It’s not necessarily comics-related directly, but this strikes me as something that may have reprecussions for manga fandom:
Bandai Entertainment has announced that it will seek to quash fansubs of the upcoming Ghost in the Shell feature, for which it has the U.S. rights (along with Manga Entertainment)…
In the announcement, Bandai said that it will “take all measures available to stop the illegal distribution of its titles…” Bandai Entertainment president Ken Iyadomi said of the fansubbing practice (which makes translations available for illegally downloaded anime before they are released in the U.S.), “Fansubs, even those not sold for profit, are harmful to our properties and industry overall and we will be watching closely to make sure our rights regarding SSS are not infringed.”
…This move by Bandai marks a new, more aggressive stance, which is likely to be controversial in the otaku community.
August 23rd, 2006 at 2:18 pm
I’ve bought two defective DVD’s from Bandai in the past year. I hope if they are going to all this effort to squash fansubs, that at least there won’t be any problems with the U.S. release.
August 23rd, 2006 at 3:09 pm
Something to remember – fansubbers are supposed to cease and desist all fansubbing of a title as soon as a U.S. license for distribution is announced. My older son downloads a lot of fansubs, and he told me about this. Those who ignore this just make it hard for the fansubbers who do follow “the rules.” Bandai is not declaring war on anime fans, just restating the rules fansubbers are supposed to follow in order for the companies to leave them alone. BTW, we purchase the commercially produced anime as they are released, even after we’ve watched the fansubs.
August 23rd, 2006 at 4:02 pm
I thought Bandai had already declared war on fans by flooding the market with shitty Gundam games.
September 2nd, 2006 at 1:30 am
Stupid Bandai can’t see fansub make a huge publicite of theirs products and FREE.
Fansub is a necesity for fans, no freaking way I will buy a serie that I did’t see first. Plus NOT ALL THE OTAKUs live in USA.