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American Anime Localization Company Tries Torrents
zalas writes "AnimeOnDVD reports that David Williams of ADV Films is testing out using BitTorrent as a distribution method. Currently, he has a promotional video of Madlax, one of their titles, up for download via a torrent and has "much larger plans in mind." He is looking for feedback regarding this and can be left on the AnimeOnDVD Forums. ADV Films licenses Japanese animation from Japanese studios for distribution in North America and the UK."
for distribution in North America and the UK.,
I am left wondering how they are going to police people from other countries downloading these shows illegally?
Orationem pulchram non habens, scribo ista linea in lingua Latina
I'm not quite sure what this change plans to achieve. One of the main reasons those who already bittorrent anime buy dvd's is to obtain the physical product, the box art, and to actually own the finished article. Changing the distribution model of for-sale US R1 anime towards bittorrent is surely just going to bring the product into direct comparison with its percieved 'competition', the fansubs that precede the release dates by months and can often have far higher quality/authentic translation. The portion of the anime audience with the technical know-how to operate bittorrent are probably already taking advantage of the great efforts of fansubbers, and those who may be introduced to bittorrent through ADV in some way will surely go on to find these resources.
Business Voyeur
Distribution? I believe the word you're looking for is 'butchering'.
Butchering? You're looking for 4Kids. ADV hasn't butchered anything in YEARS, and they've never once done anything like what 4Kids has done.
Feel free to mod me into oblivion, it felt good and was worth it.
Seems more like a waste, and a lashing out in ignorance...
Some of us consider using horrible voice actors as "butchering".
Ah, well then ADV certainly doesn't "butcher." All of their DVD's feature some of the top voice talent in all of Japan!
Oh... you are probably listening to the English dubs... You poor, misguided bastard. You really should know better by now.
(And don't give me that shit about the Bandai dubs like "Cowboy Bebop" being any better. Sure most of the English cast, apart from Wendee Lee, is relatively capable, but they are talking over what were vastly superior performances. Subtitles are the only way to go, short of actually learning the language.)
Information wants to be anthropomorphized.
For everyone that wants companies to understand BitTorrent, now's your chance to vote with your Net connection (and indirectly, your wallet). I'm probably the furthest thing from an anime fan (don't hate it; just don't like it), but I'm downloading and seeding this file just to show my support of the technology.
If this trial of BitTorrent goes well for this particular company, then that's one more "good" use of torrents we can use to fight the people who want to shut it down because of its possible "bad" uses.
I encourage all BitTorrent supporters to encourage AnimeOnDVD's test of new technology and new delivery models with me.
YOU should really know better.
:)
subtitles just plain suck.
and listening to a language that i don't understand simply makes no sense to me to do if i can help it.
i'd rather not read a movie but instead concentrate on what's going on. only elitist "otaco"s would say otherwise. (yes it is intentional, as a way of disparaging your views
if you can read and write japanese, good for you.
most of the world can't.
Science : Proprietary , Knowledge : Open Source
A little disappointed this is just a promo. I would honestly pay for an anime download service if the prices were reasonable (read: comparable to my local rental place). The attraction of online anime to my mind isn't the illegal free-ness, it's convenience and a greater selection.
Irritable, left-wing and possibly humorous bumper stickers and t-shirts
Okay if this were .hack or Tsubasa Chronicle, the whole always-the-same thing would be applicable. It is indeed a flaw that Kajiura needs to address. But there's no way in hell you can say that about Kajiura's work in Noir. There are so many incredible tracks that are completely unexpected from her, so much so that I regard Noir as her best work, if not one of the best soundtracks of any anime.
Tracks like "Salva Nos" and "Liar You Lie" are pretty much vintage Yuki, but the piano tracks such as "Solitude by the Window" and "Kirei na Kanjou Piano Version" are beautiful in their simplicity and their originality. Add to that tracks like "Colloseum" and "Le Grande Retour" where she just pulls out something *completely* original... I just fail to see how you or anyone could see Noir's music as bland. If nothing else, there's no denying how varied it is.
Not to knock ADV, but who exactly is going to care about this? The majority of the piracy that goes on in the anime community is fueled by the distaste for the piss poor translations and bastardization of the fans' favorite series. Great example is Detective Conan... was renamed to Case Files and a LOT of people went into a flying rage. The addition of Karaoke couldn't hurt either.
The way I see it the only market they MIGHT reclaim is from those that solely illegally DL DVD "rips".
It's the same old song and dance... the companies refuse to realize that if you treat your customers with respect and give them what they want you will make money, not offer them torrents. Fans don't DL torrents, because it's convienent... it's hell keeping up with the pacing... they just hate the crap the companies are trying to shovel their way.
A lot of anime/manga pirates do it for reasons other than getting it for free.
Off the top of my head, without even thinking:
Ghost in the Shell, Cowboy Bebop, Evangelion, Hellsing, Wolf's Rain, Crest of the Stars, Serial Experiments Lain
GitS has various exploding body parts. Bebop has drugs taken through eyeballs. Eva has blood and guts flying everywhere. Wolf has massive animal cruelty. CotS has people getting sucked into space. Lain has multiple suicides. All of the above are classics with cuteness levels that never even approach "crazy"
In fact, I'd be willing to say that there are more serious animes than "crazy cutesy" ones. Of course, that would depend on what one considers to be too much cute.
This is interesting, though there are some companies who are even further out of touch, such as "Pioneer Entertainment" who distribute the great series "Last Exile". Most DVDs generally top out at the $30 CAD price mark here, yet the "Last Exile" DVDs are tagged at $45 CAD, which just sounds like price gouging.
Jumpstart the tartan drive.
Now if only they would:
Do decent translations.
(All titles except Abenobashi)
Stop recording horrific dubbed audio, and find people who can ACT.
(Most titles, with the notable exception of Abenobashi)
Stop releasing faulty DVDs.
(RahXephon the movie, and others)
Stop manipulating other people's works in ways that should fall outside of their licensing rights.
(Evangelion DVDs 1&2, subsequently un-done and released without manipulations. RahXephon DVD 1, never fixed, told we were SOL. And god knows what others.)
So much being so 'open-minded'. I'm willing to bet this 'trailer' of theirs is DUBBED. Great way to advertise something, expose people to it in its most hideous form first.
Friend: "The NIC is misconfigured..." Me: "No prob, I'll just telnet in and fix it." *Silence*
Now I help to run an anime society, and we schedule subs there, and I mainly watch subs, but I see nothing wrong at alll with dubs. It's all about accessibility. Most dubs these days (Initial D aside) stay close to the source material and include casting on the good side of the scale. If it continues to be done with that in mind then anime will reach more people which is exactly what I try to promote on a daily basis (Albeit within a small Welsh university...which has the 4th largest anime society in Britain, go figure, we must get a bunch of weirdos at Aberystwyth). I take the opinion that if I want to watch an anime I pick the sub first, but if I want to watch it while eating, or when tired I put the dub on at home because dubs have been getting better and better for quite some time. The only people I know who still cling to the "All dubbing is bad" idea are the last remnants of the community who believe that anime needs to stay niche, and that a good old flamewar about it on a forum will help any anime community.
...at least from a non-US perspective, ADV's releases are really poor in terms of localisation and sometimes, even content. I can't believe they don't include chapter selection in their DVD menus, which is something really basic (note: I'm *not* talking about episode selection, but individual chapter selection) and it's even more sad since the chapters are there on the DVD, just not used.
Aside that, the presentation is somewhat lacking, and all. Other companies have been doing better efforts (cf. Bandai).
I don't think Bittorrent will help them improve their quality, I think it will just make matters worse (remember ADV Fansubs?).
A CC-licensed illustrated horror novel
Oh yeah it's soooo horrific. Because it's in English. Japanese is such a better language...
Perhaps I'm reading incorrectly, but as far as I can tell, his argument wasn't, "OMG, Japanese is teh superior language!" It appears to be that the people they generally get to do the English voice acting aren't too great. I can't say I've done an extensive survey of dubbed anime, but I'd agree that several I have watched aren't stellar, and the good ones have been the few. It certainly isn't impossible to produce good results; plenty of American animation/video games have good voice acting, and I have seen anime that has good dubbing. It just doesn't seem to be the norm.
The Japanese voice acting may be equally bad, but I can't tell, because I don't speak Japanese.
I've come for the woman, and your head.
I prefer subtitles 9 out of 10, because more often than not the acting (not the translation) is pretty bad. The experience is just as much how the words are spoken than the actual words. You need energy, emotion and inflection in the voice to get the full effect. Unless you have good voice actors instead of just voices and a good director overseeing the dub process, the characters become flat chatterboxes. (And for some reason they tend to find the most shrill voices for children... arg!)
=Smidge=