stealthmomo is just a random, middle-class white dude with a lifelong love of cartoons and comic books and (more recently) an obsessed Anime and Manga enthusiast.
In the 80's,90's and 00's, I couldn't see the attraction of Anime or Manga. Some stuff filtered through... in Manga it was Battle Angel Alita and Dragonball Z (which I felt was SO superior to the [as far as I knew] lame-ass Dragonball Z I saw on Cartoon Network). For Anime, it was Akiria, Appleseed, Cowboy Bebop and Ghost in the Shell. That was about it. All the stuff I saw from FUNimation and Bandai and Genon left me cold. The voices were high and reedy, fake sounding young people and girls whose voices didn't seem to 'fit' quite right.
Flash-forward to early 2009. I don't remember how...I don't remember why...but in the Winter of 2009 I discovered the Fansub Community. I don't remember how...I don't remember why.. BUT I remember WHAT! Lucky ☆ staR! That is the one that started it all. I thought it was brilliant. From there I was intrigued. The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumyia was next. WOW! Then Hayate no Gotoku, Kannagi: Crazy Shrine Maidens and Kashimashi - Girl meets Girl. I couldn't get enough.
I quickly figured out that the "Anime" I had been subjecting myself to in the past, licensed dubs, had been cut, edited, censored and stripped of and humor or plot points that were too Japan-centric, for want of a better term. Some stuff had me running to Wikipedia constantly. I have learned so much about the Japanese culture, not through anime, but because of anime. I have come to realize that 90% of the anime I love will never even be licenced or released in the U.S. And the one's that do make it here to the States and butchered beyond recognition. (The English dub of K-ON feels like chewing aluminium foil).
I stand firmly against English dubs...from poor choices of editing to badly directed voice actors to blatent censorship. Until I become fluent in the Japanese language, Fansubs are the only way to go for me. I now have a full slate of current Anime to keep me happy for the foreseeable future. I can see a fully subbed show usually within 48 hours of broadcast. For hot stuff such as K-ON or Madoka Magica, one can get a version 1 sub within 24 hours.
If you like Anime, but have felt that somehow something feels like it's missing, you are right. Something is missing. If you want to learn more about the Fansubbing community, please feel free to contact me... stealthmomo@otakujuden.com. I will be happy to steer you in the right direction. Fansubs are not illegal and torrenting Fansubbed material is not illegal either. On the contrary, the creators in Japan encourage the practice, as it affords a larger group of people accessability. The only ones who can possibily be affected by the Fansub community are the U.S. licence holders, such as FUNImation and Bandai. And truly, they deserve to die out. Just as scanilated manga has put businesses like TOKYOPop to the curb, so will a burdgeoning Fansub community put these bastardizations to rest as well. Anime itself is as popular as ever in Japan and will not be going away any time soon.
See my disclaimer at the bottom of the home page to understand where I stand with streaming licenced materials. Simply put, you will never see anything streamed from my site that has been dubbed and regionalized by licensing companies. Arigato.
