Ethics and Legalities

In the beginning, fan subbers created a self-imposed code of ethics upon which they held themselves to, and many still bind themselves to these cornerstone rules:

• Cease production and/or distribution once the anime is licensed. The purpose of fan subs is promotion, not proliferation. Anime companies will see what fans are watching and will eventually license those anime for domestic release.
• Provide fan subs free of charge. fan subs are by fans and for fans. They have no commercial intent, so there should never be any profit made off of them. Most fan sub groups also include a note in the openings and eye catches which typically reads like this: "This is a free fan sub. Not for sale, rent or auction."
• If you enjoyed the anime, buy the official release. This ties in with the first point. Once again, the intent of fan subs is to cause awareness of a particular anime in hopes that it will be licensed for domestic release. If you liked the anime enough of fan sub, it’s strongly encouraged that you purchase the official release, consequently providing the anime licensor with more capital with which to license more anime you might enjoy.

Fan subs are illegal. No ifs, ands, buts, nors or ors about it. Copyright laws determined by the Berne Convention and the WTO TRIPS agreement, both of which have been signed by the United States and Japan, specifically state that if it is copyrighted in the U.S., you can't legally copy it in Japan and vice versa. If you fan sub an anime from a legal source (i.e. the official VHS, DVD or Laserdisc... not television) you purchased, that's perfectly legal; what isn't legal is the actual fan sub distribution to other people, as well as the distributed copies.

Anime Industry

The anime industry's roots can be traced back to before World War II, but only in recent history has the industry boomed and international licensing companies like ADV Films, Bandai Entertainment and Media Blasters have come into existence. This has led to the proliferation of anime across many countries; where it was once all but impossible to get anime outside of Japan, it's now possible for fans in distant regions of the world to get the latest anime only a year after it aired on television or the big screen. Such breakthroughs are owed to advancements in technology and the anime industry's quest for the almighty dollar or Yen. It's a business, after all, so there is no shame in saying that they're in it for the money.

Following this, the only real line of ethics one could apply to the anime industry is two-fold: don't make fans angry, and protect your property. However, these two principles often clash, especially when it comes to fan subs. On one hand, the industry likes customers (how else are they going to make money?) and is hesitant to get on their bad side by being heavy-handed with regards to fan subs. On the other hand, the industry needs to safeguard its own property lest it lose an overwhelming amount of revenue and cannot financially bounce back.

With regards to legalities, the anime industry is on the right side of the law. They own the rights to the anime, and if they are ever on the wrong side of the law, a lot of crap will hit the fan. Simply put, commercial distribution of unlicensed material is a criminal offense.

Their Relationship

As one can imagine, fan subbers and the anime industry are't polar opposites, but their modern relationship is tenuous. On one side, both groups do coexist with one another:

• Fan subs as advertisement. No business in their right mind would ever want to pass up on "free" advertising, and anime is no exception. Fans see a product, they may enjoy it and then they might purchase it from the company. An overly simple sequence of events, but it illustrates what may happen. Granted, the company may not always get a sale, but the customer had an opportunity to see the product and determine whether they liked it.
• Fan subs as indicators. The anime industry watches over fan subbers and, in particular, what they fan sub. Part of why they do this is because fan subbers are also fans, and fans know what fans want best. If a lot of people are downloading Anime A but not Anime B, then licensing companies will want to pick up Anime A for domestic release; by catering to what fans enjoy, companies are able to establish lines of revenue and more loyal customers.

On the other hand, both groups are also at odds with one another:

• New-age fan sub favorite

  Fan subbing after licensing. As I said earlier, many fan subbers adhere to the original fan subbing creed, but "many" is not "all." Today, the first rule is the one most often broken. A licensing company may send out press releases stating their ownership of the distribution rights of Anime A in a particular area of the world. While many fan sub groups will drop Anime A and even suggest that fans buy the domestic release, there will usually be fan sub groups working on Anime A even after the company contacts them asking that they cease production and distribution. Due in part to the amount of anonymity provided by the Internet, many fall into a mindset that can only be described as an illusion of invulnerability from anime companies. This gives rise to a few reasons as to why a fan sub group may continue fan subbing an anime after it's been licensed: they simply don't follow fan subbing ethics from the past era, want an outlet to fight against commercial interests, want to keep providing anime to fans because official releases don't arrive on shelves overnight and don't want to stop working on an anime only part of the way through. There are many other reasons, too.
• Licensing companies sitting on anime. Due to reasons known (and sometimes unknown) to the public and fans, licensing companies will sit on a particular anime. By this, I mean that they don't release the anime at all or only do a partial release. Such cases are limited, but when they do exist, it causes some fan subbers to want to provide some or all of the anime in question for fans; if the fans can't watch the anime in its entirety, these fan subbers often feel that the company has betrayed a certain trust.
• Why buy what I already have? Although they weren't originally intended to be direct competition for the official releases, fan subs are sometimes seen as suitable substitutes to fans. While lacking multiple languages, commentaries, director/producer interviews, et al., modern fan subs have audio and video quality near to that of DVDs thanks to the development of better codecs. Thus, it's argued by the anime industry that fan subs cause a direct loss of revenue because fans are unwilling to spend money on the official release. However, it's uncertain just how much money is actually lost. While online surveys generally suggest that fans are likely to buy the official release if they enjoyed the fan subbed show, the validity of such polls is heavily contested. It's also uncertain how much revenue is lost due to market over-saturation (i.e. fans have so many anime to choose from yet only have a limited amount of money to spend on anime), not to mention that the cost of the anime's official DVD/VHS ties directly into this.
• This isn't what I paid for! While not that frequently occurring, licensing companies do sometimes edit anime for content; to what degree is subjective. This is often done due to vast differences in the Japanese and English languages as well as cultural divides; people may not understand the jokes and references originally put into the anime, or the content may not be considered suitable for a Western audience, so cuts and changes are made. This comes back to fan subs because they are largely unedited copies of what originally aired on Japanese television or DVD. While some fans may not care or know about these changes in the anime, other fans do and know, therefore they may be inclined to download the fan subs so they may watch the anime as it was originally intended to be.

Like I said, this is both interesting and messy. There's an awkward symbiotic relationship between fan subbers and the anime industry that will not change for the foreseeable future, and continued stress on either's part will not help matters whatsoever.

Likewise, the Anime Academy's position on fan subs is just as tenuous as the waltz to which fan subbers and the anime industry dance. Let's face it: without fan subs, anime outside of Japan would not enjoy the enormous success that it does today. Regardless of legality or ethics, it was and continues to be the mean that justifies the end.

As it would be against our better judgment to directly promote the distribution of fan subs, it would likewise be irresponsible of us to simply turn a blind eye to the practice and pretend that anime fans haven't benefited from it in one way or another. And as an entity that resides on the Internet (the same venue that serves as the gateway for modern-day fan subs), the Anime Academy serves as a hub of information catering to an audience that thinks "hot off the presses" is an antiquated credo. The fan today wants it now, nevermind the fact that it may originate thousands of miles across vast oceans. To that end, fan subs may serve as a viable resource; the logistics and red tape associated with legally acquiring distribution rights cannot hope to satiate a hungry fan's appetite.

Be that as it may, my only wish from today's lecture is that Professor Eek has shed some light on the "dark underbelly" of anime fandom for you. Arming you with knowledge is our responsibility; what you do with it is yours.

Return to Fan Subs: Part I...