Editorial by Chris

August 15, 2003

There was a time long ago in the ancient days of anime fandom where the Internet and DVD's didn't exist. In this dark days, primitive anime fans used unwieldy contraptions called 'VCRs' to watch anime from Japan with no translation. Sometimes, if they were lucky enough, they had a script to read along with. As humanity progressed out of these dark ages of fandom, equipment became available that allowed fans to attach hard subtitles to the video. It was thus that the near-modern incarnation of the 'fansub' was developed. Now, in these prehistoric days (the 1980's, for those of you who remember), there was no anime industry in the U.S. No ADV, no Pioneer and no Bandai. If you wanted to see anime, you watched these fansubs or edited shows on TV like Voltron and Robotech. Even as the anime industry developed in the late 80's and early 90's, the fansub never died because it's a commonly known fact that there will always be more anime available than any American company could ever license and release here.

Now, the basic point of the fansub was (and supposedly still is) to provide fans the opportunity to see a series that hasn't been released domestically. Now, while fansubbing is clearly in violation of copyrights, it is allowed to exist via a long-established gentlemen's agreement. That agreement is that most companies look the other way when fansubs are produced, but when they license a specific series, they expect all fansubbing and distribution to cease. That's the way it's been, and that's technically the way it's still supposed to be. However, in the last few years, the fansubbing community has changed radically. With the advent of digital fansubs (or digisubs), people all across the world have unprecedented access to anime. Now, instead of waiting months or years, fans can watch the latest episodes of shows a few days after it airs in Japan.

This is both a good thing and a bad thing. On the good side, American fans are nearly toe-to-toe with their Japanese counterparts when it comes to the newest series, which as of this writing includes shows like Wolf's Rain and Gundam SEED. Also, the recent appearance of a file sharing program named Bit Torrent has made the distribution of files even easier. This all sounds pretty good, so what's the problem? Well, the anime industry has come pretty far after all these years, and there's lots of companies cranking out product constantly. And so when a series is inevitably licensed, the companies expect the fansubbers to cease and desist on that series. Unfortunately, many fansubbers aren't following this gentlemen's agreement and continue to subtitle the series. Now that's certainly a problem, but there's another side to the coin: the fans. Before, it was nearly impossible to find a series fansubbed, let alone a complete series. However, with so much available now online, fans have become greedy and gluttonous when it comes to fansubs. They expect things to be fansubbed instantly, and they also expect series to continue even after being licensed.

This is increasingly becoming a problem. At recent conventions, Bandai has announced licenses for popular fansub series Wolf's Rain and Gundam SEED. In the cases of both series, fansubbing has continued after those series have been licensed. Bandai has approached several groups, and fansubbing finally ceased for the most part. However, the reaction of fans has been very negative. Many who have been following SEED specifically see Bandai as evil people depriving them of their favorite series, and they feel they've been 'screwed over' and claim Bandai doesn't care about the fans. Some even go far enough to call for boycotts against Bandai and the endorsement of bootleg DVD's from Hong Kong. What's been totally overlooked here is the fact that something historic has happened: this is the first time ever a Gundam series has been licensed for the U.S. while it's still on the air in Japan. Now, don't get me wrong here, I like watching new anime, and I've taken advantage of this new form of fansubbing. However, I also don't like watching anime on my computer that comes with at times questionable translations. I'd much rather enjoy my anime on a TV, via a DVD player with top quality audio and video, and maybe an extra here and there. This means that I buy domestic Region 1 anime DVD's, and when a new series is licensed, I look forward to buying it.

The licensing of anime is a GOOD thing, not 'screwing over the fans'. Is it preferable to have no anime industry at all? Is it better to go back to the old days of watching 10th generation VHS tapes with scripts in hand? The anime industry and fansubbing have a strange relationship that can't exactly be described as 'symbiotic'. While many series like Fushigi Yugi have become popular because of fansubs, it's also clear that fansubs can hurt series. Case in point: AnimEigo held back on releasing the Kimagure Orange Road TV series for a long time because they felt the anime community was over saturated with fansubs. In this day of digisubs and DVD boxed sets, there's something I think people forget. Anime is a privilege, not a right. If you can't afford to buy a series, too bad. Wait and save enough money or wait until it goes on sale. If a series becomes licensed, well, buy the domestic release if you like it so much. The idea that an anime company is robbing the fans of their series is to me ridiculous. I find it disgusting that people would make such complaints when a domestic release will have better video and audio quality, and usually a more accurate translation. In essence, it is an appeal for mediocrity. There is no legal right to fansubs, but is an accepted practice up to a point. You can't claim your rights are being violated in regards to a series because you never HAD a right to watch it in the first place. Anime companies are here to make money, and that requires licensing series. Even in Japan, that land of anime milk and honey, anime isn't free. In fact, it's a lot more expensive than it is in America. Fansubs are all well in good, but only up to a certain point. Once that death knell of licensing is sounded, they have to be let go.