JanaiBlog Editorial: Illegal Anime Distribution
Please note: This is an editorial. While facts may be stated, opinions will be given. My intention of this article is not to state a moral stance; it is to promote supporting the anime industry.
For a while, I’ve had mixed feelings on the topic of fansubs and the illegal distribution of anime. While I’m not completely anti-fansub, I do believe they pose a certain threat to the anime industry, and can discourage fans from properly supporting the industry that they love. A person watching Fullmetal Alchemist for free illegally on a streaming site is not supporting the show’s licensors, and therein lies the problem.
If an anime series is legally available in the country you’re in, it should be obtained through legal means.
Those are my thoughts in a nutshell. Thanks to Crunchyroll, Funimation, and many others, we live in the age of streaming and simulcasting. There are plenty of legal ways to watch anime, and for free too. I’ve compiled a list of legal anime streaming sites that you should check out:
| Website | Price | Simulcasts |
| The Anime Network | Free ($6.95/month for full access) | No |
| Anime News Network | Free | No |
| Crunchyroll | Free ($6.95/month for premium) | Yes (many) |
| Funimation Video Portal | Free | Yes (some) |
| Hulu | Free | Yes (some) |
| Joost | Free | No |
| YouTube (certain channels: The Anime Network, Bandai Entertainment, Funimation) | Free | Yes (some) |
Did you notice a trend in that list above? They’re all FREE. Granted there are some situations, like with Crunchyroll, where non-paying members have to wait a week to get the anime they want. However, I still feel that’s no reason to resort to illegal anime streaming of the shows they have, especially considering the price that Crunchyroll is asking for is so small. $6.95 per month is not going to put you in a financial crisis.
These sites have a wide selection of great anime, many of which are available both dubbed and subbed. Despite this, there are still many sites that illegally provide fansubbed (and sometimes even dubbed) episodes of anime for free. I do realize that for some, these sites are the only option due to region locking. However, for those of us that can access the legal sites, I feel we really should be using those.
This means that I am not okay with streaming (or downloading) One Piece, for example, illegally, because (1) it’s legally available and simulcasted for free on Funimation’s video portal, and (2) it’s also available on DVD and sold in stores. There is no reason to resort to illegal means of obtaining it. If you can’t stand the low quality of anime streams, then go buy the anime on DVD. If you don’t want to buy it, you can rent the DVDs from Netflix for as little as $4.99 per month! An industry cannot thrive without financial support from its fans, and now is the time where the industry needs us most.
Now, you may be asking “Janai, this is all good to say, but do you practice what you preach?” and my answer to that is “Absolutely.” The only anime I will download fansubs of are those that are not licensed. If an anime is simulcasting legally on a site, I will use that instead of the fansubs. When an anime becomes licensed, I delete the fansubs from my hard drive and buy it on DVD or Blu-ray. That’s how I support the industry, and while I can’t expect everyone to follow suit, I personally feel it’s a reasonable compromise.
So, if you really want to watch a particular show, I implore that you first check to see if it is available legally. And if it is, please make use of those legal means. In doing so, you tell anime companies that you want more free streaming of anime, and more new shows to get licensed.
Posted on 2010-01-11, in Editorial and tagged anime network, anime news network, bandai entertainment, crunchyroll, fansubs, funimation, hulu, illegal streaming, joost, netflix. Bookmark the permalink. 20 Comments.
Janai
Antz
OtakuAnthony
jaysteevee
vtine
matty
machineslife
Nyanman
What is your stance on shows that are nearly impossible to see streaming / buy because they are discontinued? Like Galaxy Angel?
That would be an exception. Personally I feel that if a show is near impossible to obtain legally, then it’s okay to grab a fansub of it. However, I would first recommend you search for a legal method first (such as searching dvdpricesearch.com or checking Suncoast – if there is still one near you).
So American distributors are worth more to you than the Japanese studios and broadcasters that actually create the content? I mean, watching a fansub for a show that never gets licensed without buying the imported Japanese DVDs could be viewed as stealing those DVDs from the Japanese, but that’s OK with you? When a show is licensed, we have to respect the rights-holder in our own country, but when it’s unlicensed, we don’t have to respect the original rights-holder?
You seem to be taking a strong moral stand, but the real message you’re giving is: “If an anime series is legally available in the country you’re in, it should be obtained through legal means. If not, then it should be obtained illegally.” You don’t quite have the moral high ground when it’s worded that way, do you?
To be honest, I’m just playing Devil’s Advocate here, but I’ve always wondered how people can pretend that stealing from the Japanese is somehow OK, but stealing from the Americans isn’t.
You’re right, and I think you have good points. If there was a legal way to obtain every anime simulcasted, I would advocate that and I would then be completely against fansubs.
However, realistically, many anime fans want to watch anime as it’s aired in Japan. Many times there is no way to do this other than through fansubs, so that’s why I personally am okay with it.
I know Jon personally, he’s one of my best friends, and I can guarantee you that if the man could understand Japanese fluently, he’s probably import all of his anime from there and would rarely, if ever, touch a fansub. Both him and myself are adamant about people supporting the anime industry both in America and in Japan. My stance differs slightly from Jon, but we still both do our best to support the anime industry in any way we can manage to.
I do agree with Jon, though, that you do have some good points in your argument.
Agreed. Except that I live in Indonesia, where pretty much no anime is licensed and you will never be able to go to a DVD store and find an anime-related DVD (let alone Blu-Ray). We do have some simulcasts thanks to Animax Asia, but usually it’s only for an anime that’s overrated, like Inuyasha (which is simulcasting right now). Well, they did a nice job with Tears to Tiara, though. That was the first simulcast I’ve ever seen. But that’s only on certain midnights on TV, so I can’t watch it on demand. So I had to download fansubs, as they were the only way I can watch an anime. I could buy an anime DVD in here, but you know what’s inside that DVD? The same fansubs I can download for free on the Internet.
Yes, even though we can clearly see texts like “This fansub is not for sale”, etc, people don’t care in here. All they think about is their bandwidth, which is why bootlegged DVDs like that sell well in here. Crunchyroll is great, but they restrict it to region and I can’t watch anything in there, even if I paid. Same goes with pretty much everything else you listed. And I have to say, fansubs made me support the industry. If I never watch the fansubbed ARIA, I would never have bought this ARIA DVD BOX I ordered from Amazon Japan. If I never watch the fansubbed Seitokai no Ichizon, I would never have bought these Seitokai no Ichizon merchandises (which I think helps the industry too, right?).
Plus, the fact that I’m a high school student means that I’m very poor and can’t support every anime I loved. Really, I’m jealous to you guys living in the US. You can just spend about $60 for the complete series of Strike Witches, subbed. I had to spend 15,540 yen on the full series of ARIA the Origination. That’s $110 more expensive than in the US. The last time I checked ARIA was licensed in the US for $50, while I had to shell out $160 plus shipping to get the same thing (without subs). Not including shipping, and I know you can get free shipping in the US… Buying from the US is never an option from me (they don’t ship to Indonesia), and I know it’ll just be more expensive with a proxy service. They’d probably reject it since I have an Indonesian credit card anyways.
Well, that’s just my way of showing my support to the anime industry. I just spent about $30 on Seitokai no Ichizon goods. I don’t think many people here care, though. It’s just entertainment to them, and they don’t care if they are getting it illegally or legally. And the fact that the legal option is not there (even if it was they still won’t buy it due to the price). It’s nice to see that some people still care, though. I wish more people would support the anime industry.
In your case, region locking seems to be a huge issue, and I addressed that in the article. If you need to resort to fansubs in order to see a show, I’m okay with it. I also agree with how fansubs, while they may do nothing for DVD sales, they can boost merch sales. I know I would not have spent over $200 on Toradora! figures at NYAF if I had never seen the fansub of that show. Not to mention the hundreds of dollars I’ve spent on artbooks of shows I’ve seen fansubbed.
And for someone that’s so dedicated to a series, fansubs can actually get someone to buy DVDs. Just like how ARIA fansubs managed to make me buy the ARIA the Origination DVD BOX. So simply put, I disagree with your statement, “While I’m not completely anti-fansub, I do believe they pose a certain threat to the anime industry, and can discourage fans from properly supporting the industry that they love.” – it did the opposite to me. Fansubs introduce me to new anime, and if I love it that much, I’m going to support it by buying the DVD. And yeah, fansubs does boost merchandise sales, by a great amount, in my opinion. Based on what I see in the local area here in Southeast Asia.
This what the japanese need to do, Post there own shows on the internet for everyone to watch in the world.
But have Japanese commercials in between for extra revenue.
That’s a good idea.
Considering how fansubbers do they work for free just because of enthusiasm, they could as well work together with the Japanese streamers of the above idea, without the Japanese having to invest money in translators.
The problem is, the Japanese generally don’t give a fuck about anything that’s outside of Japan. At maximum, they give a fuck about their stuff being fansubbed, but never about pleasing foreigner fans.
Not much of an issue anymore, but what is your stance on anime that was censored or edited?
You’ve never heard my ramblings about that on Twitter? I’m strongly against it. I prefer to have the content that I watch in its purest, intended, and uncensored form. I could go on about this for paragraphs, but that’s something for another article.
Great article!
But – what’s your position when the fansubs are vastly more accurate and detailed than the legally-subbed version? Would that justify watching them?
No. In that case, I would still watch the legal version. As long as an anime translation makes coherent sense, of which the vast majority of professional ones do, I have no problem with it.
While many times I agree with fansub translations (for example, keeping honorifics in), I will always go with the official translation over that.
Having been involved w/ and still involved w/ several fansub anime sites, I understand the need for protecting licensed anime rights
But, When there’s so much anime content, licensed or unlicensed, on the internet that it’s next to impossible to control that content
Had discussion w/ a friend about why people go to fansub sites and we decided that it, possibly, it was the community built around those anime sites through chat or social interaction because the sites would have such crappy content and site design
Here’s solutions I think would work to draw fans to legal sites:
Direct streaming from Japan
Aggressive state side viewing and release schedules for animes
Stand alone embedded video players w/ limited list of anime titles in a company’s catalog that can be purchased to make your fansub anime site legal
I think the real issue here is that Japanese companies are still unaware of the demand for their products. Japanese companies need to be more aggressive in placing their products in foreign markets, rather than waiting for the markets to come to them. There is talk of the Japanese government providing support for the industry, but I’m not sure if it has fully manifested.
I do not think the Japanese government or production companies are aware of the global market that hungers for their products. Thus maybe we the fans need to take our case directly to the source. Talking about the issue among ourselves is not going to change the situation. Why not write your local Japanese embassy and express your love of anime and frustration at not being able to purchase media. Express your support for financial assistance to anime companies.
Good article. This is more or less my own position, and I really want to encourage sites like Crunchyroll with my money (been subscribing to the premium level service for a while now) because I think it’s the right direction for the anime distributors to take. (We at Anime Diet Radio were advocating for this direction all the way back in 2007, when Geneon USA collapsed, and to be honest we were surprised the industry more or less took it up so quickly–though it was Crunchyroll who forced their hand.)
There really ought to be a day where most if not all new anime will be simulcast/streamed/available for download officially and avoid the need for fansubs in most cases. We are much closer to that goal than we were a mere 2 years ago, and given how fast everything is changing, I wouldn’t be surprised that in another 2 years that’s where we will be. That should make most everyone happy, especially if the region locking becomes a thing of the past–though that will be hard.
Agreed. If streaming sites can find a way to simulcast anime 100%, it would eliminate the need for me and many others to resort to fansubs.
Many fansub groups will drop a series as soon as Crunchyroll (or anyone else) licenses it. So, if this ever became a reality, I think we would see a significant decline in the number of fansubs floating around.
Of course, this wouldn’t get rid of ALL fansubs, but it’s indeed a giant step.
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