Derfel's articles and other writings as of 11/04/09

D

Derfel

Dandy Guy, in Space
I have been working on my own site for some days now, and have produced two acceptable quality articles so far:

The critical state of the anime industry
The anime industry currently is, one could say, ’in big trouble’. Anime has become an international business, one with a very insufficient legal frame and taxonomy. It is an orphaned child for which no one wants to take responsibility. Japan’s trademark produce is being suffocated by the incompetence and a general unwillingness to act in pursuit of improvement on the part of politicians and businessmen alike. Both legal and business issues arise in this context, and they may be divided in total into four categories:

1, The slow withering of the industry

2, The ineptitude of the legislature in cultural matters

3, The distribution of anime overseas

4, The effect of piracy
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A Historical Overview of Anime

The earliest example of Japanese animation was discovered in 2005. A three second short animation, drawn upon celluloid. It depicts a boy writing 活動写真 (moving picture).[5] This was produced circa 1907.[6] Animation itself is a western invention, which was pioneered in the early 1900’s and gradually developed the grand industry it now has.[7] The notion of manga[8]is no mystery to any of us, and it has, for decades, been an essential part of the Japanese world. So, as logical, after the reception of animation technology, Japanese artists used manga a foundation from which they built individual anime.[9] But let us not jump ahead so much. The history of pre- war anime can be broken up into two ’generations’ in accordance with the artists who served as the flagbearers and forerunners of these. The forefathers of anime.[10]
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They are excerpts both, you can read the articles if you follow the links (in the titles).
 
Your short essay on piracy reads well and is properly referenced. Though I don't agree that R1 companies (4kids et al aside) still have a tendency to edit their shows to fit a younger audience on DVD releases and whatnot, you've backed up such claims with a recent article.

Based on personal experience and anecdotal evidence elsewhere, there are some factors you don't explicitly mention in your article, factors which I think are relevant to your subject matter. These include:

-The ongoing threat of bootlegs to legitimate DVD sales.

-The way in which Japanese studios are financed entirely by merchandise and DVD sales, themselves often having to pay the TV studios to air their shows.

-The difference in price for R1 and R2 anime DVDs compared to domestic productions, stemming from the Japanese companies' fear of reverse importation and handling of anime DVDs as a strictly niche product intended mainly for collectors.

-The limitations of legal streaming to a global fanbase (region locking etc), especially compared with the fansubs they aim to replace.

There are other issues affecting the UK only, as I am sure you are aware, but these aren't exclusive to anime fandom.

I hope you keep contributing to your site, as you've mentioned several political points I didn't know. Keeping your ears to the ground and scouring through debates on assorted forums could be of some benefit, as now and then little nuggets of industrial information crop up.
 
Zin5ki said:
-The ongoing threat of bootlegs to legitimate DVD sales.
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I will be honest here, I have not even thought about that. Though yeah, I was quite pissed when my Death and Rebirth DVD from ebay had 'Drath and Rebirth' written on it. I think that this issue could easily be tackled by raising awareness, no one wants to pay for fakes after all.

Zin5ki said:
-The way in which Japanese studios are financed entirely by merchandise and DVD sales, themselves often having to pay the TV studios to air their shows.
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I thought about this, but couldn't find a solution to it. I promise to look into this deeper.

Zin5ki said:
-The difference in price for R1 and R2 anime DVDs compared to domestic productions, stemming from the Japanese companies' fear of reverse importation and handling of anime DVDs as a strictly niche product intended mainly for collectors.
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I think that this is a matter for the legislature as well. I mean, really, so long as there are black lines in H doujinshi, the only possible reaction is a bitter smile.

Zin5ki said:
-The limitations of legal streaming to a global fanbase (region locking etc), especially compared with the fansubs they aim to replace.
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I can't argue with that. I have just recently seen a post on crunchyroll to the extent that they have licensing issues in x country, so fans will be unable to view it.

Zin5ki said:
There are other issues affecting the UK only, as I am sure you are aware, but these aren't exclusive to anime fandom.
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Do you by any chance mean the old obscenity/indecency laws or the fresh extreme pornography one? When I heard about the latter, I immediately thought "Wait! How often is sexual intercourse consensual in hentai?" Oh yeah, not to mention all the loli either.

Yeah, I'll do my best to create interesting and informative articles. That last point you raised, I think I should look into extreme pornography laws and anime. :D
 
Derfel said:
Do you by any chance mean the old obscenity/indecency laws or the fresh extreme pornography one? When I heard about the latter, I immediately thought "Wait! How often is sexual intercourse consensual in hentai?" Oh yeah, not to mention all the loli either.
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I suppose the legality of adult content is relevant to some areas of the fandom. It's an issue in many countries though, Australia being an example.
When I was considering the UK situation though, I had in mind bodies such as the BBFC and HM Customs, and the effects they could have on the price of domestic and imported anime respectively.
 
I've decided to sign that petition, based on your recommendation. This article should make a useful reference for those unaware of the proposals.
 
Thank you. I think too, that there isn't much awareness, especially considering that people could become criminals overnight.

Not to mention, that the bill if passed could catch, say, a peeping child, or some of the more visual 'high school anime', 'sexual awakening' sort of titles, which are undeniably very popular.

Or another example: the tides of Naruto doujinshi.

I mean, there's no arguing with a judge when it comes to his/her precious moral values, and reputation.
 
Wow. That was informative. I think i'll be signing that petition.

Srsly... Criminal for liking Hentai. What's this world coming too.
 
Thank you.

To be honest, I don't agree with the 18 classification of sex, violence, drugs, you name it. But it is almost impossible to find really authoritative sources that argue for this position. And my opinion alone is, well, not very authoritative. :D

But yeah, I totally see your point. I've watched Urutsukidoji around 15, and I'm not going around raping people and mutilating them.

Besides, its just an attempted hanging. Surely, anyone must have seen more serious stuff on TV, live-action that is.

Yeah, luckily we have fansubs and raws. Though TV anime often gets edited, unfortunately. I remember how devastated I was when watching Witchblade TV.
 
Derfel said:
Thank you.

To be honest, I don't agree with the 18 classification of sex, violence, drugs, you name it. But it is almost impossible to find really authoritative sources that argue for this position. And my opinion alone is, well, not very authoritative. :D

But yeah, I totally see your point. I've watched Urutsukidoji around 15, and I'm not going around raping people and mutilating them.

Besides, its just an attempted hanging. Surely, anyone must have seen more serious stuff on TV, live-action that is.

Yeah, luckily we have fansubs and raws. Though TV anime often gets edited, unfortunately. I remember how devastated I was when watching Witchblade TV.
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Exactly. I mean lets face it, you see more attempted suicide, and, in many cases, suicide in TV Soap Operas. I don't watch these but, inevitably I hear about how so-and-so has killed so-and-so on Coronation St. or something.

/Sigh. Whats the world coming to??
 
I have just finished writing a, err, a writing, for which I created the 'pisstake' category, but classified it as an article at the same time.

It is an anime flavoured (ergo clearly a pisstake :D) introduction to the Scots law of Delict, or Psychiatric Injury to be more accurate. Includes detailed illustrations. :D

Hopefully you'll enjoy it lol.
 
As a suggestion, perhaps you could look into the problems of legal streaming in your next article, an issue you've expressed an interest in already.
I've read through and participated in several threads on the subject, the existing state of affairs seemingly dividing the fanbase on the question of whether it is satisfactory.
It seems to be the case that R1 distributors' hands are bound by Japanese companies only willing to grant restrictive streaming rights, or that the former cannot legally provide services to regions in which other distribution companies operate. Smaller companies in other regions can perhaps stream shows themselves, but this just replicates the state of affairs regarding DVD sales; people being confined to only the fruits of their domestic industries.
Do you think there's a solution to the problems of legal red tape, or will 'selective streaming' remain an ineffective tool against illegal activity?
 
I will investigate the matter. :D This looks like a hard one. I'm expecting the sources to be sporadic. Well, a nice challenge.
 
That's quite a technical article, one which should help those who may question the legality of some aspects of their fandom.
However, when mentioning streaming, you've focused on what appears to be fansub redistribution through video sharing websites.

Though I mean not to criticise something you appear to have spent a whole night writing, when considering 'legal streaming' I had in mind sites such as Crunchyroll, Funimation's video site and the ANN video selection. Online distributors who're combating fansubs by releasing free ad-supported anime streams, but who fall short of an effective solution due to the legal restrictions of the sort which I brought up previously. I'm sorry if I was ambiguous in my previous request.

Essentially, this is the problem of the "video not available in your region" message. No clear solution exists at the moment, thanks to legal red tape and the lack of a localised streaming advertising system for all areas in the world. Some discourse on the current state of the official streaming websites would make for an interesting read though, and a useful reference to give to others.

Of course, I don't expect you to research or write about such a subject if it doesn't interest you. You're free to do things at your leisure, which I assume is the purpose of your site in the first place.
 
Ah sure, I'll cover that too.
No its not that I'm not interested in it, but I sorta read a few articles and things on the other topic, and thought 'Yeah, lets do this!'
 
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