering that product for free. They also artificially inflate demand that can lead to higher licensing costs for distributors.

Sure the reality is that some are, in short, genuine assholes who have no qualms using their sphincter for a mouth piece. But I don't think it is accurate to state that this represents the majority of fansub watchers. And if fansubs are truly just creating fans and not consumers, then that only furthers the point that they’re ultimately ineffective.

The real fans watch it first.
This is highly obnoxious. As an example, I had the ending for Death Note spoiled before the Adult Swim broadcast had even reached the halfway point and then was told it was my own fault for not being a part of the “anime community” and watching it “with the true fans.” Can we tone down the elitism just a tad here ‘fellas? I wasn’t aware there was a time limit on being able to enjoy a show.

Fansubbing is no different than recording a TV broadcast via VHS or DVR or even borrowing from a friend.
Really? The simple exponential differences here are astounding. First, you’re not lending a temporary copy to a single friend, you’re distributing a perfect, permanent replica to thousands. Secondly, DVR and VHS have storage restrictions. You’re not going to be able to record the massive libraries that many downloaders have acquired from this method.

The Japanese get to watch anime for free; why shouldn’t I?
Ignoring that many anime shows are only available on premium pay channels, the Japanese are required to pay a TV tax that we don’t pay here in the States. Also, I’ve never seen a fansub with the advertisements intact and even if they were it’d be a moot point since there’s no way for you to actually purchase any of the advertised products (in all likelihood).

Smart consumers preview before they buy.
Yes, I’ll admit there are a few that do end up making purchases from a fansub watching. But there’s a point at which watching a show in its entirety no longer constitutes a “preview.” Many have huge logs of viewed shows but can only name a handful worthy of supporting. People, if you only find a tiny percentage truly entertaining and worthy of your almighty dollar, perhaps maybe you should be looking into different hobbies. Personally, I’d consider my time far more valuable.

There also many alternatives to be able to preview: legal downloads, watching streamed sample episodes on the official websites, television, renting DVDs (NetFlix), borrowing from a friend or even perusing your local library.

Fansub translations are more accurate.
There’s a lot misleading, baseless rumors that have been spread around that getting paid to do something corrupts it. What’s with this bizarre conception that since fansubbers do it in their free time that it’s more pure and noble. Is there something I’m missing that states that having a passion for something and making a living are somehow mutually exclusive? Personally, I would trust the person that has their financial means resting on their work, and not just their Internet ego, to provide the more consistent quality. Also, being able to have direct access to the show’s scripts doesn’t hurt either. ;)

But what about my fancy fonts and karaoke effects?
There's DVD standards and specifications that companies have to meet in order to ensure that their product works across all DVD players. If you had every company using different fonts and fancy special effects, it'd be a nightmare for the player manufacturers. So to be fair, its not the companies trying to be cheap, lazy or trying to deliver sub standard products. There’s also a reason why professional translators use simple fonts: they’re easy to read and are unobtrusive. The Japanese viewers didn’t have gigantic, glowing, swirling text distracting their eye; why do you?

Anime DVDs are more expensive than their US TV counterparts. The R1 anime industry is gouging their customers.
Generally, Japanese TV production companies pay for a much smaller percentage of the show’s budgets when compared to a major American television network, such as NBC. This means that anime relies more heavily on licensing and DVD revenue. Also, when many fans make this comparison, it’s apple and oranges. These are often incredibly popular series that have already recouped all-and-then-some of the production costs from syndication. However, anime is still very much a niche industry and will never, ever be able to pull the numbers a major title like Seinfeld or Lost will. Anime is much more akin to other shows on premium networks, like HBO, that also have higher priced DVD sets.

Another thing to consider is that mainstream TV titles are often given higher percentage discounts at retailers. When comparing MSRP, the difference is less glaring. This isn't some conspiracy of the R1 industry holding our precious anime hostage for only the wealthy, while fansubs act as "the people's Robin Hood.” Everyone would love cheaper anime, and it’s been getting cheaper every year, but it's unrealistic to think that anime will ever gain the sales or consumer base necessary to be able to feature truly identical pricing as the mainstream television sets and still turn profits.

R1 anime DVDs have dubs and buying these means I’m supporting this heinous activity which will destroy the very fabric of life.
Congratulations, you’re an elitist douchebag.

The R1 industry is fine. They’re just scaremongering.
1. Musicland (Suncoast) the largest anime DVD retailer (by a fair extent) filed for bankruptcy.
2. Central Park has been comatose for years since the Musicland bankruptcy.
3. Geneon ceased distribution at the end of ‘07 (with only select titles being recently “rescued” by Funimation).
4. ADV has been heavily crippled losing nearly all of its licenses obtained in the past couple years now relying on repackaging their older licenses for the dozenth time.
5. Rumors have been circulating of financial instability at Bandai Entertainment leaving many to speculate they’re the next domino to crumble.
6. Even smaller distributors, such as Media Blasters and Nozomi (Right Stuf) have scaled back releases and have begun to decrease costs by stripping things like dubs.
Now obviously all of these are not directly the results of fansubs, but to state that they had no influence on the industry’s current decline is asinine.

Failures in foreign markets have no affect on the Japanese market.
Anime DVD sales are down across ALL regions, not just R1. According to Gonzo, DVD sales are down even more in Japan than they are in America. In fact, GDH, the parent company of Gonzo, one of the more popular animation studios, recently was given notice that they had 1 year (beginning April 1, 2008) to improve its financial standing or be de-listed from the Tokyo Stock Exchange. This is after GDH recently announced losses of $35.44 million of revenue during the past fiscal year. So things are hardly peachy on the other side. And as stated before, anime production relies on licensing fees.

If the market faltered it’d be a good thing. The resulting shows would be generally be of higher quality.
Not true. It’s during the times of feast that the most original, inventive shows have been created, not during the famine periods. Tighter budgets just means more generic, “safe” shows.

The decline is due to studios making crappy [insert genre here] shows.
Then why would overall interest in anime be up as evidenced by growing con attendance?

I don’t want to wait so long between Japanese air dates and legal alternatives.
A legitimate gripe, but I think many fans need to understand the many factors involved in the licensing process. How many people use previewing as a reason to download a series? Why is it perfectly acceptable for you to "taste test" while R1 industry should not be afforded that same right? Sure, its fairly easy to pre license the next Shounen Jump or Gonzo show, but it’s going to be a risky venture otherwise. The production cycle in Japan means that often a show isn’t ready until days before the broadcast date so there aren’t really any methods for foreign licensors to get special previews or sampling.

Also, the Japanese production companies are often involved in the translation and dubbing process, requiring American dub voice actors be auditioned by the Japanese director, or requiring translated scripts be sent in for approval. Then you have the time involved with contract negotiations. And then factor in the time it takes to dub the show and ship the product to retailers. All this adds up and if one takes off the jaded glasses the realities of the situation are much more understandable.

Fansubs have episodes available a week after they air in Japan, why can’t the R1 industry?
Two entirely different beasts. It has absolutely nothing to do with the R1 industry being slow on translations, but more of what was cited above. There are also television broadcasting contracts and rights to consider. Many of these contracts have clauses that give them claim to the show for a certain window of time.

Japanese license holders should cut out the American middle man and sell directly to the global market.
Because this worked out so well in the past with Toei (twice), TMS Entertainment, Tatsunoko Productions and Super Techno Arts. Companies like ADV, Geneon and Funimation have established the current R1 market and have a better understanding of it.

Fans want digital files, not “archaic” physical media.
Possibly. But setting up a digital distrubition model would require a lot of resources, something the strapped R1 distributors lack. I would argue that they’ve merely been waiting on the larger companies to take the first steps. It’s generally been these companies that have had to “lead the way” simply due to capital restraints, not from a lack of vision. For example, it’s only now that you’re seeing smaller, independent distributors jump on the Blu-Ray bandwagon.

And here’s some food for thought. According to a NPD survey only 0.6% of the average consumers movie budget goes towards legal downloads and rentals. It’d be financial suicide for the companies to fully embrace this at the risk of losing their bread and butter. Look that the music industry; CD sales still beat out legal downloads and those file sizes are many magnitudes smaller.

Why doesn’t the industry adopt the “superior” fansub model?
The notion that fansubs outwitted the competition with the hardly opaque concept of “fast and free” is beyond disingenuous. Regardless, the industry is adopting different distribution methods in various ways. There are multitudes of legit alternatives being offered and will hopefully continue to be offered. Funimation has shows on iTunes for download. There are shows available for free, legal streaming on Joost, Hulu and, yes, even Youtube. Viz had Death Note episodes available for download before the series was available in America and not long after it finished airing in Japan. But it's time to start supporting these models if you want to see this continue to evolve. That is simple economics, unlike many of the ideas proposed by select fansubbers that only have a faint resemblance to sound business strategies.


So yes, I acknowledge there are legitimate reasons people use fansubs. There are some classic shows that this is the only way to see them or for some in various parts of the world their only avenue to anime. But, regrettably, their availability has been a catalyst to the global decline of the anime industry - a direct contrast to the reason that they were initially founded on.