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No more Anime and Manga piracy?


Nosebleed

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I think one of the things I find troublesome is that while I would love to purchase anime legitimately, blu-ray price tags are outrageous no matter what country I purchase them from. I have no interest in paying 60-70 dollars for 3 episodes, let alone 3 episodes which are 23 minutes long at most. Yikes.

 

Actually the only reason why I pirate anime.

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This topic has been a bit of circle jerk for obvious reasons, but I'm not entirely sure why everyone thinks that this will have no effect. 

 

One of the major causes of piracy is lack of a legal method to obtain the material in question.

 

Another major cause is that the price tag is some obnoxious amount. 

 

If the Japanese government is going to be providing legal methods to obtain such material, and going to make it actually affordable, then this IS going to affect piracy.

 

I'm not saying that is going to "stop" piracy or anything like that, but I would be very surprised if it won't at least curb the growth, if not outright eliminate some piracy sites.  

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This topic has been a bit of circle jerk for obvious reasons, but I'm not entirely sure why everyone thinks that this will have no effect. 

 

One of the major causes of piracy is lack of a legal method to obtain the material in question.

 

Another major cause is that the price tag is some obnoxious amount. 

 

If the Japanese government is going to be providing legal methods to obtain such material, and going to make it actually affordable, then this IS going to affect piracy.

 

I'm not saying that is going to "stop" piracy or anything like that, but I would be very surprised if it won't at least curb the growth, if not outright eliminate some piracy sites.  

 

Well you said the reason why none of us think piracy is going to change. The Japanese government isn't going to provide such content and material for an all around affordable price. I'm sure if we had some notion of their plan other than "Search for pirate sites, take them down, sell our content cheaper," then people would have a better understanding and might actually become worried. Like other people have also mentioned, poor captioning, region lock and subs also affect piracy. The Japanese should first work out these problems rather than going on a pirate hunt. That would be a greater use of their time and money. In short this is nothing more then another short-sighted government plan to reduce piracy, and make profit off of it by forming a new method of sales, to most of us, that's why none of us are concerned so far until we learn new details.

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My problem is mostly release dates. Again regarding manga which is my biggest concern here.

 

Official localised manga is scarce to begin with. Not to mention localised works get dropped too (has happened before).

On top of being scarce it always comes out months later than in Japan whereas scanlation sites for current series (popular ones) try to release the most recent works 1 or 2 days after it's been published in Japan. This is what I like the most about scanlation, the fact that I can be almost on par with the oroginal release dates.

 

And you know I perfectly understand that it takes time for official releases to come out. I understand they polish the work a lot and i'm even sure the quality is somewhat superior and they have other stuff to do on top of that. Never did I deny this.

 

But I just don't feel satisfied as a consumer to be forced to wait when stuff's already come out on the other side of the globe and I'm forced to rely on a distributor that'll take months to give me the product I so desire.

 

It's just like when I watch american TV series that legally air here, except they're 2 or 3 seasons behind from the country of origin so I resort to the interent to catch up on it.

 

Anime doesn't fit in this category so much as a lot, if not most, anime are being made available through legal channels already and even some fansubbers already don't sub stuff that's being published by sites like Crunchy and that's perfectly reasonable, there's still the issue of Crunchyroll quality, but at the very least it's usually not too far appart from the original release date.

 

That's really one of my major problems with this solution.

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July update with few pictures of what I purchased this month -- http://imgbox.com/g/DRewXqGbdF (gallery)

Everything not there is tucked away in the closets or cabinets or it is sitting behind my chair (not showing in the pictures above).

So if I'm not exposed to the fan translated stuff ... I guess I won't need to purchase what I like. Getting things "legally" from the Japanese government - bullshit. I'll say it again. Bull Shit.

I'd like to see them trying to take down Nyaa. -grabs popcorn- The show starts today (it's August 1 in Japan right now).

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One thing that really pops out in that powerpoint are a lot of american flags.

 

This makes this whole operation kind of hypocritical because it's clear they're not really trying to make it available for everyone, just the english speaking countries (or just america it seems)

The rest of the world are probably just some random Gaijin to them and they could care less. They figured out america is a big country so it could earn them some more extra revenue.

 

Because they're not suffering from terrible loss, I hate the term loss they used, it's not a loss because they didn't earn it and then lose it, it's potential sales, because the anime industry is earning them money, they're just trying to suck even more money out of it. Because the people who have to rely on fansubs/scanlations probably don't even have the chance to buy their product even if they wanted to, that's the sad reality of things.

 

You know the other day I wanted to buy a limited edition DVD set of Love Live which is one of my all time favorite series.

And guess what I got? We're sorry, it's not available in your region. Well f*ck what am I supposed to do?

And I can't even import it because the DVD itself literally does not work in my region. I'd have to resort to buying the original Japense DVD that i can't enjoy because i'm not fluent in the language.

 

And this does not end with goods. I'm not allowed to watch a ton of my favorite series on streaming sites like Crunchy simply because of where I live.

Crunchy even makes these big announcements on how the rest of Europe (UK excluded) is not going to be available for a certain series sometimes.

 

That's why I am either forced to pirate stuff or spend obnoxious amounts of money I do not have just to import some things since most things are not even available at all.

 

All this fansubbing and scanlation aren't just for america, they're for the whole world. That's why I appreciate them and that's why I use them, because it is literally my only option unless I buy the actual Japanese product that I'm not able to enjoy since i'm not fluent in the language.

Taking down fansites and then focusing your supply destribution to english speaking countries only is incredibly hypocritical to say the least.

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One thing that really pops out in that powerpoint are a lot of american flags.

 

This makes this whole operation kind of hypocritical because it's clear they're not really trying to make it available for everyone, just the english speaking countries (or just america it seems)

The rest of the world are probably just some random Gaijin to them and they could care less. They figured out america is a big country so it could earn them some more extra revenue.

 

Because they're not suffering from terrible loss, I hate the term loss they used, it's not a loss because they didn't earn it and then lose it, it's potential sales, because the anime industry is earning them money, they're just trying to suck even more money out of it. Because the people who have to rely on fansubs/scanlations probably don't even have the chance to buy their product even if they wanted to, that's the sad reality of things.

 

You know the other day I wanted to buy a limited edition DVD set of Love Live which is one of my all time favorite series.

And guess what I got? We're sorry, it's not available in your region. Well f*ck what am I supposed to do?

And I can't even import it because the DVD itself literally does not work in my region. I'd have to resort to buying the original Japense DVD that i can't enjoy because i'm not fluent in the language.

 

And this does not end with goods. I'm not allowed to watch a ton of my favorite series on streaming sites like Crunchy simply because of where I live.

Crunchy even makes these big announcements on how the rest of Europe (UK excluded) is not going to be available for a certain series sometimes.

 

That's why I am either forced to pirate stuff or spend obnoxious amounts of money I do not have just to import some things since most things are not even available at all.

 

All this fansubbing and scanlation aren't just for america, they're for the whole world. That's why I appreciate them and that's why I use them, because it is literally my only option unless I buy the actual Japanese product that I'm not able to enjoy since i'm not fluent in the language.

Taking down fansites and then focusing your supply destribution to english speaking countries only is incredibly hypocritical to say the least.

Yeah I freaking hate it when they do that. I go to CD/Japan to buy my stuff there if they don't ship it from Amazon.co.jp.

It's the 31st still, it won't be August 1st in japan for another 15 hours

Oh yeah ... my bad! Haha.
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i pirate not by choice but because of my situation. im on a extremely small fixed income due to disability and have a son so all my spare money goes to providing as much extra's for him as i can. i cant afford to buy box sets of a series particularly blind buy them and then only ever watch it once before moving on. same goes for games and other forms of entertainment my entire entertainment budget goes to my isp for high-speed broadband. otherwise all money goes to educational toys and books for my son. if i wanna continue with enjoying the media i love piracy is my major option. i do use legal streaming when available, and have bought manga and anime and character goods before but between lack of availability (no shops in the rural area im in  so id have to order online and that means higher prices and shipping costs) and outrageous markups im kinda stuck also not all of them are available officially localized.

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A great, whopping exaggeration. I regularly read fansubbed manga and I count myself lucky if it's actually readable. Very few of the groups know how to write well in english, and regarding translation accuracy ... http://8ths.in/fall-2013-fansub-comparison-reviews/

 

My reference is directed towards anime subtitles. The fan translation scene for anime is larger than manga and thus you're more likely to run into groups who produce high quality work. Manga scanlations have always been a minefield when it comes to quality and consistency as the task of translation bounces from group to group and some groups translate from Chinese raws.

 

Buying anime direct from Japan carries a much heftier price tag than the U.S. release. The Sakurasou blu-rays from Japan have 3 episodes per disc and each disc runs about $85, while the U.S. is ~$60 for half the series. There is a difference in quality between the releases, but for most folks, it should not be discernable. But if you're buying the direct import, you should have more of a collector's mentality anyway, especially those massive price tags on the box sets (The only box set I will likely splurge on is the Miyazaki one if they ever put tthat together).

 

Even with my income, I don't think I could digest spending $500-$600 for a 24-26 episode series that is only available in Japan.

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I think there's a misconception going on.

 

They're not taking down sites. At least not from what i've been reading.

They're taking down the content that they don't want uploaded from the sites. Not ALL content even, just the 580 works from the anime/manga publishers they partnered with.

 

This is more like a shady council formed by a group of anime/manga publishers that want to monopolize all their works.

 

Kind of like what happened recently between Wani Magazine and Exhentai, but that's another subject.

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My reference is directed towards anime subtitles. The fan translation scene for anime is larger than manga and thus you're more likely to run into groups who produce high quality work. Manga scanlations have always been a minefield when it comes to quality and consistency as the task of translation bounces from group to group to group.

Yeah I also agree with this. Anime subtitles are a hell'of a lot better than the localizations - though some are below average in comparison so I try to avoid the fan group in general, if possible, like Commies.
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Yeah I also agree with this. Anime subtitles are a hell'of a lot better than the localizations - though some are below average in comparison so I try to avoid the fan group in general, if possible, like Commies.

Again, we're all mostly watching Crunchyroll scripts with minor edits anyway. Once you've taken that out the fan TL scene isn't that large really.

Above average fan TLs are not frequent, although the time when terrible subs were around is pretty much gone. And official localization are not perfect but never bad.

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Again, we're all mostly watching Crunchyroll scripts with minor edits anyway. Once you've taken that out the fan TL scene isn't that large really.

Above average fan TLs are not frequent, although the time when terrible subs were around is pretty much gone. And official localization are not perfect but never bad.

Yeah that is true to some parts. Though how would you like to read your subtitles is totally up to you. If you like them totally butchered (localized beyond belief) or semi-localization or just CR/Funnymation subs, or if you want to have better edits (which I prefer) or if you want close-enough to literal translation (I prefer this over the rest).

Like releases from Unlimited Translation Works, Underwater, or Coalgirls (who modify a lot of subtitles) are few to name who actually work on the subs. I know there are few more fan groups like them.

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My reference is directed towards anime subtitles. The fan translation scene for anime is larger than manga and thus you're more likely to run into groups who produce high quality work. Manga scanlations have always been a minefield when it comes to quality and consistency as the task of translation bounces from group to group and some groups translate from Chinese raws.

 

More likely yes, this doesn't mean there's a great many of them.

 

I don't speak Japanese so I don't have first hand knowledge regarding translation accuracy. That being said, the link I attached showed most anime fansubbers struggle to acheive anything higher than a 'C' grade when graded primarily on accuracy and errors. The guy takes writing style into consideration as well but he is far too lenient in this area. It seems to matche what I've heard other translators say. That being said because more than one fansub group will translate each anime, odds are there is a decent fan-translation out there somewhere, this helps hide the number of poor fansub groups going around. Good fan-sub groups may compete with professional studios on this level, this doesn't mean 'many' do, however.

 

In regards to how the translations read in english, the overwhelming majority tend to have juvenile prose. Limited vocabulary, redundant words, confusing sentences, basically little knowledge of how to write in english. Very few, if any, fansub studios compete with professional studios in this category for a couple basic reasons. Firstly, being able to translate from Japanese to English is one thing, being able to translate from Japanese to fluent-and-well-written english is completely different. Anybody who is able to do so would be in high demand in the translation market, so there would be very few individuals such as these hovering around the fansub scene. So this means having an editor. The vast majority of people who volunteer as an 'editor' for fansub projects are merely able to speak the language, they don't know what it means to 'write' in publishable prose. And not many people who could would be hanging around the translation scene. 

 

So when you consider accuracy alone, some fansubs may compete with professional studios. Not many do, though, but because multiple fansub groups can translate each title it looks like there's far more decent fansubbers than there actually are. However, the vast majority of fansub groups are behind par when it comes to making their translations read well in english. And because there's more to 'translating' than flinging accurately translated sentences on to the page (or screen,) I don't agree with your statement that 'many' fansubbers produce a better product.

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I wonder why they are taking down kissmanga but aren't taking down kissanime (their sister site for anime). Well this sucks

http://www.meti.go.jp/policy/mono_info_service/contents/downloadfiles/140414.pdf

Isn't kissanime listed on page 19, no.7? I can't read Japanese, so i don't actually know what that list is for though.

 

On a side note, if they manage to take down most of the listed streaming sites, it's gonna be a pain in the ass to watch anime now. Not that it's going to stop me though.

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http://www.meti.go.jp/policy/mono_info_service/contents/downloadfiles/140414.pdf

Isn't kissanime listed on page 19, no.7? I can't read Japanese, so i don't actually know what that list is for though.

 

On a side note, if they manage to take down most of the listed streaming sites, it's gonna be a pain in the ass to watch anime now. Not that it's going to stop me though.

well most of the sites i use are listed on there so its gonna be a slight inconvience to find new sites that are [safe]

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It's because there's nothing to be concerned about and every single person that knows the ins and outs of copyright and piracy will tell you that. It's no different from the past anti-piracy campaigns; it's all a bluff - actions taken by lobbying parties and monopolists to increase their influence on the market.

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This whole situation really does suck. I live in a third world country and over here it is absolutely impossible to get various official products, be it anime, video games or even software. In my country everyone who plays pc games or watch anime do it through pirating. In fact most games released for the pc are either downloaded by those who want to play them or they buy it from stores in which people sell these games by downloading it first, storing it in a DVD and selling it for like a dollar(I'm saying dollar since the currency in my country is different). The same goes for anime and manga. Neither are officially sold as they are not brought to my country. In my country there is around 40000 anime fans(this is only counting the number who have declared themselves as otaku by joining anime based groups on facebook) and all of the only way all of these people are able to watch anime is thanks to piracy. So just imagine depriving all these people of their passion. In my case I'm no different. There are various regional constraints that would prevent me from paying to watch my favorite shows legally. Being an otaku I also have a desire to buy volumes of my favorite manga and BD or DVDs of my favorite anime and then have them on display or at least support the creators but that is impossible for me. Besides I don't have anyting like a credit card and methods to make purchases online are extremely limited for me. Basically by the time I have made a purchase, things like shipping costs, customs and subscription fees would cause my total to nearly double the original cost which is obviously ridiculous. Though I might have already mentioned this already if given a reasonable opportunity I would definitely make purchases. After all I own a ps3 and I buy original games for it(btw console games are pretty much the only things which are sold legally although titles are limited to popular games and prices are ridiculous as well). As such I wish japan would at least put some consideration for people who are in a similar situation as me and not make life hell for the thousands of people who have no other means.

P.S. I hope I have not offended anyone or given them the wrong idea as I am simply venting my frustrations here.

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