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Fansubs
November
13th 2005
Ever since I was a little
kid watching cartoons in the 1980’s I’ve had a fascination with
Anime. (for those of you not in the know, Anime –or Japanese Animation-
is a genre of film which often deals with very adult themes through the use
of cel-based stop motion animation. Although that line has been getting more
and more blurred over the past decade, as titles like Pokemon
have started reaching more mainstream audiences) But there have always been
a few points of frustration I’ve had with Anime.
My main gripe has always been the lag between when a new Anime is released in Japan, and when it is available in the states. (which can range from several months, to several years!) Then there is the issue with having a really great Anime that gets ruined in translation. Either because it poorly dubbed into English, or portions of it have been removed so that it can be aired in the more stringently controlled US market.
Enter my long awaited solution. A few months back a friend of mine turned me onto something called fansubbing. In a nut shell a fansub is an Anime that has been translated/subtitled –usually by a nonprofit organization overseas- purely because they desire to share with the rest of the world a really great story.
Fansubbing has been around for a really long time. In the past, the method of distribution has been snail mailing VHS tapes to a fansubber overseas, who then records a copy of it, and sends it back. (A tedious process to say the least) But with newer technologies such as peer-to-peer networks, and bit torrents, this sub-culture of entertainment has become much more accessible to the rest of us.
Now here is where we into some really grey legal territory. I think that envirosphere.com did a great job in summing it up:
The animes are of course copyrighted in Japan and maybe other countries, too. Therefore, in those and in every other country that has signed the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works - and that means almost all countries around the world - creating copies of these animes violates their copyright. So far, fansubs are mostly tolerated by the Japanese companies, though. It is not the fansubbers' intention to hurt either the Japanese companies that produce anime or the companies that license the anime for distribution on non-Japanese markets. This is why fansubbers (should) cease creation and distribution of fansubs once the title in question is licensed in their geographic and/or language area. There have been occurrences in the past when a Japanese company has asked fansubbers to stop distributing their property, as well as cases when domestic licensees have asked fansubbers to stop distributing the shows they licensed. The latter usually happens to fansubbers who continue to create and/or distribute fansubs of a title after it has been licensed. There have been no known fansub-related lawsuits as of now. Technically, though, you can get sued for offering/sharing digisubs anytime (or even for downloading in some countries).
And here is my take on it. I draw the line at whether or not a company has made a commercially available version of an Anime (either dubbed, or subtitled) that I can purchase. IE: if the Anime is licsened, but there is no way for me to obtain it, except through a fansub, I say its fair game. And considering there are a great many titles are never released in the US, I think that it’s perfectly ethical to obtain these films through this method.
There are a lot of fansub groups out there; I usually go through LiveEvil.org, but recently I’ve started listening to Andy Turner’s fansub podcast, and have really taken a liking to some of his recommendations. At any rate, its worth a peek if you like Anime half as much as I do. ^^