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Updating the Pirate Anime FAQ
Joe Curzon writes "Over two years ago, I created what is now probably the most comprehensive and detailed guide to spotting bootleg and counterfeit anime/manga related goods - The Pirate Anime FAQ. A special version of the FAQ has also been published at numerous Anime Conventions around the USA. However due to commitments in the "real world" I have not been able to update FAQ almost a year. :( I would like to iron out any creases and update the whole thing in one go, so I was wondering what improvements would the Otaku readers of /. recommend? The DVD section and Fansub section are in need of the most attention and I plan to deal with that soon, but I was also wondering if there were any subtle changes I could make to improve the FAQ as well?"
One of the things pointed out in the DVD section is that the logos of Anime Cartoon and Video Animation (Animation Video) look the same meaning they're the same company. That's kinda funny considering they actually are two different companes. Animation Video's logo looks like Anime Cartoon's because AC releases better quality sets and so they wanna be associated with that. PS - Another logo in that same section actually IS another name/logo for Anime Cartoon. And it doesn't look similar at all. Just goes to show that you can't recognize piracy with copying for even priates copy wachother. ;)
When I first got into Anime around 3 or 4 years ago (When I was 14 or 15) I found it really interesting that everyone who offered Anime up for download or Anime fansub groups would not promote distribution of licensed Anime, and that's still true today. (Though, it kind of sucks cause Anime is ussually licensed before the fansub group can even finish it) If you request or go around looking for licensed Anime, you won't really find it, or if you do it will be on a P2P network or some other non-fan supportive medium.
The entire FAQ is an interesting success story which shows that not everyone is out to pirate and rip off companies just becuase they can. If you have a good product which people like, it will accumulate a fanbase and they'll help create junior policies and "implied social contracts" against people that would harm your company. It's why I thought FOX made a huge mistake with their "cease and decist" letters against Simpsons fansites which caused many of the best Simpsons fansites to go off the web, all because they had some JPEG's of Bart or a 2 minute video clip of their favorite scene in an episode. Now everyone is realizing that fansites help companies earn more profit (because you have more explosure & a dedicated fanbase, among other things).
Not "house". The kanji taku when used in combination with other characters means house (takuhai, jitaku, etc.), but the word otaku is a formal pronoun meaning "you". That's how it came to have its current meaning - the group of people who came to be called otaku used it when talking to each other.
The interesting thing is that "pirates" or fansubbers are fully willing to perform equivalents of all those production tasks for free, and to a level of quality acceptable to many viewers.
The single most expensive part of creating a DVD for legal sale in America is the English dubbing- and many fans count that as a big negative. (They're a minority of total buyers, though)
Often the fan-produced versions have superior translation and disc layout compared to professional work. Most importantly, they can pack 15 good quality episodes on a DVD-R (Divx4 compression), where an official disc will never have more than 5. Much, much more convient in terms of physical storage space and disc-swapping during playback.
(And remember than DVD-R has less than 50% of the gigabytes of a mass-produced DVD).
I understand that for many of the smaller anime companies (AnimEigo, CPM, etc.) legal action is finscally difficult and logistically unfeasable to puruse, given the location of most 'bootleg' discs (southeast Asia) and the lax copyright infringement laws in place there.
Still, it would be nice to hear from as many representatives of the anime production community possible regarding what a fan concerned about the legality of his/her purchases should do, if anything, when they come across a website selling illegal material.
Along that same vein, perhaps it would be enlightening to find out if the animators, voice actors and musicians get any sort of royalties from sales, or if they are only paid under a one-shot deal contract. For example, musicians (London Philharmonic, I think) were paid a one-time fee for recording the Star Wars soundtrack. They receive nothing else from sales of soundtracks or movies. I'm not saying if that situation is good or bad, that's business.
However, either way, 'bootlegging' can and will affect the animators some way; either the animators won't make as much directly from residuals and/or the animation distributors and studios will have lower sales numbers, leading to less possibilities for new works to be created and licensed. This in turn can hurt fans; if sales aren't good for a series, there is less of a chance that the series spin-offs, extra episodes and related movies will be released.
Losers choose to abuse the use of "loose".