It’s rare that we see someone bring together the worlds of illegitimate fansubs and legitimate anime industry punditry. However, anime/manga community site MangaBullet did just that when they got a hold of the Dutch otaku and founder of BitTorrent site AnimeSuki, who goes by the name GHDPro, to talk to him about the state of the American anime industry. The interview is pretty interesting for those who are paying attention to the uneasy situation between American distributors and fansubbers at the moment.
Of course, GHDPro was quick to (accurately) blame American companies for the slump, claiming that “a lot of companies were licensing franchises left and right without taking into account that anime still is a niche market of sorts and not every series will break even, let alone make a profit.” Surprisingly, though, he goes on to point out that fansubbers and their viewers have also played a significant part in the current industry problems. “I realise that as a fansub watcher and anime DVD buyer, I’m in a minority. I’m afraid there are tons of people that have the ‘why pay when you can get it for free’ mentality.”
[Link: AnimeSuki interview: Fansubs and the industry]
