President of Kadokawa opposes removing anime from Youtube

by dtshyk
Mar 16, 2008 11:26 PM | 115 Comments

According to Tech-On! magazine, Fukuda Tadashi the president of Kadokawa Digix (the publisher of "The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya", "Lucky ☆ Star" etc.) said "It is quite sad to see that anime vids are deleted due to the copyright infringement. We can use Youtube and other video sharing service to advertise our titles outside Japan." He continued "Anime fans who wanna see anime in higher resolution will buy DVDs. People watch anime on Youtube because they have missed the TV broadcasting or wanna check it just on trial. Currently we give up the chance of selling not only the DVD but the illustrations or other character products. Those fans take their time to upload and advertise our anime titles. If we keep on claiming copyright infringements and neglecting their activities, we eventually lose anime fans."

Source
Tech-On!
Translated source article first half
Translated source article last half

====edited
The name of the president was "Tadashi" not "Mineo"
I posted the translated original article in my blog.

20 of 115 Comments Recent Comments

I got 2 copyright strike because of Kadokawa*the last strike was from Aniplex.inc* I wen my account back Kadokawa!!!! T.T

May 9, 2010 4:28 AM by KamiyaShinji

Back when I first discovered that people were uploading anime on Youtube, I thought it was a god-send. I was glad that I was able to watch an episode or two of a show to see if buying the DVD was worth it, and it's refreshing to know how much money I've saved over the years thanks to streaming before buying.

I almost always buy DVDs/Blu-ray disks of anime I like. It's thanks to streaming that I discovered Mushishi, Sword of the Stranger, Baccano!, and Darker than Black, which I all dearly love. And unlike some fans who buy the series over time, I've grown accustomed to only buying boxsets so even if I don't like an anime, at least it will not be sitting pitifully incomplete on my shelf.

Obviously, I don't like being much of a pirate, unless I can't help it (like watching an anime that has not been licensed in America such as Durarara) But if there's one thing I hate more than reading manga online, it's watching anime online. Watching anime on TV is much more appealing to me and much more comfortable and no matter the high quality of torrents or the low quality of streaming, physical disks > digital data any day.

Though my wallet does cry at some prices at times... I always have to find a sale or online deal that doesn't try to kill me, but for some series it's hard. :(

May 8, 2010 5:19 PM by Gin-iro

Seeing this statement made me quite happy. I know there are some people out there that are going to suck up whatever they can get free, no matter what..and never drop a penny. I don't own much anime despite all i've seen, but I live in a very remote area where 99% of the population doesn't even know anime exists. The only way for me to watch is online, or to buy online. The same goes for manga. Unfortunately with the economic downturn spending money is becoming very scarce. At this point, if I could not find anime online to watch for free...I wouldn't be watching any at all. So while not all of us can hock over the cash to support the companies producing it for us, I can at least watch it and if I like it, recommend it to others who may then decided to purchase when they would not have otherwise.

May 8, 2010 1:42 PM by Nassa

Even though Kadokawa said this, My channel was suspended for uploading anime episode and the claim was from Kadokawa!!!!

May 8, 2010 9:11 AM by KamiyaShinji

He's right. It's exactly what anime fans think as well.

Apr 28, 2010 6:25 AM by AlexSadist-sama

Agreed. But i never watch anime on Youtube xD

Apr 28, 2010 12:36 AM by VintorezNL

Gogetters said:

aero said:
I like this guy's thinking.

Yup.

Apr 26, 2010 12:00 PM by Yup

aero said:
I like this guy's thinking.

Apr 26, 2010 11:57 AM by Gogetters

I wish a lot of streaming wasn't country-based i.e. FUNimation...especially since I want to watch it with english subs not german subs. This annoys me the most.

Apr 26, 2010 10:56 AM by Toast-Junkie

Seasonreaper said:
Personally I prefer the way FUNimation is doing things. Free streams of their series but you have to pay to download? To me that's the right way of doing things, even though a lot of people seem to think differently. I watched TMoHS online but that didn't stop me from buying the limited edition volumes because I liked it. Without being able to view things first online would suck anyway, because it would've ended up with me spending a crapload of money on Lucky Star despite it being complete shit, and that would've been highly annoying. Because I watched it online first I saved a hell of a lot of money, and that's never a bad thing.

this guy knows what he talking about, everyone should think the way FUNI is doing it right now. because as season reaper said , you will spend more money than what you really need to if you hate the series but only know of a very few titles. also what if your not on the mainland and you don't have any means of obtaining an anime. what then? they will lose out if they keep this up and that's that. >=3

Apr 26, 2010 8:44 AM by hawky2009

I agree with him, I sometime download anime and watch em bt I also brought alot of DVD.

Apr 26, 2010 8:18 AM by KamiyaShinji

Personally I prefer the way FUNimation is doing things. Free streams of their series but you have to pay to download? To me that's the right way of doing things, even though a lot of people seem to think differently. I watched TMoHS online but that didn't stop me from buying the limited edition volumes because I liked it. Without being able to view things first online would suck anyway, because it would've ended up with me spending a crapload of money on Lucky Star despite it being complete shit, and that would've been highly annoying. Because I watched it online first I saved a hell of a lot of money, and that's never a bad thing.

Apr 8, 2009 4:00 PM by Seasonreaper

Krelian said:
DeathfireD has a good point. Honestly I think that being able to view some things in low-res on youtube and the like is an asset to anime companies - I used to always use youtube to check out anime series before I tried getting them on DVD.

I think torrents discourage people from buying anime DVDs though. Not all people, sure, but I haven't bought any DVDs since I got into downloading fansubs. If you can get a full-quality version of a series for free without having to worry about crappy subs, censorship and similar butchering of the original, etc. then what's the point in paying? I mean, sure, supporting the industry and all, but I'm not a good enough person to pay for something I don't plan on watching again or a release whose quality isn't even on par with free fansubs.

qft

Apr 8, 2009 1:11 AM by darknesschaos

finnally, someone thinking. doesn't really concern me though i dont hav anyway to buy anything anime. suks being on an island

Mar 8, 2009 8:11 PM by Yamanashi_Ken

I agree with this. Anime are too expensive to buy without watching them first. People in Japan get to see the anime on tv, after all.

Feb 15, 2009 8:38 PM by fdssdfdsfsf

The guy is right, I'm tired of seeing videos removed because of infringment. It's stupid.

Feb 15, 2009 8:14 PM by Daizu

Why does it take the president of a media production company to mention something every adult with half a brain realized years ago?

Feb 14, 2009 2:47 PM by YoungVagabond

Finally, someone who matters brings it up. \o/

Feb 14, 2009 8:36 AM by Kyora

I use youtube primarily to see the dubs of anime I've previously watched only in subs. I don't have cable TV, so sometimes that's the only way I can see the dubs until the official DVDs come out. I would definitely not use it as a straight out substitute though since the quality is often times horrible. Previewing is a good use for it.

Feb 13, 2009 8:21 PM by feder

aero said:
I like this guy's thinking.

Feb 12, 2009 7:01 PM by Kira01

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