Anime News

Reasons For Bandai Fansub Warning?
Date: 8/25/2006
News of Bandai Entertainment's warning to fansubbers regarding Ghost In The Shell: Stand Alone Complex has gone worldwide since the intial press release this afternoon. The topic has promoted much discussion online. Many have questioned "why now" and "why this title" regarding the move. There are some interesting things about SSS that set apart from other anime works. Although it's being called a full length feature film at 105 minutes with theatrical quality animation, there are no plans on the table for a traditional movie theater release in Japan or abroad. The sole avenues of release in Japan are PPV TV followed by DVD. At an unprecedented 360 million Yen (or 3.20 million dollars) the work cost almost as much to make as the 4 million dollar original Ghost In The Shell did in 1995. Without a boxoffice run for such an expensive and high quality work (most traditional movies make the bulk of their money in theaters), the dependance on revenue generated through the above mentioned channels is obviously crucial. Also, compared to traditional movies the nature of the form of distribution being used here also clearly makes it more succeptable to being copied in high quality and then distributed widely illegally.
Source: Anime News Service