Anime Do you watch fansubbed anime online? If so, what anime do you watch?

[Furry-Chibi]

[FONT="Georgia"][SIZE="2"]I find watching fansubbed anime a really good thing! I mean, not all of use have international TV programs. And not all of us have TV! So in my case, if I watch anime, I go online to youtube.com or [[COLOR="RoyalBlue"]link removed by moderator[/COLOR]] to watch them. YouTube isn't bad but it's not that great. [[COLOR="RoyalBlue"]removed[/COLOR]] on the other hand, in my opinion, is almost dedicated to anime! They have so many series of anime. So, "when in doubt, use [[COLOR="RoyalBlue"]link removed by moderator[/COLOR]] " Haha. So don't watch anime on YouTube unless it's the last option. Remember, subbed is always better than dubbed! Stick to the subbed! (My Opinion)

Well, to answer my own question, I've watched Naruto, Hikaru no Go, MAR, Dragonball Series, Pokemon, Digimon, Fruits Basket, Tsubasa Chronicles, Cardcaptor Sakura, Sailor Moon, Death Note, Full Moon wo Sagashite, Zatch Bell, and a whole load of other anime!

As you can see, I watch a lot of stuff! I basically live off of the internet! ^_^

So what anime do you like to watch online?[/SIZE][/FONT][COLOR="RoyalBlue"][FONT="Lucida Sans Unicode"][INDENT]For future reference Furry-Chibi, providing links to copyrighted material is not allowed. Thanks. ~SunfallE[/INDENT][/FONT][/COLOR]

[SunfallE]

[COLOR="RoyalBlue"][FONT="Lucida Sans Unicode"]Since this is talking about anime, I have gone ahead and moved this over to Anime Central for discussion. Also, as I stated in your original post Furry-Chibi, providing links to copyrighted material is not allowed. It's perfectly fine to talk about what shows you watch online, just don't go adding links to them in your posts. ^_~

Anyway, as for the topic, it's pretty obvious that I do watch fan subs myself since I've started several threads in this area about shows that the only way I could have seen them was through fan subs since like Lovely Complex they are not licensed yet and even if I lived in Japan... I don't understand the language so I'd still need some form of sub titles. XP

I prefer to get things I want on DVD though since I like having a hard copy of the shows I enjoy and having the option to have both English and the original track with subtitles. Which is why I will pick up Lucky Star once the DVD's are released.

Right now I don't have a show I'm watching since I've been too caught up in my newest game purchase, Final Fantasy XII. Though I do intend to watch more of Sayonara Zetsubo Sensei once I get around to it.[/FONT][/COLOR]

[Fasteriskhead]

This thread is probably not the best idea. People easily get
offended over copyright abuse and things of that
kind. Plus it's against the rules here, for good reason:
you could get the site into all kinds
of legal trouble (despite some the mods being guilty as hell :)).

These days I download a [i]lot[/i] of fansubs - more than I buy, really.
Obviously I'm aware that this may hurt the industry,
so I feel a bit guilty about it. Basically, I'm too impatient to wait.
Here in the US there's just too much turnover time before we receive
our shows; when the DVDs hit, I often forget to buy them. Companies should
know that I am not interested in packaging and dubs: I want the
anime, and very little else. Anyways, where can you find fansubs online?
No one knows!

[2010DigitalBoy]

[COLOR="DarkOrange"]I'm in a constatn bettle with my harddrive XD. Yes, ever since I learned how in Sep. I've been dling like crazy, and before that I used Veoh. At first, I didn't do any liscensed shows. Then, I startd doing liscenced shows XD I don't have anywhere near te money to always buy DVDs (epecially since I always go for special editions).[/COLOR]

[AzureWolf]

[quote name='Fasteriskhead']These days I download a [i]lot[/i] of fansubs - more than I buy, really.
Obviously I'm aware that this may hurt the industry,
so I feel a bit guilty about it.[/QUOTE]I would argue that there's very little industry to hurt in the first place. Anime's been in a steep decline, especially considering the premium and return. It's getting less and less lucrative as we speak. An episode used to cost less than half what Japanese companies demand now, and voice actors are equally tight. Keep in mind that millions of dollars per episode does add up, and it's getting harder and harder to get that return from sales and TV viewings.

[Rachmaninoff]

[quote name='Fasteriskhead']This thread is probably not the best idea. People easily get
offended over copyright abuse and things of that
kind. Plus it's against the rules here, for good reason:
you could get the site into all kinds
of legal trouble (despite some the mods being guilty as hell :)).[/QUOTE]As far as I know, discussing it isn't against the site rules. You just can't go providing links to where such stuff is hosted online. Not that it's all that hard to find anyway. Seriously. And obviously when you see us commenting in a thread where the only way we could have seen it was via a fan sub... well it's obvious that like anyone else, many of us watch them.[quote name='Fasteriskhead']These days I download a [i]lot[/i] of fansubs - more than I buy, really.
Obviously I'm aware that this may hurt the industry,
so I feel a bit guilty about it. Basically, I'm too impatient to wait.
Here in the US there's just too much turnover time before we receive
our shows; when the DVDs hit, I often forget to buy them. Companies should
know that I am not interested in packaging and dubs: I want the
anime, and very little else. Anyways, where can you find fansubs online?
No one knows![/QUOTE]Truthfully, I don't really download or watch all that much since I really don't have the time for it. And it's not from lack of harddrive space either, I've got over 350GB free, I just have no interest in filling it up with anime. XP

I've known about fan sub sites for quite some time and yet I still only check things out occasionally. If I don't like a show no more than an episode or two gets watched and if I do like it... Then once it's licensed I usually pick up a copy.

Personally I think with the increase in digital media, it would be a smart move for the companies in Japan to start providing legal subbed copies one could download for a reasonable fee. I know I would pay for such a service.

[Chikara Kokoro]

[quote name='Rachmaninoff']Personally I think with the increase in digital media, it would be a smart move for the companies in Japan to start providing legal subbed copies one could download for a reasonable fee. I know I would pay for such a service.[/QUOTE]

Deep down I agree with this. It's a good idea, but I like to preview anime that I think I might like before it's licensed. Anime like Ouran High School Host Club, in all honesty, I would never have looked at if it weren't for the buzz surrounding them on the internet. After watching the first episode of that anime, fansubbed, I knew that I would buy it as soon as it was licensed.

I think internet buzz helps out the American industry at least a small amount, and maybe this is why fansubbing sites are not shut down all together.

Fansubs also have an important role in saving classic shows such as Hunter x Hunter and Rose of Versailles that, despite their strong stories and characters, will never make it to the States because of "dated" animation. At this point it is clear that Kurapika will never be gracing my DVD collection, and so I'm glad for fansubs just for the reason that I do not have to live a life without him ;)

[Rachmaninoff]

First of all... that's a great avatar/banner set you've got there Chikara Kokoro. ;)[quote name='Chikara Kokoro'] I like to preview anime that I think I might like before it's licensed. [/QUOTE]Oh same here and that's one of the biggest reasons I like fan subs, because usually I know within an episode or two if it's going to interest me or not. I usually don't have the time to catch things on TV as they air here or rather it's on when I'm doing something else so often I'll wait until I can see something that is licensed before I will even consider purchasing it. Fortunately from time to time the onDemand section of my Cable service has episodes from a show that I've never seen so I'll check it out.

But seriously, as I've heard from others, the potential to tap into the online market is something companies need to stop overlooking. The popularity of fan subs only proves that in my opinion. The market has changed and it requires them getting off their butts and adapting if they want to stay on top. I have no issue getting anime legally, but when there are things that don't get licensed or take forever to even come to the USA... it just makes it even harder for people to try to support the industry by only buying licensed and packaged DVD's.

[Dagger]

[quote name='Chikara Kokoro']
Fansubs also have an important role in saving classic shows such as Hunter x Hunter and Rose of Versailles that, despite their strong stories and characters, will never make it to the States because of "dated" animation. At this point it is clear that Kurapika will never be gracing my DVD collection, and so I'm glad for fansubs just for the reason that I do not have to live a life without him ;)[/QUOTE]
I'm with you on Rose of Versailles, but Hunter x Hunter? Not really. One of them was made from 1979-1980, and the other from 1999-2004. That makes for some huge differences in terms of not only artwork/animation but also music and, well, everything else. Personally, I'm confident that someone will pick up Hunter x Hunter eventually... but I can understand why no one's done so yet, given that the Japanese manga chapters are coming out at a snail's pace, and the anime is far from finished.

Netflix has cut down quite a bit on the number of fansubs I watch. Even if I like the first few episodes of a show, I've grown more likely to run out of time or temporarily lose interest and tell myself that I'll just rent the first disc when it gets licensed.

~Dagger~

[AzureWolf]

They did try giving out the first episode of an anime out for free (in fact, I think you can still find some in Azureus that are hosted from their sponsors). The first US-licensed anime that gave out a free episode downloadable from the official website was some weird fairy anime, where this fairy with MPD changed based on certain events with the human she was with.

I don't remember, it was stupid and creepy, but the point is, they are trying that feature out, and they are still selling anime episodes for a dollar a pop for download. As you can guess, profits have been horrible from this scheme. Four reasons
[LIST=1]
[*] price of a single episode is too high: you get an ethereal copy of a 26-episode anime for $25 bucks, no thank you
[*] the price SCHEME is Japanese, not American
[*] the selection of anime sucks
[*] there is no incentive to grab the download copy. Why blow $26 bucks when the same price can get me a hard copy that has higher quality and bonus features?
[/LIST]

The first problem, they assume that the price to distribute (read: almost ZERO) downloadable content is the same as giving hard copies. This is false, as even newspaper companies that offer "pick your poison" subscriptions have noticed that their online members are more valuable, requiring less effort, maintenance, and money. Let's not forget that most companies have deals with UPS, USPS, or FedEx, and these deals do add up (in the case of Netflix, against USPS, but that's besides the point).

Second problem is the fact Japanese like to pay for everything they use and nothing more. Internet plans, hourly plans, etc. are perfect examples. They always consider the cost of each individual item and go from there. Us Americans, however, are not so much interested in contemplating opportunity cost. Instead, we like to pay whatever it takes for unlimited, "off your mind, no surprises" type deals. Look at the most popular cell phone plans here and compare them to the ones in Japan. You are given X amount of minutes every month for a set fee, and whether you use them all or not, that's what you are entitled to. In Japan, they pay only for the minutes they used.

Selection of anime sucks, yes, but IMO (and just IMO, not based on solid facts), it is because the insane price and price scheme have failed so badly, so it's harder to get animes that would actually be of interest to US customers.

As far as incentive goes, this depends entirely on when Anime companies find that sweet spot in pricing and method, are able to compare download value with hard value, and then decide what type of incentive would get anime fans into it.
There are of course long-term factors about downloading that are unrelated to anime entirely. For instance, the bandwidth pipe is being tightened, and will be a big hindrance to legal net distribution for years to come. Next, quality vs speed will always be an issue, and whether one type should be given a higher premium. Finally, the upcoming blu-ray and HD war is not going to make things any easier in terms of getting return from anime licensing.


I'm all for downloadable content, and having less useless and wasted material lying around the house, but anime or any other entertainment biz has a long way to make the transition. Also, I think it'd just be awesome if they embraced the .iso format already. That'd be so freakin' sweet.

[ImmortalGuru]

I definetly gotta admit, I download alot of fansubbed anime. But I try my hardest to avoid animes that have been licenesed. Atleast those animes that I like such as Naruto(Shippuden hasnt been licensed yet, so that anime is still up for grabs. ^_^). Only time I download licensed anime is whenever I'm FLAT broke and dont feel like waiting to get the money before I grab it. But whenever I do buy it, I usually delete the eps off of my comp(unless I feel like using them in a music video or somethin.)

But most of the time, I usually download stuff that just came out in Japan. Try to see stuff I've never seen before and see if it'll interest me when/if it gets here to America. Stuff like Sayonara Zetsubu Sensei, Gundam 00, etc. I mean, most great animes wont even get dubbed here in the US, so fansubs are definetly the best way to go.

So yeah, I know downloading is not somethinig we condone here, but when it comes to fansubs...I see no problem with it. Just when its licensed and you like it try to support it and buy the DVDs whenever they're released. That is if you have the money, which in these times is hard to come around.

[Nikorasu]

I tend to download fansubs of fairly recent shows that aren't license or haven't made it over here yet. I'm currently watching Genshiken 2 and Gundam 00. I know for sure that I'm going to get Genshiken 2, if for nothing else than to go along with Genshiken 1. Gundam 00, being a longer series, I'll probably watch more to be sure if I want it. I also recently finished Seto no Hanayome, which is a good series of this kid who is saved by a mermaid and then has to marry her. Also, I recently finished Kamen Rider Kabuto and am on Gekiranger and the live action Cutie Honey series.

There are series I like that I've watched on fansubs that probably won't be out here, otherwise they would be licensed by now. I was shocked when I actually saw the Yakitate!! Japan manga out here, but I highly doubt the anime will be released here. I've seen it all though, and it's amazingly hilarious. I also do not see Disney ever allowing any Super Sentai series to hit the states as long as they can just use stock footage to make Power Rangers, so I pretty much have to stick to fansubs for that.

There does need to be a legal download service if legitiment anime companies want to compete with fansubbers. As soon as a series is licensed, ADV should have subbed versions of the first couple of episodes at least on their download service. Make it pay per episode, subscription, or load the thing up with adds between the eyecatchers (because that's actually for commercials anyway). People want anime faster.

As for the DVDs, I don't really see much of a drop in sales if that happens. Perhaps even the opposite, and you'll see in increase. People who want DVDs will buy them regardless. After all, most anime fans are materialistic collectors. Why else would we buy so much crap at cons? Maybe entice people to buy DVDs by having the first episode of each volume online before the volume goes on sale, making people want to buy the DVD to see the next two or three episodes after that first one.

[Horendithas]

[COLOR="Indigo"]You'd think that with the availability of fan subbed anime I would actually watch a lot more and download them as well. But I don't, even though I got a new computer recently and actually have the disk space to do so if I wished. But the truth is, other than to check things out so I'm familiar with them, I rarely bother to watch something beyond an episode or two unless I really like it and even then I still rarely bother to download it. I only have one series that I've done that for since it has not been licensed yet. I'm hoping they do since I'd like to get my hands on a legal copy.

Anyway, right now the only thing I'm actually watching at the moment is Sayonara Zetsubo Sensei, Hayate no Gotoku and Lovely Complex. Though I've already seen all of Lovely Complex, I'm just re-watching that one since I enjoyed it quite a bit.[/COLOR]

[Desbreko]

[quote name='Dagger']Netflix has cut down quite a bit on the number of fansubs I watch. Even if I like the first few episodes of a show, I've grown more likely to run out of time or temporarily lose interest and tell myself that I'll just rent the first disc when it gets licensed.[/QUOTE][color=#4B0082]I would use Netflix to watch more anime (I saw His and Her Circumstances through Netflix) except that fansubs are still just way more convenient for me. I can go disc-by-disc ... or I can grab the entire series at once. And if I care to rip the discs to my hard drive to watch later, that ends up taking way more space than fansubs since each DVD is usually close to 8 GB whereas an entire 26 episode series rarely surpasses 7 GB for nearly the same quality (especially if it's encoded in h.264). Or if I burn them again, it either takes way more discs to store them or it takes really long to encode them into a better format.

Basically, I just don't like DVD-Videos. The MPEG-2 standard that they use is outdated. I'd rather have the straight video files encoded in a newer format and burned as a DVD-ROM since I use my PC to watch DVDs anyway. That also means I don't have to wade through menus or previews or any crap like that to access the episodes and select the language and subtitle streams that I want.

So to answer the original question, yes, I watch fansubs. I watch quite a lot of them because I like their format a lot more than official DVDs and I simply don't have much money. (It's hard to justify spending the small amount I have on anime that's in a format I don't want.) Right now I'm mainly keeping up with some of the current fall season shows such as Clannad, Kodomo no Jikan, Shugo Chara!, Bamboo Blade, and others.[/color]