"Japan to crack down on anime and manga piracy"

[Prodigydeadeye]

Now where will I get the anime that they won't show in my country??

 

The internet. You will be fine. Trust me.

[Prodigydeadeye]

Sure its complex but it has to be done, and it needs to be sorted soon. Things will just get worse, more and more people want access to shows instantly, on demand for a fair price

 

it doesnt even have to be a cheap subscription model, perhaps you pay a small amount to access shows, maybe per episode, maybe you pay more depending on the amount of shows you want to watch

 

So maybe for to watch 10 shows you pay 5$, for 20 shows you pay $7.50, and the revenue is shared amongst creators

 

Or follow the model spotify use. I do now know, ubt I am SURE something can be done, its better than piracy 

 

Like I said, things are not that simple. And most of the anime/manga creators are either individuals, or smaller companies that do not have the time or money to consider going international. Companies that are big enough, like Studio Ghibli do go international, and so do many others. It is not unheard of, but these things take time and money. Be patient. The demand is there, give the supply time to catch up.

[TopWargamer]

Now where will I get the anime that they won't show in my country??

This video should sum it up.

 

[DigitalHermit]

The internet. You will be fine. Trust me.

 

I just hope so...

[Prodigydeadeye]

I just hope so...

 

I live in Japan, you can trust me.    

[Homicidium]

You play video games, right? You know those people who don't play video games say the same thing about them, right? And to you, you don't understand why people think that way, because to you video games are awesome, enjoyable, and at times they can have deep stories for you to immerse yourself in. How could anybody not like it?

 

It's the same way with anime.

 

You're acting like it's impossible not to like Anime and Manga and that I've never tried to get into these. I watched High School of the Dead, Naruto and a couple of others and I just didn't got into them nor did I really enjoyed watching them. It's cool, when you guys like them, but don't act like I'm the spawn of satan if I don't.  

[DigitalHermit]

Btw... I've seen a lot of you suggest something like Netflix or Hulu...

 

Think about the other countries please... Not everyone can afford a subscription and not everyone can have access to content (kudos to Geoblocking)... I have an analog cable television connection at home and I can tell you that the stuff that Animax shows is either butchered in dubbing, old as hell, or new but not exactly my taste... The other anime oriented channel, Hero TV, shows old as hell, butchered in dubbing, 240p anime with the crappiest sound quality you can imagine...

 

P.S.
If anyone wants to suggest getting a VPN, I say it's not worth it since the average internet connection speed here is around 2Mbps downstream 384kbps upstream and costs around 20USD(converted) per month... Oh did I mention the downtimes?
Paid subscriptions are also out of the question since Paypal won't even accept any of the local banks (upfront) and theres a fuckload of red tape before you can even get to something similar to Paypal... Also, not all the watchers are employed/earning...

[Mooshi]

Make up your mind, Japan. Either you hate anime or you like it.

[mvitkun]

More money for Hulu. They're popular, but nowhere near as popular as Netflix, therefore, far less revenue. They probably don't make enough from subscriptions alone to survive.

You pay for Hulu and have ads because Hulu usually has episodes online same day or the day after( episodes air).

In other words an anime airs in Japan, it is available on hulu, subbed, the same day or the day after it airs.

Something airs on USA Network or anything else, it's made available same day or the day after it airs.

Netflix however updates series in seasons; Meaning you have to wait until the entire season is over before you can watch it.

This makes acquiring a streaming license for Netflix much cheaper allowing them to drive prices down to the point where they don't have to rely on ads.

 

So Hulu pays more to stream recently aired content, so you pay for a subscription for access to the premium shows and then you watch ads.

Hulu's business model is not dissimilar from the business model of cable companies which charge you to stream the content when it airs and also show ads.

Netflix Pays less to stream a season that finished airing months ago so they get the license to stream it for less money.

[Guest]

This sucks.

 

The problem is that 98% of material simply isn't legally available to purchase in English, or in specific English speaking territories.  And then when it is it's likely been licensed by some company like 4Kidz or Funimation and then the jokes are heavily edited to make sense, or worse still they entirely alter the art, story or characters to fit what they believe to be the target audience - see the  horrific butchering of Dragonball Z and One Piece from prime examples.

 

Most manga translations tend to be pretty spot on however, particularly when the translators work closely with the Japanese publisher or the author themselves.  It's the reason I'm collecting all of Tsutomo Nihei's works - however I can only find Abara in German, French Japanese or Italian and Blame! And So On in French :\

[LAwLz]

You're acting like it's impossible not to like Anime and Manga and that I've never tried to get into these. I watched High School of the Dead, Naruto and a couple of others and I just didn't got into them nor did I really enjoyed watching them. It's cool, when you guys like them, but don't act like I'm the spawn of satan if I don't.

You're acting like it's impossible not to like music and that I've never tried to get into it. I listened to Justin Beiber, Rebecca Black and a couple of others and I just didn't get into them nor did I really enjoyed listening to them.

 

That's kind of how I read your post.

I'm not saying that you need to like anime but it has a very very broad spectrum and the only shows you mentioned are bad in my opinion. I think your comment was pretty funny because of that.

 

 

 

I really hope this doesn't effect any of the sites/groups we in the west use, since a lot of anime and manga is impossible to legally obtain outside of Japan. Preventing piracy when piracy is the only option will only hurt the industry.

[Damikiller37]

Although piracy may be harmful in some ways for the Anime and Manga industry I think Japan doesn't realise how piracy created an insane amount of fans around the world for this culture and this is one of the main reasons why services such as Crunchyroll exist and are doing well. I know many Anime & Manga fans that end up buying legitimate content after it is available in their country and here is where the problem is. Some things you will either have to wait a very long time for to get in your country or you will never have it in your country. Also another case can be that it will be ridiculously expensive. I think Japan really needs to loosen up and help the Anime and Manga industry grow faster instead of limiting it to Japan only and sometimes to US only with makes accessibility either impossible or a pain for an average fan since they will have to find a way around such limitation or they will give up all together. I also know for a fact that a lot of my friends end up spending a lot of money for accessories related to the Anime they watch/ed such as figures and I mean they literally spend hundreds of pounds to get them since they are expensive up front then they have to pay for packaging, VAT and retarded import tax. If only Japan would try and make things more accessible around the world instead of forcing some to either pirate since the content they want isn't available in their country or is far too expensive. Imagine if they would create a platform like Steam but for anime and manga. I can assure you if the prices were reasonable people around the world would buy the crap out of the things on it and that way Japan could control the prices and probably make releases of things much quicker. I assume that with such platform they would reduce piracy and/or make it so that they will earn significantly more than they do now such that piracy isn't effecting them as much. This very idea applies to many things not just Anime and Manga; it applies to movies, games, music, products and much more, although for most of those they have the distribution more or less sorted.

[bradscoolio]

There is no 1 single place that I can access all anime ever released with english subtitles, in HD and for a reasonable fee. Just doesn't exist. 

Torrents fix that issue and free is reasonable

[creativename]

They need to make shows more accessible to the world

 

Perhaps add all shows to netflix/cruncyroll etc, 

 

People should not have to pirate shows because they do not have easy access to them

crunchyroll and funimation have almost all of the shows that are airing in japan.

[creativename]

There is no 1 single place that I can access all anime ever released with english subtitles, in HD and for a reasonable fee. Just doesn't exist. 

Torrents fix that issue and free is reasonable

Crunchyroll charges like 5 dollars a month, funimation charges 8. that like 1 or 2 lunches skipped a month.

[creativename]

You're acting like it's impossible not to like music and that I've never tried to get into it. I listened to Justin Beiber, Rebecca Black and a couple of others and I just didn't get into them nor did I really enjoyed listening to them.

 

That's kind of how I read your post.

I'm not saying that you need to like anime but it has a very very broad spectrum and the only shows you mentioned are bad in my opinion. I think your comment was pretty funny because of that.

 

 

 

I really hope this doesn't effect any of the sites/groups we in the west use, since a lot of anime and manga is impossible to legally obtain outside of Japan. Preventing piracy when piracy is the only option will only hurt the industry.

No it helps the industry, piracy is wrong and all the sites should be taken town, not just the 580 they chose. There are plenty of legal ways to watch, reading is a bit on the small side, but the end up coming to the US anyway if theyre popular. Support the fucking industry if you want them more widely available, if you just pirate, theyre not getting the views and it ends up as a sign that it wasn't popular, resulting it never coming to the US.

[ShadowCaptain]

No it helps the industry, piracy is wrong and all the sites should be taken town, not just the 580 they chose. There are plenty of legal ways to watch, reading is a bit on the small side, but the end up coming to the US anyway if theyre popular. Support the fucking industry if you want them more widely available, if you just pirate, theyre not getting the views and it ends up as a sign that it wasn't popular, resulting it never coming to the US.

 

Well not 100% true, I do not support piracy at all and I do not pirate anything but some shows are NOT aired outside of japan, even if you want to buy a blu ray or something. So they are literally impossible to watch without piracy

 

These shows need to be made available to the west or piracy will not stop from these countries

[Fulgrim]

They will still be distributed across the UK, US & Europe - just the ones hosted within Japan will be affected. So i don't think much is gonna change from the pirate's point of view. I usually find the anime i want on http://bakabt.me/ But if it's licensed, there's always ol' Pirate Bay, and http://www.nyaa.se/

 

Japanese copyright hasn't tried prosecuting anyone outside of their jurisdiction, except one case where they just sent a letter asking them to stop. (cba finding source) Funimation are the most annoying company, because they're trying to buy the license for every damn anime they can. This causes official sub groups to drop animes/avoid them because of the legal hassle. 

 

They will never stop anime from being subbed & pirated.

 

They should broaden their sales to the rest of the world, it would reduce the piracy and increase their profit margin.

[ShadowCaptain]

There is no 1 single place that I can access all anime ever released with english subtitles, in HD and for a reasonable fee. Just doesn't exist. 

Torrents fix that issue and free is reasonable

That is true, though I still do not like that piracy is the answer

 

crunchyroll and funimation have almost all of the shows that are airing in japan.

They have a decent selection but not everything is there, though I am very happy these services exist

 

Crunchyroll charges like 5 dollars a month, funimation charges 8. that like 1 or 2 lunches skipped a month.

What? 5$ or 8$ a month is literally nothing for the average working person

[creativename]

Well not 100% true, I do not support piracy at all and I do not pirate anything but some shows are NOT aired outside of japan, even if you want to buy a blu ray or something. So they are literally impossible to watch without piracy

 

These shows need to be made available to the west or piracy will not stop from these countries

I said most, not all, so my statement still holds true. Then buy the blu-ray. Easy... can't afford it? don't watch it.

[creativename]

What? 5$ or 8$ a month is literally nothing for the average working person

EXACTLY MY POINT, they charge so little, its super cheap.

[Homicidium]

You're acting like it's impossible not to like music and that I've never tried to get into it. I listened to Justin Beiber, Rebecca Black and a couple of others and I just didn't get into them nor did I really enjoyed listening to them.

 

That's kind of how I read your post.

I'm not saying that you need to like anime but it has a very very broad spectrum and the only shows you mentioned are bad in my opinion. I think your comment was pretty funny because of that.

 

The whole first part of your reply has confused me. First of all, I wasn't the guy who has brought up the music analogy. Second, where did I say that it's impossible to get into music or to stay on topic, anime? The second part is basically what I said in my very first post. I tried to get into them, but it just wasn't for me and simply stated that opinion, as you do in a forum. So yeah, if you read that post like that, then you read correctly. I just don't get the imputing tone and how was it funny? 

 

I mean, I get that Anime has a large following, I can also understand that some people like/love them, and that's cool by me. And to be honest, I could've put a little more effort into researching some "better" anime, but I just watched what I had at my disposal at the time, not to mention that I don't speak japanese and so I never bothered to download undubbed versions of some series, which are apparently million times better and so on. So maybe, I could've gotten into Anime if I would've watched different shows, but it's just not my cup of tea and so why don't you do what you've said at the beginning of your third sentence "I'm not saying that you need to like anime" and let me be, accept my opinion as I'm doing too? 

I can live very good with the thought that some people enjoy stuff I don't, but apparently some of you can't, which is sad because I've met a lot of people (a lot of my friends enjoy it as well) that are into anime and accept my opinion, but unfortunately most of these people can't, it almost seems like you guys are the narrow - minded here, but whatevs. 

 

Have fun watching your anime and kawaii stuff!

[ShadowCaptain]

I said most, not all, so my statement still holds true. Then buy the blu-ray. Easy... can't afford it? don't watch it.

 

But the point is that in certain countries it is just not available or is ridiculously overpriced. There are probably more anime shows not shown in Europe and USA than there are that we can get hold of. Some countries can not access these services at all as they are region locked

 

I agree, dont afford it, dont watch it. I do not like piracy but it seems that it is a service not a price problem

 

EXACTLY MY POINT, they charge so little, its super cheap.

 

Yeah but again not available to all, either they dont have that specific show, or the service is not available in that country. For example I cannot watch shows on Hulu in the UK, and I cannot watch certain american shows on netflix, - not related to anime but a similar example

[creativename]

The whole first part of your reply has confused me. First of all, I wasn't the guy who has brought up the music analogy. Second, where did I say that it's impossible to get into music or to stay on topic, anime? The second part is basically what I said in my very first post. I tried to get into them, but it just wasn't for me and simply stated that opinion, as you do in a forum. So yeah, if you read that post like that, then you read correctly. I just don't get the imputing tone and how was it funny? 

 

I mean, I get that Anime has a large following, I can also understand that some people like/love them, and that's cool by me. And to be honest, I could've put a little more effort into researching some "better" anime, but I just watched what I had at my disposal at the time, not to mention that I don't speak japanese and so I never bothered to download undubbed versions of some series, which are apparently million times better and so on. So maybe, I could've gotten into Anime if I would've watched different shows, but it's just not my cup of tea and so why don't you do what you've said at the beginning of your third sentence "I'm not saying that you need to like anime" and let me be, accept my opinion as I'm doing too? 

I can live very good with the thought that some people enjoy stuff I don't, but apparently some of you can't, which is sad because I've met a lot of people (a lot of my friends enjoy it as well) that are into anime and accept my opinion, but unfortunately most of these people can't, it almost seems like you guys are the narrow - minded here, but whatevs. 

 

Have fun watching your anime and kawaii stuff!

"million times better" the only people who say that are people who don't speak the language. If you don't speak japanese you can't tell the difference between a bad voice and a good voice, all they're looking for is the pitch and the subtitle, which 50% of the time the subs are wrong or misinterpreted anyway, and ruin the show overall.

[LAwLz]

crunchyroll and funimation have almost all of the shows that are airing in japan.

That's far from true, and they often butcher their releases with bad subs and/or annoying censoring.

I tried watching Date A Live 2 on Funimation but the bright yellow subs and the fact that it looked like it was recorded on a potato made it unwatchable.

 

Crunchyroll is pretty good when it comes to simulcast, but they still lack quite a few shows (including but not limited to Jinsei which I watch).