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IDK who this expert is, but "core anime fans" are absolutely not watching anime on Netflix or other "mainstream" streaming sites.
They're pirating. We all are. Because pirating is literally the same as watching through those other sites, except it doesnt cost us money.
Plenty watch using Crunchyroll. At this point there's only 2 anime-only sites in aware of: Crunchyroll and Hi-Dive. Even though I didn't subscribe to Funimation, I was not happy when they were purchased by Crunchyroll. There isn't enough competition in the area now.
No one is getting Netflix, Prime, Hulu, whatever to watch anime. I'm sure as hell not. I'll watch what they have if I already have the service though. At best it's a bonus. Any popular anime that's on a non-anime only site is likely going to be pirated far more. Might even stretch that to anything not on Crunchyroll at this point.
We all are. Because pirating is literally the same as watching through those other sites
I don't quite agree that all of us are and that it's the same. Crunchyroll is huge after all. I think legal streaming is generally more convenient too, especially on anything other than a PC. Most pirate streaming sites are ad riddled and even if you use an adblocker they sometimes still pass through or you're caught in a DDOS protection loop. Finding a decent site is actually just a pain. The quality is worse most of the time too, since they're just rips from services such as CR.
Torrenting isn't much better and certainly not more convenient.
That's not to say pirating isn't huge. It is and it's a good counterweight against massive corporations. I still pirate, when it's not available here (looking at you HIDIVE or all the shows CR still hasn't ported over from Funimation), or when a company like Amazon has the exclusive rights to an anime, but otherwise it's through legal ways for me because it's generally much easier.
If you're using sonarr and radarr, which is definitely not what most pirates are doing, piracy is the most convenient by leagues. You get everything under one service and it automatically shows up as soon as it's available in the quality you've specified interest in.
Yea, Sonarr and Radarr are nice, but imo still not as convenient. Also very much PC oriented still
Torrenting isn’t much better and certainly not more convenient.
Somebody already mentioned automating your torrents with sonarr/radarr .... after that, add the files to a media library like plex or jellyfin and you're expirence is just as convinent as any professional streaming serives. Probably more convenient.
I have a Jellyfin server. That's still not nearly as convenient. You have to setup and maintain your own server that way. The majority of anime fans are not going to do this.
Free sites also always have way more features and the animators don't see a penny from the subscription fee of streaming services anyways
the animators don’t see a penny from the subscription fee of streaming services anyways
I don't know where you got that impression, but sites like Crunchyroll definitely pay to be able to host anime on their site. Where exactly do you think that money comes from?
They pay the rightsholders, very little of this makes it to the studio and close to nothing goes to the normal employees
Sometimes the studios are the rightsholders. As for whether the animators and other staff in the industry are well compensated, I think there's almost nothing that can be done about that. Where there is passion it will be exploited.
I mean, some subscription services do pay the IP owners, but many times it is at a reduced rate. The best thing that you can do to support your favorite studios is buy bluray releases and merch direct from the studio, or as direct as possible.
Pirating doesn't directly pay studios, but if you pirate and then buy bluray/merch, the studio is definitely getting more of your money than if you were paying for a subscription service.
Crunchyroll used to be the pirate site :(
Now it's the same shitty streaming quality, sometimes even worse, but with a subscription.
Because pirating is literally the same as watching through those other sites
This is absolutely not true!
The pirated versions have better subs and editors notes to translate signage, explain/translate in-jokes, and cultural differences, not to mention the onomatopoeia that most "streaming sites" never bother to translate.
If you're watching anything other than the pirate version, you're probably missing out on some things.
When I said that I really meant with regards to the anime studio getting money from the viewer, not with the quality of the anime itself. But you are correct, anime is having a big problem with bad localization lately.
The pirated versions have better subs and editors notes to translate signage, explain/translate in-jokes, and cultural differences, not to mention the onomatopoeia that most "streaming sites" never bother to translate.
Maybe I'm looking in the wrong places, but fan subs rarely happen anymore, don't they? Particularly for simulcasts.
Fansubs are less common and more delayed, but I've seen some when I miss an episode or skip a week
It's almost like near monopolies are bad, especially when they got that way through acquiring, and as soon competition shows up, the monopoly appears to not be that competitive
> Nascent monopoly surprised people hate that
Not me clicking the link expecting to find some alternative site that is not crunchyroll that allows me to legally watch anime and support the creator. But actually those are just companies I want to avoid just as bad as crunchyroll...