Pirating Anime (for translation purposes)

Quote from the Sega Genesis game, Zero Wing... now a meme

I came across this article today on the tech site Ars Technica about anime fans who pirate anime shows and alot of the points mentioned I can totally agree with. Although I would have to say that I don't condone the illegal downloading of copyrighted material. (for those who know me, you know I just had to say that) I can see why fans of the genre do resort to such activities.

From Ars Technica:

But the bigger issue is the quality of these translations, which are crucial for enjoying a foreign-language series.

"As for why I continue to pirate anime that I can get legally," said Otaku2, "the main reason is because I strongly prefer fansubs over professional subbing. The fansub groups tend to keep more of the cultural idioms intact whereas professional subs just Americanize the sh*t out of everything."

"Fansubbers do a better job striking a balance between cultural references," agreed Otaku1. "And when something is obscure, they'll flash a half-second explanation on the screen you can pause later to read."

This, I would have to say, is the number one reason that someone like me might resort to downloading anime from Bit Torrent sites or other sources. Most American translations of anime are crap. At least those done professionally by the studio. They either translate the material wrong, or as was quoted, they Americanize the content. You see, I want to see the original Japanese words put into the right context. There have been many instances where you can tell that something is left out, or where they're supposed to reference Japanese culture but exchange it for American.

Continued from the website:

Otaku3 chimed in. "Fansubs also go out of their way to point out cultural stuff in the video itself, whereas 'official' dubs or even subs just try to pretend it doesn't exist. Some fansubs even go so far as to have screenfuls of text at the beginning or end to explain the cultural context of a particular episode."

On top of the subtitles, alot of times when anime is released in America they tend to cut or censor it. Which makes it necessary for die-hard fans to find the originals online and download subtitles from sites like Open Subtitles or Subscene.

I think they should just start adding multiple subtitles to these shows/movies when they do release them on DVD or stream them online.