Is downloading fansubbed animes a sin?

[suko]

For those that aren’t familiar with fansubs, they are basically videos that have been edited with subtitles by fans of the show so that non-speakers of the language have the ability to watch and understand. And well, as a crazy anime fan, I’ve been downloading a lot of fansubbed animes because I love watching them as soon as they are aired on TV in Japan. Not only that, but fansubbed Japanese dramas as well.
I think there’s a law or something about this, but I’m not really sure. I was hoping someone here knows enough for sure that what I’m doing is wrong and should delete everything I have.
Thanks for any responses.

 

[ribozyme]

For those that aren’t familiar with fansubs, they are basically videos that have been edited with subtitles by fans of the show so that non-speakers of the language have the ability to watch and understand. And well, as a crazy anime fan, I’ve been downloading a lot of fansubbed animes because I love watching them as soon as they are aired on TV in Japan. Not only that, but fansubbed Japanese dramas as well.
I think there’s a law or something about this, but I’m not really sure. I was hoping someone here knows enough for sure that what I’m doing is wrong and should delete everything I have.
Thanks for any responses.

I do it all the time.

 

[ribozyme]

I do it all the time.

Do it… might as well watch YouTube and have some fun before peak oil.

 

[Argh]

For those that aren’t familiar with fansubs, they are basically videos that have been edited with subtitles by fans of the show so that non-speakers of the language have the ability to watch and understand. And well, as a crazy anime fan, I’ve been downloading a lot of fansubbed animes because I love watching them as soon as they are aired on TV in Japan. Not only that, but fansubbed Japanese dramas as well.
I think there’s a law or something about this, but I’m not really sure. I was hoping someone here knows enough for sure that what I’m doing is wrong and should delete everything I have.
Thanks for any responses.

It depends. In some instances it is perfectly legal to fansub and distribute anime in certain areas at certain times.

EXAMPLE: Bleach is popularly fansubbed by Dattebayo and distributed everywhere because the license to air/sub/dub/distribute Bleach by whatever studio that produces it only applies in Japan (I am 90%sure). Adult Swim owns the license for at least the Soul Society Arc, however, and I don’t know how fansubbing would work is that case.

International copyright law is pretty complicated, thats why companies pay lawyers egregious sums of money to figure it out for them.

Go by this rule. If you can get ENTIRE episodes on youtube.com, then its a safe bet. Youtube is usually very careful with that sort of thing. That being said, many non-mainstream animes are usually legally available via many download sites.

FINE LINE HERE: It’s perfectly legal to WATCH fansub animes. It is NOT legal to DISTRIBUTE animes whos licences are owned in a particular region.

Maybe that helps?

 

[smileyscout]

Rise two year old thread, rise to haunt the ill-formed consciouses of many Catholic anime fans!!!

As much as I love anime I’ve finally realized downloading fansubs is NOT morally permissible and is a sin.

When you download and watch a fansub you are doing so without the permission of the content producer and/or licenser. Period. Wanting to see the end of that cliffhanger or what all your anime loving friends are talking about is not justification to disregard copyright law.

Catholic Answers LIVE addresses general file sharing starting at 28:30 in this episode (Jimmy Akin even mentions Pirate Bay ):

This thread on Christian Anime Alliance addresses the issue in more depth.

Fortunately, there are a good number of legal alternatives to downloading that awesome new show from your favorite Bit torrent tracker.

• Hulu has a decent sized anime section and has been airing Fractale the day after it airs in Japan.
• Anime News Network is another great site for streaming currently airing shows as well as older ones. It also has a very comprehensive anime encyclopedia which can help you determine if a particular show has been released in the US and a very active forum.
• Crunchyroll was founded to legally stream anime and as such has a large selection (with a number of simulcasts). They even have apps for iOS, Andriod, Roku, Boxee Box, and more.
• Rent Anime provides a Netflix like service exclusively for anime. The shipping times are much slower then Netflix since Rent Anime only has one shipping center but they do have a large number of titles. I’ve been able to get disks from Rent Anime that were long wait or unknown on Netflix
• Netflix has a large quantity of anime on DVD and watch instantly. They are adding more and more titles to watch instantly on a regular basis.

All anime fans really need to support these legal methods of viewing instead of downloading fansubs. Otherwise more American licencors will go the way of Geneon USA and ADV Films.