Anime

1887 readers

123 users here now

This community is the place to discuss and ask questions about anime, anime news, and related topics.

Currently airing show discussion threads are created by our resident bot, [email protected]. If it doesn't make a thread for an episode that you want to discuss, see the user guide on the wiki for instructions on how to request that rikka make a thread for you to use.

Check out our wiki to find:

Rules

Posts must relate to anime or similar (donghua, etc.)
Discussion threads for currently airing media must be made by the bot. If there isn't a discussion thread made for a piece of media you want to discuss, then request it via pm.
Ensure that all series spoilers are tagged. See here for details.
Memes should be directed toward [email protected] (or similar) instead of this community
Do not post explicitly NSFW material. Please use your best judgement when marking lewd material as NSFW, unmarked material risks being removed.
Please redirect discussion of piracy towards a more appropriate community
Any clips from currently airing shows cannot include content from episodes released within the past 7 days.
All posts and comments must adhere to the ani.social Terms of Use
In general, keep things civil and avoid attacking other individuals.

Related General Communities

[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected] - Videos
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected] (Spanish language community)
[email protected] (Myanmar community)
Megathread of other communities on the fediverse maintained by @[email protected]

founded 1 year ago

MODERATORS

[email protected]

[AnimeHerald] VHS Trading and Fansubs in the Modern Era (www.animeherald.com)

submitted 8 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

3 comments fedilink hide all child comments

For many anime fans, internet streaming has been a thing for their entire time as a fan. However, before the age of high speed internet, anime had to be consumed quite differently outside of Japan. Take a trip through time with this article to learn about the history of early anime in North America and the avid fans that worked hours and hours to help build the fandom into what it is today.

Teaser from the article:

With the advent of streaming services, we are currently living through an era of unprecedented access to anime. Some shows are simultaneously released online with subtitles, and even a select number with English dubs, as they air in Japan.

Despite this, there are still those participating in the good old-fashioned piracy that helped create the anime fandom as it is today in North America, doing so surprisingly enough in some of the exact same ways they were over forty years ago. So why was this kind of piracy done in the first place, why was it necessary, and why is a dedicated group of anime fans doing work to preserve it with anime more easy to access than ever before?

top 3 comments

sorted by: hot top controversial new old

[–] [email protected] 7 points 8 months ago

I never took advantage of VHS Tape Traders like is discussed for part of this article. Instead, I would often pick up tapes at a con of some kind (or have a friend pick them up). Oftentimes, I had no knowledge of the shows/movies and simply relied on boxart (if it existed) or whatever knowledge the seller had about the series to inform buying decisions. It's so different than today, the age of information, where a synopsis/summary/ratings/etc. are just a quick search away.

Also wanted to shout out that this author is on lemmy, so thanks @[email protected] for a trip through time.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 8 months ago

This was a great read! It's so fascinating how tape trading was basically a preview for things like Napster and file sharing.

I kinda wonder how they were able to add subtitles and things like that on top of the tapes, I'd imagine it took a lot of work.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago

It was better in the old days. Less tourists.