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  If anything, I have to suspect the article is way out of date, and a paranoia piece, regardless, because while we're not quite in the boom of a couple of years ago, the American end of the industry is still riding pretty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. 

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?)

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.

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

Decrescent Daytripper wrote:

I got from Sergio Aragones

You know Sergio Aragones??