Ms. Answerman

Corporal Punishment

No intro for today (surprise surprise) but the final, cultural question is a little longer and includes links for further reading, so hopefully I make up for it with that answer.
Onward!

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Dear Answerman,
If a website offers direct downloads to fansubs of properties liscensed in the US (Cowboy Bebop, Fullmetal Alchemist, Trigun, Gundam, Elfin Lied to name a few), and even charges for access to them, is there a way to report that? A well known fansite website has started doing this, and it really ticks me off.
thank you
ticked off anime business supporter guy from Philly.

Your best bet would be to email the various companies and let them know that this website is trying to make money off of their products. You can also email the fansubbers who originally translated the episodes they're selling, assuming of course they didn't do the subtitles themselves (which, from the link provided (and deleted for the column) seems to be the case). They're trying to use the “you're paying for the bandwidth necessary for dling these shows and not for the shows themselves” excuse that a lot of people use when selling money/items from MMO's on ebay, but this tactic never holds up in court (if it even goes that far). In the end it comes down to the companies themselves doing something, but at least you can give them a site to check out and hopefully close down.

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Hi Rebecca!
I was browsing thru AnimeonDVD.com and I read this neat little blog (http://www.animeondvd.com/blog/index.php?mode=viewcat&cat_id=7]) about the future of anime "B"/"C" titles. From what I read in the blog, the problem lies with these lesser-known titles trying to get sufficient time on the shelves to establish an audience. Simply put, if these titles don't get enough exposure in the market to warrent a decent fanbase, eventually they will disappear completely. This leads to my question of what constitutes an anime series to be an "A", "B", or "C" title. Is it based on the series' popularity, how well it sells in the market, or are there other factors involved?
Thanks for your answer!
-biliano

The industry definition of an A/B/etc title is entirely based on how marketable that show is expected to be. How much money do the various companies expect to make off the show, merchandising and other peripheral rights. Dragon Ball Z and Naruto are "A" titles. Of course, some titles don't perform as well as expected, and the performance of other shows improves over time. "B" and "C" shows could be top quality shows, they just aren't really expected to attract a huge audience. Some of the best anime out there falls into these categories, and as David mentioned in the Anime on DVD blog, these great titles can lose out on shelf space. Of course, competing with A titles hurts B & C titles in terms of shelf-space, but what really hurts them is the vast number of different releases, and re-releases on the market. There's only so much room on store shelves, and store buyers often don't know which B & C titles are actually any good. This is why you can sometimes go to a store and find the anime shelf filled with what you consider crap, while your favorite B or C title isn't even there. This is also bad for the retailer, because all that crap doesn't sell, they end up returning it to the distributor, and lately some distributors have been taking some very big returns.

Now, before you think that companies should just start licensing and releasing fewer titles, remember two things. First, some anime fans complain really loudly when their favorite title isn't licensed (other complain when it is licensed). Second, the distributors are competing with each other for shelf space. and even if two thirds of it is crap, they want as much of the retail shelf to belong to them as possible.

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I was wondering if the third and fourth movies of Inu Yasha are going to have a theatrical release in california if so could you please tell me where they are going to be released, what city and what theater.
Thank You
from: jean l

My word, your eagerness reminds me of a rabbit in heat. Before you start skittering around and looking at your pets in inappropriate ways, please understand that such information will be announced on the main page if it actually happens. That's why we're the Anime NEWS Network. The third movie will be released on September 6th, so if they're going to have a limited theatrical release you'll hear about it around then. As for the fourth movie, bug me in a year when mating season rolls around again.

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I have a few questions on some animes.
The new eiken game i heard about what kind of game is it? Is it a eechi or one of those games?
Why do men and women wear bandages even when they are not hurt on those ninja and samurai animes?
Also why do the male characters in the ninja or samurai animes wear underwear while the female characters don't?

1. I actually couldn't find much of anything on the new game “Eiken Kikaku”. I've read that the previous game was only ecchi and not hentai, so I'm guessing they'll keep it at an ecchi level (a little perverted, but not pornographic).
2. Most of the time it's because it adds to the character design. Showing a character constantly bandaged implies that the character fights a lot. They can also be used as actual bandages if a character is injured in a battle, though this is far less common.
3. Probably because the ones you've seen involve sex and/or nudity. It could also be said that ninja's don't wear underwear because they don't want their panty lines to show under their tight black outfits, but I have yet to see a series that explains it that way.