ModernGeek

    So, apparently animators in Japan are whining again about *drumroll* the FANSUBBERS. Accusations are the usual. Evil fansubbers providing free anime with subtitles, thus ruining DVD sales in America.

    For those of you unfamiliar with fansubbers and fansubs here is a short expalantion. Anime is aired in Japan in, quite obviously, Japanese.  Fansubbers(they usually work in teams) are these amazing people, who get copies of the anime, translate it, put subtites on it, and then offer it for free download via bittorrent. Fansubbers can usually get an episode done within 24 horus. Without fansubbers, we anime fans would have to wait a year and a half, and then have to pay $30 for a DVD that has 4-6 episodes on it. So, if you're trying to a two season anime(26 episodes) you end up paying $120-$180 per SERIES, which you may end up hating, or not wanting to watch over again. Who the heck has that kind of money? Thus the beauty of fansubs.

    Looking at the download numbers for the latest Naruto Shippuuden episodes, they come to 344 THOUSAND, within FIVE days. Okay, imagine if the American anime companies charged $1 per download, and got it ready for release within 24 hours. Surely, if the fansubbers, who are amateurs and volunters, can get it done in 24 hours, then professions can get it done to. Estimating the cost of buying the copyrights for each episode at $50,000, and the cost of translating at $25,000(at the VERY, VERY most), you're left with $260,000 dollars in profits, assuming that everyone who downloads the fansub will download the offical version for $1. And, I'm sorry, anyone who's not going to pay $1 for the OFFICIAL translations, is not going to be paying at all. 

    Sure, they won't make as MUCH as they want to, but they'll make a heck of a lot more then they currently are.  Why this rather obvious solution hasn't been discovered already, I just don't know. It's not that hard to figure out.