Ever since digital fansubs gave the fandom the possibility to distribute anime at an alarming rate, it has always been a debated issue whether it was deviating from its initial purpose. Being an ex-fansubber of the old guard myself, it is interesting to hear getfresh say that the purpose of his group it to bring anime to the “mainstream”. The first groups that fansubbed anime mostly had the same goal, which is to bring Japanese anime shows to this side of the Pacific, because these shows were nigh impossible to get and, consequently, to understand. This part could very well refer to the ideal of taking anime to this “mainstream”.
I believe the situation now lies in the potential viewership and how that translates into a useful base of anime fans rather than an army of leechers that, even if given a good release, will not buy the show because it is “free” elsewhere. It is important to add that anime fandom is not restricted to Japan and the US. There are many countries that have had anime dubbed and broadcasted for far longer than the US has. Part of this relates to a rich history of US animation and creation of content that enabled the airwaves to be filled with its content and did not need foreign content to entertain their people. This continues to our day, where the US produces a majority of broadcasted content worldwide. Many countries and regions (particularly Latin America, Spain, France, Italy and the Middle East) have imported and broadcasted anime widely and for a long time. One example is [b]“Heidi”[/b] as it was mentioned in the chat. It was created and broadcasted in 1974 in Japan and it was dubbed and broadcasted in Mexico since 1978 where it has never left syndication due to its never ending popularity. There are many examples of anime holding such a place in people’s hearts worldwide, but this fact is often overlooked in fansub discussions.
The transition from DVD content from VHS was problematic at first, but it enabled anime to be far more affordable to the mainstream that could not decide whether to buy dubs or subs [i](remember, oh old comrades?)[/i]. Now with new anime being fansubbed in a matter of days rather than months as in the old days, it has permitted fandom to get accustomed to the newer shows and trends in anime, in VERY high quality encodings, some largely surpassing in both video and translation quality than its commercial counterparts. Add to this that the large majority of consumers of media online come from a generation where media and content is not bought as a normal means, but as a “donation” to the artist, where downloads and streaming, be they legal or illegal, become the main means of obtaining entertainment. How can you sell something to a consumer that can get a higher quality item for free (in terms of technical specifications)?
The legal implications of this have also been hotly debated and, in my opinion, can only be somewhat clear when you put in the same table a representative of the Japanese Anime industry, the R1 Anime Industry, a legal expert on international and domestic Trademark and Copyright Law, a fansubber of a current and popular group, a fansubber of [i]“the Old Guard”[/i] which was there to witness the changes of the industry, and a normal young human that watches anime both online and broadcasted. If you have all these people discussing what is right, wrong or the state of anime and fansubs, you could be able to have a very good idea of their points of view, their arguments and their stance on many of the topics where we endlessly debate, yet never understand fully as the other party is never there to provide with a proper response.
People often say that the industry never listens the fans. What Bandai and Crunchyroll did recently is something that reflects how the industry is trying to reach out to the consumer, but I believe their efforts, while impressive as an improvement, are too little, too late and have reflected the slow response to the changing trends of media consumption that not only the anime industry was affected by, but the whole spectrum, such as tv, movies and music.
We definitely live in a far better communicated era since those first raw VHS tapes travelled to this side of the Pacific to an enthusiastic, but small market, but this has also brought changes in the dynamics of its nascent industry, dynamics that were not and continue not to be fully understood and acted upon by its commercial actors. The fandom was responsive, but it is becoming harder to justify fansubbing a show as a legal means to obtain a show that is not legally licensed and has little chance for broadcast here. New shows, which surely makes the great majority of fansubbing, are very likely to make it over here, in no small measure thanks to the massive marketing data that fansubbing and blogging provides. Most shows in the old days were a gamble for both customers and companies, while today there is extensive coverage on most of the shows produced for the current anime seasons and it creates both a fanbase and a huge market sample that tells the companies which shows are more popular, best rated and more suitable for licensing in the domestic R1 market than shooting in the dark or relying on the popularity of a show just in the Japanese market.
Just my two cents here…
Posted by kazekaeru 
Kazekaeru's Anime Blog 