The end of fansubs?

Heero_Yuy84 · Post by **Heero_Yuy84** » Fri Dec 10, 2004 12:55 pm

Not sure...last I'd heard from AJ was when they nearly got taken to the cleaners legally for refusing to stop subbing Ninja Scroll: The Series after it had been licensed.

Other than that, most that's been done with them so far was being bombarded by insane amounts of ridicule (people had a field day with that GitS sub)

Kazutaka · Post by **Kazutaka** » Fri Dec 10, 2004 2:31 pm

When the revolution comes THEY will be the second ones against the wall!

akatoro · Post by **akatoro** » Sat Dec 11, 2004 6:29 am

Groups who sub and advertise through personal website may very well come to a halt. But I doubt they'll be as successful with those who use mIRC and IRC to distribute, or even DC++.

Org Profile · Post by **GloryQuestor** » Sat Dec 11, 2004 9:09 am

Captain Tylor wrote:Perhaps a bit of a tangent, but what exactly does MFI produce? I don't think I've heard the name before.

Media Blasters is the head company that distributes anime through many other names, such as Anime Works (which distributes their main body of "non-adult" anime, such as Ys Legacy, Magic Knight Rayearth, Ruroni Kenshin [the TV series]), Kitty Entertainment (which distributes their "hardcore adult" anime series such as Bible Black), and Software Sculptors, just to name a few.

I also think like others that the fansub lawsuit is going to start pushing things backwards.

I see their point, though.

Fansubbing one or two episodes would be okay -- people would watch it, then buy the product and support the company that made it, and that company would be happy.

But fansubbing and making the media of the entire series (or one-shot) available for anyone to come along and download is, and pretty much has always been, piracy.

Now that people out there have DVD burners, and that fansubs are just being posted, why wouldn't people just download the fansub and stick them on DVDs of their own? It's much cheaper that way ... but, it's both illegal and takes away resources from these studios that take the time, effort, and money to first create the work in Japan, then import these works for international consumption.

Do the fansubbers think of that when they post all the material they do?

The moral of the story is: If you want to do the right thing, buy the DVDs of these anime -- whether you get them through importers or straight from Japan. Fansubbers should concentrate on making or using "overlay" software that allows people with DVD drives to view their fansubs on top of the movie -- not just copy the movie and stick a sub to it.

Jnzk · Post by **Jnzk** » Sat Dec 11, 2004 10:21 am

GloryQuestor wrote:
Captain Tylor wrote:Perhaps a bit of a tangent, but what exactly does MFI produce? I don't think I've heard the name before.
Media Blasters is the head company that distributes anime through many other names, such as Anime Works (which distributes their main body of "non-adult" anime, such as Ys Legacy, Magic Knight Rayearth, Ruroni Kenshin [the TV series]), Kitty Entertainment (which distributes their "hardcore adult" anime series such as Bible Black), and Software Sculptors, just to name a few.

Media Blasters != Media Factory Inc.

Media Factory is a Japanese company.

Scintilla · Post by **Scintilla** » Sat Dec 11, 2004 1:16 pm

GloryQuestor wrote:<b>Media Blasters</b> is the head company that distributes anime through many other names, such as Anime Works (which distributes their main body of "non-adult" anime, such as Ys Legacy, Magic Knight Rayearth, Ruroni Kenshin [the TV series]), Kitty Entertainment (which distributes their "hardcore adult" anime series such as Bible Black), and <b>Software Sculptors</b>, just to name a few.

But, but, Software Sculptors did Slayers, and Central Park Media has that now...

(yes, I know Media Blasters isn't the company we were originally talking about)

LindenRathan · Post by **LindenRathan** » Sun Dec 12, 2004 1:02 am

i have yet to see a MFI anime but if you saw the list of subs i have on cd-rs
you would probly go nuts thinking i must be rich on never buying an anime b4 but surprisingly out of 97 cds of fansubs i have yet to get beserk, mahoromatic, RKova, and blue gender, and im missing the last dvd or 2 of a few series(RK, inyasha, YYH, and a few others). (having a rich father that rarly ever sees me is wonderful cause he gets me whatever i want on the ocation he visits me). hey if theres anyone out there that wants anything any you live in NW Indiana or chicago email me at dl_lindenrathan@yahoo.com with what you want and ill get ahold of you when i get it o and make the mails subject something stupid like 'Dude get me anime" or somehing like that

Org Profile · Post by **GloryQuestor** » Sun Dec 12, 2004 10:30 am

Sorry about that.

Since I can't edit it, here's a revised answer, thanks to ANN:

AnimeNewsNetwork.com wrote:Owning the rights to titles such as Genshiken, Gankutsuou, Kimi ga Nozomu Eien, and School Rumble, Media Factory is among the first of Japanese distributors to ask that unauthorized distribution of their anime titles (regardless of whether or not there is an international licensor) cease.

ryuu_hime13 · Post by **ryuu_hime13** » Sun Dec 12, 2004 7:02 pm

It'll be kind of sad if they shut fansubbers down...fansubs introduced me to Noir and Peacemaker Kurogane, both of which I now own legitimately. I don't know any people who exclusively watch/own fansubs. Most of my friends go out and buy the stuff once it's licensed.

I can see where the production companies would be upset, though. I'm curious, though - forgive me if this has already been answered - but what exactly CAN they do? I'm not even remotely familiar with international copyrighting laws and whatnot...but if the series hasn't been licensed in the US, as long as it isn't being SOLD, is offering fansubbed anime online actually illegal? Again, I'm just asking since I really don't know how this works.

Zarxrax · Post by **Zarxrax** » Sun Dec 12, 2004 8:02 pm

I don't think the people actually creating the anime really care much about fansubs, it's probably just lawyers. You know, company A says, "go out and find people that are pirating our stuff and make them stop!", then lawyers go out, find fansub site, send cease and desist letter.
I find it highly ironic that this is being done by MSI, the creators of Genshiken. An anime about the otaku subculture... yet they are shutting down the subculture of fansubbers?

I do firmly believe that fansubs only help to sell more anime in the US. I mean, if people couldn't watch the anime beforehand, how would they know whether they like it or not? I sure as hell wouldn't just slap down $100-$200 bucks for a series that I've never seen! The majority of anime SUCKS, and it would be stupid to just randomly throw money at something at the off chance that you will actually get something good!

Furthermore, the anime companies don't even market their product to the types of people who watch fansubs. Their market is dub watchers. Probably the only reason that they even add piss-poor subtitles to the DVDs is to appease the vocal minority.

4 years ago, digisubbing came around, and since that time, anime has gone from being an underground hobby, to something that everyone knows about. Love Hina was the first hugely popular digisubbed anime. And correct me if I'm wrong, but when the Love Hina DVDs were released, it was the best selling anime series of all time.

It's true that around the same time digisubbing came around, anime started becoming popular on cartoon network, and that has certainly had a significant influence on the explosion of popularity in recent years. But although I can see that having a large effect on the sale of the series that are shown on cartoon network, or on standalone movies... I find it hard to believe that the little anime that is shown on cartoon network would cause sharp increases in the sales of ALL anime. As I said earlier... who is going to just plop down a couple hundred bucks on a series that they've never seen?