AquaStar Blog

With the recent news posts related to action taken within the anime industry, there are some questions that have been posed to me since I am a fan as well as the admin for the AQS community which includes some aspects of it which do come into play with the big topic of the industry.

Recently, I was in Houston for the Oni-con anime convention. A nice medium sized con where I had fun with a lot of friends that I’ve met through the con circuit and even meeting a few new friendly faces. I had a chance to sit down for a few panels that I was interested in including one talking about fansubbing, bootlegging, and how it’s impacting the anime industry. As of recent, Geneon Entertainment closed due to parent company Dentsu pulling the plug on them, which is very unfortunate as Geneon USA definitely has had a lot of great titles over many years and even more that were planned.

Now, you’re probably wondering what my stance is on the issue since I am a subber but also a Region 1 DVD consumer. I’ll try to keep this as civil as possible and hope no one gets angry with me.

The reason that I formed first the AQS community and then the projects groups is like any anime fan, we have a love for this unique genre/artform. I think the first question that comes is what makes a person a fan? And there could be a lot of answers for this. Being passionate about your interests is certainly the basis for an answer to this question. That’s one of the big reasons for AQS’s existence. It just so happens that since we focus on particular series such as Negima, Kanon, AIR, Sister Princess, Love Hina, etc. that there are a lot of people that share similar feelings with these types of series. And as many of you probably notice, fans show their support for anime through different methods, whether it be cosplay, fanart, merchandise, etc.

Fansubbing is what the name means. And I assume that the reason that people do it is because they have a love for anime and are excited about seeing and working on what’s new. That’s one of my reasons. Another for me personally is that I’m hoping somewhere in there, the projects that we work on will catch people’s eye and generate interest. And if that leads to a US anime company taking notice and wanting to pick up the license for it, then I’d like to think that we were able to help in some way, though I’m sure that others may not view it like that. And even after a title gets picked up for the US, I hope that people will do the right thing and go out and buy the legitimate R1 DVD by ADV Films, Funimation, Bandai, Media Blasters, TRSI, Viz, and the other US companies that work hard to produce these DVDs for us, including English dubs which I’m a huge fan of. Nothing beats having the authentic official licensed product in your hand, hence why my credit card bill is usually high every month.

I do understand the concerns of people and the industry right now and people want answers . I certainly don’t want it to fade away. What I can say about myself is I do what I can and buy on DVD the series that I’ve seen, since I obviously enjoyed it if I watched it, and even take it a step further and encourage others to go buy it as well. I’ve even taken risks several times and did “blind buys” on new series and liked them. And when it comes to what AQS has worked on, I’ll even help direct people to websites that they can pre-order/purchase the legitimate manga and DVDs. In my opinion, again I hope people do the right thing and go out to buy the series that they’ve seen.

That leads me to another point. Some people’s comments I’ve read in certains forums suggest that if you watch fansubs, you’re considered evil no matter what, even if you go out and buy the legitimate product. To me, that’s not a fair judgment to pass on someone, especially if the arguments are suggesting by watching via this method, it’s considered lost sales. If the potential lost sale customer goes out and buys the DVDs for the series after having seen it, it’s not really a lost sale then, is it? I usually don’t rant that often, but that particular point I had to make right there. I will definitely agree that bootlegs clearly fall within that category of hurting the industry without a doubt, since both the consumer and the US companies end up getting burned.

I recently just got the latest issue of NewType USA, and there’s an article by one of my favorite English voice actresses in which she tackles the piracy issue. The article hits the nail on the head of my opinions on the matter. I know that I’ll be buying Kanon starting next month from ADV, and I’m waiting for a release date on Otome wa Boku ni Koishiteru from Media Blasters. And I encourage people to go and buy Kanon and AIR if you haven’t already. Also, don’t forget that Ken Akamatsu’s My Santa from Funimation Entertainment is out this month as well, just in time for the holidays!

Leading into my last point, one of the great things I do like about my staff for the fansub and scanlation teams is that a good number of them share the same opinions that I do. If you like the Negima manga, go out and buy the US releases for $10-11 per volume by Del Rey. If you liked Kanon, Otoboku, and My Santa, go out and buy the R1 DVDs as they become available; and watch out for bootleggers. A few of my staff members and I were talking about this in AQS’s main chan one night, and it was nice to know that there are people out there who are about purchasing and promoting the real product. To quote one of them, “Within the stuff that you buy as a fan, in general or at conventions, buy a DVD when possible.” It is true that we can’t buy every single series that we want right away, but when you are able to, every little bit helps the US companies and the creators in Japan so that fans can look forward to even more series being brought here to the US.