This post was written by Dark_Sage. He is Dark_Sage.
Recap of recent shit:
- Funimation gets rights to stream Fractale
- Nerd rage at fansubs who’d dare sub Fractale
- Funimation loses rights to stream Fractale because fansubbing exists
- Nerd rage at fansubs
- Funimation regains rights for Fractale
- Funimation sues anime fans in Texas
- Nerd rage at fansubs
For whatever reason, I find this whole hubbub over all of this to be extremely funny. I’m pretty sure Funi is just trolling, anyway. If there’s any company that knows it owes fansubbing for its existence, it’s Funi. So, I thought I’d share with you the craziest of the crazy from ANN in response to all this. Let’s see what kind of quality the guys over at ANN with their ANNcast can pull up. To note, in the mp3 sample below, I only kept the “Fractale” part. I tried listening to all of their shit, but after a couple minutes of two old dudes raging over anime, I decided to skip to the part where they start bitching about Fractale.
I would like you to keep in mind that this is going to be even more hilarious considering ANN’s staff watch fansubs anyway.
For the lazy among you who don’t want to listen to 7 minutes of some creepy fucks ranting about anime, I kinda liveblogged this shit:
- Around 50 seconds in, the dude starts tearing up. Like, you can literally hear him start to cry over Funimation getting Fractale pulled.
- Speedsubbers now do anime in 1 hour.
- They somehow equate doing a fansub in 1 hour as being “so much work”
- Fansubbers are bored losers (note: these gentlemen made a 1.5 hour podcast in which they talk super-seriously about anime and Japan)
- Nobody makes money through streams (so I guess that makes fansubbing the best choice?)
- “I kinda hope they use this as an exuse to punish someone. Punish a pirate in public… Please?” (oh great)
- Fansubbers have been caught and threatened for their evil deeds! (And yet Eclipse went out after 32 million downloads and never received a C&D?)
- Fansubbers are all Americans who live in Texas
- Fansubbers are all kids or of prosecutable age (what variance!)
- Fansubbers sub because they think they’re sticking it to the man
Oh, and later on in this podcast, they talk to Shawne of Rightstuf (an online anime retailer. They actually have pretty decent prices) who reveals that Rightstuf isn’t dying, that the anime industry hasn’t died because of fansubs, and that his company is making changes to its product line, rather than clinging to failed ideas of the past. (Oh what, people still want to consume? They just don’t want to spend $25 on 3 episodes? PERISH THE THOUGHT.)
Of course, two creepy old guys don’t quite give a wide-enough range of the trash in the anime community. Let me bring up what the sycophants on ANN’s board think of fansubs (I’m sure I’m missing a whole lot of QUALITY by only looking at this one thread, but I don’t have enough patience to shift through more than one thread of this shit).
The following quotes are all from the “Funimation sues 1337 bittorrent users over one piece” thread (heads up: ton of text incoming).
Its really best to go after the distributors, not the leechers/pirates as there is a chance that some of those people who are pirates do actually buy the products, but “wants them early” as I hear some fans do. Why not just cut the chicken by the head? Get rid of the distributors, then no one can do this deed. They are the real ones harming the industry. Like illegal drugs. Go after the dealers, not the drug users. No drug dealers=no drug users.
Fansubbers are like drug dealers? What the… I have never once received money or sex for this shit. I’m getting gypped.
If you are bitching about the quality or the lack of fun subtitles then you are a fing weeaboo and you need to get over yourself. The anime industry doesnt need you.
Quality is for fags: confirmed.
One thing that has gotten me is having the same series on both your computer and on your shelf. Why have it on your computer wasting space when there’s a great copy of it on your shelf?
Sure. umm, have you seen the quality of this shit? I tossed Funi’s Speed Grapher DVD release on my PS3 and everything was artifacted to hell. It’s like every frame was made of honeycombs. Fucking ridiculous. Perhaps the real question is why I’m so hardcore as to waste shelf space on an inferior product.
Why go to court when you say “Fine funi, here’s my computer. Have fun trying to prove my guilt.” There is such things as settling out of court that don’t require absurd amount of dollars. Just giving them your computer and any/all hard drives with any decent data recovery company will quickly prove it or not.
I’m liking this guy. Who else thinks I should accuse him of violating a copyright of my own just so I get a free computer for a month or two?
For this next post, someone said
That a single fansub group would have over a thousand distro members is unlikely. Not impossible, but definitely beyond the means of any fansub group I’ve ever heard of.
In reply
Hate to break it to you, but it’s quite common. With large shows I’ve seen well over 2600 intial seeds, and most of the larger sub groups regularly have 600-1500 intial seeders. With the number of people downloading that particular torrent 2000 intial seeds would be about right.“
Whine-Subs actually has 3,000 initial seeds per episode. This is how we ensure you get your anime as fast as possible. It’s our commitment to you, as people who take this shit super seriously.
If I could (and I probably can), i’d report all the sites I know where to get fansubs and torrents from. I have no problem doing it even though I wouldn’t be able to get out-of-print anime anymore.
Better get started on that, buddy. You’ve got 1.6 million results for “fansub” on google and 319 million for “torrent”.
I’m pretty darn positive that most simulcast deals that get written between US companies and Japanese companies specify that the anime is only to be made available within certain regions. If your country isn’t able to view an American stream, it’s because Japan didn’t want you to have it that way.
Yes, you dirty non-Americans and non-Japanese don’t deserve anime.
And here’s the best post in the fucking thread:
A reminder to preachy anime viewers:
If you’ve EVER watched a fansub you are just as guilty.
To which the logical reply was, of course…
There is a degree of separation between people who watch almost exclusively pirated content and those who watch only with little alternative. What your suggesting is more along the lines of accusing anyone who eats a doughnut of being a fatass. You may have your binary definitions, but most people wouldn’t start calling a doctor guilty of a minor malpractice infraction Josef Mengele.
… to compare people who download anime often with Nazis and those who only do it sometimes as people simply eating donuts. Classy job, ANN forumgoers. You have proven once again why you’re the cream of the crop.
tl;dr ANN and its fans are
Funimation Sues 1,337 BitTorrent Users Over One Piece
Good to see a fansubber responding to this stuff. I agree that fansubbing isn’t wrong. I personally will buy a dvd/bluray then download the fansub to watch. Have you seen the shitty pixlated subs on the official dvds? Also, 6 episodes on one dvd? I don’t know how people can watch that quality.
Good God (also know as haruhi), I love all the drama going on since few weeks in the anime community. It’s freaking hilarious! (✪ܫ✪)
Here’s a question – considering that when you do a fansub, your text, in most cases, will vary slightly from any given text that some other fansubber or Funi would make, correct? Does that not make your text treatment unique? IE: Does that not mean that you could possibly actually copyright your own text then go after them (namely anyone else, INCLUDING Funi) as they would not have had a translation yet copyrighted for infringement?
Hummm…
A-N
No, copyright doesn’t work like that. A translation of an original work is still considered part of the original work, and you’d never get approved for an actual copyright on it, without the approval of the original copyright holder.
I believe there might be a fair-use translation law floating around somewhere, in regard to written works, but I doubt it’d apply to any kind of video. I could of course be wrong that it exists at all.
All AN ppl are brainwashed by a big japaneese supercomputer.
All they want is cash, unlike the fansubers and the leechers. We worship the anime and handle it with care, and thrive for quality.
DVD, Blue-Ray….rubish, these days it’s more convienent to sell a file on the web rather then selling a big spacious box with a oversized coaster.
Computers these days can hold 50x more data then you can place DVD/Blue-Ray on the shelves.
And (I probably cut my self in the finger with this) good luck fightng the fansubers, it’s a giant web with ppl all over the world and not just america.
Thanks for the great read! Both true and hilarious, loved it. That last bit was the icing with them trying to defend themselves for a fansub download. :D
What a bunch of butthurt faggot @ ANN
I have to rely on fansubbers like Sage (thx by the way for your work)
because the only thing i can get in Germany is, fucked up Animes like Naruto for kids with weapons blanked out, because kids arent allowed to see them @ 2pm + bad bad bad bad synchro.
That why I never check ANN, myanimelist or wikipedia are simply better!!!
Eh, the stuff I’ve seen in the ANN threads reminds me of US politics. Self righteous pompous assholes who think their shit don’t stink.
HAH!
O.o haven’t read this one.
haters gonna hate.
I’m in the place if without this fansubs thing, I won’t be able watch anime. And almost impossible non-mainstream anime gonna be broadcast in mine. ┐(￣ー￣)┌
this might be related info -> http://neojaponisme.com/2009/05/19/the-fear-of-the-internet/
if the series is good you’d normally buy it though and how would i know if the product is good enough for me to buy?..from someone’s lame ass review?..get real I’m quite grateful for fan subs to be honest so heres my thank you to whine-subs THANKS FOR THE QUALITY RELEASES! (I’m not in japan or America)
anyone find it funny that without fansubs no one would have found anime? honestly if i didnt find a fansubbed episode of gundam wing over 9 years ago on my slow ass windows 98 comp i probably wouldnt have ever found out about anime, the only good thing for anime we had in america (in all honesty) was Toonami that played on Cartoon network and look at that, its gone now.
they need to stop complaining about anime, its not our fault their subs and video quality suck >.> hell i watch fansubs AND buy manga and DVD’s its not like we’re doing it for no reason, we like to see what we’re gonna buy (who the hell buys something theyve never seen? apparently the “good anime lovers” who buy it from japan with crap subs without knowing what theyre getting)
We also had TechTV’s AnimeUnleashed and anime on Adult Swim, as well as Sunday cartoons (butchered though they were) but I agree with your general statement – the more exposure that anime gets, the more people that will be interested in it.
Having all fansubs magically stop would result in more people going to the licensed streams, but this would also cut out people entirely. How are anime fanbases going to grow in other countries if they only have one or two shows that ever see airing on regular TV?
Or what about people that like to show anime to their friends? When the streams go down, what happens then? Just imagine if ADV had their streaming service up and people were relying on that. Well, ADV shut down.
There are tons more things I could say on the subject, but tl;dr: I agree. :P
*Clap, Clap… CLAP* Words aren’t enough to express myself. Good post, damn good post. Can’t think of the words so I’ll just shut up now.
I suscribe to this opinion of piracy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HU13dboXAz8
I try to buy when I can and watch legal streams (although yes, I am hippocritical, for Freezing I want to see the uncensored stuf so I let the stream run to throw some ad money their way while watch my awesome nipple goodness). Though I’m much more likely to buy eroge as it is such a niche market.
Being australian, I dont get a great amount of options for watching anime. I can wait 3-4 years for the exceedingly rare anime series being broadcast on tv, I can watch the occasional stream from Madman entertainment, which has so far streamed, I think, 3 animes. Or wait two or three years for a possible dvd release, which may never happen. Or my last option is to fork out the $50 to ship anime from america, or japan directly, on top of whatever I’m paying for the dvds/manga.
… Or I can download fansubs, which tend to have far better subtitle quality, and far better picture quality. If a series I love gets a dvd release, I go out and buy it. If I really love a series enough, I’ll fork out the money and buy the blu-rays as they come out in japan, but that’s not going to stop me using a fansub. Without them, I’d be buying blind, and (as has happened in the past, before I started using fansubs) I’ll buy a series that I absolute hate, and regret having wasted up to $150.
But hey, if that makes me a bad anime fan, then let the poor suckers on ANN whine and bitch about me all they like.