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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:

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.

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 on an illegal streaming site is not helping the industry. These illegal sites generate tons of traffic and ad revenue all for themselves – without giving a single cent back to the creators. Therein lies the problem.

If an anime series is legally available in the country you’re in, it should be obtained through legal means.

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