How Crunchyroll killed fansubs
Let's take a look back before anime was mainstream outside of Japan and how we got to mainstream
Anime wasn't always easy to find, especially subbed anime. Pokèmon, Digimon and similar shows directed mainly at an younger audience. Was part of a short list of Anime's making it outside of Japan and they were always dubbed to the language of the audience
Before we continue, let's take a look at what subbed and dubbed means. Subbed is when something has its original audio with subtitles, where dubbed is when the audio have been translated to the local country's language
Dialup Modem and LAN party days
Back in the mid 2000, when you used dialup modem to access the internet and many households didn't even have a computer yet. LAN parties was huge and one of your best sources for anime
I remember going to LAN parties, when they was actual LAN parties without internet access. Where you'd bring your huge desktop and your CRT monitor, where you needed two persons to carry it
When you didn't play video games or sleep, you'd be browsing what the other participants was sharing on the local network and this was how I was introduced to subbed anime and sometimes anime without subs, so you didn't understand anything they said. Still, as anime had lot of action it was cool to watch
Hellsing
One of the first, if not first subbed anime I watched was the Hellsing series that ran from 2001-2002. I've lost count how many times I watched that series, as back then you didn't have the wide selection available at your finger tips as one have today
Back then, the series, games and other stuff (you know what I'm talking about) you download during the LAN Party, would have to last until the next time there was a LAN Party and that could be many months away
Broadband and Dattebayo
When I moved for myself to attend school. That was the first time I actually had broadband and not only dialup modem. Now I could finally download the shows I wanted to watch, but download for one episode could take many hours
This was the glory days of fansubs, where fans of a show would come together to translate and add subtitles to an show. As anime wasn't so big yet outside of Japan, there normally wasn't anyone with a global license for the show and the legality at that point in time of fansubs was a bit in a grey area. Especially for those who only provided subtitles without the video, but many had them combined
The fansub group I remember best is Dattebayo who fansubed series such as Naruto and Bleach, plus many more. They loved to prank people, so it happens once in a while you thought you'd downloaded the latest Naruto, but instead got Pythagoras Switch (which was awesome, look it up on YouTube) or more annoyingly, joke subtitles that had nothing to with what was actually going on (could be hilarious at times)
Crunchyroll enters the scene
In 2006 Crunchyroll entered the scene as an upload and streaming air for anime, but they didn't have license to the show they were offering and it would take 3 more years before they started getting actual licenses
Anime expanding from niche
As time went by, the interest in anime and Japan culture in general grew. As interest grew, so did licensing of anime outside Japan. Resulting in more and more fansubs ceasing translating of the different shows being picked up, to avoid legal issues and as a respect to the license holder
In 2009 Crunchyroll secured licensing rights to stream Naruto Shippuden, making that another series most fansub groups slowly dropping from their publishing schedule
It's still a year until I discover Crunchyroll and a couple of years until I sign up to Crunchyroll
By now, anime is becoming more and more mainstream. Meaning fansubs is getting clearly illegal, as companies have global rights to anime and you see fansubs slowly fading away
I miss mainly three things from the fansubs days
1) They would normally subtitle intro and outro songs. Today when many shows reuse the same song over and over again, it doesn't matter as much. But back then when songs was more fitted to the actual anime, it was a really nice touch
2) Subtitle fonts looked much nicer and often had design to them
3) You'd often get description, if there was something very cultural or if something had multiple meanings. So you could get a deeper understanding
Mainstream
Today there's no doubt Anime is mainstream. No matter what streaming services you are on, one can always find some anime. My main source these days are Netflix, as they've a huge line up of anime and are available in my region
Constantly new shows and seasons being released. Even western studios finances the production of anime shows now, as they're so popular
My experience with Crunchyroll
I used to always have an active Premium subscription for Crunchyroll, until I moved to the Philippines and selection went from 1000 titles to 10 titles. Now that Fena: Pirate Princess have been announced, a series produced by Crunchyroll and Adult Swim. The trailer makes we want to get subscription again to Crunchyroll again and I've decided I will get one after a few episodes have been released. I'm looking forward to being a Premium subscriber again soon and hope the selection have improved
I loved their service in the past and it was great with an proper legal option back in the days, when your only options where I grew up was in an gray area back then (completely illegal today) and knowing you supported the industry you loved. One could watch great shows subbed, which was awesome as I never been a fan of dubbed shows and always pick original language when possible
Tags: #Crunchyroll #Anime #LANParties
