Slashdot Mirror
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."
Madlax is actually pretty good; very Noir-ish, but slightly more lighthearted (but not much).
-- My Sig is a P228.
While I'm not a big Anime fan (tastes are limited to the overly popular Akira and Ghost in the Shell), I wish more media companies would have more open thinking like Mr. Williams and ADV. Instead of vilifying the technology, use it to your advantage. If there is an enemy to the media companies, it isn't the method, but the users, the method can benefit anyone willing to use the technology, including the media companies. So I applaud this move, and I hope it works extremely well for them, so maybe those who want to defend bittorrent have a good arguement in their favor and if they still decide to shut it down; don't worry, something better is waiting in the wings for sure.
"Plans are for fools! Oglethorpe, the plutonian (Aqua Teen Hunger Force)
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
But Capitalizing Every Word In That Headline Really Seemed To Stand Out More Than Usual.
...what. ADV + torrent? Sorry, you just broke my brain.
http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/anime .php?id=3714
not id=1429
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". Not only are the voice actors horrible, there is only a small pool of voice actors that they select from. So the same person who ruined Character X from Series X has gone on to ruin Character Y from Series Y. I haven't gone to an anime convention in two years because I'd probably end up in jail for assaulting anyone who is there to represent the american dubbing companies (I like to think of them all as slaughter houses). Anime and manga from Japan are art. The types of voices that the producer and director select are part of the package. They are part of the vision. What these American dubbing companies do is the equivalent of walking into an art gallery with a sledge hammer and a box cutter. Art galleries have security guards. Who will protect anime from these vandals?
In spite of not having the script, many fansub groups do a superior job of translating as compared with "professional" translation.
One of the major benefits of fansubs is the cultural and translation notes that are becoming more common with digisubbing (assuming a competent sub group).
Part of the problem with DVD distribution is that the technology doesn't really support these notes. ADV has pushed the the DVD spec as far as it can with its "AD-Vid notes" (found on the "Excel Saga" DVDs). I preferred the capsule option that came on the "Akira" DVD, because you could pause for a sec to read a translation of the grafitti or ignore the capsule icon and keep watching the movie.
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.
You know, it's kind of like saying "I hate books." Well, which sort of book do you hate? It's so general.
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.
The company has laid off over 75% of their staff in the last year. A friend of mine was part of the last round of layoffs.
The company is desperate to try anything to stay in business.
I'll tell you this.
This past weekend was AnimeFriends (www.animefriends.com.br) in Brazil, the country's largest yearly anime 'congress'. As usual, you have a huge amount of people doing cosplay. This year, a MAJOR part of the cosplaying people was inspired on Naruto.. I'd say, I don't know, around 1/3rd of the cosplayers were based on the series. Not counting the huge number of people with Naruto headbands that can be bought online on a local brazilian ecommerce site, I saw a lot of Narutos, all flavors of Sasukes, several different Rock Lees (even the "young" one), all Kakashis had their own "Gentleman series" booklet (I've forgot the name, sorry), there was a pic someone took that had three Kibas, women impersonating Oroshimaru... and so on and so forth.
But the thing is, Naruto isn't even broadcasted on TV here. It isn't even broadcasted outside of japan for that matter. It's all because of the torrent distribution and the people that buys it on dvd/vcd from other local shops (few, I think). Because the official, bureaucratic series version takes years to reach those countries (apparently we'll get Naruto on the end of this year, when we'll also get the local version of cartoon network's Adult Swim - yay!), people take matters in their own hands and end up getting used to it. Torrent is part of the anime culture now.
I also saw a lot of people from real obscure animes I barely know the name.
Torrent... I don't know *how* anime companies can profit from it.. I personally doubt they can. But that the format has some huge potential for distribution is undeniable.. even here, where broadband isn't so widespread, people are used to going online every thursday to get their weekly Naruto fix via torrent.
If they were in high quality xvid mkv with soft subs and dual audio, I would pay say $4 per episode, or a pack of 6 for $20.
Maybe even allow you to earn credit by seeding a ton, to encourage the BT usage...
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
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.
only elitist "otaco"s would say otherwise.
Sounds like something you'd get at a Mexican restaurant in Ireland. Perhaps you meant otaku?
Torrents are already used massively to distribute anime.
Do you mean Commander Otaco? Or his Irish counterpart, Commander O'Taco? Or the honorable octopus O-Tako? I'm confused here...
Knowledge is power. Knowledge shared is power multiplied.
4Kids actually has begun to release Yu-Gi-Oh uncut as well, after much complaints from the fans who hate how much of the story was butchered. Unfortunately, these are incredibly hard to find...
Making one seriously doubt whether it's worth to complain over butchered series when you can't get the uncuts even if they're available.
"Your effort to remain what you are is what limits you."
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.
What the hell? I accuse them of butchery and suddenly I'm a dub-watcher?
I'd still rather eat glass than watch dubbed anime, but what's wrong with the concept that they SHOULD be able to do a decent dub? I mean, I AM paying for it afterall. By buying a crappy, low-bitrate American anime DVD, I AM PAYING FOR IT. And on top of that, 99% of the time anime is on TV in the US, it'll be dubbed. So, don't you think it's in their vested interest to produce something that doesn't suck, so people aren't immediately turned off?
But that's all beside the point; if you think the 'butchering' I'm referring to has something to do with the dubs though, you obviously don't know enough Japanese to know that the subtitle translation is inaccurate, at best, let alone watch it WITHOUT them.
If Japanese DVDs didn't cost twice as much for half as many episodes, I wouldn't have any R1 DVDs in my collection. Since the lack of subs wouldn't be a deal-breaker; the R1s are so bad as it is I usually don't want to watch them with my (non-anime-loving) friends.
Something worth noting: A good Japanese anime DVD with 2 episodes on it, uses more of the DVD's space than a US DVD with 4-5 episodes and English audio.
Would you say compromising the visual quality of the DVDs falls under the heading of 'butchery'? I would.
Would you say that cluttering the disc with crappy dubs no one listens to, and subtitles that sometimes come within a mile or two of an 'accurate translation' maybe, kinda sorta, falls under the heading of 'butchery', or at the very least 'bullshit'? Meh.
Would you say that doing bad things to the original content for no good reason falls under the heading of 'butchery'? I certainly would. Want proof? Rent RahXephon, DVD 1. Watch the first couple minutes of episode 1 and explain to me why they needed to do that.
And what about releasing DVDs that are quite simply...SCREWED? I especially loved the RahXephon movie. They made sure the English audio was perfect...but the Japanese...well, they didn't seem to notice that for half the movie, all the audio was coming from one side. Oops. Atleast they RECALLED that one, no such luck with what they did to the TV series' first DVD.
4kids is another story, their butchery is so far beyond the scope of the normal order of things that it defies a proper definition...
Tokyopop wouldn't be far off, if they hadn't included the ORIGINAL Initial D on the DVDs with their Americanized craptastrophe. (I actually own those, 10 DVDs and counting, even my father loves Initial D...the fact that he drives like Bunta is probably responsible for me never getting behind the wheel of anything not being rendered by a game engine.)
One last thing, when ADV's Abenobashi Mahou Shoutengai DVDs came out, I reviewed them sub, dub and all. I thought they'd turned over a new leaf; the dub was actually GOOD (for a dub, anyway), and the subtitles were fairly ACCURATE...they even included these popup bubbles that explained things to the uninitiated, so they didn't have to dumb down the subs! As time passed, I started to suspect that the series was either an isolated incident, or it was outsourced to people who knew what they're doing.
Funimation's work on Fruits Basket isn't bad either...which is surprising, as Funimation is...bad. They have two subtitle tracks, a sort of dumbed down set of English subs, and another that includes name suffixes, and were generally pretty neat.
It'd be nice if more companies followed those two examples. (For one, I really hate it when they drop name suffixes, or God forbid, actually try to 'translate' them. Pioneer's 'x-chan = little x', anyone? The choice and use of particular suffixes is a very important clue to how characters relate to eachother... And the optional pop-up subpicture track would eliminate the need to overexplain typical Japanese stuff, by including notes for people who don't understand Japanese culture. Even fansub groups include notes. Why the hell don't t
Friend: "The NIC is misconfigured..." Me: "No prob, I'll just telnet in and fix it." *Silence*
in what way is japanese voice acting superior?
They spend more effort on it, I guess. I'm hardly a serious critic, but when I hear a squeaky Goku, or Minmay's singing, it's bad. Overacting abounds. The problem does tend to be less with the newer/more popular animes.
for me, i would have to have a far more enormous understanding of japanese culture and people and language to make such a distinction.
It helps if you understand the language of course. My knowledge of japanese is hardly encylopedic, so I often need the subtitles anyways. Then again, I often tend to turn on subtitles for english flicks as well. As for having a Phd, Anime is hardly Shakespeare, and many of the 'in-jokes' remain, even after dubbing. Remember, many titles are 'light' entertainment.
Oh, and I can read at 9600 baud, so reading the subtitles isn't a big deal to me.
Even so, I think I'd prefer dub, as long as the voice-acting is up to at least television standards. It's just that many of my early experiences were so bad that I tend to think of the subtitled version as the 'safe' one.
I don't read AC A human right
...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
Let's not forget why they are desperate to try anything... They went on a rampage attacking websites through their ISP with out first talking to webmasters, it created more bad blood then anything else, and people have boycotted their dvds (I know I have) I bite my toungue when I buy their manga even..
They didn't want people to learn about their anime like that, so people couldn't learn about the anime they owned, watching dubs on tv wasn't helpful for that, and so people just decided most of it wasn't worth their time to buy blind.
I don't think they are embrassing BT, they are just trying to get the online community to believe they arn't so bad, too bad some of us remember how their gestopo tactics were and still can't support them.
Hmmm. I'm going out of business because people are downloading stuff off the Internet without paying.
What can I do? Let's see... Teach more people how to download copyrighted stuff off the Internet! That's it!
It could work.