Ask John: Do Americans Expect Too Much Free Anime?

Question:
The following critique was passed on to me by the webmaster of the Japanese Ask John Fan Club website:

“I read your “Will Fansubbing Continue?” in the Japanese translation page yesterday. I live in Ishikawa Prefecture, where less than 5% of all latest anime series air. In my area no latest anime show is broadcast in late night or early morning. When you’d like to see them, you have to buy/rent DVDs or subscribe pay TV channels.

It seems unfair to me that American fans do not doubt it is their right to preview anime shows they’re interested in for free, while many Japanese anime fans reside in areas where it is difficult to watch them as soon as American comrades do for free (BTW anime DVD prices are twice as expensive in Japan as in the U.S.) I accept your foresee that fansub will survive, but I do not think they can claim it to be fair since tacit permission does not mean right.”

Answer:
I normally avoid using the “Ask John” column as a podium from which to engage in ongoing debate, but in this case I’ve been specifically requested to compose a rebuttal for native Japanese anime fans that read the “Ask John” column in translation, and who seem to take great offense over the perceived disrespect American anime fans convey toward Japan’s anime industry.

I also believe it necessary to preface my response with the clarification that I am merely one individual anime fan sharing my own, personal perspective with the goal of encouraging readers to analyze their own positions by comparison. When I cite groups such as “American fans” or “Japanese natives,” I’m referring to percentages of individuals within those groups. I hope it’s clear and obvious that I can’t possibly make responsible generalizations about entire national populations.

I’ve been informed that a number of native Japanese fans are disappointed by my sanction of unauthorized anime distribution, and offended by the impertinence of American fans to illegally acquire anime. I have no rebuttal but to say that this conflict is a difference of perspective. I can’t entirely justify American fansubs, nor have I ever tried to do so. Likewise I can’t defend the absolute moral integrity of America’s fan translating community, nor have I ever tried to do so. The contemporary American anime fan community does have some unjustified sense of entitlement. Quite simply, Americans feel like they should have free access to anime because that’s the way Americans think. American culture trains American citizens to feel a sense of privilege and entitlement. Regardless of right or wrong, and regardless of consideration for Japanese anime fans and creators, many American anime fans presume their absolute right to anime. In fact, the majority of America’s anime viewers even believe that Japanese animation should have spoken English dialogue for their viewing convenience. If certain Japanese fans consider this attitude lacking in humility, I concede.

Regardless of the availability of anime in Japan, fansubbing is illegal. Staunch proponents of intellectual property rights can legitimately state that unlicensed anime distribution is a violation of creator rights. American fans have no universal right to anime beside that which is officially released. But American anime fans, at least those who actually examine their own opinions, justify their illicit acquisition of anime with the argument that the end justifies the means. The theory is that the ability to preview anime for free encourages sales which benefit creators and the professional anime industry; therefore free anime distribution may be justified. On the other hand, the strict attitude of some Japanese fans is that fansubbing and unauthorized distribution of anime are illegal; therefore fansubbing should never happen.

Japanese fans who take offense to the concept of international fansubbing have a moral right to their indignation. There’s simply nothing I can say that will excuse fansubbing or the American sense of entitlement in the minds of adamant Japanese fans who object to the literal theft of anime. Many American fans who want to watch brand new anime utilize whatever means necessary to achieve that goal. I can’t morally justify the illicit means by which some American anime fans gather anime, but the morality of the results are debatable. I acknowledge that fansubbing is illegal. I admit that fansubbing is a violation of creator rights. I agree that the American fan community’s sense of entitlement to free preview anime is unjustified. But I believe that there’s also a praiseworthy component to fansubbing that partially justifies its existence. If fansubbing and underground anime distribution didn’t exist, anime creators would never loose any of their rightful proceeds. But those profits wouldn’t be remotely as hefty as they are now. I honestly believe that the act of fans sharing anime among themselves is the most influential reason for the continued and expanding interest in anime around the world. I consider fansubs and unauthorized anime sharing a necessary evil. In a literal sense fansubbing ignores the rights of anime creators, which makes it an evil. But anime wouldn’t be as successful or profitable as it is internationally without fansubs, thereby rendering them necessary as advertising.

I’m not trying to exculpate American fans, but I do want to point out that Americans are not the only anime fans sharing anime illegally. There are Spanish, Brazilian, Arabic, Australian, Canadian, British, French, and German fansubs, just to name a few examples. Even Japanese fans themselves are not entirely free from culpability. Certain Japanese fans commonly record and distribute digital copies of anime online through file sharing networks like Winny. Scrolling messages to viewers on TV broadcasts urging them not to record anime and share it online are written in Japanese, not English, suggesting that Japanese TV networks are addressing native Japanese video pirates, not foreign fansubbers. If Japanese natives stopped sharing anime online, most of America’s fansub community would dissipate. I’m not saying that Japanese fans are the cause of anime video piracy. I’m not blaming illegal anime distribution on anyone beside those who actually participate in such activity. I do, however, want to make it clear that illegal anime distribution shouldn’t be blamed on American fans alone. It’s a worldwide problem.

Some Japanese citizens believe that American fans are too greedy or too demanding. Certain Japanese fans may feel resentment that they don’t have access to free anime while American fans create their own illegal access to free anime. At the same time there are countless American fans that are jealous of the sheer amount of anime accessible to Japanese fans. There are also Americans who are offended by erotic anime and offended by Japan’s institutionalized practice of creating unauthorized anime parody doujinshi. There will always be iniquities and inequalities between the distribution and availability of anime within Japan and without. I can’t justify all of the opinions and practices of the American fan community to skeptical Japanese fans. Japanese fans who believe that the American fan community is spoiled or too demanding are probably right. Americans do feel a powerful sense of entitlement to anime and many Americans do act on that sensibility, which leads to underground anime sharing, and also leads to increased sales and more profits for Japan’s anime industry.

Addendum
The following is an additional commentary provided in response, by the Japanese “Ask John” translator.

Hello, John. I read your opinion of the future of fansub. It’s instructive and I say I completely agree on your conclusion. I, however, am afraid that some of your Japanese fans would be disappointed since they could take your words as nothing but a selfish justification of American fan’s illegal activities. On the contrary, your words sound logically persuasive, and some would be displeased all the more for it. Like, “John was shosen gaijin sa!”

Personally, I think there is the true answer lying in otaku culture itself. For example, Comic Market (a.k.a. Komike) held regularly twice in Tokyo. Amount of amateur manga creators make illegal manga magazines (doujinshi) based on a lot of famous manga, anime and videogame titles. Legally speaking, they perform pirate activities, but neither publishers nor anime studios attempt to give warning to them; far from filing lawsuits against them because any firm knows new talents will surely be appearing from Komike space, not to mention that it knows their activities do not threaten its commercial profitability.

I suspect that otaku culture including anime cannot be free from a desire: in other word, escapism from all social responsibilities. Yaoi girls love boys-love titles because they unconsciously want to escape from womanhood while boys love bishojo-anime because they eagerly want to escape from boyhood or manliness. Komike attendees want to free from various social and legal customs for a few days.

Otaku culture has grown by accepting copycats of copycats as well as sense of free-responsibility. For example, no one claims that _Okusama wa Maho-Shojo_ is a rip-off because it merely belongs to the magical girlfriend genre. Even when Fujishima got mad with Akamatsu’s _Ai Love You_, Kodansha sincerely pacified his rage but did not accept his claim that Mr. A had copycatted _AMG_. I’m not sure it was a true story, but I guess it was because Kodansha was afraid it would discourage liveliness of the manga industry if it should accepted Mr. F’s claim.

When it was reported that Disney was suspected to have ripped Tezuka’s _Jungle Emperor_, the Japanese manga industry was annoyed, partly because it was angry with Disney’s illegal activity but mainly because each one felt as if Disney had touched on the weakest point in manga and anime culture. If you really accuse Mickey Empire, you must do the Japanese unhealthy tolerance of domestic copycat activities including Komike (BTW I do not think Tezuka ripped _Bambi_ since both influence and inspiration are essentially different from copycat), too.

It may sound unpleasant to many Japanese anime fans, but I suspect that fansubbing is among by-products from logrolling among Japanese anime industry, creators, and consumers including me. And it means someone must bear the brunt of the antinomy. In this case the boy who questioned your view is among them. I feel sorry about him, but the unfairness will not disappear until otaku culture cease to depend on the subconscious logrolling system. (I strongly doubt the day will come in the near future, though.)