@@DanielGreeneReviews considering I am currently reading _Dungeon Crawler Carl..._ if you had the chance to which race would you want to become and if it isn't the _Disheveled Goblin_ Race, WHY?!
For decades fan translated anime was the only source for currently airing anime, this wouldn't even be a discussion without the efforts of those groups. Now the content is simply too spread out across multiple platforms, and each of those platforms offer less and less over time. It is obvious that anyone who brings all the anime back together in one place is going to be more successful than official services. "There is a fundamental misconception about piracy. Piracy is almost always a service problem and not a pricing problem." - Gabe Newell
No need to apologise for having boundaries Daniel. There’s so much a person’s psyche can take on. Good enough to mention the story, people can read the specific for themselves. The story is far beyond upsetting for most of us I’m sure.
I'm in two minds in this. Its a f'd up situation so I understand the hesitancy, but at the same time it involves one of the most prominent authors of the fantasy genre so it will likely have pretty huge ramifications on the scene going forward. To me things that Gaiman has (allegedly) done are not that far from some of the worst villains actions from the books we read. so I don't find it hard to talk about.
Probably another reason animation is pirated so heavily is that a sizeable chunk of its fan base is middle and high schoolers who often don’t really have their own money to spend.
In my country, I bought Crunchyroll because I was excited to support the animes i used to watch but was just so disappointed to find out the majority of shows were "not available in your region" for me so I cancelled it.
@@Syco07-pm3iz And that is one of the big reasons piracy goes on the geo-locking of content... plus most piracy streaming sites have a lot more of it that official sites don’t especially older anime
Def not true in America those of us that grew up on Anime in our 30’s watch way more anime than high schoolers I’m willing to bet, in Japan sure grade schoolers watch more Shonen
@@akiotatsuki2621Outside the US it's still mostly kids as it's considered cringe even in your 20s. Many years ago several anime were taken off the air in my country because they complained they were too violent. They weren't for kids, but because it's animated, it's not thought of as being for even teens.
I think its understandable that you don't want to cover the Niel Gaiman article. As a SA survivor, I'm thankful honestly. I've been avoiding reading or learning more about this news since I know it'd upset me. So having you say you couldn't read all of the article was reassuring to me in the fact that I was probably right to avoid it. Great fantasy news vid as always!
A pal of mine is a psychologist who did a study of why people pirate music in around 2008. Convience was by far the biggest reason people pirated. He predicted that when streaming arrived, it would greatly reduce music piracy. His recommendation for media companies was to make it easier and quicker to access legit versions of media, than the pirate versions.
I'm a 19 year old european university student, so whilst I'm not in debt or have any loans, I pirate just for the sake of convenience and that it's free. These websites aren't complicated and you have everything there compared to going around websites like you mentioned.
Yeah, that's the biggest reason for me as well. I know that they will have the show/movie/anime that I want to watch and the annoying ads that are half filled with p*rn are still less ads then the ones I get from the websites where I pay them money for it...
The neil gaiman article was one of the most harrowing stuff I've ever read. It made me sick but great reporting. I hope Neil Gaiman suffers and I hope the victims get justice.
I completely understand why Daniel didn't report on it I have to be in the right headspace to read those types of articles. And it disturbs me the people who act like it's no big deal to do that we all should be terribly affected by it because it is truly awful.
I tried to read the article but it said I had reached my maximum limit of articles for this month even though this is the first time of me visiting the site. It must be real bad
I love how 8 out the 10 entries were female authors when not even that long ago female authors had to write under male sounding pen names to make any sales and be published in the first place.
I hate to say this, but I would suspect that we can thank Rowling for that. She brought in a new wave of fantasy fans, revived fantasy even a bit and did it while using her own name... well not completly she doesn't have a _"K"_ in her second name, since she doesn't have a second name.
Yeah! It’s too bad it seems like sales for male authors seem to have gone down, but that’s how these things tend to go. Women need their time in publishing.
@@evilemuempire9550 considering that overall more books are being read, we can't even be sure that male author suddenly make less, it could very well be that they earn roughly the same (at least some, everybody has highs and lows), while female authors now just get more then them...
@jackwriter1908 I agree. As someone who's a Potterhead in spite of Rowling, I try my best to not fall into the delusion that some Rowling haters fall into where they try to downplay Rowling's obvious impacts on not just fantasy but books and reading as a whole. There is a reason why there's only 1 author who became a billionaire through writing books. The Harry Potter books were an international pop culture phenomenon. It was lightning in a bottle that came out at the perfect time, before the prominence and subsequent dominance of online booksellers like Amazon. I remember Pottermania, of when people would camp outside of a Barnes and Noble or Books A Million or bookstore the night before the new HP book officially dropped just so they could be the first ones to buy the newest HP book. Rowling inspired an entire generation of reads to pick up a book and read and continue to read, an overarching trend that later benefitted later famous authors like Jeff Kinney (Wimpy Kid), Rick Riordan (Percy Jackson), and even the likes of Brandon Sanderson, whose prolific output, popularity, and reputation in fantasy was undoubtedly helped by Rowling's Harry Potter books being the major entry way for a lot of new fantasy readers and writers. We all stand on the shoulders of giants. And while Rowling's world building and writing has its flaws, the writing still had undeniable strengths which made it extremely popular. The HP books are not middle school slop, as some detractors like to claim. The problem is that in addition to a lot of readers having not read the books in years, a lot of readers read the books with middle school reading comprehension so they were many things about the HP series that they just completely missed or didn't understand. Like, if I were to ask the average HP fan or reader which is the major character from HP who is a canonical SA victim, almost no one would be able to say. If I ask which real life UK terrorist organization was the aesthetic inspiration for the Death Eaters, again, no one could really answer. (The real answer being that the Death Eaters were inspired by the Troubles, the IRA, and other Irish paramilitary/terrorist organizations and that the social anxieties of the Troubles which Rowling and people of her generation experienced permeates throughout the HP books). But yeah, I've yapped long enough. Just wanted to add my 2 cents.
Cant forget the growing thing of 'subscriptions arent owning it' so pirating it often gives you the copy you keep for free which is appealing especially with he current high prices for essentials pushing luxury items out of affordablility. To many brands own things and than lock them up to either avoid taxes or let other products take the highlight even if people want other things.
Dont blame Daniel one bit for the approach to the subject in this video because but I think everyone, if they are capapble of handling it (comfortable is the wrong word because jesus ficking christ it´s rough), probably should read the Vulture article on Gaiman to the point of at least knowing the general picture. It teaches us that you can never really know celebrities no matter how invested you are in them or their art. I was never a super fan but I´ve read and enjoyed several of his works and I´m still trying to reconcile the image I had of him with what the article reveals. Important piece of journalism.
It was beyond gross. I'm not sure how I read the entire article. It went into details that I'm don't think we needed. The reporting was very much needed. The graphic descriptions of certain acts not so much.
@@davedujour1 I get you but disagree. Jouranlism is about telling the truth unvarnished. You´re not doing your job as a journalist if you dont report things as they occured or, in this case, as described to you. This is even more important when dealing with the really bad stuff. As a reader you of course should decide for yourself what you are willing to expose yourself to. That doesnt mean the article should have censored details for the sake of reader sensetivity. And, of course, with the caveat that it´s done with the victims blessing.
Never harm your mental health by reading news that harms you. All we need is "Hey, there's a story linked below. Trigger warnings." Anyone upset at you for not reading it or explaining it in graphic detail in FNs isn't someone you need in your audience.
I lived abroad for 15 years. If you pay for a streaming service, most things you want to watch "aren't available in your region", so the choice is paying even more for a VPN, or getting it for free from the Bay. If streaming services don't like piracy, perhaps they should provide content instead of arbitrary restrictions.
@@deadcaptainjames6045 hey! book porn is still books! doesn't need to be whatever your definition of "high class lit." is for it to mean people are reading. I think any kind of reading is good.
@@deadcaptainjames6045 True, but at least they'll be reading (usually) properly structured and well formed sentences, with proper grammar and spelling. Which is more than a lot of American adults can say, let alone younger kids that have grown up online with abbreviations and horrible spelling 😅 More people reading is good, regardless! 😊
Geo-restrictions, which randomly limit access to animated shows in many countries, often leave piracy as the only option for viewers to access that content.
@@darklordshuaibThat's not something to be proud of because you're not just stealing from him, you're also stealing from editors, publishers and designers who might otherwise have invested that money into new up-and-coming authors.
On one hand I'm happy more and more people are reading books, and I'm happy that Romantasy readers are willing to dip their toes into other genres instead of just sticking to their genre. On the other hand, I absolutely despise Romantasy. Seeing both Romantasy and Colleen Hoover basically dominate the list here feels like someone just shoved a fat bar of soap down my throat lol. Romantasy needs to stay as a gateway drug only. The moment I see readers of that genre asking "where's the smut" in non-Romantasy genre's we're going to start having some real fuckin problems.
Another important consideration for books in general is that they are much more driven by an individual author’s vision and not the corporate focus tested mediocracy you get from the film industry nowadays.
I pirate anime because paying for streaming services is such an expense AND a hassle. I don't watch anime frequently, and I DO NOT want to pay for potentially multiple subscriptions just to watch a handful of animes per year. If I didn't pirate anime I probably wouldn't watch anime, despite loving the medium.
The reason I use that anime website you mentioned is because it is literally impossible to legally buy/stream seasons 1 and 2 of the show I'm currently wanting to watch (I'm in the U.K). Seasons 3 onwards are available on Crunchyroll so thats when I'll switch back to legal means. The licensing of these shows outside of Japan seems to be a huge issue and until they sort that out, I'm sailing the seven seas when I need to.
Don't worry about the lack of coverage on this. We can get the news about bad people being authors in other places... if we want to hear it. I'd much rather see the books, the covers, and I love how you call out publishers for not crediting cover artists. :)
Back in the dark ages I relied on fansub groups to get access to anime shows that simply had no western distribution. Japanese companies got wise to the market that they had been missing and shows simulcast with english subs massively reduced the demand for those sub groups... but I do miss the ones that retired. Aside from the nostalgia of fan translations, I do also find streaming to be a really frustrating way to consume media. It just feels bad to pay a monthly fee for access to something instead of controlling a disc or file. Who knows if the show I like will still be on platform A in 20 years, who knows if platform B will even exist then, etc etc.
A very important part of the Anime conversation, at least for more hardcore fans, is that there is a night-and-day quality difference between translation for the pirated options compared to the licensed options. Which also does not even begin to take into account the "legal" avenues are full of extremely valid criticism including: Basically none of the money going back to the original creators. Underpaying and overworking entirely amateur translators and strictly not hiring pros to save a buck. Actively tanking certain shows and series for entirely greedy and corrupt reasons. And generally having an extremely toxic relationship with the Anime community for decades, often times being outright hostile to them.
with anime it comes to cost and accessibility. if i wanted to watch everything i'd need at least 2 streaming services and a vpn which is more than i can or am willing to pay. it still does not mean there will be everything. i have a netflix subscription so if it is on there i will even wait for netflix to get the next season on there(demon slayer......it feels like ages). i guess i feel less guilty bc watching anime on those sites is such a big part of that culture, but also bc it leads to the manga and merch sales rising. i'm also not saying this is like moral and stuff but it is why.
I think just mentioning it happening and people can go read themselves is fine. I will say it's a well written piece and I have mad respect for the journalist. She did an excellent job of presenting what she learned in a way that didn't feel like she was blaming the victims or sensationalized it. Hard descriptions but i think some people need to have it in their face of how bad it was. Unfortunately, i don't think he'll face any criminal charges for this abuse. I have concerns for his child...
As a user of naughty Anime sites, not HiAnime, but other ones (*thanks for the recommendation tho, lmao). My reason is threefold. 1: I cannot afford 6 subscriptions, as you said; 2: A large amount of the Anime I like to watch, either does not exist in my country in any legal form, or, does not exist at all in any legal form, be it because it is just available airing in Japan, or what have you; 3rd: and final, and something you haven't considered. My Anime consuming habits are random and sporadic, so sticking to a paid service doesn't work for me, especially when you consider point 1. Though, I do sub to Crunchyroll and use it whenever it has what I want, as, where possible, I do like to respect the art form.
I don't watch much anime, but for when a friend recommends a series it's rarely worth tracking down the right subscription service, paying for it, remember to cancel, and all the other little inconveniences.
Thank you for being here and don't ever feel like you need to give anymore of yourself than you already do. You've done so much for us over the years- just keep up the good work!
Congratulations on nearly completing your second draft! Great progress! Thank you for being so honest about the article about Neil Gaiman. Unfortunately I can't read the article, but maybe it's a good thing.
I do really think the biggest drive for anime piracy is just the frustration with shows being spread across so many services. Also, good on you for keeping yourself and the tone of your programming in mind around heavy stories like the Gaiman one. I think what you did here is a really good way to handle it. Acknowledging that it happened, linking out to the article for the full deep dive and expressing your feelings helps communicate out what happened without putting the burden of doing a deep dive reporting session on you, because as you said, that’s not really what the channel is about.
As a an anime fan for about 15 years now, and living in an european country, as many stated the content is spread on multiple platforms BUT also as you've said is region locked. One of the reasons I've cancelled my crunchyroll membership was that half of the shows that I've tried watching were not available in my region. So on top of having to subscribe to multiple platforms, I also need to subscribe to a VPN so I can have access to all the shows. While now being an adult with a good paying job I can afford all this, many anime watchers are also teens/kids with no income of their own, so piracy is the obvious choice in this scenario. If the availability was better and perhaps regional pricing, then maybe we wouldn't have this problem
the really interesting thing to me is that between the two SJM books, there is a nearly 400k copy drop off. Granted, that doesn't mean every person who bought the first one bought the second, but that is a not insignificant drop in readership as show by the data. I've also seen enough reporting about viewer number to know that if that drop had been on a television or movie sequel, the entire internet would be saying how cooked the entire series was and how it wasn't looking great for the series. Personally, I would like to see more data on the other books in the series. I'm curious how big the actual audience is for it, or if its a lot of people buying the first book or two and then abandoning the series as a whole.
With anime piracy a lot of it also has to do with Sony actively altering storylines in shows while trying to own a monopoly of product, and trying to use legislation in the US and UN to prevent competition. One of the often overlooked things with UN stories about how all anime is CP so they need good actors to be filters is how much Sony donated to the people speaking out prior to these discussions happening. Add this to the fact that it's pretty well known that once an animation leaves the boarders of Japan to be on a service all benefit a creator would ever see has dried up, there isn't a strong reason to pay for the product.
On piracy, not saying I partake, but if I did the reasons would come down to a few different factors: Cost (if I were in a financial position where I could support the stuff I watch, I would), quality (piracy sites and especially torrents can be a genuinely better streaming experience than it would be through the official means), and convenience (the web design on piracy sites can be much better than the official ones). Netflix is generally pretty good UI-wise even if its video quality can be atrocious, Amazon’s UI sucks, and the only streaming option for the blue ray versions of anime-which features touch-ups to the animation-is through certain piracy sites.
I used to watch Bravest Warriors, watched the whole lot on TH-cam probably 10 times or more, introduced many people to it, and waited years for it to be finished. Then the new series came to a streaming platform that was only available in USA (I'm in Australia). I emailed them and they said they were looking at going international. I waited for 3 years before I finally got shitty enough and pirated the series. I understand that legal problems and contracts and licensing happening behind the scenes can be restricting, it just sucked that a series that I loved was forcibly taken away from me for so long and nothing has ever changed about that. I even messaged them explaining that I was pirating it and why I was doing it.
Hi Daniel! Just wanted to say thank you for making such great and fun videos! You do an awesome job and I think you're news videos especially are fantastic. Keep up the awesome work!
There's also a huge issue with manga where people read it on illegal sites instead of buying it and a lot of the time it stems from how delayed the translation is. When it comes to anime, there's a similar issue, sometimes I would see a title on an official site translated 1 year after its original release in Japanese, which is ridiculous. Lastly, I think a lot of people don't even know about platforms like Crunchyroll because the pirate sites are so popular that they come up as #1 in search results. I've never seen cr being advertised anywhere and I am a subscriber, I think they should put more of their resources into it, the prices are rising but there's no difference in service.
Another frustrating issue with streaming services is when you buy a movie-like LOTR-thinking you’ll watch it again and again, only for the platform to change its policies and the movie disappears. But I paid to have access to that movie! It’s so annoying. That’s why I always rent movies now instead of buying them.
Someone already quoted Gabe Newell in the comments, so I'll offer something different to ponder instead. Damage reports for stuff like this is overinflated because companies and courts will never truly internalize one thing about piracy. There's three types of people or at least three reasons and only one causes any actual damage. 1. Can't afford to buy: Basically anyone with a low income or no income dependent on someone else, we're not counting minors here, but they also make up a significant "other" category. 2. Can afford, but the product isn't sold: This happens more often with older products and is the reason I think copyright law needs major revisions but that's another soap box for me to stand on. Suffice to say, if it's region locked, too old, or in any way no longer available, it fits here. 3. Can afford, can buy, choose not to: This is bad for the industry and actively hurts people who work in it on a 9 to 5 (with lots of overtime usually) and is just generally mean, I have no mercy for these people. Choose better. Reasons/people 1 and 2 don't harm the industry at all because they would never have BEEN customers to begin with. You can't count that as damage because if the content hadn't been possible to pirate, they would not have been ABLE, for one reason or another, to purchase it! I'd love to get some actual numbers on how many people are in these categories and present it to investors, trying to convince them to drop horrible DRM measures like Denuvo, for games. I have a feeling that the numbers would be surprising to them.
Media companies never learn when it comes to piracy. Its its easy and cheaper to get media then piracy goes down. If they all want their own expensive slice of the pie it goes up.
I couldn’t finish the Vulture article either. My heart breaks for the victims and I’m just so disgusted by Neil Gaiman. Thank you for mentioning it and you have every right to not go into those horrific details.
One of the issues though not as glaring is access to these legal anime resources as well. I am from Botswana, a small country in Africa and piracy is a common norm here simply because we don't have access to much wider media here, for example HBO and amazon are not even available in my country. We only have one book store in the entirety of my country and if that store doesn't have a specific book well its not in the country. Online ordering is also pretty difficult, you could go to many online platforms but then again cost. For example to get a copy of jade city is the equivalent of 800 to 1000 Pula ( our currency) its simply not sustainable. So that could be one major issue
Plus if you wanted to watch only Weekly Shonen Jump anime, so only from one magazine, you need 4 services. That's absolutely insane to expect a weekly shonen jump reader to pay for 4 services to see the series they are reading and loving. That's me by the way haha. So I just pirate them.
On the piracy thing, I have an issue with Korean novels. I have tried and tried to find a work around to buy them legally and translate them myself. But Korean companies don’t want to deal with the American companies (Apple & Google namely for the thing where if you buy something in an app they take an insane amount for themselves) charges.
Totally understand the gripes about expense and hassle when it comes to watching anime but I choose not to pirate because paying for the content supports the artists who make the art that I love, and I carry this sentiment into music as well - buy a concert ticket, a vinyl record, a theater ticket, a museum ticket, a blu-ray, do something more than just take without giving back. If there is no legitimate way to pay for it, okay pirating might be an avenue to otherwise experience something that isn’t available but artists deserve to get compensated for their work, especially if you want to see them continue to work and produce more art
I don't use HiAnime, but as for pirating overall, it's partially convenience, but mostly due to costs overall. Additionally, I'm a big believer in the fact that pirate sites, emulators etc are some of the few genuinely trying to preserve media that could be lost otherwise if it were left up to corpos.
If people couldn't pirate anime most of them wouldn't be watching it. Why would someone pirate anime? Because if you aren't living in the US it is way harder to find legal ways to watch you favourite shows, and free stuff is great. If the series is good enough you will end up supporting it in other ways anyway, anime is mostly just marketing. If a show like one piece was smart and put all of it free online they would probably start making more money, especially if there site is better.
True, I wouldn't subscribe just to watch one anime every three months... them claiming that they lost so much money is just stupid. Recently wanted to buy a few of my favorite Animes as bluray so that I could always watch them without piracy or subscribtion... 68,99$ for 7 episodes and another 74,99$ for the last 6 episodes... I want to support the makers of it and ensure that they will keep creating great stuff, but I ain't paying almost 150$ for 13 episodes.
Thank you for refraining from that discussion. We have enough horrendous things happening in the world. It makes me cry just thinking about these horrible acts.
You are allowed to have boundaries, Daniel. It sucks that it's even a story to cover. Things like this are precisely why I rarely get to know anything about a celebrity. But one of the few I ever made an exception for was Neil. I played "The View from the Cheap Seats" on repeat for 15 days straight when my husband and I separated last year. It wasn't even one of his fiction stories I listened to but parts of his life read in his own voice and it was a comfort. Now... all this. It's okay to not want to bring that ugliness into this space.
I don't watch anime any more, but when i was younger i would watch it both on crunchyroll and the high seas. Crunchyrolls video player is trash. Their selection limited. Their perks for subscribing minimal. That plus the ads pushes people off their platform and into other places. I find the biggest draw not to go to the high seas for tv and film is the potential quality difference. I'd much prefer to watch my favourite shows in a silky smooth 1440p, than a blurry, stuttery 720p.... That's not a factor if the video player on BOTH sites sucks.
I'm willing to pay up to $20/mo if all streaming media was available in 1 website. Having 10 subscriptions is just too expensive. Having to subscribe and cancel from different platforms on a monthly basis is just inconvenient (e.g., oh this show is on Apple TV, next month starts this show on Paramount Plus, don't forget to unsubscribe from Apple next month tho, oh but Netflix releases this show in March...). If we can fix this with a cheaper platform (3x netflix price if necessary) and one for all would be ideal. I don't pirate games for more than a decade. I don't pirate ebooks for almost a decade. Music is available in TH-cam Music, Spotify, so no reason there either. The only extremely inconvenient media left is streamable tv shows/movies.
I don't blame for only mentioning the Gailman situation. The reactions I've seen to the article were bad enough for me. I don't need that in my mental space
It's painful when an author who you really enjoy their work does awful things, not to imply any pain or discomfort I feel over it is anything near the suffering those who were abused went though
I dont know how it is in the US but here in Sweden Crunchyroll has a lot of anime but there are still a lot of animes that you cant get legally in Sweden. I myself havent used an illegal site but I understand if people do since that is the only way to watch some of the shows
My country has terrible exchange rate and the streaming services (and many subscription based services) decided this year that they will no longer do affordable regional pricing. Everything is suddenly extremely expensive. Also most of the shows aren’t available in my country and VPN also isn’t as affordable for us. I actually don’t think Crunchyroll was ever available here. We never pirate because we think “Mwahaha take that you creators!”, we do because we have no other choice left. It is proven when Netflix first came here everyone immediately paid for it and stopped pirating those shows that, if you make it accessible for us, we’ll pay for it. But if you keep US prices in a country where minimum wage is 500$ a month, yeah people will have to pirate.
I don’t pirate, but have a relative who used to watch pirated anime despite having a Crunchyroll subscription. They said it was because of ongoing frustrations with the platform, such as frequently reported bugs that CR apparently simply ignored. They also said there’s a big problem with the volume (sound, not number) of ads. Though they’re neurodivergent and have sensory issues, so it might not be a major problem for neurotypical viewers. I honestly think acknowledging the existence of the article and the further claims should be sufficient. There is a need for safe spaces (as safe as anything online can be, anyway) for fantasy/sci-fi fans with SA trauma triggers, and it’s not like there’s a lack of channels providing commentary on the NG accusations. It’s only human to love juicy gossip, but there are a great many for whom this would be more a real life horror-tragedy than a salacious tidbit. (No judgement of those who are wanting an around the water-cooler chat about the matter. I’m sure there’s stuff I take in my stride that they might find difficult or confronting.)
As a 20 year old college student, I pirate because a lot of the anime that I want to watch still isn't legally available in my country. While I wish i could pay for the ones that are, they aren't that many and they are spread across many platforms. The sites having everything in one place and a very decent user interface (I like the user comments under each episode, streaming services don't have that), really brings up the question for me - Why should I pay for something that would just be more inconvenient?
A point on piracy is the victims' data is always taken with a grain of salt. In fact piracy is often cited as a victimless crime (whether that is right or not is very much up for debate) because of the argument that the majority of people who pirate do so because they would not have paid to watch. Especially in todays climate of streaming services, piracy sites are just more convenient for people that want to watch a show and have it be immediately available. We see in history that piracy and black markets rise when they are more convenient than purchasing a product legitimately. It's quite easy to make the argument then that the only people that can make legitimate streaming more convenient than pirate streaming is the streaming platforms, and therefore it is their fault, not the consumers, that piracy is on the rise.
Anime: We have so many streaming services already as family that I can't justify adding another one for me when I occasionally want to check out a new anime show. If it's available on one of the existing services we have, I'll watch it there, but I don't consume it enough to justify one or more subscription services. Maybe when the kids move out and we drop some services, I'll check it out, but that's at least 8 years away.
When it comes to the piracy argument with anime, my main problem with giving money to a company like Crunchyroll is that they don't really give much back to the actual creators despite their campaigns claiming to do so. That on top of the fact that animators generally don't get a lot of the revenue they pull in really demotivates me from supporting streaming sites like Crunchyroll and Netflix. I understand that means no pay vs a little bit of play but I want to make sure the money goes to those who worked on the shows.
I used to pirate content many years ago. I consider it to be unethical now, so I avoid it whenever possible (except to get a battle for Middle Earth 2 as it isn't sold anymore). However, with rising prices and the shuffle of shows between streaming services, I'm considering pirating again. In Canada, it's not illegal to pirate media as long as I don't distribute it.
You probably already got a bunch of comments on this, but just in case this is the one that pushes you over the edge, I'd love to see a Castlevania Nocturn review
I used to heavily pirate anime many years ago. Was super convenient despite the picture quality being iffy at times. However got a virus from a pop-up advert that was hidden over the 'play' button and was in a background tab whilst I watched the episode. Went to Crunchyroll after that, and at least the quality was always gauranteed too. Can't vouch for what pirating is like today, been 15years since I did it last :)
We are told that we can own something digital. Movies, games and music. We pay our money and then we are told we don't understand ownership. We own something, untill they take it from us. We complain, and they say, "You don't understand. No one owns anything." This works so well, companies start bricking physical objects. VR headsets, 3D printers, tabelts. What's next? Cars and home appliances? Yep. Its not author's fault, but tha t's why people pirate media.
One of the things I don't think you mentioned that likely contributed to romantasy sales in particular is the amount of special editions, sprayed edges, and just really cool copies that have come out in that genre specifically. I, myself, even bought at least one book because the sprayed edges were just *so* cool I couldn't resist; plus this is not something that you can get with an ebook or audiobook.
It makes me so happy that Kristin Hannah's The Women sold so well. I am a fan of hers in general, but I think The Women (and The Nightingale) are both two very well-written books. (I'm also happy about SJM and Rebecca Yarros, but I was expecting them to have high sales with just based on how often they're talked about).
I am 31 and have a lot of spending money. I've been watching anime since I was 8. At first I bought VHS, then DVDs, then I pirated because there were no streaming services where I lived, and now I pirate because 1) Crunchyroll translations are far too inaccurate for my tastes, and I hate the idea of having my money being spent on offices and conventions instead of improving the service, and 2) paying other streaming platforms for like 1 or 2 shows a season is waaaay too much. In the end if I like the show enough I buy merchandise and source material
Regarding anime piracy, not all anime are licensed in the US, for example, the majority of the Macross franchise has not been available outside of Japan because of legal issues between Harmony Gold and Big West. Some series are also not available in the US due to either age, or a perceived lack of interest outside of Japan.
The anime pirating issue is definitely a platform service issue, but I also think it's a massive cultural one too. The first anime series I ever watched was Princess Tutu on Netflix of all places when I was in high school a decade ago. Then I researched more animes and found they weren't on Netflix and that pirating sites were the only way to get them. I was taught to use pirating instead of a legit site. It's the same problem now, the animes I want to watch are on pirating sites and I wouldn't even know where to look to find them on legit services. You have a population of anime fans who have all been taught to turn to pirate sites because streamers don't have them. That's been that way for years and it's cultural at this point. I also think that part of the problem is studio recognition too. For western movies, usually I know the studios that are producing them or who owns what brands so I can guess which site they will be on. Pixar movie? That's Disney. DC Comic show? Oh, that's Max. Touchstone Picture film? Oh that's a disney label so Disney Plus. I have no idea about anime studios though. Like who are Studio Bones, Production IG or Studio Orange affiliated with enough so that I automatically who which streamer to check? Heck if I know. On a pirating site, you don't even have to figure out that puzzle or give it a thought.
Great news as always, though I was kinda surprised you didn't mention anything about the recent LoL Season 1 cinematic that dropped. Maybe a separate video with your thoughts? I watched Necrit's breakdown and the trailer has really got me jazzed, even though I know it's *technically* for the game, not the next show. Also, yes.... there is a systemic streaming problem that has only gotten worse. Annoying how many new services keep popping up, though you have to wonder when the competition will finally get broad enough that streaming subsciptions will go down. More competition is generally better from that standpoint, but the opposite seems to be happening.
Real quick: Barnes and noble opening new stores is highly suspect. They closed a TON of stores for “remodeling” and fired everyone then cancelled the remodel, but are now announcing those same stores as new openings. It’s just part of their rebranding, these aren’t new stores, it’s just a part of their PR campaign.
Sorry, they didn’t cancel the remodel, they actually DID. But it wasn’t just a remodel. My local b&n has been closed for over a year and is about to open.
Who said we are paying the same as for cable if we sign up for all streaming? No. Only 1 streaming service is more than the cable here in Europe and the HBO was an extra almost the same price. Now with all the streaming it’s about 8x more than the cable channels. But of course that doesn’t have the good stuff, this isn’t USA. Well, at least not full with ads that much and absolutely not healthcare ads, plus we don’t have channels like Fox News and such where politicians are celeb and hating too.
Funny, I also fell recently and landed on almost the exact same spot on my arm, just on the right side. Only I managed to avoid breaking anything so I guess I'm better at falling.
I don’t pirate on hianime specifically - my main reason does come down to inconvenience. I have Crunchyroll so I will usually look up there first but if I can’t find it and it’s not obviously on Netflix/disney/amazon (often very hard to tell with lack of marketing, particularly on Amazon and Disney) I end up pirating, though I have discovered mid season several times that it was actually on something I had access to. There are also some shows where the licensing seems to have missed the UK which is a bit annoying (usually for smaller anime but not always).
When it comes to piracy it is the only way a show or a movie gets to stay on the Internet when these big companies spontaneously just remove a show or a movie. Also I do agree with a lot of people that the prices are too much and it simply comes down to not being able to afford it. Especially in this economy (and as someone with chronic pain and disability, getting to afford a streaming service, in my view, is considered a luxury).
Thank you squarespace for sponsoring today's video: www.squarespace.com/danielgreene
Random question: You planning on doing an Arcane season 2 act 3 review stream?
@@karlwilker579 Yes! After I get a lost review done. Idk why either.
@@DanielGreeneReviews considering I am currently reading _Dungeon Crawler Carl..._ if you had the chance to which race would you want to become and if it isn't the _Disheveled Goblin_ Race, WHY?!
For decades fan translated anime was the only source for currently airing anime, this wouldn't even be a discussion without the efforts of those groups. Now the content is simply too spread out across multiple platforms, and each of those platforms offer less and less over time. It is obvious that anyone who brings all the anime back together in one place is going to be more successful than official services. "There is a fundamental misconception about piracy. Piracy is almost always a service problem and not a pricing problem." - Gabe Newell
Very well said. Plus if more people get to see it from piracy, then when they make merch, profit.
I 'member Dattebayo fan translations for anime and manga
If you live in a part of the world with low income (ie most of the world) it is indeed a pricing problem too
I don't get the complaints about content being spread across service providers. Don't we want competition?
@@HankyUSA imagine being required to pay for multiple subscription services just to watch a handful of shows that may or may not be good.
No need to apologise for having boundaries Daniel. There’s so much a person’s psyche can take on. Good enough to mention the story, people can read the specific for themselves. The story is far beyond upsetting for most of us I’m sure.
I couldn't finish the article either. I was in tears because what those woman went through.
I'm in two minds in this. Its a f'd up situation so I understand the hesitancy, but at the same time it involves one of the most prominent authors of the fantasy genre so it will likely have pretty huge ramifications on the scene going forward. To me things that Gaiman has (allegedly) done are not that far from some of the worst villains actions from the books we read. so I don't find it hard to talk about.
Probably another reason animation is pirated so heavily is that a sizeable chunk of its fan base is middle and high schoolers who often don’t really have their own money to spend.
In my country, I bought Crunchyroll because I was excited to support the animes i used to watch but was just so disappointed to find out the majority of shows were "not available in your region" for me so I cancelled it.
third world country citizen problem lol..........i am third world country citizen@@Syco07-pm3iz
@@Syco07-pm3iz And that is one of the big reasons piracy goes on the geo-locking of content... plus most piracy streaming sites have a lot more of it that official sites don’t especially older anime
Def not true in America those of us that grew up on Anime in our 30’s watch way more anime than high schoolers I’m willing to bet, in Japan sure grade schoolers watch more Shonen
@@akiotatsuki2621Outside the US it's still mostly kids as it's considered cringe even in your 20s. Many years ago several anime were taken off the air in my country because they complained they were too violent. They weren't for kids, but because it's animated, it's not thought of as being for even teens.
I think its understandable that you don't want to cover the Niel Gaiman article. As a SA survivor, I'm thankful honestly. I've been avoiding reading or learning more about this news since I know it'd upset me. So having you say you couldn't read all of the article was reassuring to me in the fact that I was probably right to avoid it.
Great fantasy news vid as always!
Yep, I think he did fine here. Mention it and point to where people can go to read more, if they care to. Zero need for him to deep dive it.
Been really loving the color grading of your videos! Warm and vibrant
the videos do be lookin real good since he moved! great job with the new setup, daniel, looks great! i agreeeeee!
A pal of mine is a psychologist who did a study of why people pirate music in around 2008. Convience was by far the biggest reason people pirated.
He predicted that when streaming arrived, it would greatly reduce music piracy. His recommendation for media companies was to make it easier and quicker to access legit versions of media, than the pirate versions.
I'm a 19 year old european university student, so whilst I'm not in debt or have any loans, I pirate just for the sake of convenience and that it's free. These websites aren't complicated and you have everything there compared to going around websites like you mentioned.
Yeah, that's the biggest reason for me as well. I know that they will have the show/movie/anime that I want to watch and the annoying ads that are half filled with p*rn are still less ads then the ones I get from the websites where I pay them money for it...
Another issue is that pirate sites usually have more content that the legal sites don’t have(plus a lot is geo-locked)
The neil gaiman article was one of the most harrowing stuff I've ever read. It made me sick but great reporting. I hope Neil Gaiman suffers and I hope the victims get justice.
It was such a heavy article, I had to pause and step away from it before I could finish. I feel so bad for the women he abused.
I completely understand why Daniel didn't report on it I have to be in the right headspace to read those types of articles. And it disturbs me the people who act like it's no big deal to do that we all should be terribly affected by it because it is truly awful.
He's so much worse than I thought. Truly disturbing, I hope this will end with him in jail and some of his wealth divided amongst his victims
I tried to read the article but it said I had reached my maximum limit of articles for this month even though this is the first time of me visiting the site. It must be real bad
What do you expect from a male feminist?
I love how 8 out the 10 entries were female authors when not even that long ago female authors had to write under male sounding pen names to make any sales and be published in the first place.
I hate to say this, but I would suspect that we can thank Rowling for that. She brought in a new wave of fantasy fans, revived fantasy even a bit and did it while using her own name... well not completly she doesn't have a _"K"_ in her second name, since she doesn't have a second name.
Yeah! It’s too bad it seems like sales for male authors seem to have gone down, but that’s how these things tend to go. Women need their time in publishing.
@@evilemuempire9550 considering that overall more books are being read, we can't even be sure that male author suddenly make less, it could very well be that they earn roughly the same (at least some, everybody has highs and lows), while female authors now just get more then them...
@jackwriter1908
I agree. As someone who's a Potterhead in spite of Rowling, I try my best to not fall into the delusion that some Rowling haters fall into where they try to downplay Rowling's obvious impacts on not just fantasy but books and reading as a whole. There is a reason why there's only 1 author who became a billionaire through writing books. The Harry Potter books were an international pop culture phenomenon. It was lightning in a bottle that came out at the perfect time, before the prominence and subsequent dominance of online booksellers like Amazon. I remember Pottermania, of when people would camp outside of a Barnes and Noble or Books A Million or bookstore the night before the new HP book officially dropped just so they could be the first ones to buy the newest HP book. Rowling inspired an entire generation of reads to pick up a book and read and continue to read, an overarching trend that later benefitted later famous authors like Jeff Kinney (Wimpy Kid), Rick Riordan (Percy Jackson), and even the likes of Brandon Sanderson, whose prolific output, popularity, and reputation in fantasy was undoubtedly helped by Rowling's Harry Potter books being the major entry way for a lot of new fantasy readers and writers. We all stand on the shoulders of giants.
And while Rowling's world building and writing has its flaws, the writing still had undeniable strengths which made it extremely popular. The HP books are not middle school slop, as some detractors like to claim. The problem is that in addition to a lot of readers having not read the books in years, a lot of readers read the books with middle school reading comprehension so they were many things about the HP series that they just completely missed or didn't understand. Like, if I were to ask the average HP fan or reader which is the major character from HP who is a canonical SA victim, almost no one would be able to say. If I ask which real life UK terrorist organization was the aesthetic inspiration for the Death Eaters, again, no one could really answer. (The real answer being that the Death Eaters were inspired by the Troubles, the IRA, and other Irish paramilitary/terrorist organizations and that the social anxieties of the Troubles which Rowling and people of her generation experienced permeates throughout the HP books).
But yeah, I've yapped long enough. Just wanted to add my 2 cents.
I mean theres prolly way more women that read compared to men, so its expected that the most successful are female authors
Man I’ve got: Netflix, Amazon Prime, MAX, Disney+ and Crunchyroll. If something isn’t on these platforms I feel completely justified in pirating it
Cant forget the growing thing of 'subscriptions arent owning it' so pirating it often gives you the copy you keep for free which is appealing especially with he current high prices for essentials pushing luxury items out of affordablility.
To many brands own things and than lock them up to either avoid taxes or let other products take the highlight even if people want other things.
The fact that nobody talks about the forbidden book called The Gilded Nexus of Prosperity speaks volumes about how people are stuck in a trance
I used some techniques from that book to make money, and I can truly say I'm earning more now
both of these comments sound like bots
Dont blame Daniel one bit for the approach to the subject in this video because but I think everyone, if they are capapble of handling it (comfortable is the wrong word because jesus ficking christ it´s rough), probably should read the Vulture article on Gaiman to the point of at least knowing the general picture. It teaches us that you can never really know celebrities no matter how invested you are in them or their art. I was never a super fan but I´ve read and enjoyed several of his works and I´m still trying to reconcile the image I had of him with what the article reveals. Important piece of journalism.
It was beyond gross. I'm not sure how I read the entire article. It went into details that I'm don't think we needed. The reporting was very much needed. The graphic descriptions of certain acts not so much.
@@davedujour1 I get you but disagree. Jouranlism is about telling the truth unvarnished. You´re not doing your job as a journalist if you dont report things as they occured or, in this case, as described to you. This is even more important when dealing with the really bad stuff. As a reader you of course should decide for yourself what you are willing to expose yourself to. That doesnt mean the article should have censored details for the sake of reader sensetivity. And, of course, with the caveat that it´s done with the victims blessing.
I can't read it because it's behind a paywall
Never harm your mental health by reading news that harms you. All we need is "Hey, there's a story linked below. Trigger warnings."
Anyone upset at you for not reading it or explaining it in graphic detail in FNs isn't someone you need in your audience.
I lived abroad for 15 years. If you pay for a streaming service, most things you want to watch "aren't available in your region", so the choice is paying even more for a VPN, or getting it for free from the Bay. If streaming services don't like piracy, perhaps they should provide content instead of arbitrary restrictions.
Honestly considering the stuff going on about children’s literacy rates… I’m so happy to see book sales and trends on the rise.
lol, most of these sales are just porn in book form. to each thier own, but I wouldn't say it's "Literary Renaissance"
@@deadcaptainjames6045 hey! book porn is still books! doesn't need to be whatever your definition of "high class lit." is for it to mean people are reading. I think any kind of reading is good.
@@deadcaptainjames6045 True, but at least they'll be reading (usually) properly structured and well formed sentences, with proper grammar and spelling.
Which is more than a lot of American adults can say, let alone younger kids that have grown up online with abbreviations and horrible spelling 😅
More people reading is good, regardless! 😊
I think even just that section at the end there is all that's needed tbh. now people know and can look into it further if they so choose
also he's been on my "to read" list forever now and i just gotta say sometimes procrastinating has it's perks
@@MrRobin1997 Actually same
A week without Fantasy News is a week without Fantasy News
Geo-restrictions, which randomly limit access to animated shows in many countries, often leave piracy as the only option for viewers to access that content.
Fantasy News right after my exam on cognitive psychology? Let's gooo!!
So Disappointed in Neil Gaiman ☹
Thank god for piracy. Never gave that guy a single penny.
@@darklordshuaibThat's not something to be proud of because you're not just stealing from him, you're also stealing from editors, publishers and designers who might otherwise have invested that money into new up-and-coming authors.
:'c
@@rad4924piracy is always moral, all studies show that piracy contrary to most belief. Actually produces a net positive for larger authors
same.
as a kid i had always listed him as my favourite author, hands down.
another piece of my childhood dead, i guess.
On one hand I'm happy more and more people are reading books, and I'm happy that Romantasy readers are willing to dip their toes into other genres instead of just sticking to their genre. On the other hand, I absolutely despise Romantasy. Seeing both Romantasy and Colleen Hoover basically dominate the list here feels like someone just shoved a fat bar of soap down my throat lol. Romantasy needs to stay as a gateway drug only. The moment I see readers of that genre asking "where's the smut" in non-Romantasy genre's we're going to start having some real fuckin problems.
Another important consideration for books in general is that they are much more driven by an individual author’s vision and not the corporate focus tested mediocracy you get from the film industry nowadays.
Not really. The book industry is literally the same as hollywood, they're all chasing trends and the most ROI.
I pirate anime because paying for streaming services is such an expense AND a hassle. I don't watch anime frequently, and I DO NOT want to pay for potentially multiple subscriptions just to watch a handful of animes per year. If I didn't pirate anime I probably wouldn't watch anime, despite loving the medium.
The reason I use that anime website you mentioned is because it is literally impossible to legally buy/stream seasons 1 and 2 of the show I'm currently wanting to watch (I'm in the U.K). Seasons 3 onwards are available on Crunchyroll so thats when I'll switch back to legal means. The licensing of these shows outside of Japan seems to be a huge issue and until they sort that out, I'm sailing the seven seas when I need to.
Thank you thank you thank you for continuing to cover the AI stories. We need to keep this shit in the fore and curb what we can.
Don't worry about the lack of coverage on this. We can get the news about bad people being authors in other places... if we want to hear it.
I'd much rather see the books, the covers, and I love how you call out publishers for not crediting cover artists. :)
Back in the dark ages I relied on fansub groups to get access to anime shows that simply had no western distribution. Japanese companies got wise to the market that they had been missing and shows simulcast with english subs massively reduced the demand for those sub groups... but I do miss the ones that retired. Aside from the nostalgia of fan translations, I do also find streaming to be a really frustrating way to consume media. It just feels bad to pay a monthly fee for access to something instead of controlling a disc or file. Who knows if the show I like will still be on platform A in 20 years, who knows if platform B will even exist then, etc etc.
A very important part of the Anime conversation, at least for more hardcore fans, is that there is a night-and-day quality difference between translation for the pirated options compared to the licensed options.
Which also does not even begin to take into account the "legal" avenues are full of extremely valid criticism including:
Basically none of the money going back to the original creators.
Underpaying and overworking entirely amateur translators and strictly not hiring pros to save a buck.
Actively tanking certain shows and series for entirely greedy and corrupt reasons.
And generally having an extremely toxic relationship with the Anime community for decades, often times being outright hostile to them.
with anime it comes to cost and accessibility. if i wanted to watch everything i'd need at least 2 streaming services and a vpn which is more than i can or am willing to pay. it still does not mean there will be everything. i have a netflix subscription so if it is on there i will even wait for netflix to get the next season on there(demon slayer......it feels like ages). i guess i feel less guilty bc watching anime on those sites is such a big part of that culture, but also bc it leads to the manga and merch sales rising. i'm also not saying this is like moral and stuff but it is why.
I think just mentioning it happening and people can go read themselves is fine.
I will say it's a well written piece and I have mad respect for the journalist. She did an excellent job of presenting what she learned in a way that didn't feel like she was blaming the victims or sensationalized it. Hard descriptions but i think some people need to have it in their face of how bad it was.
Unfortunately, i don't think he'll face any criminal charges for this abuse.
I have concerns for his child...
As a user of naughty Anime sites, not HiAnime, but other ones (*thanks for the recommendation tho, lmao). My reason is threefold. 1: I cannot afford 6 subscriptions, as you said; 2: A large amount of the Anime I like to watch, either does not exist in my country in any legal form, or, does not exist at all in any legal form, be it because it is just available airing in Japan, or what have you; 3rd: and final, and something you haven't considered. My Anime consuming habits are random and sporadic, so sticking to a paid service doesn't work for me, especially when you consider point 1. Though, I do sub to Crunchyroll and use it whenever it has what I want, as, where possible, I do like to respect the art form.
I don't blame you for not being able to finish the article about Gaiman. I gagged twice trying to get through it
I don't watch much anime, but for when a friend recommends a series it's rarely worth tracking down the right subscription service, paying for it, remember to cancel, and all the other little inconveniences.
Wow, I checked my amazon account and my Metroid 4 preorder is gone. I wouldn't even have looked if you hadn't mentioned it
Thank you for being here and don't ever feel like you need to give anymore of yourself than you already do. You've done so much for us over the years- just keep up the good work!
Congratulations on nearly completing your second draft! Great progress!
Thank you for being so honest about the article about Neil Gaiman. Unfortunately I can't read the article, but maybe it's a good thing.
I may not be into romantasy but I am very happy seeing women dominate the best selling books list 😌
Good Morning Fellow Goblins!
I do really think the biggest drive for anime piracy is just the frustration with shows being spread across so many services.
Also, good on you for keeping yourself and the tone of your programming in mind around heavy stories like the Gaiman one. I think what you did here is a really good way to handle it. Acknowledging that it happened, linking out to the article for the full deep dive and expressing your feelings helps communicate out what happened without putting the burden of doing a deep dive reporting session on you, because as you said, that’s not really what the channel is about.
As a an anime fan for about 15 years now, and living in an european country, as many stated the content is spread on multiple platforms BUT also as you've said is region locked. One of the reasons I've cancelled my crunchyroll membership was that half of the shows that I've tried watching were not available in my region. So on top of having to subscribe to multiple platforms, I also need to subscribe to a VPN so I can have access to all the shows. While now being an adult with a good paying job I can afford all this, many anime watchers are also teens/kids with no income of their own, so piracy is the obvious choice in this scenario. If the availability was better and perhaps regional pricing, then maybe we wouldn't have this problem
the really interesting thing to me is that between the two SJM books, there is a nearly 400k copy drop off. Granted, that doesn't mean every person who bought the first one bought the second, but that is a not insignificant drop in readership as show by the data. I've also seen enough reporting about viewer number to know that if that drop had been on a television or movie sequel, the entire internet would be saying how cooked the entire series was and how it wasn't looking great for the series.
Personally, I would like to see more data on the other books in the series. I'm curious how big the actual audience is for it, or if its a lot of people buying the first book or two and then abandoning the series as a whole.
With anime piracy a lot of it also has to do with Sony actively altering storylines in shows while trying to own a monopoly of product, and trying to use legislation in the US and UN to prevent competition. One of the often overlooked things with UN stories about how all anime is CP so they need good actors to be filters is how much Sony donated to the people speaking out prior to these discussions happening. Add this to the fact that it's pretty well known that once an animation leaves the boarders of Japan to be on a service all benefit a creator would ever see has dried up, there isn't a strong reason to pay for the product.
On piracy, not saying I partake, but if I did the reasons would come down to a few different factors: Cost (if I were in a financial position where I could support the stuff I watch, I would), quality (piracy sites and especially torrents can be a genuinely better streaming experience than it would be through the official means), and convenience (the web design on piracy sites can be much better than the official ones). Netflix is generally pretty good UI-wise even if its video quality can be atrocious, Amazon’s UI sucks, and the only streaming option for the blue ray versions of anime-which features touch-ups to the animation-is through certain piracy sites.
I used to watch Bravest Warriors, watched the whole lot on TH-cam probably 10 times or more, introduced many people to it, and waited years for it to be finished. Then the new series came to a streaming platform that was only available in USA (I'm in Australia). I emailed them and they said they were looking at going international. I waited for 3 years before I finally got shitty enough and pirated the series. I understand that legal problems and contracts and licensing happening behind the scenes can be restricting, it just sucked that a series that I loved was forcibly taken away from me for so long and nothing has ever changed about that. I even messaged them explaining that I was pirating it and why I was doing it.
Hi Daniel! Just wanted to say thank you for making such great and fun videos! You do an awesome job and I think you're news videos especially are fantastic. Keep up the awesome work!
Back when I had crunchyroll the buffering was so bad that I could torrent an episode faster than their service would let me watch the episode.
There's also a huge issue with manga where people read it on illegal sites instead of buying it and a lot of the time it stems from how delayed the translation is. When it comes to anime, there's a similar issue, sometimes I would see a title on an official site translated 1 year after its original release in Japanese, which is ridiculous. Lastly, I think a lot of people don't even know about platforms like Crunchyroll because the pirate sites are so popular that they come up as #1 in search results. I've never seen cr being advertised anywhere and I am a subscriber, I think they should put more of their resources into it, the prices are rising but there's no difference in service.
Another frustrating issue with streaming services is when you buy a movie-like LOTR-thinking you’ll watch it again and again, only for the platform to change its policies and the movie disappears. But I paid to have access to that movie! It’s so annoying. That’s why I always rent movies now instead of buying them.
Someone already quoted Gabe Newell in the comments, so I'll offer something different to ponder instead. Damage reports for stuff like this is overinflated because companies and courts will never truly internalize one thing about piracy. There's three types of people or at least three reasons and only one causes any actual damage.
1. Can't afford to buy: Basically anyone with a low income or no income dependent on someone else, we're not counting minors here, but they also make up a significant "other" category.
2. Can afford, but the product isn't sold: This happens more often with older products and is the reason I think copyright law needs major revisions but that's another soap box for me to stand on. Suffice to say, if it's region locked, too old, or in any way no longer available, it fits here.
3. Can afford, can buy, choose not to: This is bad for the industry and actively hurts people who work in it on a 9 to 5 (with lots of overtime usually) and is just generally mean, I have no mercy for these people. Choose better.
Reasons/people 1 and 2 don't harm the industry at all because they would never have BEEN customers to begin with. You can't count that as damage because if the content hadn't been possible to pirate, they would not have been ABLE, for one reason or another, to purchase it! I'd love to get some actual numbers on how many people are in these categories and present it to investors, trying to convince them to drop horrible DRM measures like Denuvo, for games. I have a feeling that the numbers would be surprising to them.
Media companies never learn when it comes to piracy. Its its easy and cheaper to get media then piracy goes down. If they all want their own expensive slice of the pie it goes up.
Also on Fantasy News: Colman Domingo cast as Villainous Game Show Host in Edgar Wright's Running Man
I couldn’t finish the Vulture article either. My heart breaks for the victims and I’m just so disgusted by Neil Gaiman. Thank you for mentioning it and you have every right to not go into those horrific details.
One of the issues though not as glaring is access to these legal anime resources as well. I am from Botswana, a small country in Africa and piracy is a common norm here simply because we don't have access to much wider media here, for example HBO and amazon are not even available in my country. We only have one book store in the entirety of my country and if that store doesn't have a specific book well its not in the country. Online ordering is also pretty difficult, you could go to many online platforms but then again cost. For example to get a copy of jade city is the equivalent of 800 to 1000 Pula ( our currency) its simply not sustainable. So that could be one major issue
I use piracy websites for anime because it's hard to convince my parents to pay for another streaming service, and I dont want to pay for it myself.
Plus if you wanted to watch only Weekly Shonen Jump anime, so only from one magazine, you need 4 services. That's absolutely insane to expect a weekly shonen jump reader to pay for 4 services to see the series they are reading and loving. That's me by the way haha. So I just pirate them.
Hope you are feeling better after that stairs tumble, gotta look after yourself, you are our goblin!
Just starting, gotta say the design of your shirt makes the plant on the shelves pop and vice versa 👍
On the piracy thing, I have an issue with Korean novels. I have tried and tried to find a work around to buy them legally and translate them myself. But Korean companies don’t want to deal with the American companies (Apple & Google namely for the thing where if you buy something in an app they take an insane amount for themselves) charges.
Totally understand the gripes about expense and hassle when it comes to watching anime but I choose not to pirate because paying for the content supports the artists who make the art that I love, and I carry this sentiment into music as well - buy a concert ticket, a vinyl record, a theater ticket, a museum ticket, a blu-ray, do something more than just take without giving back. If there is no legitimate way to pay for it, okay pirating might be an avenue to otherwise experience something that isn’t available but artists deserve to get compensated for their work, especially if you want to see them continue to work and produce more art
I don't use HiAnime, but as for pirating overall, it's partially convenience, but mostly due to costs overall. Additionally, I'm a big believer in the fact that pirate sites, emulators etc are some of the few genuinely trying to preserve media that could be lost otherwise if it were left up to corpos.
If people couldn't pirate anime most of them wouldn't be watching it. Why would someone pirate anime? Because if you aren't living in the US it is way harder to find legal ways to watch you favourite shows, and free stuff is great. If the series is good enough you will end up supporting it in other ways anyway, anime is mostly just marketing. If a show like one piece was smart and put all of it free online they would probably start making more money, especially if there site is better.
True, I wouldn't subscribe just to watch one anime every three months... them claiming that they lost so much money is just stupid.
Recently wanted to buy a few of my favorite Animes as bluray so that I could always watch them without piracy or subscribtion... 68,99$ for 7 episodes and another 74,99$ for the last 6 episodes...
I want to support the makers of it and ensure that they will keep creating great stuff, but I ain't paying almost 150$ for 13 episodes.
I was just thinking "arent we due a new video soon" literally got to look at your channel and this has been up like a minute 😅
Thank you for refraining from that discussion. We have enough horrendous things happening in the world. It makes me cry just thinking about these horrible acts.
You are allowed to have boundaries, Daniel. It sucks that it's even a story to cover. Things like this are precisely why I rarely get to know anything about a celebrity. But one of the few I ever made an exception for was Neil. I played "The View from the Cheap Seats" on repeat for 15 days straight when my husband and I separated last year. It wasn't even one of his fiction stories I listened to but parts of his life read in his own voice and it was a comfort. Now... all this. It's okay to not want to bring that ugliness into this space.
I'm going to claim the book sales recovered thanks to me and my husband and the fact we buy way too many books.
Dav Pilkey being in top 3 made my day. He got me into reading
lol i loved Captain Underpants as a child, and now my son, age 8, is addicted to Dav Pilkey as well
I don't watch anime any more, but when i was younger i would watch it both on crunchyroll and the high seas. Crunchyrolls video player is trash. Their selection limited. Their perks for subscribing minimal. That plus the ads pushes people off their platform and into other places. I find the biggest draw not to go to the high seas for tv and film is the potential quality difference. I'd much prefer to watch my favourite shows in a silky smooth 1440p, than a blurry, stuttery 720p.... That's not a factor if the video player on BOTH sites sucks.
I'm willing to pay up to $20/mo if all streaming media was available in 1 website. Having 10 subscriptions is just too expensive. Having to subscribe and cancel from different platforms on a monthly basis is just inconvenient (e.g., oh this show is on Apple TV, next month starts this show on Paramount Plus, don't forget to unsubscribe from Apple next month tho, oh but Netflix releases this show in March...). If we can fix this with a cheaper platform (3x netflix price if necessary) and one for all would be ideal.
I don't pirate games for more than a decade. I don't pirate ebooks for almost a decade. Music is available in TH-cam Music, Spotify, so no reason there either. The only extremely inconvenient media left is streamable tv shows/movies.
I don't blame for only mentioning the Gailman situation. The reactions I've seen to the article were bad enough for me. I don't need that in my mental space
It's painful when an author who you really enjoy their work does awful things, not to imply any pain or discomfort I feel over it is anything near the suffering those who were abused went though
I dont know how it is in the US but here in Sweden Crunchyroll has a lot of anime but there are still a lot of animes that you cant get legally in Sweden. I myself havent used an illegal site but I understand if people do since that is the only way to watch some of the shows
My country has terrible exchange rate and the streaming services (and many subscription based services) decided this year that they will no longer do affordable regional pricing. Everything is suddenly extremely expensive. Also most of the shows aren’t available in my country and VPN also isn’t as affordable for us. I actually don’t think Crunchyroll was ever available here. We never pirate because we think “Mwahaha take that you creators!”, we do because we have no other choice left. It is proven when Netflix first came here everyone immediately paid for it and stopped pirating those shows that, if you make it accessible for us, we’ll pay for it. But if you keep US prices in a country where minimum wage is 500$ a month, yeah people will have to pirate.
I don’t pirate, but have a relative who used to watch pirated anime despite having a Crunchyroll subscription. They said it was because of ongoing frustrations with the platform, such as frequently reported bugs that CR apparently simply ignored. They also said there’s a big problem with the volume (sound, not number) of ads. Though they’re neurodivergent and have sensory issues, so it might not be a major problem for neurotypical viewers.
I honestly think acknowledging the existence of the article and the further claims should be sufficient. There is a need for safe spaces (as safe as anything online can be, anyway) for fantasy/sci-fi fans with SA trauma triggers, and it’s not like there’s a lack of channels providing commentary on the NG accusations. It’s only human to love juicy gossip, but there are a great many for whom this would be more a real life horror-tragedy than a salacious tidbit. (No judgement of those who are wanting an around the water-cooler chat about the matter. I’m sure there’s stuff I take in my stride that they might find difficult or confronting.)
As a 20 year old college student, I pirate because a lot of the anime that I want to watch still isn't legally available in my country. While I wish i could pay for the ones that are, they aren't that many and they are spread across many platforms. The sites having everything in one place and a very decent user interface (I like the user comments under each episode, streaming services don't have that), really brings up the question for me - Why should I pay for something that would just be more inconvenient?
A point on piracy is the victims' data is always taken with a grain of salt. In fact piracy is often cited as a victimless crime (whether that is right or not is very much up for debate) because of the argument that the majority of people who pirate do so because they would not have paid to watch. Especially in todays climate of streaming services, piracy sites are just more convenient for people that want to watch a show and have it be immediately available. We see in history that piracy and black markets rise when they are more convenient than purchasing a product legitimately. It's quite easy to make the argument then that the only people that can make legitimate streaming more convenient than pirate streaming is the streaming platforms, and therefore it is their fault, not the consumers, that piracy is on the rise.
Anime: We have so many streaming services already as family that I can't justify adding another one for me when I occasionally want to check out a new anime show. If it's available on one of the existing services we have, I'll watch it there, but I don't consume it enough to justify one or more subscription services. Maybe when the kids move out and we drop some services, I'll check it out, but that's at least 8 years away.
When it comes to the piracy argument with anime, my main problem with giving money to a company like Crunchyroll is that they don't really give much back to the actual creators despite their campaigns claiming to do so. That on top of the fact that animators generally don't get a lot of the revenue they pull in really demotivates me from supporting streaming sites like Crunchyroll and Netflix. I understand that means no pay vs a little bit of play but I want to make sure the money goes to those who worked on the shows.
I used to pirate content many years ago. I consider it to be unethical now, so I avoid it whenever possible (except to get a battle for Middle Earth 2 as it isn't sold anymore). However, with rising prices and the shuffle of shows between streaming services, I'm considering pirating again. In Canada, it's not illegal to pirate media as long as I don't distribute it.
You probably already got a bunch of comments on this, but just in case this is the one that pushes you over the edge, I'd love to see a Castlevania Nocturn review
I used to heavily pirate anime many years ago. Was super convenient despite the picture quality being iffy at times.
However got a virus from a pop-up advert that was hidden over the 'play' button and was in a background tab whilst I watched the episode.
Went to Crunchyroll after that, and at least the quality was always gauranteed too.
Can't vouch for what pirating is like today, been 15years since I did it last :)
Piracy is huge issue among indie authors right now. It’s all I see on other social apps right now
There is a terrible A.I. problem with Warhammer 40k books in Amazon. Uno Nyugen is the first AI author I can recognize now...
We are told that we can own something digital. Movies, games and music. We pay our money and then we are told we don't understand ownership. We own something, untill they take it from us. We complain, and they say, "You don't understand. No one owns anything." This works so well, companies start bricking physical objects. VR headsets, 3D printers, tabelts. What's next? Cars and home appliances? Yep. Its not author's fault, but tha t's why people pirate media.
Thanks for being a real one Daniel ❤️
Ahhhhh a week of time looks so good up on the bookshelf
One of the things I don't think you mentioned that likely contributed to romantasy sales in particular is the amount of special editions, sprayed edges, and just really cool copies that have come out in that genre specifically. I, myself, even bought at least one book because the sprayed edges were just *so* cool I couldn't resist; plus this is not something that you can get with an ebook or audiobook.
It makes me so happy that Kristin Hannah's The Women sold so well. I am a fan of hers in general, but I think The Women (and The Nightingale) are both two very well-written books. (I'm also happy about SJM and Rebecca Yarros, but I was expecting them to have high sales with just based on how often they're talked about).
I am 31 and have a lot of spending money. I've been watching anime since I was 8. At first I bought VHS, then DVDs, then I pirated because there were no streaming services where I lived, and now I pirate because 1) Crunchyroll translations are far too inaccurate for my tastes, and I hate the idea of having my money being spent on offices and conventions instead of improving the service, and 2) paying other streaming platforms for like 1 or 2 shows a season is waaaay too much.
In the end if I like the show enough I buy merchandise and source material
Regarding anime piracy, not all anime are licensed in the US, for example, the majority of the Macross franchise has not been available outside of Japan because of legal issues between Harmony Gold and Big West. Some series are also not available in the US due to either age, or a perceived lack of interest outside of Japan.
Definitely watch Nocturne!
The anime pirating issue is definitely a platform service issue, but I also think it's a massive cultural one too. The first anime series I ever watched was Princess Tutu on Netflix of all places when I was in high school a decade ago. Then I researched more animes and found they weren't on Netflix and that pirating sites were the only way to get them. I was taught to use pirating instead of a legit site. It's the same problem now, the animes I want to watch are on pirating sites and I wouldn't even know where to look to find them on legit services. You have a population of anime fans who have all been taught to turn to pirate sites because streamers don't have them. That's been that way for years and it's cultural at this point.
I also think that part of the problem is studio recognition too. For western movies, usually I know the studios that are producing them or who owns what brands so I can guess which site they will be on. Pixar movie? That's Disney. DC Comic show? Oh, that's Max. Touchstone Picture film? Oh that's a disney label so Disney Plus. I have no idea about anime studios though. Like who are Studio Bones, Production IG or Studio Orange affiliated with enough so that I automatically who which streamer to check? Heck if I know. On a pirating site, you don't even have to figure out that puzzle or give it a thought.
Great news as always, though I was kinda surprised you didn't mention anything about the recent LoL Season 1 cinematic that dropped. Maybe a separate video with your thoughts? I watched Necrit's breakdown and the trailer has really got me jazzed, even though I know it's *technically* for the game, not the next show.
Also, yes.... there is a systemic streaming problem that has only gotten worse. Annoying how many new services keep popping up, though you have to wonder when the competition will finally get broad enough that streaming subsciptions will go down. More competition is generally better from that standpoint, but the opposite seems to be happening.
Nothing wrong with drawing a line.
The new fit has Bug Catcher vibes xD - Thanks for the news as always Goblin dude!
Real quick: Barnes and noble opening new stores is highly suspect. They closed a TON of stores for “remodeling” and fired everyone then cancelled the remodel, but are now announcing those same stores as new openings. It’s just part of their rebranding, these aren’t new stores, it’s just a part of their PR campaign.
Sorry, they didn’t cancel the remodel, they actually DID. But it wasn’t just a remodel. My local b&n has been closed for over a year and is about to open.
Who said we are paying the same as for cable if we sign up for all streaming? No. Only 1 streaming service is more than the cable here in Europe and the HBO was an extra almost the same price. Now with all the streaming it’s about 8x more than the cable channels. But of course that doesn’t have the good stuff, this isn’t USA. Well, at least not full with ads that much and absolutely not healthcare ads, plus we don’t have channels like Fox News and such where politicians are celeb and hating too.
Funny, I also fell recently and landed on almost the exact same spot on my arm, just on the right side.
Only I managed to avoid breaking anything so I guess I'm better at falling.
I don’t pirate on hianime specifically - my main reason does come down to inconvenience. I have Crunchyroll so I will usually look up there first but if I can’t find it and it’s not obviously on Netflix/disney/amazon (often very hard to tell with lack of marketing, particularly on Amazon and Disney) I end up pirating, though I have discovered mid season several times that it was actually on something I had access to. There are also some shows where the licensing seems to have missed the UK which is a bit annoying (usually for smaller anime but not always).
When it comes to piracy it is the only way a show or a movie gets to stay on the Internet when these big companies spontaneously just remove a show or a movie.
Also I do agree with a lot of people that the prices are too much and it simply comes down to not being able to afford it. Especially in this economy (and as someone with chronic pain and disability, getting to afford a streaming service, in my view, is considered a luxury).