Shameful Otaku Secret!

The Baka-Raptor way

When I asked Kabitzin my survey question, I knew I’d probably get something short but well thought out, like most of his posts. When I asked this next blogger, I wasn’t quite sure what I was going to get. Baka-Raptor, known (since the day of his sell-out) by the same name as his Maddox-worshipping site Baka-Raptor.com, is in law school, and promises a blog post on international copyright law sometime in the next decade. He’s great at distilling his opinions down more concisely than just about anyone (see Kurenai: “The ending was terrible.”).  Here’s what he had to say:

I’d appoint myself overlord of the anime industry. All anime production would be under my control. Anime would be so good that everybody would want to buy it. Problem solved.

But if that can’t happen…

I believe in the free market. Anime is a desirable enough product that it’ll make it over here in some way, shape, or form. Whether it’s downloadable, streaming, DVD, dual audio, on TV, first episode free, all you can watch for a monthly fee, or some new business model nobody will see coming, things will work out in the long run. We just need to let business run its course.

I submit this as proof that all so-called Libertarians actually believe in dictatorships. Just leave your guns at home when you go vote for Ron Paul this November, ya fascist!

I kid.

I’ve never been one to think that the market corrects itself automatically, but I’m no economist. Frankly, it seems like someone’s got to actually do something while we sit around waiting for “business to run its course.” Fundamentally though, I am with the dinosaur. Boil it down, he’s saying the sky is not falling, and that the onus isn’t on the consumers to hold the sky back anyway.

Are you with BR, or do we as consumers have more responsibility to make something happen in the short run?

Kabitzin’s Version

I had to ask Kabitzin of Sea Slug Team! his take on this “issue” because he’s been doing this forever, and because I’m a fan. It was only natural that he (and probably quite a few other people) would mention fansubbing. It turns out Kabitzin tackled the issue three years ago. I suggest everyone reads that post, because it’s typical Kabitzin: concise but meaty, and very thoughtful, skeptical instead of argumentative. That, however, was a direct reaction to the fansubbing issue, whereas I was hoping to be more forward-looking here. Three years later, we shouldn’t be in the same spot, and it appears that he agrees. So, on with his thoughts:

I have always felt that the industry needs to stop focusing on pointing fingers and start coming up with solutions.  I think what you have seen companies do recently with day-of streaming and official subs is a step in the right direction.  In America, fansubs built the anime consumer base and to target fansubs before you have a viable solution in place is counter-productive.  I think the music industry offers some hints about how to proceed.  Once you’ve got services with large selections, reasonable prices, and fast releases then you can really start cracking down on pirates and fansubbers.  Until then, all you are doing is decreasing your potential audience.

Well said. The music industry has been slow on the uptake though, and if it takes anime production and licensing companies just as long as the Big Four and the RIAA, we’re in for another few years of the same crap.

The main point I can take away from this is that there are two attitudes you could have.

1. “A fansub downloaded is a DVD sale lost.” That is both logically flawed and, frankly, whiny.
2. “A fansub downloader is a potential customer.” Now that’s the kind of attitude that makes money.

It’s also the same kind of pioneering thinking that got anime over here to begin with. As Kabitzin mentions, fansubbing created today’s market for anime in America. Music downloading led to the iTunes store. You get the idea.

Next up, that classic argument for the efficiency of a dictatorship.

My version. Sort of like fixing a cat

Oh God, what am I doing now?

A lot has been made of the “industry” lately, even though most people don’t even know what they mean when they say the word. Does that mean the anime industry in Japan, a nebulous thing that’s constantly on the verge of not being able to sell enough Gundam figures to stay afloat? Or is it the R1 licensing industry, that most noble employer of California’s worst actors that is constantly begging us to prop it up with one side of its mouth while calling us criminals with the other? You know, like Metallica circa 2000.

Anime bloggers have a pretty strong opinion; after all, their primary hobby involves downloading fansubbed anime. Well, most anime bloggers. Some are in denial of their very bloggeritude, and prefer to insult other bloggers while pretending to be “real” journalists by writing infrequently and buddying up to the industry. Maybe that’s unfair, but tit for tat, I’ll trade one smack to the face for a million constant niggling insults. But noooo linky-link for obvious link bait. And, I digress…

Eleventeen easy steps

Idea one: Prosecute or litigate fans. I’m not sure for what crime exactly, but media companies love this kind of shit. It could recoup some money in settlements, but court fees always suck. This approach starts with “please support us,” as if that is in fact the consumers’ obligation, then grows more and more indignant until we end up in court. The RIAA tried this approach but found that milking cash out of grandmas and 12-year-olds ain’t all it’s cracked up to be, and the PR was… bad, I guess?

Idea two: Quick and dirty releases. Licensing anime is a gamble. The audience for anime in the west is not huge, outside of the Bleaches and Narutos. Yet companies like ADV pour tons of cash into dubbing, special features, fancy boxes etc. for each individual release, thus making time-to-market and price point really irritating for fans. Yes, licensing costs money in the first place, but can we please try the other end of the risk-reward spectrum? I love to cite Right Stuf’s soon-upcoming release of Aria’s first season, a niche show in subtitle-only release with minimal packaging. If they licensed with the speed of, say, Geass, a company could squish time drastically, and save money in paychecks written out to shitty “actors” whose voices I no longer listen to anyway, thanks to the magic of multi-channel DVDs. Which reminds me, I was in the basement during my move, and I saw some VHSes and realized I’ve never seen Nadesico in non-dub form. Sad. I bet Gai Daigoji sounds awesome in his native language.

Idea three: Legal downloads, done right. Obviously this is something that Japan hopes will work (Gonzo), and R1 is going for it too (we’ll see how that goes, DRM is bound to jack it up). Just like the music industry, they’re being slow in the tech department. Your aim is to beat the fansubbers? Time is on your side, that’s been proven — obviously a fansub can’t release faster than a simultaneous subtitled broadcast. But you need to fight using the same weapons. We want the same HD release over here that Japanese televisions are showing. You lack the bandwidth you say? Well, holy shit, guess what, so do the fansubbers. It’s called bittorrent, and it’s not just for piracy and fansubs.

Idea four: Good licenses. How do these people pick? Oh good, thanks Manga, I was really hoping to see that low-budget tits-n-guns OAV from 1992. I don’t know how constructive this point is, I’m pretty sure I just wanted to use the phrase “no one wants to watch your shitty anime.” Or make a Strike Witches reference.

But what do you think?

Though Japan’s anime industry is hurting right now, the USA is the central location for a lot of debate right now, thanks to a few things:

• The DMCA
• Americans think they are the entire world
• America apparently needs to prop Japan up
• American companies like ADV are hurting worse than Japan
• Greg Ayres

So I reached out to some animu bloggers in America — people you probably know — to get their takes on this issue that just doesn’t seem to want to go away. Check back all this week to see what they said!