Why do we anime fans not support the industry?

lionheart04 said:
I support the industry by converting my classmates to anime fans

TrOjAnHoRsE said:

I too do the same, never thought that would support the industry.

Post-Moe said:

It may, but in the same sense that stealing a pizza and then telling your friends it's really good does. And no, I'm not saying stealing and pirating are "identical", but it doesn't really matter.

DrunkenBlowfish said:
Because the industry doesn't support us. Anime fans of the Western world have so little influence on anime creators it not even funny.

Why do some of you people put so much thought into creating excuses to not support the industry?

If you put nearly as much though into everything else, you might be able to leave your mother's basement and get a high paying job to support your anime buying.

f you live in the US or Canada, quit fucking whining.

nime is much more expensive over here and yet I can still afford to buy it and pay my living expenses with my crappy low paying job. Plus, you get a much bigger selection on Crunchyroll.

SquadmemberRitsu said:
@Anime_Name
You're putting way too much thought into it. I could argue back but I know that you're going to argue no matter what I say. I could say that the Holocaust actually happened and was a terrible thing and you'd probably disagree with me just so you can start up another one of your useless arguments.

Mow123 said:
Ok time for really simple basic logic.
If you like something you want it to grow or expand. In order to that you must commit resources to it for it to expand or grow. So if you like anime and want it to grow, you would spend money on it and try to watch it where they make money off of your views even if its just a little. If some kid watches one legal episode of naruto, and you watch 1,000 full anime title through non legal means, you are supporting it less than he is. So I would say he is a bigger fan, cause he gives a shit enough to watch it legally. The whole "I am not going to support crappy subs" just says that you are a shit head, the truth is you care so little about the anime you don't think about the creators at all, you just divert all your focus into the very small flaws of the subs. I really want to know what goes through fan subber's heads these days, "Iam going to be a hero and cut this anime's sales by 5% all for free!" hell even if its like .00000001% wtf! If you were forced to buy anime you would watch less and buy more. and thats the way it should be.

American anime fans don't like to support because we have this idea in our heads that anything to do with tv is well off and very rich which isn't always true. Less likely to get caught too. or the bullshit arugment of I don't want any money to go to the vile funimation or whatever, it creates a delusion of no harm because they think they aren't really taking anything when they are... but they have a reason why not to, quality... or subs, but what are these made from? the hard work of the japanese, so fan subbers what do they do? just put words , and steal everything noise and pixel on the screen. If they have such great words on the screen why don't they all do us a favor and start legally obtaining anime, nobody would watch crunchyroll anymore because of their awesome work right? they are guaranteed to make money because crunchy is making money and they make shit so if good subs start doing it they will make free money!!! Oh wait there is one thing... its called the truth... Fansubs are not really much better...

Akemi_Mokoto said:
Who is "we"? I support the industry. I LOVE the industry. I hate sites like JustDubs and MangaFox who disrespect the industry. Without the industry many of you think is bad, the anime you love so much would have never been made. The industry pays for the production and distribution of that anime. So don't hate the industry, because without it there would be little to no anime. Especially in these hard economic times.

SquadmemberRitsu said:
Why do some of you people put so much thought into creating excuses to not support the industry? If you put nearly as much though into everything else, you might be able to leave your mother's basement and get a high paying job to support your anime buying.

You buy things. You spend money on things. Japan place get money.
It's as simple as that.

Also, purposely not buying western DVDs is like refusing to buy a burger from KFC because $2 of it goes to charity. The western industry needs money too. Is it that bad that you're giving money to those who need it?

If you live in the US or Canada, quit fucking whining. Anime is much more expensive over here and yet I can still afford to buy it and pay my living expenses with my crappy low paying job. Plus, you get a much bigger selection on Crunchyroll. Then you also have Hulu, Netflix, Funimation and The Anime Network. In Australia, we get a very limited selection on Crunchyroll. That's it. All those sites are blocked. Plus we get much less stuff released over here since our distributors are only just starting to do sub only DVDs.

SquadmemberRitsu said:

If you live in the US or Canada, quit fucking whining. Anime is much more expensive over here and yet I can still afford to buy it and pay my living expenses with my crappy low paying job. Plus, you get a much bigger selection on Crunchyroll. Then you also have Hulu, Netflix, Funimation and The Anime Network. In Australia, we get a very limited selection on Crunchyroll. That's it. All those sites are blocked. Plus we get much less stuff released over here since our distributors are only just starting to do sub only DVDs.

ElfinMint said:
Because you guys are a bunch of poorfags.

GrumpyGumpy said:
There's no point in attempting to argue with people who view piracy as acceptable because the industry will never be able to compete with the free services they use nor is it likely that piracy will become such a risky practice in the near future that doing it is simply not worth the risk.

The industry is never going to expand services to western audiences unless they are supported by the majority of people. It's a shitty state of affairs but it is the way things are.

Caze said:
I'm not going to pay for something, when the people doing it for FREE do it better. I don't stream anime, and will not stream anime. The fansubbing community constantly puts out digital copies of anime with high quality video/audio encodes, with MUCH better subs, readily available for download, for free.

When the people asking for money want to start doing that, I will think about giving them money.

Anime_Name said:

It's a simple concept that's taught in business 101 and microeconomics, increased access and costing less than the next guy attracts more people. There's no competing with free but there is a way to find out why certain people are opting for the free product instead of buying the official ones. Some issues like accessibility and cost can be fixed by increasing the reach of a distribution chain(digitally or physically) and coming up with a way to decrease the cost to a level that is still profitable. It may not do anything for the folks that would never buy anyway but it would help people that would buy if they were given a chance beyond importing.

Aslo it's not about being acceptable but just being a fact of life that just is. You don't have to accept why it happens but if you want get into any form of business you have to accept that it does.


The Japanese industry is never going to expand services(anime is a service now?) with Western audiences in mind because the only market they can expand on is their local one. The Western distributors are the ones that will see to making an expansion for their products but expansion, like most business endeavors, require investment from the business end first. The Western companies seem content at the shrinking market and aren't doing things that one would expect to see from a business that is trying to expand. I know some want to say they don't have the money to expand because fans are buying the product but in order to sell more a business has to actively invest and commit to making it's product as accessible as possible. Not getting anime on TV and having brick n' mortar stores reducing or removing all of the anime stock isn't the way to do it.

GrumpyGumpy said:


While what you say makes sense from a business point of view, piracy has become so ingrained within certain sections of the community then it really won’t matter what services are provided they will still continue to do it simply because as you say you can’t beat free and for those who think it is a perfectly acceptable way of accessing the content then there really is no reason to change. That’s why I say there is no point arguing with people who view it as acceptable because there is always another reason given to justify it even as things are systematically removed.

When faced with such a scenario why would any business actually invest in expanding their services?

They’re not going to see significant returns, the only way I can see real pressure for an expansion in distribution is for piracy to essentially become so risky that any official source is better than it.

Anime_Name said:


While what you say makes sense from a business point of view, piracy has become so ingrained within certain sections of the community then it really won’t matter what services are provided they will still continue to do it simply because as you say you can’t beat free and for those who think it is a perfectly acceptable way of accessing the content then there really is no reason to change. That’s why I say there is no point arguing with people who view it as acceptable because there is always another reason given to justify it even as things are systematically removed.

When faced with such a scenario why would any business actually invest in expanding their services?

They’re not going to see significant returns, the only way I can see real pressure for an expansion in distribution is for piracy to essentially become so risky that any official source is better than it.

kirAth-shiAue said:
I actually prefer to buy my anime and watch on my tv rather than online. Only anime I'm wathing online is Hunter X Hunter 2011 on Crunchyroll. I have a pretty big collection and I just just love looking at all my artboxes(wish they still released those). Right now I'm currently buying everything I can from Bandai.

Anime_Name said:
At the end of the day the people who are solely pirating anime aren't contributing to the industry's success or failure because theft for any business is simply a variable they have to deal with no matter what.

At the end of the day the Japanese business model still works them. The folks pointing fingers at it aren't even part of the demographics that the business model serves. There is no such thing as a better business model, it is just about what works and what doesn't.

The Western anime distribution business model is in shambles because that industry struggles at getting awareness of their shows up, product in stores, and TV shows on TV.

Who’s pointing fingers? I think most people know all too well there is zero point in trying to argue with piracy because it is endlessly self-justifying, said that plenty of times already.

Long story short the whole thing is chicken and egg = The industry isn’t going to see a viable market to expand into unless there is actual interest being shown in legal means to consume the product and the audience isn’t going to use legal means until they meet all of their “standards” and even that is fairly spurious to be blunt.

Anime_Name said:
At the end of the day the people who are solely pirating anime aren't contributing to the industry's success or failure because theft for any business is simply a variable they have to deal with no matter what.

At the end of the day the Japanese business model still works them. The folks pointing fingers at it aren't even part of the demographics that the business model serves. There is no such thing as a better business model, it is just about what works and what doesn't.

The Western anime distribution business model is in shambles because that industry struggles at getting awareness of their shows up, product in stores, and TV shows on TV.

Anime_Name said:
At the end of the day the people who are solely pirating anime aren't contributing to the industry's success or failure because theft for any business is simply a variable they have to deal with no matter what.

At the end of the day the Japanese business model still works them. The folks pointing fingers at it aren't even part of the demographics that the business model serves. There is no such thing as a better business model, it is just about what works and what doesn't.

The Western anime distribution business model is in shambles because that industry struggles at getting awareness of their shows up, product in stores, and TV shows on TV.

Anime_Name said:

It's only endless if you are only capable to arguing with the extreme examples that are outliers that aren't factors of success/failure of any anime.


It is not a chicken and the egg situation as business history is plentiful and recent enough for anyone to knows that possibility of profit is a function of the amount of investment put into a business/product.
Or more simply; you build it, they will come.