"Japan to crack down on anime and manga piracy"

[creativename]

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

 

 

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

You can use a VPN to get over those boundaries. Well I read somewhere that Hulu is going to ban the VPN IP addresses so they can't watch US shows from the UK or something like that, those are stupid moves, getting rid of ways to watch legal content, theyre paying for the service, why stop them. The only things they need to put more effort into stopping is piracy.

[creativename]

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).

crunchyroll is smaller than funimation

 

and of course free streaming is going to be low quality, thats why you pay that cheap price of 8 dollars a month to get HD streaming. the censoring is straight from japan.... they get removed on blu-ray releases most of the time. Bad subs? Subs are bad in general, if you want to enjoy the content just learn the language, it only takes a year of effort. Subs are a terrible way to enjoy the shows, they ruin it so much.

[ShadowCaptain]

You can use a VPN to get over those boundaries. Well I read somewhere that Hulu is going to ban the VPN IP addresses so they can't watch US shows from the UK or something like that, those are stupid moves, getting rid of ways to watch legal content, theyre paying for the service, why stop them. The only things they need to put more effort into stopping is piracy.

Exactly I should not have to use a VPN to do these things, I am willing to pay for the service, bullshit red tape is all it is. I said it once and I will say it again, there are no oceans on the internet, but licencing and greedy companies force them so that there is a price to stream media across a virtual border

 

crunchyroll is smaller than funimation

 

and of course free streaming is going to be low quality, thats why you pay that cheap price of 8 dollars a month to get HD streaming. the censoring is straight from japan.... they get removed on blu-ray releases most of the time. Bad subs? Subs are bad in general, if you want to enjoy the content just learn the language, it only takes a year of effort. Subs are a terrible way to enjoy the shows, they ruin it so much.

 

Some shows are altered or censored by certain networks, perhaps to edit jokes, perhaps to remove adult content, maybe the subs are badly written or altered in some way, and the quality is not always great, even on paid services

 

It only takes a year of effort to learn Japanese fluently?, I find that pretty hard to believe and is quite a tall order for people who just want to watch a show

 

What next? Oh you want to watch that show, well go live in Japan

[LAwLz]

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.

Please tell me how I should support the industry if the anime and manga I watch/read is not licensed outside of Japan, and therefore not released. Trust me, some of the shows I watch won't come to Sweden (I am not in the US) and they probably won't even be released outside of Japan at all.

The only way they will know it is popular outside of Japan is because of piracy since that is the only way to get it. My way of supporting the industry is by pirating, spreading the word and buying licensed merchandise. I can't legally support something if the only way of acquiring it is through illegal means.

 

 

 

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!

The first part of my post was just a joke. I thought it was funny that you said "I tried it and didn't like it" and then only gave examples of stuff that isn't that good (like Justin Beiber or Rebecca Black).

If you gave it a try and didn't like it then fair enough. It's not for everyone. I wasn't trying to say "no you should like it!". I'm sorry if my post offended you, because that wasn't my intention.

 

 

 

"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.

You don't have to know the language to say a voice is good/bad. Some of them just sound awful.

Haganai

Madoka

K-ON!

 

 

 

You can use a VPN to get over those boundaries. Well I read somewhere that Hulu is going to ban the VPN IP addresses so they can't watch US shows from the UK or something like that, those are stupid moves, getting rid of ways to watch legal content, theyre paying for the service, why stop them. The only things they need to put more effort into stopping is piracy.

Using a VPN to bypass region restriction is not legal. Your solution to piracy is another illegal method? Doesn't sound like a good idea.

 

crunchyroll is smaller than funimation

 

and of course free streaming is going to be low quality, thats why you pay that cheap price of 8 dollars a month to get HD streaming. the censoring is straight from japan.... they get removed on blu-ray releases most of the time. Bad subs? Subs are bad in general, if you want to enjoy the content just learn the language, it only takes a year of effort. Subs are a terrible way to enjoy the shows, they ruin it so much.

Even the premium version of Funimation is terrible quality wise. Far worse than even Crunchroll (which is decent).

The censoring might be "straight from Japan", but it's still made for Crunchyroll. Some shows on Crunchyroll and other streaming sites are specially censored and edited for the site. If you compare some shows on Crunchroll vs the version that aired on for example AT-X you'd see that the Crunchroll version is butchered.

Subs are not always bad and even if you're elitistic and think "all subs are bad, no exception!" you still have to admit that some subs are better than others. It takes more than 1 year to reach that level of Japanese by the way (I should know... I started 9 months ago).

[That Norwegian Guy]

If they don't have the collective willpower for an initiative to gather all anime under ONE legitimate download distribution system, they do not have the right to whine.

 

Show the minimum effort required to fix your own shit, then complain. Piracy is a distribution problem.

[Dietrichw]

It's not as simple as it sounds. There's a lot of legal work, contracts, and licensing fees involved. Even if it makes it to one of those streaming platforms, it won't be on there forever, due to the licensing agreement/contract. They would only be able to stream it for a set time frame, whether that be a few months to a few years.

 

As a side note, Hulu and Amazon Instant Video have a very nice sized anime collection. The problem with Netflix is that their collection is too small (just throwing that out there). The problem with Hulu is that even if you pay for it, you still have to sit through ads. The problem with Amazon Instant Video is that there's no official Android app, but that isn't too big of a deal, but still a deal breaker for me. Whenever Amazon makes an Instant Video app for Android, then I will immediately switch over to that (from Netflix). Plus I would get all of those lovely Amazon Prime goodies.

I have been loving my Crunchyroll subscription.

I have guest access codes that I can give away if you want to try

[Homicidium]

The first part of my post was just a joke. I thought it was funny that you said "I tried it and didn't like it" and then only gave examples of stuff that isn't that good (like Justin Beiber or Rebecca Black).

If you gave it a try and didn't like it then fair enough. It's not for everyone. I wasn't trying to say "no you should like it!". I'm sorry if my post offended you, because that wasn't my intention.

 

We cool.

[creativename]

Please tell me how I should support the industry if the anime and manga I watch/read is not licensed outside of Japan, and therefore not released. Trust me, some of the shows I watch won't come to Sweden (I am not in the US) and they probably won't even be released outside of Japan at all.

The only way they will know it is popular outside of Japan is because of piracy since that is the only way to get it. My way of supporting the industry is by pirating, spreading the word and buying licensed merchandise. I can't legally support something if the only way of acquiring it is through illegal means.

 

Using a VPN to bypass region restriction is not legal. Your solution to piracy is another illegal method? Doesn't sound like a good idea.

 

You can always buy the blu-ray/dvd, and even if my method is illegal, atleast its supporting the show, not stealing it.

[creativename]

Exactly I should not have to use a VPN to do these things, I am willing to pay for the service, bullshit red tape is all it is. I said it once and I will say it again, there are no oceans on the internet, but licencing and greedy companies force them so that there is a price to stream media across a virtual border

 

 

Some shows are altered or censored by certain networks, perhaps to edit jokes, perhaps to remove adult content, maybe the subs are badly written or altered in some way, and the quality is not always great, even on paid services

 

It only takes a year of effort to learn Japanese fluently?, I find that pretty hard to believe and is quite a tall order for people who just want to watch a show

 

What next? Oh you want to watch that show, well go live in Japan

No, if its not available in your area by legal means, don't watch it.

[Misanthrope]

I love it how people keep saying "Is not that simple" after being offered extremely valid arguments why they need to have better distribution and availability. Actually it is that simple, to quote Gaben:

 

"We think there is a fundamental misconception about piracy. Piracy is almost always a service problem and not a pricing problem," he said. "If a pirate offers a product anywhere in the world, 24 x 7, purchasable from the convenience of your personal computer, and the legal provider says the product is region-locked, will come to your country 3 months after the US release, and can only be purchased at a brick and mortar store, then the pirate's service is more valuable"

It needs to be said so often I'm actually gonna make this my signature.

[Trik'Stari]

[ShadowCaptain]

No, if its not available in your area by legal means, don't watch it.

 

In an ideal world, but not again not many anime shows make it do dvd/blue ray that you can buy outside of japan

[algoat]

I'm not sure how many on this thread actually read the article, but it says:

 

 

...a new site will direct fans to legal copies of the 250 affected works at a flat price of a few hundred yen.

“We want to create a project so that anime fans overseas can enjoy Japanese content legally and without infringement worries while the profits are paid to anime production companies and publishers,” a Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry spokesman said.

It seems highly unlikely that overseas sites will comply fully with the requests of the Japanese. However, by attempting to serve the overseas markets with legal content it will at least make it easier for foreigners to open their wallets, should they feel inclined to do so.

 

So they are actually trying to fix the distribution problem.  I don't see anything wrong with this.

[Fred Castellum]

I highly doubt they'll effect any foreign websites. Being part of a scanlation group for manga(and sometimes light novels) I can say manga fan translations are most likely not going to be effected at all. We buy the raws and then translate them for the most part. Were not going to be targeted unless we have licensed content, which we avoid. 

 

 

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.

Dang bud, you watched "introduction to fan service" and "classic shounen anime". You should try some of the other series. 

Maybe "Hyouka"? 

 

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

They have quite a few but definitely not all. 

 

If they don't have the collective willpower for an initiative to gather all anime under ONE legitimate download distribution system, they do not have the right to whine.

 

Show the minimum effort required to fix your own shit, then complain. Piracy is a distribution problem.

It's all about the money unfortunately. Btw I swear I've seen your profile picture somewhere before.... it looks hilarious... 

 

-snip-

No! Then we won't have any animation companies left!

[Misanthrope]

I'm not sure how many on this thread actually read the article, but it says:

 

 

So they are actually trying to fix the distribution problem.  I don't see anything wrong with this.

 

This companies are so lazy they will redirect you straight into a motherfucking "Sorry, this content is not available in your country" website. Seriously they're allergic to fucking money it seems, they can't get it into their heads that direct sales and streaming service can net them a lot more money than dying cable companies who still demand their stupid fucking exclusivity deals for all content, hence the reason we still have the bullshit we call region locks and now this.

[kuddlesworth9419]

This isn't very good. If it was easier to watch anime legally I think we would all do it but it's not easy it's actually really hard to watch whatever anime you want at a really high quality. That is why pirating exists in the first place it's a matter of convenience. I love anime by the way it's probably as big as gaming and pc hardware if not more so.

[Trik'Stari]

 

[That Norwegian Guy]

It's all about the money unfortunately. Btw I swear I've seen your profile picture somewhere before.... it looks hilarious... 

 

It's Kamazuki Suzuno from Hataraku Maou-Sama. I was about to get bored and drop the show when she showed up and made things interesting again, so she became sort of a quasi-favourite because of that.

[Jasmin]

This is one of the few cases where I hope piracy prevails until we get a reasonable 2nd option. Sorry Japan, but you have a long history of being total pricks when it comes to this - removing any fan work, whatever rights you find to this, with offering no 'legal' alternative. Games, shows, hardware. All the bloody same.

 

I hope they won't get around to it. With the current situation I think it will do them more harm then good... With as little presence as they have in non-asian markets, they will basically remove any chance those shows would gain popularity outside their normal release region. I know a lot of people who are willing to buy favorite-anime themed official tat and I don't think they would if they haven't seen it

 

I live in Poland, unfortunately. I can't buy anime. Period. Even if there wouldn't be region locking, I won't even ship from amazon. There is some manga around, but mostly it's translated to polish so i couldn't care less about it. Services like Hulu or Netflix are still not available around, and while I could go around this with a VPN (as far as Netflix is concerned) I doubt this loophole will exist for much longer and I seriously doubt any anime released on netflix would have original sound with english subs - usa has this wierd tendency of dubbing the hell out of anime. I suppose it's easier for average mcdonalds joe who somehow aquired taste for anime.

[Derangel]

It's all about the money unfortunately. Btw I swear I've seen your profile picture somewhere before.... it looks hilarious... 

 

I wouldn't say it's entirely about money. The anime industry, like many many industries, is still stuck in the old routine of doing things. The distribution model for media has not radically changed since NTSC and PAL were created. It's slowly adapting but until region locking and regional distribution is dropped we will have these problems. A company like Funimation, for example, should be able to buy the rights to dub an anime and put it out however they wish as long as the license owner gets their cut. They should also have the right to sell that dub in whatever country they wish, as long as they're following the import laws of that country (which is a whole different argument on it's own). If another company comes along and wants to make a different language dub of that anime then it should be a simple matter of getting permission from the license owner. Regions should not matter in the digital age but everyone is playing catch up still and quite frankly I think they're afraid of change.

 

This companies are so lazy they will redirect you straight into a motherfucking "Sorry, this content is not available in your country" website. Seriously they're allergic to fucking money it seems, they can't get it into their heads that direct sales and streaming service can net them a lot more money than dying cable companies who still demand their stupid fucking exclusivity deals for all content, hence the reason we still have the bullshit we call region locks and now this.

 

It will likely only effect Japan based sites and will be targeted at Japanese people. The whole anime piracy thing is weird. As a rule I'm not a huge fan of piracy but fansubs and fandubs have helped some anime be massively popular. The whole reason the Naruto anime got it's start in the US was due to the fansub community and the 100s of thousands of people that would watch it weekly. It showed Viz that there is this huge market for it and got it licensed. Same with Bleach actually.

[Fred Castellum]

It's Kamazuki Suzuno from Hataraku Maou-Sama. I was about to get bored and drop the show when she showed up and made things interesting again, so she became sort of a quasi-favourite because of that.

I KNEW IT I KNEW IT I KNEW IT. 

 

That series is hilarious

 

 

I wouldn't say it's entirely about money. The anime industry, like many many industries, is still stuck in the old routine of doing things. The distribution model for media has not radically changed since NTSC and PAL were created. It's slowly adapting but until region locking and regional distribution is dropped we will have these problems. A company like Funimation, for example, should be able to buy the rights to dub an anime and put it out however they wish as long as the license owner gets their cut. They should also have the right to sell that dub in whatever country they wish, as long as they're following the import laws of that country (which is a whole different argument on it's own). If another company comes along and wants to make a different language dub of that anime then it should be a simple matter of getting permission from the license owner. Regions should not matter in the digital age but everyone is playing catch up still and quite frankly I think they're afraid of change.

Well it technically is about money but their mindset for their business is skewed toward the older business strategies of the past. Digital distribution is a game changer and they haven't been catching on to that as well as other companies. 

[Legion]

If western governments can't shut down Western sites what makes you think Eastern Governments will be able to shut them down.

 

This will most likely effect Japan where I'm going to take a wild guess he and say you have legal alternatives.

[EChondo]

Well I already have local copies of One Piece, so I'm set for a while. All this would be doing is making anime less accessible to people outside Japan(in a way). We'll probably still have access to the more popular anime, but the smaller ones, we might not see them at all.

 

I guess we'll have to wait and see what happens and adapt.

[Trik'Stari]

Something I don't get,

 

What the fuck is up with companies not having their services in specific countries (as someone said earlier) like Poland?

 

If you owned a company, specifically an internet company, wouldn't you want to reach as many people as possible?

 

I mean, is it just me, or are the people currently running the world complete and total fucking retards?

 

Quit with the bullshit, let us spend our money how we want, on what we want.

[Poohy14]

my first anime I was going to buy was Naruto but I looked into all the seasons and it was going to cost about $1800 for them and I am not paying that much for one tv show.