Oh I fucking LOVE it! Bandai Visual has actually sent out a press release telling fansubbers that their asses are grass if they even LOOK in the general direction of Ghost in the Shell: Solid State Society when it's released in Japan. Awesome! That pretty much guarantees that I'll have a subtitled digital version of the movie to review on my other site as soon as it finally comes out.

Seriously, Bandai, what the hell were you thinking? You pretty much just DARED a group of people with little to no ethics to do just what you didn't want them to do, and gave them free publicity for their finished product months before your movie's even released. This is kind of like the anti-ad-campaign used for Snakes on a Plane. A most cunning plan.

Face it, fansubbers are never going away -- whether you think they're God's greatest gift to anime fanboys or the world's biggest bootlegging gits, they're here to stay. But either find a way to work with them (and there are ways to use them to your advantage), or just ignore them. MOST anime fans, if they like a series that they saw in fansub form, will BUY the official DVD release of it once it's available. Anime fans are notorious collectors and they want the best possible end product no matter the cost. DVDs are something they can hold and love and cuddle up with instead of a girlfriend... of COURSE they're gonna replace their fansubs with them once they're available... IF the series doesn't blow.

Yes, I am guilty of downloading plenty of anime shows from fansubbers only to find that said series sucks Hideaki Anno's balls (which are all unkempt, hairy and sweaty)... I do not buy these series when an American company releases them, and personally I hate the American companies who actually release this kind of shit when there's still so much GOOD anime waiting for a distributor in the States (Solty Rei, and Shakugan no Shanalana Shashana being prime examples of shit shows that got picked up before more promising shows like, for instance, The Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi). But stuff like GitS: SAC, Scrapped Princess, RahXephon, Last Exile, Speed Grapher and Planetes... I buy those the second the American DVDs come out in order to support the companies releasing them (to get them to see that good behavior is rewarded), and in order to have the best presentation of these FABulous shows that is available.

This is just me, and feel free to disagree, but I treat fansubs like watching TV (mostly because anime series actually ARE broadcast for free on TV in the motherland). I can see shit on TV for free (and without commercials thanks to Tivo), yet shows that I really like and know I'll watch again (like Buffy, Deadwood, Brisco County Jr, and any Bruce Timm + Paul Dini DC cartoon) I'll put my money where my mouth is and BUY their DVD sets. Not only is the video and audio quality usually obviously better than when I catch the broadcast version of these shows, but I can bring them over to a friend's house and force them to watch them at my convenience too.

On top of all that, FASUBS ARE FREE PUBLICTY for good anime. True, shitty anime gets panned and blacklisted months before its American debut, but the good stuff gets a tsunami of good word-of-mouth without you anime companies having to lift a finger or spend a single dollar. Naruto and The Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi are classic examples of this. Naruto was a surefire hit thanks to fansubbers, and Melancholy has been getting nothing by terrific fan blowjobs from everybody who's seen it. Seriously guys, you CAN'T BUY THIS KIND OF PUBLICITY.

Yes, terrible shows will get panned ahead of their US releases... but don't get mad at the fansubbers for that. Get mad at your licensing department for sticking you with a shitty series. Learn from your mistakes and follow the buzz of the underground anime scene (oh yes, there is a scene... it's horribly obese and smelly, but it's there).

So anyway, I can't wait to see Ghost in the Shell: Solid State Society two days after its Japanese release date. If it's anything like the two GitS TV series you can bet I'll be giving it an early great review.

Oh, and about today's strip, yes it is a real conversation I had with some 6 year-old on Broad Street. I love Tootsie Pops. That kid was just jealous.

- the Rossman