FUNi Talks Licensing, Piracy... But Doesn't Get It

FUNimation has finally addressed the issue that arose from their recent termination of Fractale's simulcast in North America, through an article titled "Anime Simulcasts, Territory Rights and the Future" posted on the official blog. But despite the sizable length of their argument, they either don't get, or they intentionally "ignore the elephant in the room", as one commenter best puts it.



The entire article pretty much heralds territorial lockouts as the second coming of Loli Jesus, but somehow avoids the real piracy-related (or, rather, piracy-inducing) problems that plague the anime industry. All the while making no effort whatsoever to dodge the truckload of guilt that was unjustly dumped onto them, by that "bullshit" Fractale Production Committee - when they had every right to take a defensive stand against an accusation that's simply out of their hands. Instead, they just dropped the soap and bent over.

Of course piracy is bad; of course people who can support the anime industry through legal means in their territory should do so; yada-yada... But shoving region locks down people's DRM-choked throats is just about the worst way to tackle the issue at this point. How exactly does that solve the problem of RAWs being ripped from Japanese broadcasts and speedsubbed before the official English simulcast goes up? And just how is that FUNi's problem to solve? And how do you expect to fight piracy with region locks, when there's a whole world out there, outside of the usually license-covered territories?

Just thinking about how many times I've tried watching a trailer - a bloody one-minute trailer! - from the likes of FUNimation, Bandai or some other overly-restrictive video service, only to be denied due to my geographical location... makes me sick. This may come as a shock to someone who's never heard of the Internets (or who are otherwise oblivious to the day and age they live in - and do business in), but certain people don't really enjoy throwing their money on something they can't preview.

And guess what: when all else fails, when even the sole legal way of watching an anime is being removed, people will either turn a blind eye to their principles and pirate the show; or they'll turn their away from it altogether, and never look back. Either way, not good for the business.

Of course, this discussion could go on and on, ideally with more constructive arguments thrown in, for the sake of political-correctness. But when a distributor and licensor such as FUNimation comes out with that kind of a statement, what the hell is the point in fighting for this grumpy ol' industry, anyway?