The Good in Anime Fandom

Former translator. Not Dark_Sage.

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Recent discussion and controversy has given a look at the dark, disturbing personalities in the anime community. In times like these, it’s important to take a step back and look at the bright side of things. I’m going to list off all the good things that have come out of anime and its fandom.


 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

There you have it: a comprehensive list of all the good that anime has done. What do you think? Hash it out in the comments.

28 thoughts on “The Good in Anime Fandom”

  1. Are you prepared to explain this deep metaphor to ordinary people? You know, kinda like D_S had to when he posted the “Best Fansub Groups” list?

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  2. “Recent discussion and controversy has given a look at the dark, disturbing personalities in the anime community”
    Is there more than the pastebin on this “switches-guy” that you’ve linked? The drama in anime-fandom is rather entertaining, but seriously scouring the comment section is so much work :D

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  3. Bit of a shame that stuff like Dattebayo donating about 10,000 dollars to Doctors without borders, or the relief efforts raised by fansubs to support Japan after the tsunami, or the millions of dollars of revenue that the fansub industry has brought to Japan via licensing rights, all goes ignored. Ah well.

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    • The first two, yes. The last one, no. That is debatable at best (how much financial damage has the fansub industry caused and still is causing to the Japanese animation industry and English-language licensors?) so to treat it as a mark in the “good” column is iffy.

      Fair play to DB though. That’s a very good way to use a surplus in donations and Médecins Sans Frontièrs is a good humanitarian cause.

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      • Well, I’m not talking about modern subs. I’m talking about the subs in the 80s and 90s that brought attention to anime in America.

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        • What happened 20 to 30 years ago doesn’t really relate to the anime fandom of today though, and outside one or two hangers-on, I can’t see anyone involved in fansubbing now taking any credit for that.

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          • Then let’s take an example from the last few years: Morning Rescue.
            Thanks to gg’s MadoMagi Fansub, the Morning Rescue sales increased!
            See? Fansubs still help the japanese industry

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            • While I’m sure that’s great for Morning Rescue, I’m not entirely sure what that has to do with the anime industry :D

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          • Perhaps. Though I do know of 2 examples of a fansub possibly influencing licensing recently. First is Lilpri, which I believe would have gone mostly unknown in the US if Chihiro didn’t sub it, which led to a CR license. Second is Aikatsu, which again would’ve been pretty unknown in US (although immensely popular in Japan) if not for Mezashite.
            I don’t believe in either case Japan lost any more revenue than from raw providers alone. But this is all conjecture, the licensing may have had nothing to do with the fansubs bringing awareness to the series.

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            • Yes, it is all conjecture, considering you’re suggesting CR wouldn’t have information on what’s popular in Japan and therefore worth licensing – which is a silly idea in itself as the CEO is Asian (Chinese? I’m not entirely sure) and the company as a whole has been shown to have very close ties to Japan (I think even Quarkboy who did translations for them for a time was located in Japan).

              You’re making tenuous links on next to no information. And even before CR entered the game, English-language licensors like Funi and Media Blasters were saying at cons that fansubs did not influence their licensing decisions, so I hardly think that would’ve changed in the last 7 years.

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              • What appeals to Japan doesn’t always appeal to America though. For instance, Sazae-san, Doraemon, Crayon Shin-chan, and Precure are regularly some of the highest watched animes in Japan, yet have no English licenses. Why? Because they are made for a younger crowd, and CR caters to an older crowd.

                Lilpri, on the other hand was DEFINITELY aimed at a younger crowd (and failed pretty miserably imo, seeing how it only got 1 season). This one I believe would never have been licensed if not for fansubs, as that was when everything TV Tokyo went to licenses, and that one was skipped.
                Aikatsu, on the other hand, has a definitely link to American fans. http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/convention/2013/anime-boston/6
                “There’s no U.S. license for the series yet, but if fans like it enough and are vocal about it, it may get a U.S. release, so Ozaki asked fans to please support it.”
                Daisuki got a 2 month license for it in October 2014, meaning fans in the US were vocal about it. US fans wouldn’t know about it without fansubs.

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          • https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1311401276/little-witch-academia-2

            > The episode was made available to be viewed on the internet shortly after the premier, and many support and comments were given. To answer to these voices, we have decided to create a sequel to the episode. We also found out about Kickstarter through the comments given by the fans oversea.

            Though it is arguable whether one (or a few) positive examples would mean there’s a trend. Anyway, LWA2 was made possible mostly by fansubs, which is one recent good thing they brought about. ;)

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            • Didn’t they make it available on the internet themselves? Or did that come later? I know I’ve seen an official source on YouTube, but I’ve also seen fansubs so maybe it took a while for them to get their version out.

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