Anime companies attempts to combat piracy.

[PLCDreamcatcher14]

Just thought a lot of you would like to know. You're favorite anime or manga may not be so easily available before long! And please, no arguing k?

http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2014-07-30/anime-production-companies-manga-publishers-crack-down-on-piracy/.77121

[nln_rose]

i always try to go to hulu or crunchyroll or funimation when physically possible. i really want to support them. the issue is when it's something like clannad that has no licensing anywhere and i'm no about to pay the $50 for the dvd.

[skreyola]

I watched Clannad on Hulu (I think, it might've been CR) Free.

But I take your point and agree wholeheartedly. The entertainment industry needs to find a way to make works more easily licensed, so that even obscure works can be enjoyed by people who are willing to pay or accept ad-supported content but can't currently find most of these works through any legitimate conduit.

[Ante Bellum]

...Tokyo Bill...

[Lynna]

...Tokyo Bill...

Haha!

[PLCDreamcatcher14]

Yeah, I definitely agree with nln_rose and skreyola. I personally have this system: I plan to watch every available anime on Hulu and CR (that I'm interested in) and considering they are gradually adding more titles, maybe by the time I finish they'll have others that I'd like to see but that are currently only available on illegal sites. Now manga's a different story. CR's trying to start that whole manga reading thing online but they won't let you read chapters that are currently published in volumes. So yeah, before this whole piracy thing even remotely improves, they'll have to improve availability for those outside of Japan. Not everyone wants to risk buying something they're not even sure they're going to like.

[Xeno]

Back when I was into anime I had this habit of downloading a show while it was still airing in Japan with subtitling done by fan groups. If I enjoyed the show enough, when (if) it got a US license I bought it. We didn't have sites like Netflix, Hulu, or Crunchyroll back in the early 2000's, so we did what we had to. I get that they want to cut down on piracy, anyone with substantial IP wants to do the same, however, I think they'll run into the same problems the RIAA and MPAA ran into here in the US with anti-piracy laws and actions...no one will care enough to actually stop.

[Nate]

I often don't feel too bad about pirating/streaming anime if it's an older series. Like, nobody's doing anything with the El-Hazard property, so I don't feel bad if I go on a streaming site to watch it there. Because even IF I bought a legal disc, the company who originally licensed the property isn't going to get any of that money, so if they're not getting money either way, why should I bother?

[blkmage]

ah yes, let's start off the land war by focusing on asia, what could go wrong

[PLCDreamcatcher14]

Back when I was into anime I had this habit of downloading a show while it was still airing in Japan with subtitling done by fan groups. If I enjoyed the show enough, when (if) it got a US license I bought it. We didn't have sites like Netflix, Hulu, or Crunchyroll back in the early 2000's, so we did what we had to. I get that they want to cut down on piracy, anyone with substantial IP wants to do the same, however, I think they'll run into the same problems the RIAA and MPAA ran into here in the US with anti-piracy laws and actions...no one will care enough to actually stop.

I often don't feel too bad about pirating/streaming anime if it's an older series. Like, nobody's doing anything with the El-Hazard property, so I don't feel bad if I go on a streaming site to watch it there. Because even IF I bought a legal disc, the company who originally licensed the property isn't going to get any of that money, so if they're not getting money either way, why should I bother?

Yeah. In the beginning I always watched stuff on illegal sites cause I didn't really know that these were illegal and that Hulu and CR were free and legal. Personally I don't really think it's that bad to watch a series on an illegal site if it hasn't been officially licensed. If there's a legal alternative, take it. If not, then they might need to provide one.