this post was submitted on 08 Mar 2026
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[–] Petter1@discuss.tchncs.de 46 points 2 weeks ago (5 children)

Japan lost approximately US$30 billion to anime and manga piracy

How are you sure that all people who have watched through piracy would have bought it? Maybe they would sell even less without the hype generated by piracy watchers talking about the show..

[–] DeadDigger@lemmy.zip 29 points 2 weeks ago

Without piracy it would have never gotten this big in the first place

[–] e0qdk@reddthat.com 21 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

They would probably make more money if they'd just put the shows up for sale for direct download as soon as they air.

Seriously, it's 2026 for fucks sake. Why can't I just go to the studio's website and pay them a dollar (or whatever) to download an MP4?! I can understand the old conservative idiots running old studios with old stupid practices, but why is NO ONE doing this? Especially as studios keep going out of business and reforming? Have they never seen Steam and GOG for game sales? Bandcamp for music?

...rant rant rant...

[–] Unboxious@ani.social 13 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

Okay but if they did that the episodes would all be on pirate sites day one, unlike right now where they don't do that and the episodes are all on pirate sites day one anyways.

They sure are protecting their profits or whatever lol good job guys.

[–] mo_lave@reddthat.com 4 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

They want recurring revenue

[–] eli@lemmy.world 5 points 2 weeks ago

Zero revenue is still zero revenue.

I'll just keep downloading my anime then and they'll still get zero money from me.

[–] Nori@ani.social 16 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

They didn't even make an effort to get most of the shows published in the west. Publishers always have to take it out of their hands and I doubt they'll stop doing that because someone already pirated it. But even if they did, Anime studios only have themselves to blame. There's no piracy problem, just a consumer experience problem.

[–] paraphrand@lemmy.world 0 points 2 weeks ago (4 children)

This still reads as people feeling they have the right to these products.

[–] eli@lemmy.world 8 points 2 weeks ago

Some may, I do not. If I can't watch anime then...I'll just go and consume some other type of media. Video games, movies, tv shows, YouTube...

It's not my problem that these studios don't want my money. Why do I have to jump through hoops to spend money? Or there's zero avenue to buy/stream these shows legally since they're not available on XYZ service.

Why do these companies think they're entitled to my money when they haven't even tried taking it?

[–] mo_lave@reddthat.com 6 points 2 weeks ago

That may be the case. I'm more certain the companies act like they have the right to their customer's money.

[–] obelisk_complex@piefed.ca 3 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (2 children)

This sure reads like you're saying the poor aren't allowed to enjoy art, because they can't afford it. Also people in places that art isn't put up for sale, too.

[–] paraphrand@lemmy.world 0 points 2 weeks ago

What? No, this is about not being entitled to other people’s labor. Get out of here with that bullshit.

[–] webadict@lemmy.world 0 points 2 weeks ago

Ugh, poor people want EVERYTHING handed to them for free. When I was at my uncle's gala party, there was this homeless man sitting outside shaking a can of coins. Motherfucker thought we were gonna give HIM those hundred thousand dollar checks. How would he even cash it, it's ceremonial, dipshit! Anyway, we had to scare him away from the dumpster and bleach the food afterwards because the waiters were sneaking it to him. He wasn't even TRYING to look at the art, he was just trying to steal shit.

[–] Nori@ani.social 2 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (1 children)

If they didn't really want to sell it to people pirating it then nothing was lost.

[–] paraphrand@lemmy.world 1 points 2 weeks ago

You still don’t have the right to other people’s labor.

[–] HarkMahlberg@kbin.earth 12 points 2 weeks ago

I pirated John Wick on a whim because I was a bored broke college student and saw Keanu Reeves in the lead role. The movie was already out of theaters by that point.

I then introduced the movie to my friends, who all loved it. We then went on to see John Wick 2, 3, and 4 in theatres. I think I even saw 2 twice. And then when they rereleased the first movie for the 10 year anniversary, we paid to go see it again too.

Piracy put John Wick on the map for 10 people and sold 40+ movie tickets.

[–] Chronographs@lemmy.zip 8 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Pretty sure every pirate stream = 1 bd purchase

[–] fluffykittycat@slrpnk.net 8 points 2 weeks ago
[–] emax_gomax@lemmy.world 30 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Have they considered actually making the content available to stream legitimately on platforms that aren't dogsh*t? Japan does this with everything. Music is still mostly physical and streaming support especially for older catalogues is poor. Godzilla minus one was out of theatres for a full year before anything resembling a physical release was made available. The biggest thing hurting growth here is gatekeeping.

[–] Unboxious@ani.social 7 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

And even if I shell out for a blu-ray they won't let me conveniently watch the blu-ray on my laptop or phone. We really need a new standard.

[–] Bakkoda@lemmy.world 3 points 2 weeks ago

We're still struggling to get past the access/license phase like it's the early days of decss and i can't legally play my physical media because i run an alternative os.

[–] vane@lemmy.world 3 points 2 weeks ago

Alternative title: US taxpayers protect US billionaires in third world countries.