Underground

Thanks to Yume, I became aware of one groups ambition to legalise fansubbing. International Anime Distribution (IAD) opened up their site, blog and forums stating their plans. The forums have had quite a lot of nonsense posted by irate posters who don't get it.

I had a good discussion back on PSOQuest forums a while ago which unfortunately I did not back-up. There were lots of good points made but when it came down to looking at law, it was quite simple. Fansubs are illegal, whether you like it or not, that's the short and tall of it. Since I've not got a copy of all my research, there is a very nice article about it on ANN. I think people see a few facts and misinterpret it or read up on something that doesn't relate entirely and that accounts for the reputation that it falls into a "grey area" which makes fansubbing fine.

With that said, I don't really want to concentrate too much more on the legality of fansubbing. I'll just make doubly sure, it's not legal so there is nothing to discuss. I am more interested in what IAD are attempting and the response that has been giving by some of the posters on the IAD forums.

IAD's plan seems akin to iTunes. With iTunes it was, there's definitely a market for downloading tracks as mp3s or whatnot and there is a userbase that will support a legal method of doing so. IAD see something similar here and are trying to create a market. One thing that iTunes had in its favour was the iPod. You have a product that is generally thought of as a cool and a must-have. Combine that with a method of delivery which seemlessly integates and you have a reason for people to purchase as well as a good way for them to consume.

People will often point to a particular fansub group's work as being superior to the translation done by a company that has licenced it for DVD release. I've said it myself that companies should hire some of the better fansub groups out there to provide subtitles for the anime with their typical care and attention to detail. With that desire to flesh out a whole series and provide cultural and historical notes to allow better understanding and enjoyment rather than altering things to remove such a need.

It's getting licences of anime and then letting fansubbers do their thing as normal, the change coming in that we the viewers will help the fansubbers to pay for the licence. It's a bold step and one which could impact the fansubbing community but there are quite a few obstacles still in its way.

I think the most obvious thing is that it's likely we'll get quality subs we expect which will put some pressure on the major companies subbing and dubbing right now. Ideally it'll push up the quality across the board as each tries to outdo the other.

This is provided that IAD can get fansubbers on side. By and large the fansubbing community is respective of the work of the creators. Once an anime is licenced in the US, groups will usually drop a series. I can see some groups welcome this and look into joining the initiative. The aim of fansubbing is to allow us to see an anime in its original form as the creator intended; to drive anticipation and create a market for the anime.

If viewers are paying, they'll demand scheduled releases as quick as possible. People moan already at the speed of some groups and fansubbers would only be inundated by more people complaining as they would now feel they've invested something into the work. As opposed to the current model where fansubbers only need to answer to themselves as they are the ones investing time and effort. I would imagine this driving some groups insane and not wanting to partake in such a model.

As the scene grows more are drawn to fansubbing however you'll often find groups swarming around certain series. The popular ones can have more groups subbing than you know what to do with. The lesser known titles, well you'll be lucky to find even one group subbing. An obvious benefit of this means that rather than having to find a good company that will continue to sub throughout the lifespan of the series, you'll now only have one. On top of this, more groups will branch out to sub other lesser known titles. A big problem we may have is that a group of lesser quality may end up subbing a series we'd rather a better group did. It happens already, such as 4Kids dubbing One Piece.

The main problem that I see is the price in conjunction with the medium. When buying an anime on DVD you can pay anywhere from £10-20 for a new release. However, it comes on hard media. Paying something similar for a download only may not sit too well with everyone, there's something intangible about actually buying and owning an original output from a company. In addition, if the medium is going to be something like direct downloads or Bit Torrent, it has the very simple and easy possibility of people distributing it without having paid for it initially. It'll be in a ready-to-distribute format with a community that seems to be very divided by it all.

A possible way to build in some robustness to this model is by trying a similar idea out to the music market. Why not take advantage of PSP users? It currently seems to be the vogue thing to have so combining that with the fansubs and you may get a dedicated core of people using it as Apple have managed.

There's definitely some questions that still need sorting and it's still working out fansubbers, series and distribution but it's cetainly a bold step. If it can sort out price and distribution with good quality groups, it could be a great move to see regular releases as well as maybe seeing some of the lesser known series given more priority. However, there is a element of the community there that vehemently opposes this and IAD will need to overcome them by getting on the good side of as many quality subbers and distribution sites as possible. It'll definitely be a struggle.

The Answer to Life, the Universe, and Everything

So there I was sitting and thinking about the pros and cons of various formations. Is 4-5-1 contributing to bad football matches this season and would changing to the traditional 4-4-2 make any changes? Is the quality of matches really that bad and boring or is the media making stuff up as they don't have anything to write about David Beckham?

Whilst debating this in my mind I came to an epiphany. Why think about 4-5-1 versus 4-4-2 when I could write about it? Why limit it to football formations when I could tackle the some of the toughest questions known to mankind?

Well having had a fair few rants to effectively train me up, I decided to embark on a great adventure, to hopefully provide definitive answers to some of the greatest questions posed by mankind.

The plan is, in addition to my usual rants, to tackle questions and slowly work my way up to tougher, more complex questions.

The first question: Daddy or Chips.