Let's do some more beating of the dead horse....................

ami@ML.usagi.org wrote:

> ------- Message
>
> Message-ID: <003201bf8543$e5d35a80$21df05c6@iglou.com>
> From: "Gregor" <vorlon@iglou.com>
>
>
>
> There's ethics, and then there's the situation imposed on us by our love for
> what is at best a niche market.

No, there's just ethics. I'm not criticizing you or anyone else. I'm simply observing

that good anime is hard to come by, so people will bend the rules to see it. Human

nature. Either that or they'll sit home and watch the TV version of "Sailor Moon",

which is enough to make one get down on bended knee and give thanks that AMS was never

put into a series like that.

>
>
> I suspect that the situation would be quite different if, on this side of the
> pacific, we had a good chance of getting a popular anime within 6 months to a
> year of day and date with when it airs in Japan.

Absolutely correct, sir. How and ever, what does make it over here is usually sold
a
couple of eps per tape, each tape costing from 19 to 25 dollars. DVD might get a little

better, as you can more material on to each one, but don't count on it. Distributors

know through market research that the average otaku age range is from 15 to 25, a

period of time in which disposable income isn't channeled towards bills as much as
it
is later in life. So they're going to soak fans for all it's worth.

>
>
> Or perhaps when the rare anime that DOES get shown in its original medium
> (i.e., television) isn't butchered and bastardized like Sailor Moon has been
> and Card Captor Sakura promises to be.

See comments about DIC Sailor Moon above (hmm, no stories about the Outer
Senshi......wonder why?...). CCS I haven't heard about, other than same Canadian outfit

bought the rights.

>
>
> Or just when something like Kodomo no Omocha doesn't require petitions to get
> licensed in America years after its original airing.

Even if it was put out over here, you've got 102 episodes to deal with. The series
is
fabulous, but no one wants to take the risk of translating it. Remember that there
are
a lot of Japanese in-jokes and idiomatic expressions that simply couldn't be dealt
with
by an American translating team without losing the whole flavor of the show. That
was
less of a problem with Ah! Megami-sama, as the storyline had a more universal appeal.

Your first point is well taken, however.

>
>
> Hell, I'm STILL waiting to see a decent legal version of 3x3 Eyes, 6 or 7
> years after I first saw the show.  Thankfully it has recently been announced
> (like within the last month).

BTW, you'll never see the untranslated, uncut version of KITE on this side, unless
some
smuggler gets the LD through customs. Apparently there's a problem with child
pornography laws over here.

>
>
> Tell me it's unethical to distribute fansubs of Rurouni Kenshin once there is
> a legal means of seeing the show in an equivalent format, and I'll agree.

Well, since RK was bought out and is now being distributed by a legit firm, you now

have a way of seeing it.

>  No,
> reading printed scripts doesn't count, since translation scripts don't count
> as equivalent, and are legally iffy now that the show is licensed; just
> remember what happened to fan translations of the OMG Manga once Dark
> Horse/Studio Proteus got wind of them.

Agreed.

>
>
> Perhaps it is unethical, but let he who is without sin cast the first stone,
> and all that.  There are damn few companies with purer motives than the vast
> majority of fansub-watching otaku (who, when you get down to it, really just
> want to watch the shows they love), so I really can't feel all that sorry for
> them.

Feeling sorry for them isn't the point. It's a question of copyright violation. I
know
that the big manga and anime houses are ruthless competitors, and that the Stateside

distributors aren't any better (...ask anyone who has dealt with Viz Communications),

but copyright is copyright, and at the end of the day, the original creator, be it
Miho
Obana or Kosuke Fujishima, does get a royalty check. And they deserve it.

>
>
> Talk to me about ethics when things like Region Coding don't get forced into
> video games and/or the DVD spec so that companies can artificially divide up
> the world into little pocket markets, thereby limiting the free-market
> competition that would naturally help level the playing field for people on
> both sides of the Pacific.)**

Region coding will go by the wayside as technological innovation from below forces
its
way into the system. Sony, Toshiba, etc., will find it in their in their economic

interests to sell units that can break through region coding (when the hardware end
of
say, Sony, is able to out argue the software end of, say, Sony). Then, game producers

and distributors will dump region coding like a bad habit. On the computer I am typing

on, I have the capability of playing a DVD from anywhere on earth, as it has a region

coding breaker (totally legal, it came with my IBM! The silent hand of Bill Gate$
is
everywhere.........). However, I do not believe it is game capable. So, as to region

coding, it is only a matter of time, and the pocket markets you describe will go the

way of the dodo.

>
>
> Perhaps it really hurts the original creators, who I would be far more
> inclined to sympathize with, but I seriously doubt it.  Healthy corporate
> profit margins undoubtedly make the real impact from fansubbers a mere drop in
> the bucket.

True, but that's missing the point.

>
>
> (As you can probably tell, this is something of a sore point for me, so don't
> take my rant personally.  I would probably agree with you if the situation
> were better here.  It is improving, but it ain't there yet.)

Give it time. Anime is a growing market in the United States. The younger generation's

gravitation towards all things Pocket Monster bodes well for the future. Remember
that
in 1985, the only thing people knew about were Speed Racer and, to a lesser extent,
a
new Japanese series called "Starblazers" (originally called "Space Battleship
Yamamato", in deference to that great ship of the line of the Pacific War). Now things

have changed entirely. Hundreds of retailers and dozens of distributors spread the
good
word. They do it at a high price, unfortunately. But the stuff is finally there.

Be Seeing You,

Chris

>
>
> - Gregor  vorlon#iglou.com
> http://anime.at/gregordyne
> Anime, Amber, 3d, Mage, Eidolon, Miscellany