This is a static copy of In the Rose Garden, which existed as the center of the western Utena fandom for years. Enjoy. :)

#26 | Back to Top11-10-2007 03:05:58 AM

Decrescent Daytripper
Best Disney Princess
Registered: 04-09-2007
Posts: 2791

Re: **ALERT FOR ANIME FANS!**

I buy legit stuff, yes, and I do on occasion buy a drunken-panda-subbed Hong Kong set of an unreleased-in-the-States series, download older stuff unlikely to ever get a commercial release, but I try to buy the legit as soon as it comes, if I've already got a copy otherwise.  Only seems fair.  I also torrent/download a lot of stuff I already have, because I want it in a different format, especially comics, which I want to be able to carry with me without lugging a trunk of seventeen volumes around the airport.

I borrow a lot more than I buy, though.  Or go watch at with other people, at their place.

And I can remember a third or fourth generation VHS of Kiki's Delivery Service I got from Sergio Aragones back in the day that kept me from leaving animation behind (I wouldn't have left forever, but, y'know, I was moody and young), so I can't be down on the pirated stuff too much.

Is anime going away?  If anything, I have to suspect the article is way out of date, and a paranoia piece, regardless, because while we're not quite in the boom of a couple of years ago, the American end of the industry is still riding pretty high, compared to virtually any time in the past.  Will they cut back on extras?  Maybe the ones generated for American release, but subbing a little interview or running a commercial for the series or movie in Japanese isn't cutting heavily into the budget and makes many fans happy as clams who avoided being in the clam sauce.  Does anyone remember when there wasn't even a hope of a theatrical, even limited, release?  Or it was a one theater, one time, deal?  When, pre-torrenting-hypermania, you had to have actual channels, had to actually interact with and know people to get fansubs?

And, as a fan who came in pre-DVD, before the speed and super-access of torrenting, and clung to VHS like a bastard - and still kinda does, 'cause I own a billion of those cassettes and I don't want to get the stuff all again - I won't miss extras, too much.  I won't much miss getting subs and dub in one go.  Were these nice things?  Sure.  Were they necessary to my enjoyment?

And, honestly, people love the idea of anime in entertainment, right now.   They love the tropes, they're actually noticing that individual human beings are responsible for certain things, like direction, styles, and so on.  And that's good for everybody, in the sense that there appears to be, on the horizon, a lot of crossover work and collaboration.  An infusion of anime directors, character designers, and studios working with an American budget on English-language productions.  Which, can go badly, of course, but I remain optimistic.

Someone at [name decimated to protect my ass] saw me reading Fushigi Yugi on my laptop a month or so ago, and commented on how great it would be to get the license, because it would look cool as a cartoon!  Do we want an American Fushigi Yugi?  Probably not.  We may not even want the Japanese one, but we do want Yu Watase to get offers here in the States, because it means money and work and a likelihood that smaller series and materials, be they anime or manga or artbooks and calendars, come over and become cheaper.  Even if it comes off like the Fox/Escaflowne mess.  emot-rolleyes

The whole thrust of the current WGA strike, on the studio end, is that online presentation, both legit and pirated, remains a promotional write-off, in the same sense that nobody's meant to make money off of singles (but Crom forbid a musician release that single for free on their own!) and so, it shouldn't worry anyone that there's supposedly money being lost.  It's kinda BS, and yes, the people generating the material should be getting some money for their work, but from a marketing standpoint, it is true.  Being recognizable gets you money.

And, really, if we want to save anime, it's all about buying Pop-Tarts.  (Really, isn't most life?)


My Brain is the Wakaba and Shiori Funtime Hour. With limited commercial interruption.

Offline

 

#27 | Back to Top11-10-2007 08:36:02 AM

Mylene
Fighting Evil By Moonlight
From: Next to Paradox
Registered: 10-19-2006
Posts: 3704

Re: **ALERT FOR ANIME FANS!**

I've still got VHS fansubs of the first few episodes of Nurse Angel Ririka SOS, Marmalade Boy, and really bad ones from Magic Knight Rayearth.  Glen A. Pearce up in Canada was my original fansub contact, and then I switched over to Phoenix (from alt.fan.sailor-moon) because he's a sweetie and I liked his site's layout--and the fact it was in the U.S. so the postage was less.  I also remember the poptart campaign run by SOS.  Actually, it was strawberry Poptarts, remember, as the ads specifically depicted strawberry flavor, therefore buying any old flavor wouldn't do at all.  emot-rolleyes  Good times, good time.  I also have the season one fansubs done by Studio Chikashitsu that were so controversial since technically the first season was licensed and it was bad form.  Ah, to go back to those days where that fansubber's code of conduct was truly alive and well.  If that were still the case now, fansubs wouldn't be much more problematic now than they were then (and they weren't at all then--it was the only way to get shoujo beyond the VHS of Fushigi Yuugi, which I had until I replaced them all with DVDs and gave the VHS to a friend because I didn't have space for it anymore.)

The blog entry or whatever it was that spawned this thread is entirely full of it.  That doesn't mean that the NA anime market is in good shape though, so that's all I was pointing out.  When one of the biggest companies jumps ship, that's not a good sign.  Now granted, it might have been their misinterpretation of the various niche markets, but still...seeing Geneon go down doesn't exactly feel all that heartwarming.  Nor ADV laying off staff.  Nor CPM going into hibernation and nearly (I don't think they actually did) filing for bankruptcy.  Funimation's losses can actually be fairly well accounted for, since last year the last of FMA came out, plus the movie, and this year they've had fewer big releases in the same quarter and have a lot of series that are still in production and haven't seen their first release dates set just yet.

Offline

 

#28 | Back to Top11-10-2007 07:56:50 PM

ShatteredMirror
Yaoi Pet #1
From: Sacramento, CA
Registered: 10-22-2006
Posts: 8858

Re: **ALERT FOR ANIME FANS!**

Lissa wrote:

However, he talks all the time about going to CrunchyRoll.com. However, from my understanding, they show fansubs, but the moment someone gets the license, they pull it.

I don't know for sure but I'm pretty sure that's their thing. I get mine from AnimeSuki, and that's their policy.


Pride is not the opposite of shame, but its source.

Offline

 

#29 | Back to Top11-10-2007 09:03:48 PM

Imaginary Bad Bug
Revolutionary
From: Connecticut, USA
Registered: 10-16-2006
Posts: 2171
Website

Re: **ALERT FOR ANIME FANS!**

I'm probably the only anime fan in the world who does not do the whole fansub thing.  No YouTube, no bittorrent, no p2p... none of that. emot-tongue

Just reviews, recommendations, tv, and instinct to guide me in finding new series that I like, which I then buy, often quasi-blindly, on DVD.  Hasn't failed me in the 7 years I've been a fan thus far. emot-confused


http://lh5.ggpht.com/_HERdW38xV_c/S5xZ2QVrIwI/AAAAAAAAApg/uNpckSbLgUw/s800/utenaban.jpg

Offline

 

#30 | Back to Top11-11-2007 05:32:06 PM

mazoboom
The Boom King
From: New Orleans
Registered: 09-08-2007
Posts: 450
Website

Re: **ALERT FOR ANIME FANS!**

Woah, woah, hold up. Completely off-topic, but:

Decrescent Daytripper wrote:

I got from Sergio Aragones

You know Sergio Aragones??

Offline

 

Board footer

Powered by PunBB 1.2.23
© Copyright 2002–2008 PunBB
Forum styled and maintained by Giovanna and Yasha
Return to Empty Movement