Anime dead in U.S.?

[NejinOniwa]

Cheer up.
Being a pirate makes things a world easier. You get access to the Warp Zone from the start of the game, yo~ -w-

Added after 6 minutes:

That said, it does also give you the most economically powerful entities in this world as bitter enemies, so you're quite sure to be in hard.
Heh -w-

[Vash342]

Software pirates also drive segways.

[NejinOniwa]

Oh yeah, I drive a segway, that's right, I didn't know that. I think pretty much every single one of the Pirate Party members also do, damn, straight to the point there, man! You have a knack for this!

-.-

What's your point, besides pointing out that segways are faggotry worse than WHEN I WAS?

[Vash342]

You were emo?  o_o

[NejinOniwa]

I am utterly oblivious to how you got to that conclusion, but the enlightenment can be skipped for now. And no.

[Sora]

Anyone here vote for the piracy party? If so, you are the reason Anime is dying.
P.S. Do you have any idea how hard it is to come up with an original story? All the good stories of modern times are good recycles like Harry Potter (recycle of wizard/witch stories plus High school romance) and Twilight (recycle of vampire romance/high school romance).

[NejinOniwa]

Twilight isn't a good recycle, anyone who thinks so should seriously consider getting themselves run over by an old oak.

And secondly, you appear to be completely uninitiated into the world of information politics. Read up before you try too hard, boi.

Thirdly, I'm a damn writer myself, I am quite aware of the various hardships involved with the occupation, thank you very much.

[Chocofreak13]

[edit] CHOCO'S RANT [/edit]

screw that idea, sora! piracy is what's helping keep anime ALIVE. all the companies that distro it in the US charge over-exuberant prices, leaving us POOR *emphasis on POOR* saps to choose: legal, broke, and having 1 dvd in our collection, or semi-legal, un-broke, and having several titles at our disposal?

"piracy" is our justice. it also opens doors to animes that would otheriwse go unnoticed. do i see any dvds of Hetalia Axis Powers on the shelves of my local FYE? no, i don't. all i see is one or two titles of anything halfway decent, mixed in with the pile of pokemon rip-offs and yugioh fucktard spinoffs. and for the grand ol' price of FORTY FUCKING DOLLARS. i can barely afford a goddamn 14 dollar rice cooker.

so no, do not DON piracy. DON the corporate jerk-offs for charging us more than we can afford for stuff that no one but us buys.

and as for originality, let the lazy masses get off their asses and have an IMAGINATION for once. have we seen furry space pirate steampunk anime? no, we haven't.

[NejinOniwa]

In during DON!.

[IanDanKilmaster]

Sora, Choco, I must respectfully point out that you are both wrong.

As pretty much pointed out earlier in this thread, people who solely pirate aren't people who would buy the anime to begin with.  So how would that equate to lost revenue?  Pirates aren't a harm to an industry they had no interest in supporting to begin with.

Choco, really?  Pirates help the industry?  I know you've really jumped on this bandwagon, but I think you're making a statement of fanatical devotion.  For the same reasons I mentioned above, how is pirating helping?  Where's the money in it, other than revenue generated on ad-based pirating websites?

I think the truth to the recent slump of anime in the US is that it was caused by two factors: 1) recession 2) shitty quality.  The first one, well, is pretty much obvious, the second one (as also stated by Myrdin) is going to be a little hard for some to swallow.  Recent anime (not just the stuff on TV, but shows recommended by friends) is pretty much meh.  Perhaps, shitty is a bit strong to use, since mediocre is more accurate, but still nothing really worth the watching.  The genre is in a dire need of revitalization because right now there's so much mecha, magical girl, school girl, moe, etc. just inundating the market right now.  Everything is just so redundant now... need some new shit.

[NejinOniwa]

The QUALITY issue is all too true.
However, that's also an issue that's originating from the design of japanese anime business -> american anime SLAVE business, simply that the mother corporations/license owners often decide pretty much everything - that, or the licensees themselves do a crap job on marketing, translation, FUCKAWFUL DUBBING, etc. And now, when we have an anime industry which goes absolutely nowhere on the international scene, the fansubbers - who in much and many things are very passionate/interested/lulz-devoted to the subbing - do FANCY work, and since they're not forced to adapt to the "market" to "survive" since those terms hardly exist in fansubbing at all aside from keeping the team together, they're pretty much free to do whatever they want. It also helps that the fansubbers in general are PART of the "market" they wish to appeal to - ergo, they make things they, and thus others with like likings, appreciate - and thus their product is highly probable to be successful on the "market", so to say. They have the insider information.

Secondly, on the issue of pirates helping the industry:
It might sound weird, but that is how it is. It's a strange cross-effect, but the fansubbing - in its nature - is a very easy way to get into the fandom, becoming a part of the "market". After that, you're likely to invest some money in it; perhaps not buying actual dvd's and so on (I mean, I don't have any blu-ray drive anywhere close, but I've watched plenty of bluray-ripped->subbed episodes in my time), but very much in buying or consuming things connected to the market. I don't know exactly how the cash flows, true, but I'm quite sure that if some clothesmaker is making a fuckwad of Haruhi t-shirts/posters/whatever to sell on some western con, they'd rather not be buttfucked by KyoAni/Kadokawa/whoever owns that license when they get noticed. A Pirate as I am, I know the ways of copyright and its connected money to some degree, at least.
So perhaps not directly, Ian, but most animu pirates DO help the industry in some way. Indirectly, perhaps, but yet.

It's not exactly the same thing as music piracy, which is my main branch of expertise simply because that's what's on-topic on the intellectual property debate these days, but it's similar, to some degree.

[Chocofreak13]

i didn't say piracy helped the INDUSTRY; i just said it helped. it helps the fans, the common otakus who don't have exueberant amounts of bling to spend on over-priced crap.

whil i respect the need to make money, where does it end? the coporations are sacrificing quality and people all in the name of PROFIT. it's disgusting.

i mentioned another point as well, downloading anime is a might bit better due to the VARIETY tht is offered. lots of lovely, original anime is being produced right now--in japan. lovely, original anime that reaches the shelves--in japan. not here. hell, some anime never makes it off the net, or out of the manga. but thanks to the miracle of the internet, we can see these odd, and unique anime without going overboard.

rosetta stone: $500.
plane ticket to japan: $1000.
saving time and money by getting anime direct to your home: priceless.

[NejinOniwa]

Bandwidth: CHEAP AS HELL >:3

[Chocofreak13]

bandwith: NO CAN HAS. :[

i feels stupid. :[

[Sora]

Australia makes about two films a year, and we lose millions to piracy. Japan makes about two films a minute, so imagine how much they lose.