For those of you who don’t wish to read through it all, the gist of it is that a man named Shōji Sakai was sentenced to a 1 year prison term in combination with a 3 year suspended sentence for sharing illegal anime. Sakai used a file sharing program called ‘Winny’ in order to share copies of his unauthorized anime.

I’m not going to get into the fansub debate as I am concerned mainly with the prison sentence this man received and the morals of fansubbing is not something I wish to explore. I do believe however, that this story in combination with recent events such as the ODEX fiasco are a clear sign that something within the Anime industry desperately needs to change.

As I’m sure many of you are aware, DVD’s in Japan are overly pricey compared to what we here in North America are used to. The standard price of a DVD is somewhere close to the equivalent of $30 (USD) for a two episode disc. It comes as no real surprise that given these prices, fans are going to look for a cheaper (in this case free), alternative method of obtaining the shows which they enjoy. This of course does not mean that Sakai should receive a free pass – he was fully aware that by uploading the anime he was committing copyright infringement, chose to take the risk, and got caught as a result. Clearly though, his sentence was the work of an ambitious judge who was looking to make an example out of Sakai and set a precedent. The question then becomes: was this man deserving of such a harsh sentence for something many of us do every day?

The issue of downloading is a touchy subject, as there is simply no easy answer to the problem. Anime, just like any other programming, costs money to make and relies on DVD sales and merchandising to make up the cost of production. If fans simply download the shows for free, there is obviously no money flowing back into the industry.

One part of the article I found to be rather interesting was at the very end:

“Japan’s Copyright Law prohibits unauthorized uploaders but expressly allows people to download for private use. The Japanese government is pushing for a ban on unauthorized downloads as well, despite receiving thousands of messages from citizens opposing the ban.”

What this could potentially lead to is companies scaring/bullying fans into buying expensive products with the backing of the government. While steps do need to be taken in order to cut back on the amount of illegal file-sharing, locking up your fan base isn’t the way to do it. A strategy such as this one may cut back on illegal file-sharing for a time; however it is unlikely to have any lasting long-term effect and companies will more than likely meet with opposition from their fans – possibly driving many of them away from anime all together. Instead, companies need to look for a way to compromise with the fans, offering an alternative to pricy DVD’s while still bringing money back into the industry to cover production costs.

The obvious answer that everyone seems so keen to put forth is that the Anime industry should tap into its internet fan base and offer them a legal, cost-effective method of downloading. Because there will always be fans willing to buy the DVDs and the accompanying merchandise, everybody wins.

The problem with this seemingly quick-fix is that systems such as these are easy to get around and there is no realistic way to stop those who pay for the service from allowing others to access it for free. Recent developments such as Gonzo’s handling of its latest series and dealings with sites like Crunchyroll have been a step in the right direction (Although I must admit that I find legitimizing a website which hosts both legal and illegal content, and whose business practices are rather suspect, to be cause for concern), however the systems are far from perfect.

There are always going to be those who refuse to pay for their content legally but until we see some significant development in DRM protecting these systems from abuse, just how much of an effect these strategies will have, remains to be seen.

Taking this into account, I personally believe that the one year prison term Sakai received was overly harsh and that the three year suspended sentence alone would have been sufficient in serving as a deterrent. This man, a fan like many of us, now has a criminal record, has been featured in the news, and any of his future internet activity is bound to be monitored rather closely. What needs to be found here is not just how to deal with these actions, but a way to deal with the root causes behind them.