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Raison D'etre of Fansubs

YAMAGUCHI, Shuntaro (Hakodate National College of Technology)

Have you ever heard of “Fansubs”? It refers to animation and movies with language subtitles created by fans, hence their name. If you often visit animation sites, you may see some episodes with these subtitles. Actually, most of the animations are illegally uploaded, breaking copyright laws. As a consequence, you are committing a crime by uploading such videos. However, the Fansub groups' activities have not faded in the least. Why not? Today, I'd like to first tell you why the Fansub movement exists, then talk about the people who get involved with it even though they know that's illegal. Finally, I will share what I have learned as I researched their activities, which is called “fansubbing” in this community.

I first learned about Fansubs through animation sites. I happened to see animes while surfing the Internet, and got interested in them. I found out it was a lot of fun to see those films online. One day, I noticed most of the Japanese ones had English subtitles. Then, an idea popped in my head! “Watching Japanese animation with English subs will help me learn English smoothly while having fun.” Therefore, I ordered my favorite Japanese animation DVDs with English subs through a foreign website. After the purchase, I wondered how much I would pay for the Japanese version of the same DVD and checked the price on the Japanese site. It was a shock to discover that the Japanese version was six times more expensive than the one I had just ordered from abroad. I was worried I had ordered a pirate version, which would upset me. However, checking the website again, I confirmed it was not a bootleg copy but the official version available abroad.

Then, another question came to me. “Why is the Japanese animation DVD sold abroad at such a low price?” Usually Japanese products are available at reasonable costs on the domestic market. As imported products, these DVDs should be more expensive due to shipping and handling. But I was able to buy the Japanese animation DVD with English subs much cheaper than the original version. I researched what could influence the price and found out Fansubs play an important role in lowering the price. According to a survey of an online portal site, more than 80% of fans overseas use Fansub groups to watch Japanese animes. It means that more people would rather enjoy Fansubs than pay for the official DVDs. Therefore, the distribution companies have to lower the prices to be attractive to buyers.

My next question was why people don't stop watching the illegal Fansubs sites even though official DVDs are very cheap. I found out these products are not easily available abroad. Fansubbing started in the 1980s with the purpose of enjoying Japanese animations which were not widely broadcasted overseas. Fansubs were thus the only way to access the uncommon anime. Even now, under the improved broadcasting conditions compared to the 1980s, fans still have difficulty to access Japanese animations. It takes more than one year for such films to go abroad after being shown in Japan.

According to the research of Tatsuo Tanaka, of Keio University, the illegal contents uploaded on the Internet do not have a bad influence on the sales of the original products, but, on the contrary, act as advertising for them. The survey data supports his research that more than 90% of Fansub users buy the official DVDs when they are released on the market abroad. After researching Fansubbing myself, I have come to think of it as the necessary evil allowing fans overseas access to Japanese animations as early as fans in Japan. If anime distributors conducted market research exploring the trends within the fan circles, and released their products simultaneously, at an equivalent price both in Japan and abroad, they would not have to take severe measures against Fansubbing.

Nowadays, uploading contents through the Internet is illegal not only in Japan but also abroad. Moreover, in Japan, since the new copyright law, downloading illegally uploaded contents is also punishable. I believe those laws just focus on regulating the contents for makers but lack consideration for the end users. The existence of Fansubs has convinced me that the Japanese copyright laws need to be revised to support both producers and consumers in Japan and overseas. As a Japanese animation fan, I would like the public to start a dialogue on Japanese copyright laws to come to a better animation market in the world.