Ask John: What is AnimeNation’s Position on Fansubs?

Question:
What is AnimeNation’s position on fansubbing? What you guys think about them?

Answer:
AnimeNation itself does not have an official position or stance on fansubbing. AnimeNation is a retail company, naturally concerned with competition from legitimate and underground sources, but it’s neither our position or intention to police the fan community or attempt to impose personal ethics on individual anime fans. The fact that AnimeNation doesn’t have an official policy on fansubs, though, doesn’t mean that the AnimeNation staff doesn’t have a general consensus opinion on fansubs.

There’s been a tremendous amount of debate within the fan community over the necessity, or lack thereof, for fansubs, and their effect on the professional anime industry. Fansubs are an illegal distribution of copyrighted material. By letter of the law, fansubs are both illegal and immoral because they are a violation of international copyright law, and, in theory, literal theft of intellectual property rights. However, letter of the law is inadequate to address the unique attributes of non-profit subtitled anime produced by private anime fans. Fansubs are illegal, but for decades they’ve been largely overlooked because they’ve been considered just as much a benefit as a problem to the professional anime industry. In the spirit of passive resistance, fansubs may be illegal, but are well intentioned and seek to do only good for the anime industry.

Unfortunately, critics (and sometimes even some fansubbers themselves) seem to frequently forget or ignore the philanthropic goal of fansubs, sometimes for the advancement of their own single-minded proselytizing. Critics argue that fansubs are no longer necessary in the current industry that imports anime from Japan to America relatively quickly. Critics also argue that fansubs have a direct, adverse effect on the sales of legitimate, official anime DVD releases. I’ll pose counterpoints for both arguments.

The original purpose of fansubs was to raise awareness of Japanese anime series not available in America in the hope that increased awareness would lead to these little known series being officially licensed for American release. This goal does indeed still work. AN Entertainment was made aware of Omishi Magical Theater: Risky Safety through the existence of fansubs. However, companies such as Urban Vision have publicly stated that they do not acknowledge fansubs when considering new acquisitions. In the present state of the industry, with domestic companies licensing series before they’re aired in Japan or co-producing new titles, it doesn’t seem necessary any longer for fansubs to help inform distribution companies of what titles exist. Fansubs now seem to benefit fans in a more direct manner. With digital fansubs of new anime being distributed in the fan community only hours or days after Japanese release, fansubs now serve as a way for fans to sample new titles. Japanese television broadcasts nearly 100 different anime episodes each week. Even most OAV releases are now broadcast on Japanese television once before their home video release. Japanese natives have the opportunity to see a theatrical film in a theater before committing to purchasing it on home video. So Japanese fans have the opportunity to sample virtually all anime either free, or for a relatively small charge. To a large degree, American fans do not have that same advantage. There are dozens of new anime titles being released in America all the time, and very few fans have the money to afford them all. Fansubs allow American fans the same opportunity that Japanese natives have- the ability to preview new anime without committing to expensive DVD purchases on faith alone. It can be argued that Japanese natives “pay” for this privilege by being exposed to the TV commercials broadcast with anime while American fansub viewers don’t, but the introduction of digital TV recorders that automatically edit out TV commercials helps make this a moot point. Furthermore, the concern over how viewers “pay” for the privilege of watching anime is addressed in my second point.

It’s commonly argued that fansubs compromise sales of legitimate anime DVDs because fans watch fansubs instead of buying official DVDs. This argument, while superficially seemingly legitimate, actually has a singular fatal flaw. The cause of the problem is not fansubs themselves but unethical fans. Consider an analogy. A bullet is only a thing that can do no harm to anyone by itself. The way a bullet is used by a person can have a devastating effect. The fault lies in the person that shot the gun, not the bullet itself. Fansubs are the bullet. It is individual consumers that pull the trigger. Fans that watch fansubs then legitimately support the anime industry by buying the official DVD releases help everyone. These fans please themselves by enjoying the anime as soon as they possibly can. These fans also please the anime industry by replacing their fansubs with official DVD versions. No harm, no foul. On the other hand, Unscrupulous fans download fansubs or cheap bootleg DVDs instead of buying legitimate DVDs. The choices of these so-called fans do have a negative effect on the anime industry. Yet should fansubbing be discontinued just to eliminate the potential for some fans to abuse fansubs? This sounds very much like cutting off one’s nose to spite the face. Fansubs themselves do not pose a threat to the anime industry. Fans that abuse fansubs pose a threat to the anime industry.

Many members of the AnimeNation staff do watch fansubs and appreciate the efforts of other fans to satiate our hunger for more and new anime. Companies like AN Entertainment and Warner Bros. have, in fact, even contributed to the free internet distribution of anime by making episodes of Risky Safety and The AniMatrix available for free online download. We recognize that without the word of mouth recommendation and discussion that many import only anime titles receive via fansubs, these shows potentially wouldn’t sell nearly as well upon their American release as they do. We recognize that fansubs carry an inherent temptation to steal from the anime industry. We also recognize that fansubs have a greater potential than any other form of advertising to boost support for the anime industry. Fansubs are legally a theft of copyrighted material, but they are a theft made with the intention of helping the copyright owner. So from an isolated ethical perspective, fansubs themselves are a good thing unfortunately sometimes used improperly by some viewers.