Wednesday, August 15, 2007 @ 11:57 am
Crackdown Act II.

This is a long entry, hope it doesn't bore you lol.

Saw the newspaper yesterday "StarHub must give names of illegal anime downloaders" on Straits Times page 3. Well what can i say? No one is safe anymore. Previously they target Singnet users and now they're going for the rest of the internet service providers, StarHub and later PacNet. I kind of lost track whether a certain company is a company for local anime distributor or prosecuting illegal anime downloaders.

Firstly, let's understand the situation. Certain company is suffering from loss of profits and the cause is because of illegal anime downloaders which is a reasonable assumption. Why people download anime? Is it because they're cheapskate? Fans of anime usually have other side interests aside from anime, such as manga, gaming, collecting figurines/merchandise to even cosplay. Are any of these hobbies inexpensive? Using me as an example, i calculate how much i spend on collecting my Detective Conan manga. So far there are 57 volumes and based on the price of 1 volume now is $5, total i spend $285. Considering that the series is not finished, the actual amount i may spend is more than $285. In addition, i have other manga series so the actual amount i spend on manga should be more than $500. Expensive, a definite yes since i started when i was in secondary school and my pocket money was $8 per day.

Next gaming. Depending what platform you play on, all the platforms cost easily about hundred bucks and more. Think about PS3, $799. Unless it's free games on pc, otherwise games can cost up to $50 and above. And since people don't usually own only 1 game, the amount spend could be so much more. Again, it's expensive.

Collecting figurines/merchandise is a very broad hobby, meaning almost anything can come under this category. Which is bad for your wallets. Needless to say it all depends how much the fan is willing to spend. I won't be surprised if the most avid fan has everything from posters to figurines to handphone chains to stuff toys or even cards. And since there are various characters in an anime, fans can purchase 2 similar items with the only difference of characters. A nod for expensive.

Up next is cosplay. There are alot of things to consider in order to put up a convincing cosplay. First the hair, from the colour to the style, one can either buy a coloured wig or go to salon to get it cut or dyed exactly the same as the character one is going to cosplay as. Unless they are fortunate to have the same colour and style, otherwise most people have to spend money on this area. Next is eye colour. In anime almost any eye colour is possible. So the solution is coloured contacts. In addition, most people are myopic, so for the best comfort, they ordered coloured contacts with degree. Which up the cost they're gonna spend. The most important thing is of course the costume. They can choose to sew it themselves or ask a tailor to do it, with the latter being more expensive. Another thing to consider is the materials needed. If the character wears leather or intricate costume, sad to say the cosplayer have to spend a bomb on the materials. Additional accessories are things that can be associated with the character like a mask or a weapon. Weapons usually are made by themselves unless cosplayer can manage to buy one that's exactly the same. All this to put up a good cosplay is taxing not only on efforts but also expenses. Since there're various cosplay events held throughout the year, cosplayers would normally choose to do different characters each time, repeating the above everytime. A hand up for expensive.

Conclusion, if anime fans can spend that much on the above hobbies, they're no cheapskates and definitely can spend the same amount on anime. So there must be a reason why they are not buying that certain company's products. Looking at the products, it's mostly vcds and a few dvds. About the vcds, it's standard packaging for all. Not exactly attractive but still ok. Quality average, voice-acting so-so. Subtitles are not always accurate, sometimes missing even. Price for a box of vcd with 13 episodes, about $30. Number of titles available, not much mostly a few years old. Ironically, with the list of licensed anime they have here, half of the titles are not even available on shelves. So is it worth buying their products? Not really considering what kind of quality you are getting in return.

Another possible reason for the downloading is of course people want to know what the story is about. It's the same with music and movies. Who would buy a cd or dvd on impulse just because of the packaging or they like the story summary? Most won't i believe, even if reviews highly recommended the product, people still want to hear or watch to find out if they really like it. Of course another way to watch anime without downloading anime is of course by watching tv. Excluding the fact that some have cable tv, the only choice left is the Channel U slot from 1am to 2am on Sat and Arts Central slot from 11pm to 12am on Wed to Fri. Both are late night and looking at what they're showing, it's not the latest anime and they do censored some scenes even though the timing is pretty late. I wonder when i get to watch Code Geass on local tv, probably 2 years later where my interest has already waned or i bought the imported version. The other option is to watch anime being streamed online but who knows when this option is open for long. Perhaps not long in the future they may resort to tracking those who uses this option to watch fansubs, continuing their prosecution of those who refuse to buy their products.

Overall, what that certain company is doing only serves short-term purposes. They should think of new ways to improve their products or allow people to download anime legally in soft copy form, just like online music. Some people likes to watch anime from their notebook/pc which is something they should consider. Their actions may be right but they have lost more customers due to their actions.