Okay, so this is a relatively new bit of news. On June 14th, we have a 14 year old middle schooler arrested by Kyoto's High Tech Crime Task Force (am I the only one who thinks it's hilarious that they have a high tech crime task force?). According to Anime News Network, the little kid was accused of distributing One Piece and other manga onto YouTube before their release date.
Ouch.
I've railed on the hardcore fans who pirate enough, it's time for me to rail on the source of a lot of this: Japan (I feel like a lot of American companies have taken as many efforts as they could, now all they need is support from the guys with the source material overseas).
If you squint your eyes and pretend everyone in this picture is Japanese, then you'll probably have a good visual of what it looked like when the kid was arrested.
Now I'm all about supporting the anime industry, but this seems like a gross step backwards, don't you think? Are we really returning to the world where RIAA goes and arrests seven year old girls and eighty year old grandmas over downloading a song or two?
Well, it looks like we might be. At least Japan is because apparently Japanese parliament passed an amendment that makes it illegal to "knowingly" download copyrighted material without authorization. Call me crazy, but I don't feel like arresting people left and right is the best way to go about doing this.
Was it wrong the kid did this? Yes. I hate it when people take advantage of an industry like this. In fact, I'm pretty sure I'd feel like smacking the kid if I knew him, but I think he's a symptom of the problem, not the problem itself. We live in a world full of people who NEED instant gratification.
That. Is. A. Fact.
And if people aren't given what they want through legal means, they will get it elsewhere.
Now the same is true for America. Many otaku HATE waiting. I'm not sure where this sense of entitlement comes from, but the fact is that it's there. Love it or hate it, it's here to stay. And, Japan, It's time you stopped trying to fight it. Rather than try to fix the people, maybe you should try and fix yourselves (I'm talking to the Japanese companies right now, if you can't tell).
What you're doing right now isn't working.
Face it, Japan, the world is going digital. And if you don't find away to think globally and allow foreign companies to adapt your material before you release it, this problem isn't going to go away. You've taken good first steps, what with simulcasts of many shows. That's good. And I hear all you manga companies have banded together. Great.
But please don't band together to find a way to knock down all the scanlators.
Because all they're doing is providing better customer service than you. And what's more, they're doing it for free. How do you kill them? By beating them. Provide a legal simultaneous release of chapters (very much like Rin-Ne). That way you won't be forcing the world to take a step back in its approach in order to meet whatever restrictions you feel your work is entitled to (sorry for ending the sentence in a preposition).
Evolve with the world. Make it better. The entertainment business is not a static industry, and you can't force it to be. It will only result in your downfall.
Come on, Japan, now you've just given an already obnoxious fan base a reason to rebel and hate you.
Congratulations.
Friday, June 18, 2010 at 01:43AM 
Today on the 15th episode I am joined by Matt Sullivan and Pwngoatjunkie. We go over the weekend box office results and other news, including two trailers, which are for Scott Pilgrim vs. The World and The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader: