Anime Distributor Launches Piracy Assault, Sues 1337 BitTorrent Users

Ernesto
January 26, 2011
102
anime,
funimation
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Piracy worries and BitTorrent lawsuits have made their way into the generally very liberal anime industry. Last week, the producers of the new anime series Fractale told distributor Funimation to stop the online broadcast of the their show in the United States over piracy concerns, and a few days later Funimation announced a lawsuit against 1337 alleged BitTorrent downloaders.

$fractale$ Piracy is an issue that is troubling many content publishers worldwide, but the responses to copyright infringement differ from company to company. A great example of how not to stop piracy was made by the the producers of the new Anime series Fractale last week.

In an attempt to stop the illicit distribution of the series, the American anime distributor Funimation was ordered by Fractale’s production company to stop the online broadcast of the series on Hulu. The producers wanted Funimation to get rid of all pirated copies online before the broadcast could continue.

An interesting take on how piracy should be dealt with, and arguably one of the worst things a company can do to stop illicit copies from appearing online. Since the broadcast ban was limited to the US but not Europe, it only created an increased demand for pirated copies, while it did little to stop illegal copies from showing up online.

If there’s one thing that TV-distributors should have learned from stpiracy over the years, it would be that making content unavailable to a certain region actually drives the demand for pirated copies.

Just before the second episode of Fractale was due to be released this week, the show’s producers finally gave the green light for the online broadcast to go ahead in the US. They probably realized their mistake, because pirated copies where still easy to find. Both Fractale episodes are now available to US viewers on Hulu, and the storm appeared to be over.

However, after being involved in this Fractale anti-piracy failure last week, Funimation made headlines in the anime community again yesterday, as the company announced lawsuits against 1337 BitTorrent users. Although the number of defendants reveals some sense of humor, the lawsuits are a serious business.

Funimation has sued the 1337 alleged BitTorrent users for downloading episode 481 of One Piece, and is probably looking to settle with the defendants as soon as they are named. The company is represented by lawyer Evan Stone who also filed suits for various adult entertainment companies last year.

In possibly another inside joke aside from picking 1337 defendants, One Piece is a show about “Straw Hat Luffy” and his crew named the Straw Hat Pirates.

The complaint specifically mentions the BitTorrent sites isohunt.com, kickasstorrents.com and nyaatorrents.org as potentially playing a role in the sharing process. Funimation is requesting that the defendants pay damages and destroy all the works they’ve downloaded using BitTorrent.

The above actions are quite unique in the anime community where, more than in most other entertainment industries, most publishers have been quite lenient towards file-sharers. Aside from the negative PR and the potential settlements that will result from the lawsuit, it is however doubtful that it will do much to stop shows from being shared.

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DMZ

1337, made me laugh.
- No
  
  Though if you scour the list apparently there are some repeat IPs, so it’s not really 1337…go figure.
  - Mokkajavva1
    
    where did you find the list of IPs?
guest

“One Piece is a show about “Red-Haired” Shanks and his crew named the Straw Hat Pirates.” Actually it’s about “Straw-Hat” Luffy and his crew named the Straw Hat Pirates. Shanks is a rarely seen character.
- Anonymous
  
  Thanks for correcting me, my sources let me down on this one. Corrected!
Lmanning17

One Piece is not about Red Haired Shanks, it is about Monkey D. Luffy.

Also I am from Canada, and I cannot view Funimation’s low res streams of the Japanese episodes on Hulu because of really shitty distribution laws and whatnot so the ONLY way I am able to watch One Piece is by downloading fansubbed episodes (that are in 720p no less).

It’s interesting how I get a much higher quality “product” from a pirate source than I would from an official source if I was even able to use legal means to watch the shows I want to watch.

I’ve been following One Piece for many years now, before it was licensed for English distribution so the ONLY way I was able to watch it was via piracy. Now that Funimation is releasing English DVDs (with the Japanese sound tracks and English subtitles as well!) I am able to watch it “legally”. But Funimation is years behind in releases, as One Piece now has 483 (and counting) episodes whereas Funimation has less than half of that released. Luckily, they also stream the latest episodes in Japanese with English subtitles as soon as they are released in Japan, which is an AMAZING thing for them to do. BUT I am in Canada, and have no access to that, and it is in pretty terrible quality.

I will continue to download One Piece in HD from fansubbing groups and watch it on my TV, and if anyone thinks that is wrong or immoral, you can stick it. :)
- CookieRaper
  
  That is rather pathetic that you can get better quality from a “pirate” source than the official dinosaurs.
  - Lmanning17
    
    Well, the pirate sources are 1080p RAWs recorded from Japanese TV streams, and then encoded as 720p for easier distribution once the fansubbing is completed (there is really no difference between the two when it comes to 2D animations and such). The fansub group I follow uses internal softsubs so the video is largely unaltered and you can set the font to what ever size you want.
    
    Funimation puts SD streams on Hulu optimized for easy playback on slower connections. Think of it as YouTube’s 360p flvs, haha. And their subs are burned into the image so for Japanese folks living in the states have to suffer the subtitles that they may not need.
    
    It is pretty amazing the effort and quality that a pirate group can put into something like fansubbing simply for the sake of getting the content out there for others to enjoy, whereas the official sources are so locked down and poor quality that it is almost unfortunate that they even exist.
  - Lmanning17
    
    Well, the pirate sources are 1080p RAWs recorded from Japanese TV streams, and then encoded as 720p for easier distribution once the fansubbing is completed (there is really no difference between the two when it comes to 2D animations and such). The fansub group I follow uses internal softsubs so the video is largely unaltered and you can set the font to what ever size you want.
    
    Funimation puts SD streams on Hulu optimized for easy playback on slower connections. Think of it as YouTube’s 360p flvs, haha. And their subs are burned into the image so for Japanese folks living in the states have to suffer the subtitles that they may not need.
    
    It is pretty amazing the effort and quality that a pirate group can put into something like fansubbing simply for the sake of getting the content out there for others to enjoy, whereas the official sources are so locked down and poor quality that it is almost unfortunate that they even exist.
    - Vikingchick
      
      No it’s not that surprising.
      
      It just illustrates that passionate human beings are more generous, helpful and competent than a greedy and profit driven corporation will ever be.
      
      Socialists and anarchists have known that since the 19th century.
    - Vikingchick
      
      No it’s not that surprising.
      
      It just illustrates that passionate human beings are more generous, helpful and competent than a greedy and profit driven corporation will ever be.
      
      Socialists and anarchists have known that since the 19th century.
    - Vikingchick
      
      No it’s not that surprising.
      
      It just illustrates that passionate human beings are more generous, helpful and competent than a greedy and profit driven corporation will ever be.
      
      Socialists and anarchists have known that since the 19th century.
    - reculeor
      
      >Well, the pirate sources are 1080p RAWs recorded from Japanese TV streams
      Japanese TV is broadcast in 1080i for HD, so that’s why it’s natural to encode it 720p.
    - Lmanning17
      
      Aah, whoops, my bad. Thanks for the correction.
    - Lmanning17
      
      Aah, whoops, my bad. Thanks for the correction.
    - Lmanning17
      
      Aah, whoops, my bad. Thanks for the correction.
    - <3 Pirate
      
      You should see how ugly those 1080i transport stream rips are… They encode them as small as possible, while keeping the material looking as decent as possible on *tvs* (yes, there’s a difference between a tv and a monitor).
  - Lmanning17
    
    Well, the pirate sources are 1080p RAWs recorded from Japanese TV streams, and then encoded as 720p for easier distribution once the fansubbing is completed (there is really no difference between the two when it comes to 2D animations and such). The fansub group I follow uses internal softsubs so the video is largely unaltered and you can set the font to what ever size you want.
    
    Funimation puts SD streams on Hulu optimized for easy playback on slower connections. Think of it as YouTube’s 360p flvs, haha. And their subs are burned into the image so for Japanese folks living in the states have to suffer the subtitles that they may not need.
    
    It is pretty amazing the effort and quality that a pirate group can put into something like fansubbing simply for the sake of getting the content out there for others to enjoy, whereas the official sources are so locked down and poor quality that it is almost unfortunate that they even exist.
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chakka

If only they would create a huuuge streamingwebsite and actually would deliver the anime i like, in reasonable quality at a resonable price i’d be very happy, but they wouldnt think about my country (the netherlands) anyway, so im stuck with pirating since dvd’s are low quality and too expensive (i mean my sallery isnt enough and then ripping it to the computer, yeaah, i dont think so.) i actually like the fansubreleases, they do a great job of providing it the way i like it, exactly how i want it in 1 place (nyaatorrents).

Al entertainment industries have troubles providing me the media in a way i want it.
anonofied

“nyaatorrents.org”, thanks I’ll go check it out
- fagsubber
  
  Go check on irc ;) rizon :P
- fagsubber
  
  Go check on irc ;) rizon :P
- fagsubber
  
  Go check on irc ;) rizon :P
- 5318008
  
  Looks good, Japanese stuff. I love stories like this for picking up good new torrent sites.
Noko

oldfag otaku here.

We have always hated Funimation. Fuck your shitty voice actors.
- Goku
  
  Agree, phucking annoying cartoon accent! I prefer to leave the Japaneses tract as it is and watch the subtitle
- Lmanning17
  
  I agree with this to an extent.
  
  Funimation’s English dubs are more often than not, kind of bad. That being said, Funimation pays a lot of money to license shows from the original copyright holders. Funimation also includes the original Japanese sound tracks and some pretty decent translations in their subtitles. So, by purchasing Funimation’s DVDs, you are giving them the funds to purchase more licenses to bring more content over here “officially”, which in turn supports the original content creators.
  
  Oda gets money from Toei, Toei gets money from Funimation, Funimation gets money form us. it all comes around and we support the industry and the creators.
  
  hate ‘em as much as you want, but if you’re an otaku, you probably wouldn’t listen to the English dubs even if they were good, so that point is kind of moot. Funimation ahs gotten a lot better over the last couple years and supporting them equates you supporting your favourite show’s creators.
  
  :)
  - http://pulse.yahoo.com/_PFCI5VRUCYT6AVBT3P6ILV3COI Ophelia Millais
    
    I would go along with that if Funimation would provide in its DVD licenses a written promise never to sue first-sale purchasers of the DVDs for copyright infringement for having obtained other copies of the same episodes from an unauthorized distributor. That is, if they’re getting money from me for the DVD, and I want to have nice fansub rips (regardless of whether I make them myself or get them from elsewhere) for my personal convenience and noncommerical use (same as the DVD), then I shouldn’t have to worry that I’ll get sued by those companies I supported. All media companies should do this. It wouldn’t put more money in my pocket with which to buy their products, but it would influence whose products I do buy.
  - http://pulse.yahoo.com/_PFCI5VRUCYT6AVBT3P6ILV3COI Ophelia Millais
    
    I would go along with that if Funimation would provide in its DVD licenses a written promise never to sue first-sale purchasers of the DVDs for copyright infringement for having obtained other copies of the same episodes from an unauthorized distributor. That is, if they’re getting money from me for the DVD, and I want to have nice fansub rips (regardless of whether I make them myself or get them from elsewhere) for my personal convenience and noncommerical use (same as the DVD), then I shouldn’t have to worry that I’ll get sued by those companies I supported. All media companies should do this. It wouldn’t put more money in my pocket with which to buy their products, but it would influence whose products I do buy.
  - http://pulse.yahoo.com/_PFCI5VRUCYT6AVBT3P6ILV3COI Ophelia Millais
    
    I would go along with that if Funimation would provide in its DVD licenses a written promise never to sue first-sale purchasers of the DVDs for copyright infringement for having obtained other copies of the same episodes from an unauthorized distributor. That is, if they’re getting money from me for the DVD, and I want to have nice fansub rips (regardless of whether I make them myself or get them from elsewhere) for my personal convenience and noncommerical use (same as the DVD), then I shouldn’t have to worry that I’ll get sued by those companies I supported. All media companies should do this. It wouldn’t put more money in my pocket with which to buy their products, but it would influence whose products I do buy.
- Lmanning17
  
  I agree with this to an extent.
  
  Funimation’s English dubs are more often than not, kind of bad. That being said, Funimation pays a lot of money to license shows from the original copyright holders. Funimation also includes the original Japanese sound tracks and some pretty decent translations in their subtitles. So, by purchasing Funimation’s DVDs, you are giving them the funds to purchase more licenses to bring more content over here “officially”, which in turn supports the original content creators.
  
  Oda gets money from Toei, Toei gets money from Funimation, Funimation gets money form us. it all comes around and we support the industry and the creators.
  
  hate ‘em as much as you want, but if you’re an otaku, you probably wouldn’t listen to the English dubs even if they were good, so that point is kind of moot. Funimation ahs gotten a lot better over the last couple years and supporting them equates you supporting your favourite show’s creators.
  
  :)
- Lmanning17
  
  I agree with this to an extent.
  
  Funimation’s English dubs are more often than not, kind of bad. That being said, Funimation pays a lot of money to license shows from the original copyright holders. Funimation also includes the original Japanese sound tracks and some pretty decent translations in their subtitles. So, by purchasing Funimation’s DVDs, you are giving them the funds to purchase more licenses to bring more content over here “officially”, which in turn supports the original content creators.
  
  Oda gets money from Toei, Toei gets money from Funimation, Funimation gets money form us. it all comes around and we support the industry and the creators.
  
  hate ‘em as much as you want, but if you’re an otaku, you probably wouldn’t listen to the English dubs even if they were good, so that point is kind of moot. Funimation ahs gotten a lot better over the last couple years and supporting them equates you supporting your favourite show’s creators.
  
  :)
Power2All

Old news, so I heared from various anime trackers ^^
- http://twitter.com/beatsofrage Gabriel LaFlex
  
  not everyone who follows the overall torrent scene follows anime trackers…
  
  definitely relevant to my interests, definitely not old news to me
- http://twitter.com/beatsofrage Gabriel LaFlex
  
  not everyone who follows the overall torrent scene follows anime trackers…
  
  definitely relevant to my interests, definitely not old news to me
Behelit

Funimation, the stupid… it burns.

They release crappy quality stuff on DVD and way too expensive.
In the Netherlands One Piece DVD’s are €41,59 for 13 episodes which is just crazy.
The fansubs are way better quality and have subs which are edited in great ways to match the action.

I just don’t understand those things.
Expecting people to pay good sums of money for DVD’s which are just plain worse than the fansubs, it boggles the mind.
markie

That’s a good one. Stop broadcasting a show in a particular country because of piracy concerns.

I guess then there would be no demand for that show in that country then.

Wow what a way to make piracy 1000 times worse. These media folks really know how to stop piracy.
Cavelord

You know how much the Anime Companies would make if they opened up their own torrent tracker and charged $9.99/month for membership? I mean, they wouldn’t even have to do any work. Just let members/fansubs/etc post and share. They keep trying to stop torrents, but they should embrace, and modify the paradigm. The could add there own content, own subbed, and dubbed anime. I for one would sign up for that now instead of a DVD Rental system. Man, that would be cool.

And on a grander scale, if all media companies got together and created a torrent site and allowed all content to be download from them. I would take my Netflix, AnimeDVD, GameStop money and give it to them….
- ziplague
  
  People will still download it for free, even if it costs 1$ per month. That’s just my opinion cus i’m one of those people. If i could spare 9$ per month just to watch a moving picture (i’m an artist myself so i do appreciate the hard work put into this stuff), i’d rather donate this amount to save a hole family from starving to death.
  Nobody in the modern world will starve to death because of Shared digital content.
  Peace.
  - Lmanning17
    
    There will always be people who pirate. That is just fact. But there are a lot of us who pirate because we HAVE to. If I could pay $10/mo for a membership to watch as much anime as I wanted, you’re damn right I would, as would a vast majority of the community. I pirate music because it is usually higher quality than any other digital distribution and the artist barely sees any money from sales anyway.
    
    I always buy music from bandcamp.com though because after reading their “how it works” page, I am simply amazed at how pro-author and pro-consumer it is.
  - Lmanning17
    
    There will always be people who pirate. That is just fact. But there are a lot of us who pirate because we HAVE to. If I could pay $10/mo for a membership to watch as much anime as I wanted, you’re damn right I would, as would a vast majority of the community. I pirate music because it is usually higher quality than any other digital distribution and the artist barely sees any money from sales anyway.
    
    I always buy music from bandcamp.com though because after reading their “how it works” page, I am simply amazed at how pro-author and pro-consumer it is.
  - Lmanning17
    
    There will always be people who pirate. That is just fact. But there are a lot of us who pirate because we HAVE to. If I could pay $10/mo for a membership to watch as much anime as I wanted, you’re damn right I would, as would a vast majority of the community. I pirate music because it is usually higher quality than any other digital distribution and the artist barely sees any money from sales anyway.
    
    I always buy music from bandcamp.com though because after reading their “how it works” page, I am simply amazed at how pro-author and pro-consumer it is.
  - whatever
    
    I look at it this way: I spend about 25 minutes a day finding the content I want to watch, extracting the rars, etc. Purely from a time-spent perspective that means I spend about 10% of my income on content. That means that the break-even point for such a service for me would be a monthly salary of $101.
    Sure, some people will still pirate. But, if they can’t afford to spend even this much, they where never gonna be customers anyway, so from a business perspective, it simply doesn’t matter if they get it for free.
  - Thelamest
    
    thats such a load of BS … really you live in the modern world with access to a pc and internet connection to download and pirate but you wouldnt spare 9$ a month to get a product ?? you could go and someones lawn twice a month and get 9$ .. you could pan handle 9$ on the street in about a hour if you wanted to … and the save a starving family BS, get off your soap box and pull your head out of your ass. P.S. being a artist your self you must know the many many pain staking hours it takes to make these shows, do you just expect the people to do it for free? how are they suposed to make a living if no one is willing to pay for their services ? … at the end of the line that leads to them leaving the market to do something where they can make a profit which leaves you with no more content. Bravo way to destroy something you love cause your a lazy SOB /golfclap
Momo

As shitty as Funimation may be, what they did was what the content producer (or, is it the rightsholder..? they are often not the same) asked them to do.
Anonymous

1337? accidental leetspeak?
- djnforce9
  
  That exact thought crossed my mind too when I saw the title. They think they are so l33t suing us bittorrent users :P.
- Me
  
  I can’t help think there’s a defence right there. “The ‘evidence’ against my client is specious; they have clearly only been joined to this action to make up a required total.”
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anon a mouse

Were they TRYING to be funny by suing 1337 people? lol
- http://twitter.com/beatsofrage Gabriel LaFlex
  
  Naw, but props to ernesto for being funny and leaving the comma out on purpose!
  
  :D
- http://twitter.com/beatsofrage Gabriel LaFlex
  
  Naw, but props to ernesto for being funny and leaving the comma out on purpose!
  
  :D
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noko

Japanese seiyuus > shitty American voice actors.

I’ll stick with my FABULOUS 720p uncensored (usually) fansubs. :>
noko

Japanese seiyuus > shitty American voice actors.

I’ll stick with my FABULOUS 720p uncensored (usually) fansubs. :>
noko

Japanese seiyuus > shitty American voice actors.

I’ll stick with my FABULOUS 720p uncensored (usually) fansubs. :>
Lalal

hey ernesto: http://www.eitb.com/news/life/detail/587042/alex-de-la-iglesia-stands-president-spanish-film-academy/
Lalal

hey ernesto: http://www.eitb.com/news/life/detail/587042/alex-de-la-iglesia-stands-president-spanish-film-academy/
Lalal

hey ernesto: http://www.eitb.com/news/life/detail/587042/alex-de-la-iglesia-stands-president-spanish-film-academy/
Dimagus

“Quit pirating Fractale or else!”
Later… “we’re suing you for *Episode 481* of One Piece!”

The problem with the industry has nothing to do with the pirating. For reference, Episodes 183-195 of the US version for One Piece just went on sale… yesterday. $40 for 13 episodes is the fairest price you will get, but only because the series is that long running. Usually they release a 13 or 26 episode series in volumes of 3-5 episodes, each costing $20-30. And the releases are *years* after their original air date in Japan.
Dimagus

“Quit pirating Fractale or else!”
Later… “we’re suing you for *Episode 481* of One Piece!”

The problem with the industry has nothing to do with the pirating. For reference, Episodes 183-195 of the US version for One Piece just went on sale… yesterday. $40 for 13 episodes is the fairest price you will get, but only because the series is that long running. Usually they release a 13 or 26 episode series in volumes of 3-5 episodes, each costing $20-30. And the releases are *years* after their original air date in Japan.
Dimagus

“Quit pirating Fractale or else!”
Later… “we’re suing you for *Episode 481* of One Piece!”

The problem with the industry has nothing to do with the pirating. For reference, Episodes 183-195 of the US version for One Piece just went on sale… yesterday. $40 for 13 episodes is the fairest price you will get, but only because the series is that long running. Usually they release a 13 or 26 episode series in volumes of 3-5 episodes, each costing $20-30. And the releases are *years* after their original air date in Japan.
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1529633123 Shlomo Choina

1337, leet, WTF?
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1529633123 Shlomo Choina

1337, leet, WTF?
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1529633123 Shlomo Choina

1337, leet, WTF?
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Tunk

I live in New Zealand.

The only method to view many series is via piracy because it can take up to a decade to reach our shores, if at all.
Foff

Even if the DVD was good quality $40 for 13 episodes is insane. I cannot think of any series that I would pay that for. If copyright holders want to get paid then they need to charge a fair price. Come on 13 cheaply animated 20 minute cartoons years after first release are worth almost nothing except to a few fans and collectors. High prices for crap like this only promotes file sharing. If Ford charged $500 an hour to fix a car and you had a ford would you feel guilty about going to someone else that charges $50 or would you like the trolls stand up and say but Ford needs your money so they can keep building cars. Without them no cars will ever be built. See how stupid the copyright argument is when applied to something else.

What I don’t understand about of these bit torrent file sharing suits is why common sense is not applied to the technology when making arguments. Here is what I mean. If I share at 1 to 1 how many copies am I guilty of sharing. Only 1 and I may be complicit in 8 or 9 others. Even in the most popular torrents I have never seen that many peers. For band with purposes I limit the number of simultaneous connections. Now when they monitor you what info do they get? This is important to determine the extent of damage. How long did they monitor, how many bits can they prove I shared and how do they prove how many peers I was sharing with and exactly what bits they got from me. And if they only got a few bits they why should I be responsible for the whole liablity.

In other words where is the standard of proof in these cases. What if I was a hit and runner. I downloaded a 700mb file and only shared 25mb when I cut it off. Is less than 1 percent of a file shared even enough to justify a sharing lawsuit? If not then what is the amount shared needed to justify an infringing lawsuit?

I really don’t understand how these cases hold up in court. If torrent freak wants to help then may be on those cases if there are actually any that someone lost may be they can find out what precedents were set and pass them on.
- Tunk
  
  I made a similar argument with a submission on NZ’s 3 strike laws.
  
  I detailed many ways the system was broken, I even offered to demonstrate that I could add every parliament IP address to a bittorrent tracker and torrent of their choosing and that false/fake peers were commonplace on many trackers.
  I also detailed several problems in regards to other protocols that would arise.
  
  I even brought up parts of the privacy act which contravene the new law, asked what level of proof is required (their response was well work that out in the courts after), etc.
  In addition to that I also detailed that many ‘investigators’ both upload and download, do they do this with permission of the rights holder, and if so does that automatically grant a license to anyone who downloads from or uploads to those ‘investigators’?
  
  All I got back from the MP was political nonsense that didnt address the issues I raised.
Jay

The anime industry has to be very careful out hurting there fans unlike other entertainment industries.

I would say that the vast majority of there revenue which would be from stuff related to the anime and not the anime itself is from hard core fans.

These are the people who buy the collectors sets, the dolls/action figures hell the life size body pillows….DONT ASK….there the ones who spend thousands of hours each year subbing and sometimes dubbing the anime so other fans around the world can experience different anime than they normal would. It is because of these people that anime is as widely know around the world as it is and have created the market for it.

Of course there always was a market but it would not have been as big as it is with out these fans.

Some anime companies look at the unlicensed* distribution of there animes to see which ones would be worth licensing for over seas sales.

Simply put they will hurt them selves more by attacking there greatest asset there hard core fans than any other entertainment industry ever will.

-Jay

*I will never call the unauthorised distribution of licensed material piracy or copyright infringement. You either licence your stuff and unauthorised use is a licensing issue OR you you distribute it without a licence and its a copyright issue. You can’t have both.
Picclol2000

This is not the first time that Funimation make this joke.
Even on some torrent site for anime has a ban on anime that are licence by Funimation.
Guest

What’s kinda sad though is everyone here is calling $40 for 13 eps expensive (which I personally agree with), while in Japan they pay like $80 for 2 eps. Heck, a 1 ep OVA for one show costed around $80s, so for them a half season for $40 is a godsend -_-
Ni…Ni! NI NI NINININININI!!!

“The producers wanted Funimation to get rid of all pirated copies online before the broadcast could continue.”

Besides that, we want a shrubbery and you must cut down these trees – with a herring!!
Lickmestarhole

I wonder how much money we have saved downloading movies for free? Fuking RIAA are all fuked in the head if they think they can stop us.
Confused

Why doesn’t BitTorrent make a Hulu clone that can offer better quality videos because of P2P downloading? If Hulu can sustain itself and pay for licensing from a shit load of ads, then whats stopping BitTorrent? If you have to watch 5 minutes of ads to watch a 20 minute episode and support them, wouldn’t you do it?

Can some one explain why this hasn’t happened yet?

I also don’t understand “I already own the DVD, but I am downloading the HD version.” I guess that’s a bad analogy to use with movies because they sell HD versions for more money, but if they aren’t distributing the HD version, and its still possible to get and you have already bought the official DVD, shouldn’t you be able to get the HD version?
- David Guest
  
  “I also don’t understand “I already own the DVD, but I am downloading the HD version.”"
  
  DVDs aren’t HD. Blu-Rays would be HD, but DVDs are only standard def.
- David Guest
  
  “I also don’t understand “I already own the DVD, but I am downloading the HD version.”"
  
  DVDs aren’t HD. Blu-Rays would be HD, but DVDs are only standard def.
Farty

aniraws.com is pretty 1337
- 5318008
  
  Thx 4 brotip, looks like a good site.
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Neko

ha
that won’t even slow it down, nyaa is a decent but small source, kaa is dvd rippers, xdcc for the win, there’s gigE’s to spare.
Tunk

Im surprised no one has mentioned tokyotosho.
Tunk

Im surprised no one has mentioned tokyotosho.
TerribleTony

Huh, another money-grabbing parasite with a pay up or else scheme. What happened to ACS:Law will happen to them. Do they never read international news?
http://twitter.com/robertkohr Robert Kohr

As far as fansubs are concerned sometimes the quality of the video far out-stripes what you get through legitimate means. Plus they come out faster. If they want people to stop fansubing they need to get the episodes out faster and at higher quality. If they were smart.
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fuck this comment shit

leet LOL
Jd100

I’m sure the 1337 was on purpose too. So they apparently know what it means, so I wouldn’t be surprised if they have been involved with warez themselves in the past. Probably have warez on their computers now. This world is full of hypocrites.
Yamato is not the best

that show looks dumb anyways, you can keep it…
- Bored
  
  One Piece is the best shounen atm.
Hbo

Fansubs were the reason anime got popular. I hope the studios dont forget that.
- Anime was good because of the totally off-the-wall story lines that work with the Japanese mind aimed solely at the Japanese market. I notice that many anime nowerdays are much more western in and straightforward – I am guessing so they can sell overseas… Shame.
I particularly like when fansubs give cultural explanations, or even in one case pointed out the voice actor read the wrong reading of a Kanji.
Shame the producers cant work on a model which supports fansubs + makes them money. Saying that Ive brought a number of OSTs and DVDs on the back of watching a fansub.
Shike

I may get flamed to hell for saying this, but I really don’t have a big problem with Funimation. Their voice acting has improved. Hell, it made a series like Desert Punk more enjoyable. They do offer tons of streaming of anime for free including stuff they’ve licensed. Their boxsets are also rather affordable too depending on what you’re buying.

Given, I still don’t like the concept of sueing fansub downloaders. Fansubs have greatly influenced anime I’ve purchased in the past, by doing this Funimation may be causing self-inflicted harm.

As for Fractale — that was the producers decision, not the distributors (Funimation).

What they need is a system of HD delivery similar to Crunchyroll — I subscribe to it and still use fansubs for stuff they don’t have.
Ninja

Man, this last week was a comedy. 1337… Was it intentional? lmao
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Tomtomg

“The company is represented by lawyer Evan Stone who also filed suits for various adult entertainment companies” lol hope this guys isnt the same male pornstar Evan Stone cause that guy is hilarious
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Mszynisz

Nyaatorrents are the best. Though I don’t watch One Piece, I will definitely visit them to watch other anime :D
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_CVG645JHD2IF62SSTIS6IRYNZE JKahn

I can’t wait for this episode to come out on Law and Order. It’ll be awesome.

“Otaku vs. FUNimation”
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