having available for purchase only...thats not a way to test a series first at all..if that was the case i'm sure you purchased every single dvd you ever own without viewing it on tv,the movies or the internet first and know of plenty of others who do that also.
no actually its not fair of you to not even hear out the fans and just shut them down without even hearing them out..even the ones that aren't just typing hate since it wouldn't really cost much of anything what i said but you automatically shut me down without even actually reading what i said. they do not stream Case Closed on the site so of course they get nothing out of that...that was part of what i said..and frankly the main focus point considering i said was could even start with the old episodes and go from there but you clearly didn't bother reading that part..
I have a few questions I would like answered (preferably by someone who's actually a part of the company and knows what they're talking about - that is, if such a person even exists on these forums):
-Why do you not relinquish the license if you've already abandoned the project?
-Do you even have the latest seasons licensed?
-When do your current license expire, if ever?
The actual legality of the DMCA that was sent is tenuous at best and certainly wouldn't hold up if challenged, but I'm sure they were counting on the group not calling the bluff and overreacting, which they did. Companies bully people around all the time with such a bogus tactic.
Don't misunderstand though, the fansub group in question could have continued subbing if they wanted to. This is either a massive overreaction on their part or simply just the excuse they wanted to get out of the subbing business because I assure you they could have kept at it if they wanted to with no chance of legal ramifications. The actual DMCA was only for their streaming site which hosted the episodes and even then it was only for a select few of the recent episodes, so their main subbing site was in no danger at all nor was it even mentioned.
I'm sure another group will pick it up, I just hope it will be of equal or greater quality.
Having it available for (close or over) 8 years is fair enough.
As linainverselover pointed out and jlaking ignored (he has a habit of ignoring people such as the lack of response to my earlier post), having about 100 episodes available of a 650+ episode series is not making it available. This is akin to only letting people to buy the first 2 episodes of a 12 episode series (percentage wise).
jlaking wrote:
It is not fair for you and others to ask FUNimation to lose money to continue CC in any form. Face it, there is not enough support from fans coming from DVD sales and/or streaming numbers on FUNi's site.
FUNimation can take the loss for business and tax purposes and to entice customers to buy more from them. Amazon sold the Kindle at a loss because they knew people would buy more ebooks (and they even sell some ebooks at a loss too). FUNimation hasn't announced how much money they've lost on CC; for all we know the only loss is the cost of the licencing fee for a property they're not even using. As for the DVD sales refer to the making it available discussion you ignored earlier. And regarding streaming, you're streaming the episodes? The only videos I see are clips and trailers.
There was something else I was curious about:
jlaking wrote:
If TMS Entertainment (the company in charge of the DC series) told FUNi to take them down, FUNi has to comply.
Yes of course you have to comply ... but you said "if" ... did you actually receive a notice?
I've sat here and read this dribble being spouted bu jlacking for long enough.
jlacking isn't even a part of the FUNimation staff. He completely ignores the completely logical arguments, points, and suggestions being made in this thread in regards to the options available to both FUNimation and the fans (Or rather, the lack thereof). Your ignorance reminds me of someone who is trying to impress some higher-ups for a promotion. Stop it. You do not know what you are talking about, regardless of how you try to make it sound like you do.
From other topics regarding the status of this show here on FUNimation's own website, as well as other sources around the net and the world, your words are proven ignorant at best, though my preferred term would be hypocritical.
There are plenty of options that FUNimation could persue in regards to further offering this series to North America. Some very good suggestions for "testing the waters' were suggested here, and you tramp on them like you're some bigshot who owns a licensing company, which I believe you called Sigerson out on, did you not? I happen to have known Sigerson for a few years now, and just from reading a few posts of yours I am able to discern that he probably knows more about topics such as this than you do.
TO get to the point here, the DMCA notice was a complete and utter farce. A couple of years ago actual FUNimation employees have stated that there is no possibility this series would be taken up again by the company as there was "no way we (aquisitions) could possible convince Gen (The CEO) to take it" because it would sell poorly. Now, if that had somehow changed, there would be notices about this, and yet there are not. Why is this? Because they don't have anything in the works. So why would they bother to shut down this fansubbing group who is likely the cause for ANY Case Closed sales they have had in the past few years to begin with? The cause of this isn't certain. It could be they were indeed asked to shut them down which seems the most likely answer considering that the so-called copyright violations had to do with the most recently released episodes that have been aired in japan. They were asked to remove a small number of episodes to comply with the DMCA notice. They could have easily removed them and kept going, but they didn't. Because they had the respect to just cease operations entirely. They weren't forced to stop subbing, they willingly did it out of respect. This situation is much like what happened back when Crunchyroll first came around and another fansubbing group, Dattebayo, who was the main source for Bleach and Naruto, decided to bow out of fansubbing once the option for legal viewing was presented.
The reason DCTP exists was to bring North American audiences the Case Closed anime. Which, as I recall, isn't that what FUNimation does? Brings japanese shows to North America? My, goodness, I'm pretty sure it is! And yet, they pay for this license (Which through my research seems to expire some time in 2013 if the bits and pieces I've managed to scrounge up add up the way I see it) and do not touch this show, effectively just gouging money from themselves. How much money? The license is about $1000/year, or at least it was a few years ago when I had checked and that was only a partial license. The full license I'm sure is much more. So in other words, of you factor in a 30% profit margin, you're looking at the need for quite a bit of money. Without any kind of advertising or exposure, how is this income suppose to occur? The simple (and obvious of your head isn't between some meaty appendages) answer is that it simply will not. Endeavoring to make profit is always a gamble in any industry, this isn't any exception. The fact of the matter is, they failed, tucked their tail between their legs and ran off to greener pastures. I've looked into prices for the box sets, and I've been shocked by what I saw. Following a link on this website itself brought me to a place where I could buy the box set for $22 and pay $150 for shipping! What? Well, since these box sets aren't available in most (if any) major retail outlets, your best option to get them is online. $150 to ship is unreasonable for anything. I can get stuff shipped straight from japan for a fraction of that kind of price. For $150 I could probably get moon rocks expressed straight from the moon.
The fact of the matter is, nobody is going to want to pay $150 for shipping unless it's a mail-order bride and they're a 40-year old virgin. Even if you take this out of the equation, nobody who has done even a minimal amount of research would bother to waste their money on a series that the company who has it licensed has publicly announced they have given up on. With that kind of stigma on the series, of course you aren't going to sell anything.
If you want to make money off of this series, and trust me the money IS there, you are going to have to get innovative. Obviously dubbing it is out of the question for now. You first have to crawl before you walk, you can't just jump headfirst into the pool. Instead of threatening the people who actually have the audacity to stare this 657 episode beast in the face and tackle it, try talking to them. They are only doing it because you guys won't.
I feel this has gone on just about long enough, but I will say this.
FUNimation has publicly announced they have no plans to continue this show. THen years later, they threaten someone for copyright violation. On the grounds that these people are the source of ANY income in regards to the series the complaint is about. Oh, dear, it looks like we have a conflict of interest. The fansubbers that you guys threatened are almost 8000 fans strong. If you guys released a DVD, and even HALF of those fans bought it, you'd be pretty well off. But instead of doing that you threaten them with what has to be the weakest DMCA request I have ever seen in my life, which, as stated above, would absolutely not hold up if challenged. I wouldn't so much say it is an overreaction by the community to cease and desist as much as a respect for the company that owns the rights to their favorite show. If they didn't like the show, they wouldn't be doing Fansubs to begin with. If people didn't like the show, they wouldn't keep going back week after week to watch it in the only place they possibly can, since the actual people in charge of giving us the show threw in the towel. Don't go throwing your weight around in waters you don't dare to tread. Chances are you'll get bitten. It's a poor business model to anger your customers. And that's exactly what you've done here, is angered us.
For all of you posting suggestions and making actual valid points, you have my personal thanks for attempting to shed light on this disgraceful act by FUNimation, as well as proper and logical means of using the license they're currently wasting money on. I've been bullied all my life, and I do not plan to sit back and take it from a company who relies on ME, not the other way around. I can live without paying you guys, but if you guys don't get paid you will not live. That's how a business works.
If you all want DC/CC streamed legally, go bug Crunchyroll to add it their line up but the facts remain that the Fansubbers were violating copyrights and had no rights to stream or sub the series, movies and specials.
Yes, FUNi could stream the series+ but they also have the option not to.
Soundmonkey44 wrote:
Media is a LUXURY, NOT A NECESSITY! People need to learn that. We all have series we like and would like to see more off, but sadly our favorites don't always get the love they deserve. Fans need to learn to accept that. And learn that they ARE NOT entitled, nor do they deserve something just because they want it!
Funimation and other companies involved with anime & manga have every right to shut-down fan-sub & scanlation sites
Alright, I just want to say, I apologize for how rude my previous post was. Emotions were running high, and it was very late in the evening.
However, jlacking, you're not even a moderator here, stop acting like one, please.
There's no question as to whether what the fansubbers were doing was legal or not, that's obvious that their actions are illegal. However, the fact of the matter is, without FUNimation releasing it to us, their actions are JUSTIFIED. This company has no intention of releasing this show to us in any capacity any time soon, or ever.
Their reasoning of subbing the episodes is because nobody will do it in a legal capacity. This motion by FUNimation to shut them down is simply bullying. It's greedy and immoral. They aren't even making any money off the newest 20 episodes. Why should they care? Because they're greedy. Well, I don't like greed. A lot of people don't like greed - especially in companies that rely on us consumers.
There's a small group of people who are going out of their way to buy up all the merch that this company has in regards to CC, regardless of them already having it all, in order to attempt to show this company that people care.
I can say that I no longer care. If this is the way this company is going to act in the wake of a show they've declared dead, then this company doesn't deserve my money.
This company doesn't deserve anyone's money in regards to this show in that case.
I just wanted to say that this was one of my first Animes to watch back on cartoon network. I loved it and when it stopped I was saddened because I thought the show was gone forever with no conclusion. Then I learned that it was still airing in Japan and I found out about fan subs.
I didn't really think I would like watching a tv show where I had to read translations at the bottom but I found I LIKED that better than the dubbing. I started to learn that by adding the different honorifics at the end -san, -chan, -sama, and so on the meaning of a sentence can change. I have since continued to watch every episode as they come out and have bought the DVD's even though I prefer the fansubs. I also bought the DVD's, AFTER I started watching the fansubs I would like to point out, because I was able to enjoy the rest of the story. I no longer was stuck with a half of a story. In this case though it seems like it is only 0.197869102 of the story seeing as how that is what you get when you only have 130 out of the 657 episodes that have come out.
I respect the fansub group's decision to stop their translations because of the DMCA but what disappoints me is the fact that that was issued when they haven't touched it in so long and apparently don't have any intention to touch it. I am sad to see that once again I will be having the story just cut off again. It is also sad that a big company like Funimation is basically saying this is mine and you can't touch it. Kinda sounds like when my 3 year old nephew saw his cousin playing with a toy that he hadn't touched in a year and took it away from him. He didn't play with it, he just took it and put it down again. Nice to see that a company of adults seems to have the same attitude as a 3 year old.
If anyone is looking for the Funimation DVD's (though I don't see why you would since they like to screw the fans over) you might still be able to find them at Fry's Electronics (if your in the US).
One final note. I honestly don't care about dubbing of Detective Conan. Quite frankly I prefer to watch it subbed with the ORIGINAL names and jokes. Even if it means having to put an explanation at the top of the screen. I wish that Funimation would try to learn and incorporate the fansubber's. The main fansubber that has been working on it was working on it during their free time. Why not see if they would be willing to give you their translations and you air it on your website. Then you could throw in commercials and the like to earn some money instead of having this amazing show collecting dust.
Hi, I've been reading these forums since around 07-08 and for the first time I really need to post something.
There seems to be a massive lack of understanding from those defending Funimation about the nature of our complaint regard the DCTP. Everyong defending Funi seems to be desperately pointing out that what they were doing was illegal and Funimation had every right to do what they did. Similarly, Soundmonkey is quick to point out that anime is not a right. The problem with this defense is that noone is suggesting that Funimation COULDN'T do what they did. Of course they can. But, as an entertainment company, we customers expect Funimation do bring the entertainment to us, not actively prevent us from enjoying our favorite shows. In short, just because they have the right to do so. doesn't mean they SHOULD.
Why should I as a paying customer spend my money on a company that, when a show is having trouble, will not only stop producing it themselves but make certain I can't finish the series through any means?
Might I add by the way that the moderators' behavior on Funi forums has been disgraceful with almost any instance of fans expressing displeasure with Funimation resulting in insults and locked threads.
So, I've been reading through this forum and there are a few main arguments that seem constant:
1 FUNimation did what was right because DCTP was violating copyright laws and they should not have to lose money because fans want it legally shown in america
2 FUNimation should either be reproducing DC subbed or dubbed legally since they have shut down the main fansubbers, DCTP, or should have not shut it down in the first place
(These aren't exact arguments, they are rather bluntly said, and opinions may lie in between but this is just to keep it simple)
I must agree with the latter not only because I am a Detective Conan fan but also because, as said before, the ones who really suffer from this is the English DC fan community. There is no reason why DCTP needed to be shut down unless FUNimation plans to return to producing DC.Though understandable that DCTP broke DMCA (or whatever) however, it has always appeared that DMCA (and similar laws) have existed to protect the profit of those who produce the content as well as any others who intended to profit from it legally. It would be one thing if they intended to continue with DC (unlikely), but removing the primary fansubbers will not make people want to buy it on DVD (not to mention they're old episodes). It is more likely that the fans who can no longer watch new DC episodes will either try to find a new way to watch it or give up entirely on the series. This really helps no one (regarding the english fanbase of course).
My final note: In terms of money, I might also add that, in my opinion at least, I'd probably spend more money on new DC episodes sold in america if FUNimation were to return to dubbing it (perhaps change some voices and the title back to DC though, but that's for a different discussion).
(To ppl on forums: you must forgive me for anything, I'm very new to forums)
having available for purchase only...thats not a way to test a series first at all..if that was the case i'm sure you purchased every single dvd you ever own without viewing it on tv,the movies or the internet first and know of plenty of others who do that also.
no actually its not fair of you to not even hear out the fans and just shut them down without even hearing them out..even the ones that aren't just typing hate since it wouldn't really cost much of anything what i said but you automatically shut me down without even actually reading what i said. they do not stream Case Closed on the site so of course they get nothing out of that...that was part of what i said..and frankly the main focus point considering i said was could even start with the old episodes and go from there but you clearly didn't bother reading that part..
I have a few questions I would like answered (preferably by someone who's actually a part of the company and knows what they're talking about - that is, if such a person even exists on these forums):
-Why do you not relinquish the license if you've already abandoned the project?
-Do you even have the latest seasons licensed?
-When do your current license expire, if ever?
The actual legality of the DMCA that was sent is tenuous at best and certainly wouldn't hold up if challenged, but I'm sure they were counting on the group not calling the bluff and overreacting, which they did. Companies bully people around all the time with such a bogus tactic.
Don't misunderstand though, the fansub group in question could have continued subbing if they wanted to. This is either a massive overreaction on their part or simply just the excuse they wanted to get out of the subbing business because I assure you they could have kept at it if they wanted to with no chance of legal ramifications. The actual DMCA was only for their streaming site which hosted the episodes and even then it was only for a select few of the recent episodes, so their main subbing site was in no danger at all nor was it even mentioned.
I'm sure another group will pick it up, I just hope it will be of equal or greater quality.
As linainverselover pointed out and jlaking ignored (he has a habit of ignoring people such as the lack of response to my earlier post), having about 100 episodes available of a 650+ episode series is not making it available. This is akin to only letting people to buy the first 2 episodes of a 12 episode series (percentage wise).
FUNimation can take the loss for business and tax purposes and to entice customers to buy more from them. Amazon sold the Kindle at a loss because they knew people would buy more ebooks (and they even sell some ebooks at a loss too). FUNimation hasn't announced how much money they've lost on CC; for all we know the only loss is the cost of the licencing fee for a property they're not even using. As for the DVD sales refer to the making it available discussion you ignored earlier. And regarding streaming, you're streaming the episodes? The only videos I see are clips and trailers.
There was something else I was curious about:
Yes of course you have to comply ... but you said "if" ... did you actually receive a notice?
I've sat here and read this dribble being spouted bu jlacking for long enough.
jlacking isn't even a part of the FUNimation staff. He completely ignores the completely logical arguments, points, and suggestions being made in this thread in regards to the options available to both FUNimation and the fans (Or rather, the lack thereof). Your ignorance reminds me of someone who is trying to impress some higher-ups for a promotion. Stop it. You do not know what you are talking about, regardless of how you try to make it sound like you do.
From other topics regarding the status of this show here on FUNimation's own website, as well as other sources around the net and the world, your words are proven ignorant at best, though my preferred term would be hypocritical.
There are plenty of options that FUNimation could persue in regards to further offering this series to North America. Some very good suggestions for "testing the waters' were suggested here, and you tramp on them like you're some bigshot who owns a licensing company, which I believe you called Sigerson out on, did you not? I happen to have known Sigerson for a few years now, and just from reading a few posts of yours I am able to discern that he probably knows more about topics such as this than you do.
TO get to the point here, the DMCA notice was a complete and utter farce. A couple of years ago actual FUNimation employees have stated that there is no possibility this series would be taken up again by the company as there was "no way we (aquisitions) could possible convince Gen (The CEO) to take it" because it would sell poorly. Now, if that had somehow changed, there would be notices about this, and yet there are not. Why is this? Because they don't have anything in the works. So why would they bother to shut down this fansubbing group who is likely the cause for ANY Case Closed sales they have had in the past few years to begin with? The cause of this isn't certain. It could be they were indeed asked to shut them down which seems the most likely answer considering that the so-called copyright violations had to do with the most recently released episodes that have been aired in japan. They were asked to remove a small number of episodes to comply with the DMCA notice. They could have easily removed them and kept going, but they didn't. Because they had the respect to just cease operations entirely. They weren't forced to stop subbing, they willingly did it out of respect. This situation is much like what happened back when Crunchyroll first came around and another fansubbing group, Dattebayo, who was the main source for Bleach and Naruto, decided to bow out of fansubbing once the option for legal viewing was presented.
The reason DCTP exists was to bring North American audiences the Case Closed anime. Which, as I recall, isn't that what FUNimation does? Brings japanese shows to North America? My, goodness, I'm pretty sure it is! And yet, they pay for this license (Which through my research seems to expire some time in 2013 if the bits and pieces I've managed to scrounge up add up the way I see it) and do not touch this show, effectively just gouging money from themselves. How much money? The license is about $1000/year, or at least it was a few years ago when I had checked and that was only a partial license. The full license I'm sure is much more. So in other words, of you factor in a 30% profit margin, you're looking at the need for quite a bit of money. Without any kind of advertising or exposure, how is this income suppose to occur? The simple (and obvious of your head isn't between some meaty appendages) answer is that it simply will not. Endeavoring to make profit is always a gamble in any industry, this isn't any exception. The fact of the matter is, they failed, tucked their tail between their legs and ran off to greener pastures. I've looked into prices for the box sets, and I've been shocked by what I saw. Following a link on this website itself brought me to a place where I could buy the box set for $22 and pay $150 for shipping! What? Well, since these box sets aren't available in most (if any) major retail outlets, your best option to get them is online. $150 to ship is unreasonable for anything. I can get stuff shipped straight from japan for a fraction of that kind of price. For $150 I could probably get moon rocks expressed straight from the moon.
The fact of the matter is, nobody is going to want to pay $150 for shipping unless it's a mail-order bride and they're a 40-year old virgin. Even if you take this out of the equation, nobody who has done even a minimal amount of research would bother to waste their money on a series that the company who has it licensed has publicly announced they have given up on. With that kind of stigma on the series, of course you aren't going to sell anything.
If you want to make money off of this series, and trust me the money IS there, you are going to have to get innovative. Obviously dubbing it is out of the question for now. You first have to crawl before you walk, you can't just jump headfirst into the pool. Instead of threatening the people who actually have the audacity to stare this 657 episode beast in the face and tackle it, try talking to them. They are only doing it because you guys won't.
I feel this has gone on just about long enough, but I will say this.
FUNimation has publicly announced they have no plans to continue this show. THen years later, they threaten someone for copyright violation. On the grounds that these people are the source of ANY income in regards to the series the complaint is about. Oh, dear, it looks like we have a conflict of interest. The fansubbers that you guys threatened are almost 8000 fans strong. If you guys released a DVD, and even HALF of those fans bought it, you'd be pretty well off. But instead of doing that you threaten them with what has to be the weakest DMCA request I have ever seen in my life, which, as stated above, would absolutely not hold up if challenged. I wouldn't so much say it is an overreaction by the community to cease and desist as much as a respect for the company that owns the rights to their favorite show. If they didn't like the show, they wouldn't be doing Fansubs to begin with. If people didn't like the show, they wouldn't keep going back week after week to watch it in the only place they possibly can, since the actual people in charge of giving us the show threw in the towel. Don't go throwing your weight around in waters you don't dare to tread. Chances are you'll get bitten. It's a poor business model to anger your customers. And that's exactly what you've done here, is angered us.
For all of you posting suggestions and making actual valid points, you have my personal thanks for attempting to shed light on this disgraceful act by FUNimation, as well as proper and logical means of using the license they're currently wasting money on. I've been bullied all my life, and I do not plan to sit back and take it from a company who relies on ME, not the other way around. I can live without paying you guys, but if you guys don't get paid you will not live. That's how a business works.
If you all want DC/CC streamed legally, go bug Crunchyroll to add it their line up but the facts remain that the Fansubbers were violating copyrights and had no rights to stream or sub the series, movies and specials.
Yes, FUNi could stream the series+ but they also have the option not to.
Alright, I just want to say, I apologize for how rude my previous post was. Emotions were running high, and it was very late in the evening.
However, jlacking, you're not even a moderator here, stop acting like one, please.
There's no question as to whether what the fansubbers were doing was legal or not, that's obvious that their actions are illegal. However, the fact of the matter is, without FUNimation releasing it to us, their actions are JUSTIFIED. This company has no intention of releasing this show to us in any capacity any time soon, or ever.
Their reasoning of subbing the episodes is because nobody will do it in a legal capacity. This motion by FUNimation to shut them down is simply bullying. It's greedy and immoral. They aren't even making any money off the newest 20 episodes. Why should they care? Because they're greedy. Well, I don't like greed. A lot of people don't like greed - especially in companies that rely on us consumers.
There's a small group of people who are going out of their way to buy up all the merch that this company has in regards to CC, regardless of them already having it all, in order to attempt to show this company that people care.
I can say that I no longer care. If this is the way this company is going to act in the wake of a show they've declared dead, then this company doesn't deserve my money.
This company doesn't deserve anyone's money in regards to this show in that case.
Sign petition to Save Case Closed? www.change.org/petitions/save-case-closed
SIGN TO SAVE Case Closed? Link to petition change.org/petitions/save-case-closed
Search for us on Google "Save Case Closed"
I just wanted to say that this was one of my first Animes to watch back on cartoon network. I loved it and when it stopped I was saddened because I thought the show was gone forever with no conclusion. Then I learned that it was still airing in Japan and I found out about fan subs.
I didn't really think I would like watching a tv show where I had to read translations at the bottom but I found I LIKED that better than the dubbing. I started to learn that by adding the different honorifics at the end -san, -chan, -sama, and so on the meaning of a sentence can change. I have since continued to watch every episode as they come out and have bought the DVD's even though I prefer the fansubs. I also bought the DVD's, AFTER I started watching the fansubs I would like to point out, because I was able to enjoy the rest of the story. I no longer was stuck with a half of a story. In this case though it seems like it is only 0.197869102 of the story seeing as how that is what you get when you only have 130 out of the 657 episodes that have come out.
I respect the fansub group's decision to stop their translations because of the DMCA but what disappoints me is the fact that that was issued when they haven't touched it in so long and apparently don't have any intention to touch it. I am sad to see that once again I will be having the story just cut off again. It is also sad that a big company like Funimation is basically saying this is mine and you can't touch it. Kinda sounds like when my 3 year old nephew saw his cousin playing with a toy that he hadn't touched in a year and took it away from him. He didn't play with it, he just took it and put it down again. Nice to see that a company of adults seems to have the same attitude as a 3 year old.
If anyone is looking for the Funimation DVD's (though I don't see why you would since they like to screw the fans over) you might still be able to find them at Fry's Electronics (if your in the US).
One final note. I honestly don't care about dubbing of Detective Conan. Quite frankly I prefer to watch it subbed with the ORIGINAL names and jokes. Even if it means having to put an explanation at the top of the screen. I wish that Funimation would try to learn and incorporate the fansubber's. The main fansubber that has been working on it was working on it during their free time. Why not see if they would be willing to give you their translations and you air it on your website. Then you could throw in commercials and the like to earn some money instead of having this amazing show collecting dust.
Hi, I've been reading these forums since around 07-08 and for the first time I really need to post something.
There seems to be a massive lack of understanding from those defending Funimation about the nature of our complaint regard the DCTP. Everyong defending Funi seems to be desperately pointing out that what they were doing was illegal and Funimation had every right to do what they did. Similarly, Soundmonkey is quick to point out that anime is not a right. The problem with this defense is that noone is suggesting that Funimation COULDN'T do what they did. Of course they can. But, as an entertainment company, we customers expect Funimation do bring the entertainment to us, not actively prevent us from enjoying our favorite shows. In short, just because they have the right to do so. doesn't mean they SHOULD.
Why should I as a paying customer spend my money on a company that, when a show is having trouble, will not only stop producing it themselves but make certain I can't finish the series through any means?
Might I add by the way that the moderators' behavior on Funi forums has been disgraceful with almost any instance of fans expressing displeasure with Funimation resulting in insults and locked threads.
So, I've been reading through this forum and there are a few main arguments that seem constant:
- 1 FUNimation did what was right because DCTP was violating copyright laws and they should not have to lose money because fans want it legally shown in america
- 2 FUNimation should either be reproducing DC subbed or dubbed legally since they have shut down the main fansubbers, DCTP, or should have not shut it down in the first place
(These aren't exact arguments, they are rather bluntly said, and opinions may lie in between but this is just to keep it simple)I must agree with the latter not only because I am a Detective Conan fan but also because, as said before, the ones who really suffer from this is the English DC fan community. There is no reason why DCTP needed to be shut down unless FUNimation plans to return to producing DC.Though understandable that DCTP broke DMCA (or whatever) however, it has always appeared that DMCA (and similar laws) have existed to protect the profit of those who produce the content as well as any others who intended to profit from it legally. It would be one thing if they intended to continue with DC (unlikely), but removing the primary fansubbers will not make people want to buy it on DVD (not to mention they're old episodes). It is more likely that the fans who can no longer watch new DC episodes will either try to find a new way to watch it or give up entirely on the series. This really helps no one (regarding the english fanbase of course).
My final note: In terms of money, I might also add that, in my opinion at least, I'd probably spend more money on new DC episodes sold in america if FUNimation were to return to dubbing it (perhaps change some voices and the title back to DC though, but that's for a different discussion).
(To ppl on forums: you must forgive me for anything, I'm very new to forums)