Fiction Friday: Bandai Leaves Fans to Burn
Disclaimer: Today’s post is based on a true event. Arguments and point-of-view in this article should first and foremost be understood as political satire. The writers’ mask set is that of parody and does not necessarily represent Z-ComiX’s views on the topic at hand. Z-ComiX is a writer for AAAPocast, but this does not mean that his views are the same as those of AAAPodcast as a whole. All products, articles and images belong to their respective owners. Please understand this and enjoy this article for its satire.
Bandai has announced that they would no longer be localizing any of their products in North America. Products such as the anime Gosick, the manga Mobile Suit Gundam 00I, and the novel Code Geass: R2 will no longer be exported to North America.
What. The. Heck. Come on Bandai, what gives? You’re going to stop producing products for America? What about your fans? What about all the viewers who found you from watching your product online, or the rippers who scan your products in Japanese and then get translators and subbers to put them into English form and release to us for free? What about all the pirates who are taking your product and distributing it online? You callous and insensitive company.
At first I was going to forgive them because I though they were going out of business, but then I read this quote by a writer from Kotaku, Charles Maib.
“Bandai Entertainment isn’t going out of business. They’re a pretty big company and have a market far beyond that of the United States; but their actions do serve as a red flag as to what’s on the horizon unless the fan community stops it’s selfish and destructive behavior. If we examine the actions of the last 20 years, and put our own selfish desires to the side we can see that the only thing fan translated anime, manga, and games serve to advance is our own desire of want. It does not help the industry, it does not call positive attention to our hobbies, and while it may attract a small number of new consumers, more often than not these new faces will continue to feed on free pirated content because that’s how they were turned on to it in the first place” [1]
What took away from this is that Bandai doesn’t are that we, the fans, love their material so much we decided to distribute it for them! I mean, they are a large company and all so what is the problem if a few million people what their stuff for free online? Even though it is much more profitable to make the anime of other markets, North America needs it too. How else are we going to be able to put up good dubs for the viewers who hate to read?
What gets me even angrier is what the Bandai Representative Ken Iyadomi said on the issue in Justin Sevakis and Christopher Macdonald’s article over at Anime News Network.
“…the broader reasons are quite clear from the outside. The physical anime business in North America has shrunk substantially over the last five years, and shows no sign of returning to its former glory. “A couple of times we were hit with huge returns, and the financial result was pretty bad,” Iyadomi admits. Still, he believes the division might have been able to keep going for a few more years, had the SBU allowed it.”[2]
SEE?! IF they allowed it! Even if the industry isn’t growing because people are using the internet to view your product in its entirety before you even have time to decide to localize it is no reason to pull your products from North America. I feel bad for every fan who now can no longer buy the products that they could easily watch online for free.
Bandai is making a clear statement to its N.A. fans. “We can only provide a product for you if you go out and buy it.” But we the fans have found an easier way; we have the internet, the provider of a free version of everything. Its like druggies and drug dealers; why would they buy your product, when they can get it free from a shady alley? Bandai is doing what any drug king pin would do at this point; go to another location and sell their product to a better market.
Sarcastically,
~~Z-ComiX
Sources:
Where I first found the news: http://www.bigshinyrobot.com/reviews/archives/35528
[1] http://kotaku.com/5873128/from-fantasy-to-fansubs-how-pirating-went-mainstream
[2] http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/feature/bandai_downsizing_ken_iyadomi_interview
January 10, 2012 @ 12:45 am
Truth in satire. It refreshing to see someone be honest about the state of things even if their tongue is firmly planted in cheek.
January 10, 2012 @ 1:40 am
thanks mate, glad you enjoyed the post! yeah, what happened with bandai is sad, but it is our fault. they need to make money and we are just not a viable market anymore.
January 10, 2012 @ 8:04 am
Hey Z, I’ll agree that we, the fans in North America, bear some responsibility for this situation but, the business practices of Bandai in America were also to blame. They priced their releases too high and with too few episodes on each DVDBlu-ray. They tried to apply Japanese business practices to the American market and it failed. So they are partly to blame as well.
January 10, 2012 @ 7:35 pm
yeah, Bandai has had this problem, but you got to admit that piracy and illegal distribution are contributing factors. The fact that Bandai made it so that people would prefer to watch online does not mean that we have the right to do it. The fact is that if there wasn’t a pirated version Bandai would probably have more sales. I am myself part of the problem as i use online methods to watch my anime.