Otaku Champloo

Finding your place in this strange copyright mess

Posted on 25. Oct, 2007 by Khursten in Insights

Okay. So Japan requests that America should put some kind of regulation with the distribution of anime online¹ . Perhaps in the same strength that Odex tries to control the Singapore market? A part of me says that this kind of deal is fair. When I read stories of animators and mangakas and their hard lives, it’s just right to put some money in their pocket for the thousands of animes and mangas downloaded at a time.

But, there’s also a part of me who is rather troubled. For a small country like mine, a country who doesn’t have a large array of licensed animes and mangas for sale on the shelves (except for Voltes V and Daimos and a dreadful set of mangas), downloading online seems to be the best option if you’re really a big fan of this genre. Some can wait. But for those who can’t, IRC and torrents are the way to go. Not everyone has big paychecks to order their favorite mangas and anime online. $15 dollars for a manga (if you include the shipping) is quite costly for many fans. All the more if they have to spend $30 for a DVD of an anime. Many anime fans are students and many (like myself) wait until they get a decent job for them to even start investing on these kinds of things.

We can buy things a little cheaper if we buy it straight from Japan (shipping is a breeze too!) however that means that we have to understand Japanese since those that come from Japan are not translated. Not everyone in the Philippines has that extra cash for Japanese lessons unless they took basics of it in their college classes… which is not even enough to make you understand manga or anime. -_-;; You can also do it my way and spend years of your life studying everything from photocopies of your friends Japanese books and learn Japanese by yourself (with some aid from your growing set of Japanese friends.) The task is arduous for many and for sure, they’ll just head back to those torrent sites to read them in English.

Filipinos also have this really interesting attitude wherein they say “Why spend when you can get it for free?” As long as we know we can get it cheaper or for free elsewhere, then we won’t bother getting the real deal being sold in shops. It’s true. I admit having bought pirated stuff in my youth, but that was when I was a student and had a meager allowance (although my classmates would contest to that since I was lucky that I can actually buy something while they mooch from me). For $2, we could buy a DVD of a 25 episode anime, prolly something mooched off torrents. It’s a cost that many can shoulder. It’s also a cost many people take advantage of.

In a country like mine, where there are burgeoning fans who are enjoying anime due to its availability on local TV, the repercussions of this logical request can be a lethal blow for fans who would like to keep a copy of their favorite shows and mangas easily available in their DVD spindles, hard drives, and flash discs. We have to admit that the standard of living here is poor and a dollar can mean life and death for many. The key here is availability. We want them. And I’m sure if they appropriate it locally, we might be able to find the right price for us. If the price is right, then we’ll definitely buy them.

The only solution? Maybe local stations and productons should start distribution rights to anime just like how ODEX got rights to rightfully distribute it in Singapore. There are similar anime distributors in Indonesia too. Publishers should also consider the local market for manga. There’s already two mangas translated in Tagalog. Why not add more titles? English-translated mangas have also been sold locally too? Why not add more? It kind of sucks that the market doesn’t consider the anime community as a serious market probably due to the fact that they think that animes will always be a kid thing. *sigh*

1. Link via Manga Blog [↩]

Related posts

• Spotting the Difference (1)
• out of the hole (0)
• Nodame attack. Yet again. ><;; (3)
• Mixing East with the West. (0)
• Is it safe already? (1)

Tags: RL