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So in the wake of kissanimes destruction, the conversation of legal streaming versus watching things illegally has come back in full swing and after thinking about it, I’m gonna give you my full opinion on the matter because nobody asked for it
Firstly I think we need to accept the fact that all of us have watched anime in some kind of illegal capacity at one point or another. Maybe it’s through kissanime, maybe it was through torrents or maybe it was back when we had to watch anime in parts on YouTube. We all did it
In fact, back during the 90s, the only way you could watch anime that wasn’t edited or watered down was through illegal bootleg VHS tapes. But you can’t deny that it did help provide context for the medium for those who just couldn’t watch anime period
Ironically, the current western anime industry was built on the back of piracy, Fansubs, re-purposed content and fans who did their best to come together and share this medium. If you deny that or put down people who engaged in such behavior, then I think that’s very close minded
However, things are different now. The era of 4kids is mostly over and anime has shown itself to be more profitable on a global scale than it ever has before. Not only do we have official streaming sites but those very sites contribute a huge portion of revenue to the industry
That doesn’t mean things are perfect and there are dozens of things that I think these official platforms could do better to make them the ideal anime viewing experience. Subtitlers and actors are still being underpaid, media players need updating, better communication etc.
I implore people to criticize services so that they can innovate and do better. I sometimes worry that the anime distribution industry is beginning to mirror the actual anime production industry in Japan and that’s not a good thing but THATS a story for another time
But of course, one of the main issues that comes up during this conversation is the fact that not everything is legally available. There are plenty of anime that have never even been licensed and if a show doesn’t generate any new revenue for a company, then it’s gone
Just a few weeks ago my brother wanted to watch Kenichi the mightiest disciple, so I gave him my Funimation account only for us both to realize at the time that the rights had expired years ago. There was no longer a place to legally watch it :/
We were both upset because this was a show that we kind of watched together while he was growing up and has some sentimental value. But ironically I never bought the series or any merchandise so can I really complain if Funimation just felt it made more sense to let it go?
He wanted to watch some episodes on kissanime but after realizing his computer might get a virus by doing so he decided to take this as an opportunity to finally catch up with one piece. Funny cause I do think we underestimate just how much anime is legally available
However I think we can all agree that not all anime is worth preserving and this kind of becomes a difficult question. Does the lack of a legal means of viewing your favorite show justifiy watching it through a legal means? I honestly don’t know
Because on one hand if a series meant so much to you, you would’ve bought it when it was physically available so that way you would always have it even when the rights expire. But on the other hand not all anime is necessarily affordable and then you get punished for it
And that’s not even getting into the fact that a lot of anime just isn’t available for people outside of Japan in the United States. So I understand that a lot of people looked to websites like kissanime as a sort of hub for preserving lost media.
it would also be a way for you to not support official big businesses that have their fair share of problems and questionable practices so I get that it’s not a clear black-and-white situation like a lot of us want it to be. But that logic also goes both ways
This will probably get me some flack from people but personally I do think that websites like that do you cause more harm than good and I don’t fully understand people that parade them around as a solution that will somehow make the anime industry and community better
If kissanime was a website that acted as sort of a hub for lost media or if it was its own private community that paid actors and subs better than official companies do then I could see the argument of them being crusaders showing the big businesses how it’s done! But they werent
90% of what was on their website was just stolen from other legally available sources. It wasn’t providing a better solution, it was giving a lot of Westerners an excuse to benefit off of hard work that now isn’t being fully compensated for
And I specify Westerners because they at least technically had a legal way to watch a lot of shows. There are still lot of people outside the US in territories that just didn’t have a legal means of watching the shows and that needs to change cause they have more of an excuse.
I can understand the idea of piracy being an incentive for official companies to innovate but I only appreciate that to a point when I genuinely believe that the illegal method is really not much better than the legal method.
And yes I have seen people do studies where they justify illegal sites doing better for the industry because people are more likely to buy merch after being exposed to a show through an illegal website. Except I found that there are two really big problems with that
1) I really don’t see how you can accurately measure that relation
2) The money you buy from merchandise goes to the people that made the merchandise and the official rights holder, NOT to the individual animators that made the show the merchandise is based off of
2) The money you buy from merchandise goes to the people that made the merchandise and the official rights holder, NOT to the individual animators that made the show the merchandise is based off of
This whole thing coincides with another conversation about how we want as much money to go to the people who actually contribute to making these shows what they are but I feel like that something that needs to change at the foundation level in Japan first.
History has shown that if a show isn’t supported by legal means then the more likely solution is that you’re not going to get more of it. You’re going to get less and ironically, that potential puts a lot of people out of work
Let’s address the elephant in the room that I know a lot of people in the western dubbing industry and have made videos talking about its nuances. Some of them I consider my friends and it’s really upsetting when I series they loved working on gets canceled because of pirating
Don’t get me wrong I really think that some people in the industry could handle this conversation with a lot more tact and a lot less insulting but I really do think people aren’t understanding the fact that this also directly affects actors and translators as well
Whether I’m an animator, translator, or an actor, if I found out that thousands of people were exposed to my work through a method that could at least indirectly affect me potentially getting more work on said show in the future, I would ABSOLUTELY be pissed
So am I personally upset that kissanime is no longer a thing? no, there will be dozens of other illegal sites and methods of watching shows for people all around the world and I really don’t think that’s going away anytime soon.
But I am upset about the fact that global inclusive streaming is still a long ways away and I really hope the industry can filter out the bad faith trolls, listen to the genuine criticisms that are resurfacing and really work towards an experience that is the definitive option
That’s all I have right now so I look forward to everybody canceling me in the comments since I am so completely and genuinely wrong about everything because that is the most prominent form of discussion in this very frustrating community
