Illegal downloads: A HUGE problem for Liscened Anime

[Momo-P]

Just on the subject of bootlegging anime...anyone who does it should really think twice. I'm not saying this to ruin anyone's fun or something, but bootlegs are terrible quality. With very few exceptions, the "DVD quality" is just ripped from TV and the subtitled track is downright painful to read. Why would you pay money for that?

Furthermore on the current issue of downloading anime (and any media from Japan)...[it's totally legal according to Japanese law].

From what I know this law hasn't been changed yet (that article is just from a month or so ago), so...ya. Downloading copyrighted material isn't even illegal by Japanese law. The only part left is the moral issue, but if copyright doesn't exist? I don't see how it would be stealing...(but that's up to a matter of opinion).

I'm not bringing this up to say "go download anime!" because come on. If the series has a US owner? The US laws apply. The only reason I'm bringing this up is because technically the Japanese don't even have a right to yell at us. Their own laws say it's currently legal for us to do this. Yes the actual fansubbers are in the wrong because they're definitely not playing by the "private use" subject, but...eh. That's where it comes back to being fair.

To yell at us for downloading when it's not illegal according to their laws? Makes no sense. And even if it WAS illegal, everyone's already touched on the major subject. No sensible human being will spend 25 dollars on a DVD you may hate. Heck, what if you actually liked the series? Maybe you wanted some extras that came with a special edition? You would have to spend extra to get that too! Just...blah.

I have a feeling this whole downloading issue will NEVER be solved to be honest. Chances are anime will fade out to one or two studios (Funi and Viz probably) and even then they'll only have enough money to produce a few. Fans won't like it, but it's their own fault for not throwing their downloads away once it comes to the states. I still stand by my old feelings that burned CD's just look tacky and cheap to begin with. I'd rather have the pretty cases on my shelf... :/

[KhakiBlueSocks]

No sensible human being will spend 25 dollars on a DVD you may hate.

$25 and HIGHER. WaldonBooks have anime DVD's that are almost $30...for ONE disk! Not giving anyone any excuses, but but it's no wonder people turn to other means to get anime.

The way I see it, if dubbers are feeling this strongly about illegally downloading anime or bootleggers, then make the ligitmate (sp) thing cheaper so the average Joe/Jane on the street can afford it. At the very least, if you're going to charge $25+ for a disk, make it worth your wild and cram it full of extras.

[everdred12a]

Just on the subject of bootlegging anime...anyone who does it should really think twice. I'm not saying this to ruin anyone's fun or something, but bootlegs are terrible quality. With very few exceptions, the "DVD quality" is just ripped from TV and the subtitled track is downright painful to read. Why would you pay money for that?

I've never seen bootlegged anime that was bad quality. Bootlegs are often the same quality (or just a tad lower than the same) as the actual DVD's from ADV or whoever may be releasing the anime.

[Saj]

Im usually against any form of pirating. In fact, i sabotage my dads hacked satellite box cause hes stealing and im paying for cable in the house. But dude... this weekend i went to buy the 4th disc of Ergo Proxy (great series me thinks) and season 3 of Stargate: Atlantis.

Ergo Proxy was $10 less then SG:A.... SG:A comes with 5 dvd's and like 20some episodes... Ergo is 1 DVD with 4 eps.... I might just result to just downloading the rest of the series and throwing them onto dvd myself.

[Godly Paladin]

I wonder which hurts US anime companies more, Usenet/torrent/streaming or the influx of quality bootlegs through eBay, Amazon, etc? Many people I know buy the bootlegs because of slow internet connections, crappy torrent seeding, Usenet aggregator subscription costs, etc. prevents them from downloading.

Just on the subject of bootlegging anime...anyone who does it should really think twice. I'm not saying this to ruin anyone's fun or something, but bootlegs are terrible quality. With very few exceptions, the "DVD quality" is just ripped from TV and the subtitled track is downright painful to read. Why would you pay money for that?

I've heard of these horrific bootlegs, but for pretty much every anime series around there is a near-professional compilation from either FX or MAC. The subtitles are usually straight-up R1 rips. Just look around.

[Rocketshipper]

From my experience, bootleg subtitles are HORRIBLE, but the video quality of the ones I've seen was good. It might not have been as good as a regular region 1 DVD, but I don't think it was bad enough to actually discourage people from buying them, unfortunetly.

I was wondering lately, what do you think is the proper "etiquette" regarding series that USED to be licenced, but aren't anymore? (like Sailor Moon). Do you think its ok to download fansubs or whatever for a series like that, or is the idea "once licenced, always licenced"?

I'm surprised that more anime companies (or media companies in general) haven't tried to sue Ebay. And I'm not just talking about bootlegs being sold there. Technicly, from the perspective of the anime companies, a licenced region 1 DVD thats sold on Ebay isn't any different from a bootleg, because they don't get any money from the sale in either case. I once had ADV shut down one of my ebay auctions that was selling the region 1 official DVD for Sakura Wars.

[Godly Paladin]

Wha? That's just wrong. They can't stop you from selling your own stuff, surely.

[everdred12a]

I'm surprised that more anime companies (or media companies in general) haven't tried to sue Ebay. And I'm not just talking about bootlegs being sold there. Technicly, from the perspective of the anime companies, a licenced region 1 DVD thats sold on Ebay isn't any different from a bootleg, because they don't get any money from the sale in either case. I once had ADV shut down one of my ebay auctions that was selling the region 1 official DVD for Sakura Wars.

I'm sure the anime companies aren't particularly fond of ebay and the like, but I'm not sure they can do anything about it, really. In the sense that you're talking about, what ebay is to anime isn't a far cry from what GameStop is to the video game industry, and video game companies hate GameStop for much the same reason. But GameStop is still around ;p

[termyt]

If you own a legal copy, you can legally sell that copy. ADV should have no power to stop you, although eBay works by its own machinations and would probably rather anger you than another potentially well lawyered company.

You may only sell on eBay what eBay allows you to sell, but you could probably get that auction re-instated or re-list it. If you lost money because of the cancellation, you could recoup that loss since it is perfectly legal to sell a legally owned DVD.

[LorentzForce]

Let us look at an actual successful example of anime industry; Japan, where it started.

Over there, they have TV channels that air anime constantly, if not even dedicated to them. I hear they pay additional tax for having TV, but that's cool with them. Point is, they have means to get exposure to a large amount of anime at minimal cost.

Now look at their DVDs. They don't have subs on them. They don't even have extra features. It's two episodes per disc, and costs double or triple of what it does in US. But people buy them, even then.

So why do people buy DVDs?

Most people don't buy DVDs because they want to try out a new anime, they buy it so they can be proud of having purchased a solid copy of it and can put it on their shelves for all to see. Sometimes you see people with boxsets that hasn't even been taken out of shrinkwrap. Don't even mention the merch that goes with that anime title.

I think this is where the problem currently is. There's not really anything other than DVDs to bring income, while Japan can still rely on the tax levied onto people from having a TV. Fansubs ultimately don't pay the industry. You can't possibly expect high DVD sales when most people don't really care for DVDs and just want it on the TV to watch. It worked when there were a smaller number of actual dedicated fans who brought out the anime industry to US and such in the first place, but not now.

Best solution would be for Japan to bring over the new anime into some sort of dedicated channels to US. Fansubbers can bring aired anime out in days, I don't see why paid translators couldn't. Unfortunately there's no channel like so, and it'll probably be prohibitively expensive to create a whole nation-wide TV channel station. So, there really isn't anyone can really do, except for the US anime industry that relies on DVDs to die while screaming about how everyone's stealing from them.

[Kaligraphic]

I don't believe that fansubs primarily replace DVD sales. I believe that they primarily replace TV/primary viewing, and then linger. Now, to be certain, there are people who torrent everything they can get their hand on and build up huge archives, but these are the obsessives. This mindset will torrent Lost just as easily. Most people, however, just want entertainment. They want to watch anime, and they don't necessarily care how, so they turn to fansubs because they're available. A year later, the series comes out on TV, and they don't tune in because they've already seen it. Maybe it wasn't something grand like 12 Kingdoms that you can watch over and over, maybe it was something cheesy that's good for one or two viewings and then you're done with it. The primary loss has been in this case not DVD sales, but TV ad revenue. This is why they could be eliminated through simultaneous release, and is the dynamic that the anime industry will have to counter if they wish to get rid of fansubs.

Because the buzz is split between fansub viewers (earlier) and television viewers (later), the buzz never gets as loud, which ends up reducing the total number of viewers. (How many people started watching Lost or Desperate Housewives because it seemed like everybody else was watching it?) With the buzz split, the series is afflicted with a "been there, seen that" attitude (to varying degrees) among groups of fansub-friendly anime fans, damping the enthusiasm of the later viewers. This reduces brand evangelism, making the series less visible and less successful in a viewership sense than it would otherwise have been.

With higher TV viewership would come greater DVD sales, because anime DVDs are a horrible vehicle for the discovery of new series, but closer to tolerable for purchase of known series. Fansubs primarily impinge on this market simply by virtue of the fact that anime fans already have them. It is for this reason that I believe that focusing on Fansubs vs Legit DVDs is incorrect and limits our understanding of the true dynamics at play in the industry.

[Alexander]

It seems no matter which way I look at it, the Anime industry is headed towards a depression outside of Japan.

Anime DVD's are very expensive and as a result fans are unwilling to buy them, but licensing companies can't bring down the prices due to the heavy prices to bring the title over the ocean to our homes. Yet they're loosing money still because of the small fan base.

Then, when you put in fansubbers allowing licensed titles to remain available long after the DVD has been released, companies loose even more money.

When you add the fact that Japan doesn't have any laws against this, plus the fact that most of the anime watched there is on television. As a result, DVD sales plummet. While everyone outside of Japan can download whatever they like without anything to stop them.

No matter which way I look at it, everyone contradicts one another. I have to agree with Momo-P. Eventually it will get so bad that companies will either merge or go bankrupt, and as for the anime fans...

Say hello to less content overall and whole series never being released in our country.

[LorentzForce]

Don't worry, the die hard fans will still import 8-episodes-in-6-discs boxsets from Japan for $150 USD.

I'm not even joking on that one.

[Alexander]

Don't worry, the die hard fans will still import 8-episodes-in-6-discs boxsets from Japan for $150 USD.

I'm not even joking on that one.

No need to. Because I've done it twice.

Still, it's sad to see this all happening. It's wrong and there's very little anyone can do to stop it.

Ironically, the die hard anime fans are willing to pay even more for importing yet people complain about the prices here, and yet it will be the fans themselves who kill the industry.

[Roy Mustang]

Still, it's sad to see this all happening. It's wrong and there's very little anyone can do to stop it.

Don't tell that to Japan.


They just busted a bootleg ring in Japan and about to put the guys away for a good number of years. Plus Japan is asking the USA to stop fansubs. I don't see that one working out since US judges care little for international precedence.

There are times that I put the blame on Japan its self for this. They could stop being so butt heads about holding on to anime untill they think the price is right to see it to a US company.


Also, this was reported on ANN yesterday.

Japanese Companies May Join Odex's Case in Singapore

Singapore television's Channel NewsAsia reports that the Japanese copyright owners may join the anime distributor Odex's legal attempts to obtain the identities of allegedly unauthorized anime downloaders. Odex and Pacific Internet gave their closing arguments in a Wednesday closed-door hearing to determine Odex's right to information on 1,000 of Pacific Internet's subscribers.

Singapore's Subordinate Court had already ruled against Odex's right to legal action in this matter in August because Odex only demonstrated it had an exclusive license to one of the anime series, Mobile Suit Gundam Seed. Under the country's copyright act, only the original copyright holder or an exclusive licensee can take action. If Judge Woo Bih Li rules against Odex's second attempt due to its lack of exclusive licenses for other titles, Odex's lawyer says that the Japanese copyright holders have applied to join Odex as plaintiffs. Odex had held a joint press conference with representatives of Japanese anime companies to show their support in August.

The Internet Business Law Services news portal provides a legal analysis of Odex's strategy and the obligation that Internet service providers have to maintain their customers' privacy.

[color="Red"][font="Book Antiqua"]Col. Roy Mustang
[/font][/color]

[Momo-P]

With all due respect, how does the Singapore thing affect any of us? Sorry for sounding so ignorant, but I really never paid attention to any of that stuff... ._.

Say hello to less content overall and whole series never being released in our country.

I know I shouldn't laugh, but I guess what they say is true. When the body doesn't know how to respond to a situation, the only thing you can do is laugh. Right now I wanna laugh. Could this be the early 90's all over again? Some shows getting released without a dub? Just subtitles to save money? Will those insane Geneon prices become the norm?

Then again if that did happen, I can't say I'd care too much. As it currently stands, Japan is actually ticking me off in the anime department. Anymore I find myself going back to shows of the past, everything nowadays is the exact same thing. I mean, I love moe as much as the next guy, but I'm getting utterly sick of this AIR--Kanon--Clannad--Happiness--Negima--Da Capo--Rozen Maiden bull. And what's with all these hardcore otaku shows that focus on people trying to obtain hentai and girls sitting around sketching? Just...ugh.

I love laid back slice of life shows, but when that's all there seems to be? Give me a whole bunch of action and adventure please...

[Arnobius]

Actually, the primary source of bootlegs is Taiwan, as they are not a signatore of the Berne Convention and so there is no way other nations can force them to respect the copyright laws of other nations.

Mainland China is also infamous for the bootleg market as they routinely ignore the laws.

With American Fansubbers, the problem is stopping them. Close one down and two more open elsewhere. it's about as effective as the RIAA going against music sharing, but the anime market has far fewer resources.

Part of the problem is the continually declining quality. I've been effectively out of the anime scene since 2005. From a 6'x4' shelf crammed full of anime DVDs, I now have the Azumanga Daioh thinpack, Sailor Moon Season 1, Howl's Moving Castle (Japanese import) and Crayon Shinchan (Australian import). Why? Because a walk through the anime section fails to make me want to spend my money any longer.

Manga is the same way. The only series I still follow are Gunsmith cats: Burst, Welcome to the NHK and Yotsubato. For the same reason... manga fails to appeal any longer.

The problem is there seems to be few original ideas any longer... everything in Japan seems to be looking for the next big hit, following popular formulas. The medium is declining, while in America, the quality of DVDs are declining, the quality of translations are being Americanized and the result is paying customers like me are walking away from the market... not to fansubs... just walking away from anime. So in my case that is one more customer who won't do boots but won't buy anime either.

If those of us who used to buy anime don't want to watch anime any more and those who download it don't pay, it isn't a good sign for the industry.

[minakichan]

With all due respect, how does the Singapore thing affect any of us? Sorry for sounding so ignorant, but I really never paid attention to any of that stuff... ._.

Simply put: Odex is going after Singapore fansub viewers, and Japanese companies are going to help them. If American companies go after American fansub fans, this suggests that the Japanese companies might also lend a hand. Just a thought.

As for my two cents, I think that a lot of people fail to realize that those fansub viewers who DON'T buy the DVDs after watching the series would never buy multiple series' worth of full-price DVDs in any conditions. Generally, these are fans who either do not have much money or are very casual. If fansubs magically disappeared from the planet, they wouldn't suddenly begin investing $25 a pop; they'd either find some other form of entertainment to follow, or they'd go through equally unprofitable routes such as borrowing from friends, Netflixing, buying bootlegs, etc.

I think it should be noted that while the anime industry is a 1.9 billion dollar industry in Japan, the anime merchandise industry is ten times as big. Even if fansubs' effect on the anime industry is detrimental (there has been no substantial proof of that, so I'm not going to say it is), it does raise the awareness for sales of related goods, which is much more profitable. Anime companies constantly struggled to make ends meet before fansubs were ever around-- but the licensed goods market helped anime continue to be produced.

[Fish and Chips]

good quality, good subs bootlegs.

There is no such thing.

The quality of bootleg DVDs is generally choppy, subtitles being inconsistent and sub-par. If you should have a decent copy, congratulations! What you've bought was ripped off the official region DVDs and repackaged, which is easily even more illegal. No subbers who actually take pride in their work sell bootlegs of it. I've even seen groups warning their audiences if someone is distributing copies of their work for a profit behind their backs.

The subbing and free distribution of unlicensed Anime is something of a narrow legal gray area, but once material has or becomes licensed, it is unquestionably illegal to continue and I second Vic's stance on the subject. A number of people pirate licensed Anime, showing that the industry is essentially worthless to them. Funny how many of them appear to live their daily lives around series downloads. A couple might even refer to themselves as "Fans." No. You people are leaches.

Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go support some of my favorite series with some much-needed cash flow.

[Sheenar]

Me, I'm just holding out until the box sets of my favorite series come out (I'm going to wait for a while afterwards for the price to go down a little).

But I do visit Rightstuf.com. They have really good prices for legal anime. I don't need to download. (Not that I buy much or often).

So I do support the industry when I can. Or I watch anime my friends own. Works for me.

[Roy Mustang]

Another voice actor that is taking a stand on bootleg anime is Crispin Freeman.

He wrote this on his web site,

Important! Regarding Bootlegs:

Recently I've had a lot of fans coming up to me at conventions asking me to sign illegal, pirated, bootleg copies of Anime DVDs that have stolen my voice work as well as the animation work of companies that I work for. These are usually very sophisticated packaging jobs that look very professional, but unfortunately are almost always Chinese knock-offs of the legitimate DVD. In the past, it was very rare that a fan came up and asked me to sign a bootleg, but it has begun to happen more and more often in recent months. This puts me in a horrible dilemma.

While I would like to make a fan happy by signing their DVD, I cannot endorse the purchase of pirated DVDs or CDs that hurt the animation companies that hire me to do voice work. If a company loses money on a show because the fans are buying the bootleg instead of the legitimate copy, then they will not have the money in the future to hire me as a voice actor on any future products. If you enjoy an artist's work, please support them by buying a legitimate copy of their work. Buying bootlegs is a slap in the face to an artist. It hurts the very creator you say you admire. To put it simply then, I will not sign any bootleg DVDs or CDs at any future convention. I realize that many people make an honest mistake when buying a bootleg DVD or CD and don't realize that it's not legitimate until after they've already purchased it. While I sympathize, I still cannot sign any bootlegs. Thanks for your understanding.

[color="Red"]
[font="Book Antiqua"]Col. Roy Mustang[/font][/color]

[Sheenar]

How do you tell if a copy is legit or not? Looking online, it's hard to tell. Should I only buy directly from the company's site (http://www.funimation.com, etc.)?

[Roy Mustang]

How do you tell if a copy is legit or not? Looking online, it's hard to tell. Should I only buy directly from the company's site (http://www.funimation.com, etc.)?

http://www.digital.anime.org.uk/piratefaq.html#dvd

This is one of the best places to read about bootleg anime.

http://www.digital.anime.org.uk/piratefaq.html

Here is the full link to it.


[color="Red"][font="Book Antiqua"]Col. Roy Mustang[/font][/color]

[Momo-P]

Some other good "no bootleg" sites would be JPOPhelp, PlayAsia and YesAsia.

I've yet to use JPOPhelp yet, but I know a friend of mine works with them. Otherwise the other two are highly reliable. YesAsia does carry some Chinese stuff there, but not only is it labeled, but I'm pretty sure it's the official Chinese versions as well. No bootlegs, thank God.

[Tenshi no Ai]

Thinking about how download anime is, there's this one website I know of (which shall be unnamed, of course,) that apparently revamped, and streams RIGHT away, movies, and some TV shows/anime in excellent quality (even for theater cams). Very convenient to widescreen it and everything and no ques or wait to download, movies that JUST came to theaters and everything, but also very illegal. Things like that, probably hurts the industry even moreso and really, I'm REALLY surprised it hasn't been found out and shut down yet.

I mean, it's hard with anime, since it's out of the country and they get to watch it before us, (if we even, ever, get an official glance at it) but sites like THAT, are quite a difference, methinks...

[MasterDias]

Well, well....look at this. I hadn't really expected anyone to respond, at least not this quickly, but Tatsunori Konno, the President of Bandai Visual USA(once again, the guys who are releasing expensive sub-only DVDs) has posted his own response to the ANN editorial.

https://www.dot-anime.us/blog/bossnote/index.php?type=leaf&val=6

[Desu]

Sorry about double post, apparently there's not way to delete messages?

[Desu]

I download stuff from time to time, heck. The first time I saw Hellsing Ultimate was on Youtube. Which, then I went on to pay Geneon like 35 bucks for each episode to come packaged with the most barebones bonus disk ever made. Lesson to be learned, you mess over the fans...it comes back to bite you.

You should have bought the LEs, they have more than one could ever want. I love how were talking about Geneon too and not Bandai America who needs to hurry up die for their overpriced items. Besides, you could get the regular edition discs for cheaper if you shopped online.

This topics been talked about for a long time by people like Greg Ayres and I think the industry needs to start suing people. If 3-9 people got sued I think alot of people would run scared. Of course, this is really all about the epic Haruhi failure so I'm sure the industry won't try to attack it'll do something that works but isn't flawless.

[Tyrel]

I understand that and like I said, these fans are worried and have their heart in the right place.

But I can't buy the Geneon USA closing as the apocalypse of anime in the states.

If that was true, then why would ADV and others buying some really big hit titles from Japan right now.

What I worry about in an economics sense, panic from some anime fans. If they start to fear that another anime company is about to go, then they may stop buying titles and then the backlash will hit the company.

Fear is one of the worst enemy of economics.

Only the fear of spending is an enemy of economics, and that's only the vast majority of the time.

I can honestly say it scares me that such things are happening, but I would hesitate to call reaction to it "panic". I don't think anyone is panicking and if they are, they shouldn't be.

Ok, to begin, I'll come out of the closet; I got started with Anime through a friend of mine, good guy, who is a total pirate. He gave me Ergo Proxy, Last Exile, Blood + and some others just to get me started with real Anime. Now, I don't think I would be quick to judge him, just as I wouldn't be quick to judge those who don't buy CD's .....

* Joke* But, I have to admit, I download Anime *hides in the corner bracing himself for fire*


Woah.. now, just to be clear, I'm sensitive about this. I know that other online anime communities have really had beef with me over the issue, so I generally try to keep myself from saying anything. I come out of the closet to make a deadly serious point.

First, I have bought anime and do buy Anime. I download all the time and watch a series through and through before buying. I often end up doing the same with CD's *looks to his right, and see's about 300 CD's stacked*... but I do end up buying it if it's good. The fact is, I don't have any money at the moment, and saving for university {nobody else is going to pay for it} is going to become my priority with my money. There are inherent problems with downloading anyways.. blasted Cyclical redundancy errors.. which only push me to want to buy the DVD's.

My point though, is that threats such as these, of another "Geneon" thing happening, scare me to Death. They scare me into wanting to buy the Anime sooner. If anything, I think threats like this would help push the industry, and help people buy more.

I recognize that downloading Anime and not purchasing any is a trend, much like the trend in the music industry. I know, I work for On Rock ministries, and I think my 40 or so CD's every half a year are the only ones I've seen leave the store for weeks at a time. People download, and it hurts the industry. Just the same, I think, just as the Music industry is recognizing and coping with this quite well and in the past few years {making sure their releases are quite exceptional before they release them}, I think the Anime industry is far from in trouble. Anime is becoming more and more well known by Canadians, and I would guess Americans too. More and more people are being introduced to the joys of Anime.

I think threats like this, of Anime here in North America going under, are going to be perceived more and more as real threats, and true fans will start coming out and buying the DVD's. I know that's what it does for me. I can't stand that Hellsing Ultimate, for example, is up in the air at all. If it doesn't keep going, I will be heart broken. I think most Anime fans would agree; the threat of a series dying, or not being distributed at all, is scary. It only pushes us to go buy it.

I think we need to do a better job getting this kind of message out to people, and until we do, I think the industry is going to continue to suffer. I think we need to remind people that these things are suffering, like the music industry, and that if they know they should be buying one, the same logic applies to the other.




Anyways, * sigh* I'm glad I got that off my chest.


.... now please nobody hate me {cowers away in the corner}

[minakichan]

There's a problem with the consumers, but I really feel like most of the blame truly belongs to the industry. It's absurd for the anime R1 industry to think that American fans would be willing to pay about least 10 times the price of anime as their Japanese counterparts! Because there is no true American counterpart to anime-broadcasting cable television, Americans have to pay the same price for 5 episodes of anime as the Japanese do for a month's worth. DVDs generally exist for multiple viewings, and people will only care for multiple viewings of material that they know they will enjoy.

The anime Apocalypse Now attitude is ridiculous because, I would argue, it was doomed from the start-- the logistics of the R1 industry's distribution just don't make sense. The R1's success, even with the folding of Geneon, is actually far greater than it should be-- some figures even quote that R1 anime DVDs actually make MORE total revenue than Japanese anime DVDs, despite the fact that there are TWICE as many Japanese DVDs produced than American in the past year. This doesn't even seem possible! Any complaints that the R1 industry have just cannot sound logical given those kinds of numbers-- their success is a huge blessing that isn't even really deserved. I wouldn't go so far as to cite fan culture and hype from fansubs as the cause, but I can't see any other valid reasons, aside from televised anime (which, regardless, happens to be very limited in this country and, coincidentally, is essentially "replaced" in our country with fansubs).

If the anime industry can come up with a way to provide the same episodes, only viewable once, and during a limited timeslot, the way that cable essentially provides it, they can sell episodes at a lower price and in larger bulk. There are companies in Asia who are pursuing this, but the R1 industry is far too afraid of change! ADV and Funimation's programs for this are a step in the right direction, but they fail to even attempt to court the correct audience-- the "problem" fansub viewers who actually prefer fansub formats, i.e. sub-watchers looking for faithful translation rather than adaptation.