The Industry Needs To Change

I'm very much with all the people saying digital distribution is tantamount to the survival of the industry. Really, a low-medium quality streaming service, ad-powered or with a subscription fee, or both, subtitled only and released either simultaneously or only narrowly after it's broadcast on TV in Japan, would be a very good model.

At least, I'd totally go for it. Fansubs are inherently unreliable; they can always dissolve, key staff members can desert, funding might become insufficient, or key staff members might just totally run out of time. They're also under the sway of RAW capturers, who might not provide what's is needed at the desired quality. That's one thing that's always bothered my about fansubs.

If publishing companies would provide something relatively low-cost and easy, and release episodes on schedule and reliably, I don't see why people would have a problem going for it. It also generally eliminates the root of the problem: fans of shows subtitling for other fans. Most fansub groups don't support pirating (Anon subbers might? Who knows, Anonymous is tsundere after all) and I think they'd gladly just right out not touch any anime that's being released concurrently with the Japanese release, at a reasonable price. The only fansubs released and distributed would be from malicious groups--if which there aren't many--and people who *really* think anime is "worthless".

Companies that expect their customers to change for them out of good will are doomed to fall. You either adapt or you find someway to force (herd if you will) the consumers to do what you want (but that too, has to be done in a way that they won't get pitchforks and march to your office for).

Additional note: Basically, it's much less about what the consumers want, but more about what the Fansubbers want. If you satisfy them, they won't bother making fansubs. And if they don't bother making fansubs, then they'll never be made, which means any sort of pirating relying on that falls too. The difficult about this is that the desires of fansubbers very much run along with the desires of the consumers. But still, if you erase what fansubbers might see as "the need to fansub a show", then I doubt many people will bother to take time out of their day to actually fansub it.

Or simply hire those fansubbers to do the same thing they're doing now, but for a modestly-priced service that would broadcast anime online. By now, the network technology is well in place to deliver new episodes just days after they're aired in Japan. And if some fans would rather have English dubs... well, who cares? They can wait longer, like they do now :)

Stokky is right, subbed > dubbed any day, and I mean... Who cares if the show don't have english voices? They suck anyway, just by hearing the promos will hurt your ears for life.