In Defence of Bandai
Yes, defence. It’s British spelling, okay? Deal with it.
It seems like Bandai has been getting a lot of, to misuse tj han’s term, “negative energy” recently for the whole Solid State Society fiasco. Some people see my latest rant on the Long Tail phenomenon as an indirect attack on Bandai.
The truth is, as hypocrite as this may sound considering my rant on the Wind incident, I support Bandai in its business decision to protect its profits. Bandai exists not to spread the love for anime but to make money. Popularizing anime is one of the ways through which Bandai can make money but the difference between an end and a mean to an end must be made clear.
It does not serve Bandai’s purpose as a company responsible to its investors to continue to turn a blind eye on fansubbers, especially for its most popular franchises.
It’s illegal. GASP!
First thing first, fansubs are illegal. There is no possible defence. Most of the world belongs to the Berne Convention that establishes the shared international laws of copyright. All rights of all works of any value, monetary or otherwise, belong to their creators unless the creator explicitly releases it to public domain or a set time period has elapsed since the creator’s death.
These rights include the right to translate the work, the right to distribute the work and the right to make derivative works based on it. Fair Use is a clause to grants very limited rights to people to use very limited portions of a copyrighted material for special purposes such as education. You can quote a line from a novel in your school essay without seeking permission from the author. You can watch a DVD with your friends without buying a copy for every one of them. If you translate a movie for your friends and families, then it can probably be considered Fair Use. But once you start distributing the translation online in great numbers, good luck trying to convince the judge/jury (depending on your country).
Fansubbing has nothing to do with Fair Use. Fansubbing is illegal in all countries except certain African states and Pacific islands that you are most likely not living in if you are reading this entry. There is no “grey” area with regards to copyright laws and fansubbing.
That said…
However, fansubbing does have (or did have, if you ask certain experts on the subject) a very special difference from bootlegging and piracy in general.
Fansubs are created for people who fall outside the target audience. As mentioned in my arguments on Wind, fansubs serve to create new markets where there were none. This should always be the main purpose of fansubbing: to induce more fans into the hobby.
The purpose of fansubbing was never to let you “try before you buy” or get things for free if you don’t think they deserve your money. When you think that way, you are basically admitting the fact that those things are available in your local market and they are being sold with you as the target audience. That means that fansubbing, by that stage, has already lost its original meaning: to give us access to shows that have excluded us from their target audience. Because now we ARE the target audience and yet we choose to download pirated copies citing the same reasons that I have heard a million times before in the warez scene long before digital fansubbing took off in the Love Hina era.
It’s more convenient for us to download a fansub than to buy a physical DVD, I agree. That is a limitation of traditional distribution that has to be re-examined by the industry soon. But that does not grant us the god-given right to download and watch fansubs faster than the companies can bring them over to the English-speaking world.
The state of fansubbing
The truth is that fansubbing in America today plays a terribly minute role in promoting new anime series. It probably does a better job at promoting piracy.
Unlike the underground anime fandom of the last century and the ren’ai game community of now, anime has already achieved the amount of success needed to guarantee its continued survival and growth in North America. Fansubbing will occasionally create success stories of an obscure anime title being brought to fame by the internet, but that’s simply insignificant when you compare it to the market that Bandai, ADV and Geneon are enjoying right now. They don’t NEED fansubs.
Pulling statistics out of my ass (actually I think I read this somewhere before), only a very tiny portion of American fans was introduced to anime by fansubs. The anime on TV, the HUUUUUUUUGE variety of anime DVDs and manga you get in stores and the various major anime conventions held in America, those things do a LOT MORE to help promote anime than fansubs are doing now. Clearly, fansubs, at least for the anime market, are losing their original purpose of promoting anime. Without that purpose, fansubs are no different from bootlegs of Hollywood movies.
And indeed, Ghost in the Shell, along with most of Bandai’s portfolio, DO NOT need fansubs. Bandai is well-established in North America and Ghost in the Shell is already very popular there due to the previous titles in the franchise. The very same titles that you can just waltz into a store and purchase, i.e. they are marketed at you! GASP!
Bandai doesn’t need fansubs!
What can Bandai hope to ever gain if it allows fansubs for a series that was created with the obvious intention of being brought over to North America? NOTHING! So what if it appeased a few “fans” who absolutely must watch the series within two days of its Japanese release? There’s no guarantee that the fansubs will reach a bigger North American audience than what the series is already reaching. The only guarantee is that there is now a free and easily-available bootleg copy of the series before it has even been released in the North American market.
If you want to “try before you buy”? Go watch it on cable TV! I bet it’ll be there. You Americans have it all so good but yet you demand for more. There are anime that were created with YOU in mind. Just look for those sponsored by Geneon.
“I want my anime now!” Well it’s not YOURS, it’s BANDAI’S. Shut the fuck up and wait for it.
If you plan to download Solid State Society like I will be doing, please at least admit that you are a pirate. I download pirated games and movies all the time too. But it just sounds terribly silly if you start calling foul when the company tells you to stop pirating. :) Stop pretending to be fighting the good fight, it’s not the 1990s any more.
Repeat after me:
We are just selfish bastards who want to watch anime for free and we have no right to whine if Bandai chooses to do something about it.
We are just selfish bastards who want to watch anime for free and we have no right to whine if Bandai chooses to do something about it.
We are just selfish bastards who want to watch anime for free and we have no right to whine if Bandai chooses to do something about it.
In conclusion
There is a huge difference between fansubbing an obscure eroge-based anime that would never have had a 1/100000 chance of being released for the North American market and fansubbing a series that is pre-licensed and obviously made with the North American market in mind.
Doing the former produces the occasional success stories like KimiNozo (aka Rumbling Hearts).
Doing the latter pisses off the hand that feeds you.
Just some thoughts from a disillusioned ex-fansubber.
August 29th, 2006 at 6:15 pm
Once again I have to stress that just like what I mentioned in my Wind article, I do not deny that fansubs helped to create the entire community and brought anime to where it is today. But it’s just not doing the same thing anymore, at least not for North America. Fansubbing has been perverted by ego.
Bandai goes after fansubbers = pirates are unhappy.
Pirates download the show anyway.
Bandai goes after fansubbers = fans rejoice
Fans buy the DVD like they would’ve done anyway.
I don’t see any reason why any group of people should be complaining. Pirates like me will still download the show. Fans will still buy the DVD. We should all be happy right?
OH WAIT! I see why people are pissed now! Now they can’t PRETEND to be doing Bandai a huge favour by downloading fansubs! There’s nothing to stop them from pirating the show anyway, but now they have lost the illusion of doing it for the good of the community and WORLD PEACE and whatever not! OH NOZ!
It’s just fansubber hypocrisy. We are supposedly doing good for Bandai by spreading the love for GitS, but Bandai itself has decided that they do not need what we are doing. Instead of respecting Bandai’s decision like the real “hardcore” fans they claim to be, self-proclaimed “fansubbers” turn against Bandai and act like they are on the side of God himself.
It pisses me off that this is what fansubbing means now. If this keeps up, we might as well just call it the anime pirating community. It is on the verge of losing that TINY bit of difference from piracy we used to have.
August 29th, 2006 at 9:02 pm
Nice one. Now edit that blurp into your post >D
August 29th, 2006 at 11:59 pm
i am a POOR selfish bastards who want to watch anime for free and I have no right to whine if Bandai chooses to do something about it and I dont care DAMM about Bandai.
I am IMMUNE from law proesecution!!!!!
Hail Internet!!!!!
Hail globalisation!!!!
hahaha
August 30th, 2006 at 3:32 am
As for the person who indicated DVDs aren’t as available in Canada… I have to agree, albeit reluctantly.
Fansubs of non-licensed shows do serve an important purpose for me - they let me check something out the way a Japanese buyer of the DVDs would have; for low cost/free, and then decide if I want to buy the product. One MAJOR difference, which I’ve yet to see anyone here post about, between ourselves and the Japanese market is this: JAPANESE VIEWERS CAN SEE THEIR ANIME ON TELEVISION, THEN DECIDE WHAT THEY WANT TO BUY. We don’t get that except for licensed materials, and even then only on cable - Japanese viewers can get these on-air, so they can see Mai-Otome, the Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi, or weirder shows like Muteki Kanbane Musume at nights or record them on their DVRs and then figure out if they like the show enough to buy it. The North American and European markets, for the most part, don’t have that luxury.
In that situation, fansubs have their place - to let us see the thing and then decide if we want to get it. I know I’d probably never have seen Azumanga Daioh or .hack//SIGN without fansubs - and without seeing them that way, I’d never have bought the boxed sets. However, the Bandai situation is different here; GiTS:SAC Solid State Society is meant to be a Pay-Per-View event ONLY from its inception. Unlike GITS:SAC (pre-licensing) or most of the other shows I’ve named, it was never freely available on the airwaves; you had to get it PPV, and Bandai intended to sell it that way from the very start. In this case, Bandai’s definitely milking this cash cow for all she’s worth… and thus the announcement they’re going after fansubbers who take it on, because the show itself was being sold from the very beginning, with no legitimate avenue for ‘free distribution’ (which at least encoding from a TV broadcast gives you, in theory).
That being said, I may not be buying the next GITS:SAC series - I’ll probably end up renting the DVDs when they come out, and then make my decision at that point. With fansubs, at least I could pretend I was like my Japanese anime-viewing counterparts, being able to see the shows aired without being forced to buy the disk first before deciding I liked it.
August 30th, 2006 at 3:45 am
Well, I had a nice long post here about fansubs, but the site ate it.
Short form = viewers in Japan get a choice to see the shows (without piracy) before they buy them, without having to rent DVDs or subscribe to cable. After all, they’re showed on the air on broadcast TV. Viewers outside Japan don’t get that choice.
Bandai is selling Solid State Society, unlike their other shows, by making it a Pay-Per-View event. Therefore, there’s no ‘free period’ for anyone trying to watch this show, unlike most other shows where the RAW encode came from over-the-air broadcasts. Therefore, they’re milking it for all their worth.
That being said, I’ll probably not be buying the next GITS:SAC show, after Solid State Society. If anything, I’ll be renting it first, since I won’t be able to see it to see if it’s any good before I plunk down any money for it.. so will try to plunk down as little money as possible and just watch the first two volumes and see if anyone cares to blog the DVDs or something.
August 30th, 2006 at 4:06 am
You forgot one point: GITS:SAC and the other shows before and after it, with the exception of Solid State Society, were aired on broadcast TV. This is a Pay-Per-View, which means that they intended to sell it from the very beginning, and if you don’t pay… you don’t see.
August 30th, 2006 at 4:11 am
You forgot one point: GITS:SAC and the other shows before and after it, with the exception of Solid State Society, were aired on broadcast TV. This is a Pay-Per-View, which means that they intended to sell it from the very beginning, and if you don’t pay… you don’t see. That’s the main reason they’re targeting fansubs of Solid State Society - they’re selling the product, which means that it’s more in line with fansubbing a DVD rip than doing a broadcast TV encode. Aka ‘blatant piracy’.
One advantage Japanese viewers usually have on non-Japanese anime viewers is that they can USUALLY see these shows on-air, for free, before deciding to buy them. Most of us dont’ get that opportunity… which is why either you have cable, rent whatever DVDs they have of licensed shows… or go the fansub route.
In this situation, it’s pretty cut and dried though - if they’re selling the product right away and you fansub it, it’s pretty blatantly theft. That being said, I’ll probably be buying the DVD when it hits, but I may not watch the next SAC series right away, since it probably wont’ be available for about… oh, two, maybe three years before all the DVDs are out. :D
August 30th, 2006 at 5:30 am
Anyone else getting their comments killed by SpamKarma? Remember one thing - this is a Pay-Per-View, which means Bandai never aired it for ‘free’ anywhere… so it’s more like a DVD-rip (blatant piracy) than anything.
August 30th, 2006 at 10:20 am
Now to edit all that junk into one long post. Spam, spam, spam. :D
August 31st, 2006 at 5:36 am
I read “blahblahblah.” Yeah, we know bandai is just defending their property. We don’t need a useless essay on it by some random guy who thinks he’s an expert in the field.
August 31st, 2006 at 10:13 am
What a brave, brave man you are, hiding behind the ‘Anonymous’ tag, Anon. :D
Now this, boys and girls, is called ‘trolling’ - DM’s next blog entry, however, is called ranting. Slight difference.
August 31st, 2006 at 12:20 pm
I’m not hiding, really…
I just don’t see a point to posting with the normal nick I use, other than making it seem like “LOL, LOOK AT ME I AM A KNOWN FANSUBBER AND THUS MY WORDS HAVE MORE IMPORTANCE. LOOK AT MY E-PENIS… IT’S BIG, ISN’T IT!? :P~~~~~”
Besides, I’ve been hanging out at too many anonymous sites, so I’m just used to it. Hell, I’ve used random/no nicknames on about 5 of the last 8 or so fansub projects I’ve worked on. And I was anonymous for every manga I’ve ever translated. Since I’m doing it for fun/because I’m a fan, I don’t really see a need for credit. It just makes it more likely that my original intent will get diluted.
September 15th, 2006 at 6:42 am
I think that Bandai has made a huge mistake in not providing quality subs on the GITS:SAC DVDs. I shouldn’t use it as an excuse I understand that, but I really did lose inerest in and then stop buying the DVDs after I saw the first few and realized the quality of the subs was not up to the standard of the fansubs. I think that if they were to hire some of the better fansub creators and begin distributing via itunes or some similar service they would expand their market greatly.
September 27th, 2006 at 4:19 am
I agree with you in the most part, but since not all anime will be licensed the fansubs are sometimes the only way we would be able to watch a show, in my case, most of the Leiji Matsumoto old school shows, GE999, Captain Harlock, etc, none of the american anime companies would touch those shows with a ten foot stick, because they are old, very long and I’m sure quite expensive to license, so fansubs becomes my only chance to watch them in their original languange ;_;
btw, I just got here, and it rocks ! \m/>.
September 27th, 2006 at 6:53 pm
Well, I’m not saying that fansubbing serves no purpose, but it just that it’s up to the copyright holders to decide if that purpose still exists and if it is significant enough. The companies don’t owe fansubbers.