Fansubs, downloading, and the industry

If you're up and about the anime scene, you most likely download fansubs. And if you also read AnimeNewsNetwork, you've probably read Justin Sevakis's open letter to the industry. If you haven't click here. Since he wrote so much I'm only gonna offer a small opinion.

Being from both the fansub scene and the world of production(not necesarily anime), I can see how much a fansub can help and hurt an anime. I agree with pretty much everything that Justin said, the industry does need a dramatic change. Let me tell yo what a wonderful thing it is to be able to download anime. I can watch a series entirely and then decide if I wanna buy it or not. I don't have much money so I am left drooling sometimes for DVDs. The new Death Note vol1 brings a very cool Ryuk figure, and the Suzumiya limited set was just awesome, so it's not like buying them is not worth it. The problem is that I am selective with what I watch and what I decide to buy in the end, I sometimes want to only watch a series, which would be like only watching the TV airing in Japan, and then not buying the DVDs. Therefore I agree the market needs to be more niche, the few people that like to go out and buy DVDs are likely as selective to buy stuff as I am.

Another thing is that we want our anime now. The industry needs to look for new ways to keep up. I know a ton of people who watch stuff on streaming sites, why not make a _good_ streaming site for the stuff you license, viewable in high speed and decent(not high) quality, and charge a small monthly fee for it? Maybe even ofer it next day from the original airing. I'd pay for that, and then buy the DVDs if I liked it, which is another alternative. Make DVDs limited editions.

People who download and never buy weren't going to buy the product even if he didn't have the download alternative, so it's not really a loss when those people only download and don't buy. Shrink up the market a little, and make DVDs more limited. The industry isn't dead and it's an industry we love, so for now let's buy the DVDs of shows we like and support them while they change. In due time they'll see that they have to change, Bandai has even noticed, so let's see what they have in store for us these following years.