Actor Greg Ayres will autograph nearly any
item for a fan but he won't autograph bootlegs, and he's taught himself
how to recognize that material. Ayres has extended that experience to
anime bootlegs and has held panel discussions on that subject for the
last few years, but the question has gotten fresh attention in the last
few months with flat sales by U.S. anime importers. "When you download
or abuse something on the internet, point blank you're stealing it,"
said Ayres at a Sunday panel with Tiffany Grant at Ikkicon. "I get
nerdy about shows, but there may not be any new shows for me to get
nerdy about." Ayres spent most of the start of the event listening to
the reasons that fans download torrents of anime shows, then answered
those reasons. To the belief that anime should be free in the U.S.
because it's free in Japan, Ayres said that's not the case. Series
broadcast by the NHK may appear to be free, but the government-owned
Japanese television network requires all television owners in Japan to
pay an annual ownership fee (which many don't pay). Most of the anime
series best known to U.S. fans now appear on pay TV services such as
WOWOW, like HBO in the U.S. where you don't watch if you don't pay. As
with shows that play on American broadcast TV, Ayres noted that
Japanese audiences "pay" by watching the advertisements that are run
during the shows.
Some fans have pointed to the example of
Radiohead's selling their 2007 "In Rainbows" album online for what
people wanted to pay and think that would work for anime. Ayres feels
that would not work (and the album was eventually released on disc).
"It was as big a scam as Scientology," said Ayres. "The Radiohead model
is not going to work from a business standpoint, but a lot of people
are hoping it will." One fan at the panel raised the question of
changes made in the stories or character names of anime series. While
Ayres can disagree with the changes made by series handled by 4Kids, he
also asked the self-answering question "Do you think that when a change
is made, that the Japaneses companies don't approve that?" Grant said
in some cases, as in the Americanized Sailor Moon, the originating
Japanese producers wanted to sell collectibles from the show but knew
it wouldn't happen if a larger audience thought the series was
offensive. Ayres said he knew of cases where Japanese companies told
their American partners "...to do whatever is necessary to get the show
on (U.S.) television."
Actor Greg Ayres will autograph nearly any
item for a fan but he won't autograph bootlegs, and he's taught himself
how to recognize that material. Ayres has extended that experience to
anime bootlegs and has held panel discussions on that subject for the
last few years, but the question has gotten fresh attention in the last
few months with flat sales by U.S. anime importers. "When you download
or abuse something on the internet, point blank you're stealing it,"
said Ayres at a Sunday panel with Tiffany Grant at Ikkicon. "I get
nerdy about shows, but there may not be any new shows for me to get
nerdy about." Ayres spent most of the start of the event listening to
the reasons that fans download torrents of anime shows, then answered
those reasons. To the belief that anime should be free in the U.S.
because it's free in Japan, Ayres said that's not the case. Series
broadcast by the NHK may appear to be free, but the government-owned
Japanese television network requires all television owners in Japan to
pay an annual ownership fee (which many don't pay). Most of the anime
series best known to U.S. fans now appear on pay TV services such as
WOWOW, like HBO in the U.S. where you don't watch if you don't pay. As
with shows that play on American broadcast TV, Ayres noted that
Japanese audiences "pay" by watching the advertisements that are run
during the shows.
Some fans have pointed to the example of
Radiohead's selling their 2007 "In Rainbows" album online for what
people wanted to pay and think that would work for anime. Ayres feels
that would not work (and the album was eventually released on disc).
"It was as big a scam as Scientology," said Ayres. "The Radiohead model
is not going to work from a business standpoint, but a lot of people
are hoping it will." One fan at the panel raised the question of
changes made in the stories or character names of anime series. While
Ayres can disagree with the changes made by series handled by 4Kids, he
also asked the self-answering question "Do you think that when a change
is made, that the Japaneses companies don't approve that?" Grant said
in some cases, as in the Americanized Sailor Moon, the originating
Japanese producers wanted to sell collectibles from the show but knew
it wouldn't happen if a larger audience thought the series was
offensive. Ayres said he knew of cases where Japanese companies told
their American partners "...to do whatever is necessary to get the show
on (U.S.) television."
