Junker Woland

Thursday, January 24, 2008

Anime Fans: Pay-up or Shut-up


An advanced apology for the following post being somewhat diatribe-ish, but I’ve been a bit ornery for the last couple days and felt the need to string a few thoughts together.

So please, indulge my selfish whim and click the “Read More…” link to peruse my rumbling ramblings.


Truth #1: I download fansubs, on average two episodes per day.

Truth #2: I buy anime DVDs, on average ten titles per month.

My point: while, yes, I am a fansub advocate (a point stressed in my previous post), I also actively support the American anime industry, not solely to quell my hobbyist instinct—an almost involuntary compulsion to physically own items from which I derive some tangible vestige of pleasure—but more importantly because I fundamentally understand only by purchasing those same shows and movies—the ones I so greatly enjoyed free of compensation via fansub—will I continue to see companies license titles for future US release.

Basic as this may sound, considering anime DVD sales have continued to wane over the past three years, I’m left to assume many in anime’s current fold do not share my desire to patron the industry, preferring instead to pick apart it’s body until nothing more remains than brittle, cracked bones.

2007 already saw the loss of an arm with the implosion of Geneon USA, in its wake leaving several orphaned series and a gaping abyss they usually covered with their offbeat offerings, a chasm one has to wonder whether any other surviving company will even consider attempting to fill.

And yet, in the face of tumbling sales and decreased licensing, all non-financial portents suggest anime’s popularity is increasing here in the land of cowboys and handguns, an inadequacy that has of late caused a stifling miasma of doom and gloom to pervade the US market. News is entirely too negative, and the current trend of outspoken company heads, though interesting, rarely feature glad tidings.

Bursting from this morass on its own unassailable pedestal is the digital download. Regardless of fansub or DVD rip status, the digital download churns at the very atomic core of this industry—fans love them, want them, devour them anyway they can get them; industry types gnash their teeth and hurl veiled obscenities disguised as ill omens towards those purveyors of binary contraband.

It’s really not a good situation, and frankly, being an anime fan at the dawn of 2008 kinda blows.

Now, I utterly hold to my belief that anime companies over the past few years have not shepherded the industry on the proper path. They, for the most part, chose to make a quick buck foisting their wares towards greedy, secular wolves, in the process creating a diametrically opposed consumer-base: part true fan, greater part casual consumer only interested in the most specific of products.

But, my intention is not to lambaste the corporate world. Today, I’d like to address the anime fanbase. You, who just downloaded the third episode of Wolf and Spice; you, who just posted that treatise covering the end meaning of Sky Girls; you, who just spent the last two hours scouring image boards for pictures of Yoko from Tengen Toppa Gurren-Lagann to turn into a sexy desktop wallpaper. Please, go ahead, continue downloading as many fansubs as you want, but do remember, the industry does not run off your stunning, and at times downright creepy, devotion to 2D characters or your ability discuss every nuance of each Bleach storyline. Eventually, you absolutely must pry your damp flesh from that oversized computer chair, put on a pair of pants, and trek down to your local video store of choice and buy a few DVDs. Or hell, let your ass graft itself to that pleather casket while you pull out a debit card or two; Mr. USPS and Ms. UPS would be more than happy to deliver a couple shiny, plastic discs right to your doorstep.

Either way, it’s time fans, as a whole, stopped pretending we’re entitled to anime, that these Japanese creators and US licensors owe us for the time wasted watching their products. Anime is not free to create, not free to license, and not free to distribute, so it certainly shouldn’t be free to own.

Again, continue watching fansubs. They’re the best way to find new, titillating shows and to keep current with the anime world’s pulse. What fansubs should never become, and what they unfortunately serve as for far too many, is a surrogate to spending money. They’re a bloated scapegoat, both for fans and for industry types. “Why spend money when I can get a show for free?” “Why spend money on new licenses when they’ll just download the show for free?”

Those who never even consider the purchase of a DVD or constantly find new, exciting, and misguided ways to talk themselves out of opening a wallet, to you all, I say, stop ruining anime for the rest of us. It’s gotten tediously old. No one cares how much you know about the genre or have many series you’ve seen, because eventually, if you and your hoard continue to outnumber those who actually care enough to financial invest, then the only shows left in the US will be Pokemon and the occasional big-name shounen release.

Because as much as I believe the US anime industry will pull itself out of the current slump, with things as they are, I severely doubt any rejuvenation will usher in atop mass multitudes of broad backed brilliant new titles. Instead, it’ll likely come thanks to repackaged, low priced collectors’ sets and cross-media tie-ins.

So to all anime watchers, pay-up or shut-up. If you’ve zero intention of buying any actual DVDs, then don’t flood message boards, chat rooms, and convention panels with your banal, silly criticisms or beat the war drums for companies to license titles you’ll never actually pay for in the first place. Being a fan always consists of more than merely liking things; generally, it also means providing some monetary support, even when what you’re paying for isn’t perfect—pretty much nothing is and expecting such flawlessness is a lie masquerading inside pure absurdity.

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