Comments on: Wait, the anime industry’s broken?

By: Korasoff

Korasoff — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 23:29:24 +0000

Translating the material isn’t an issue at all, believe me. For starters I work in translation, and from observing the fansubbing scene, I’m 100% sure a small team could sub the finished product before it even airs.

The reason it takes a year or more for us Westerners to be able to purchase subbed DVDs is because the Japanese studios license the rights to the shows to other companies (Bandai, ADV, etc.) who THEN perform the translation work, edit the show to fit Western sensibilities, and make the DVDs we end up buying.

A solid platform of online distribution would cut the middle man and allow us Western anime fans to get our milk straight from the teat, so to speak. Of course not everyone would want to discard the old ways — the demand for DVDs would increase, simply because the studios could give a wider audience a taste of anime for pennies — but it’d be a terrific, cost-effective new channel.

By: S.Q.

S.Q. — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 13:30:47 +0000

Their biggest problem isnt free fansubs, its them for being so slow to translate it. We dont want to watch it a year after it been released in Japan ofcourse!!!

When will they change .. such stupidity how can it continnue? I feel sorry for all their retailers who have to put up with this

By: Korasoff

Korasoff — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 00:18:19 +0000

TheBigN: I hate simplifying, but I’m afraid you’re right. The problem is that fansubs come with a cost of zero. Anime companies therefore have an uphill battle trying to convince viewers that they should pay for a product they’re currently getting for free, hence why it’s important to improve on the fansubbing product. Speed, reliability, and other incentives will go a long way towards making an online distribution medium attractive to the average customer.

By: TheBigN

TheBigN — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 11:50:36 +0000

It really is all about trying to produce the best “cost-benefit” ratio to both parties, and I think we might be in the process of trying to do that, with things like what GONZO has been doing. I just hope more input from the fans is taken to heart as well.

By: Korasoff

Korasoff — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 23:38:40 +0000

Hahaha, I was just committed to working in a Macross reference, no matter how obscure or strange it would seem. :)

And venerable in the sense of a sensei, of course! Not in the “old and decrepit” sense of the of the word. >.>

By: otou-san

otou-san — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 17:46:45 +0000

mmm… VF-DVD. But like the original valkyrie, it will require alien technology to make it work ;)

am I venerable?