Temporal Paralysis

The news might be already old, and there are already many people who still heatedly debate on the legitimacy of Odex’s actions. I wished to impart my view on the whole saga instead. The full story of it can be found in this Wikipedia article.

In the age of the Internet, it would be very unwise to aggressively target their own customers. In this case, Odex has clearly shot itself in the foot: in an attempt to launch their video-on-demand service, they started what I coined “a strategy to eliminate competition in the market.” Fansubs, in their viewpoint, is their competition. In the local context, “the average Singaporean, being a pragmatic (perhaps too pragmatic to the point of a miser), would rather passed up on the VOD for the free fansubs.” Who wouldn’t?

What I felt is that if their “enforcement exercise” was merely to protect their VOD service (while at the same time create local buzz about themselves and the new service they are launching), then I would say, “Good luck.” The casual anime fans out there wouldn’t care less about the anime subculture, let alone the shows, and they have successfully alienated the “proper anime fans” who not only download the fansubs, but also “contribute to the industry by importing DVDs and/or purchasing the related merchandises.”

Perhaps Odex were barking up at the wrong people after all. The so-called “pirates” they’re chasing after, is a lost cause. To bunch the “proper anime fans” mentioned above, with these “pirates” will only serve to further alienate the community further. And the “pirates” themselves couldn’t even care less about the threats: they don’t bother to listen.

Perhaps the saga could be much ado about nothing: the “PR disaster” could irreversibly damaged Odex’s reputation locally, but as far as the company collapsing, that’s not going to happen soon. Much of their income bulk is stemmed from their licensing rights to regional TV broadcasting stations, so they’re relatively stable. Coupled with the fact that they have deep links with the Japanese TV broadcasting corporations (who in turn were granted exclusive licenses to the anime shows), they’re pretty much here to stay. Sorry, guys: they’ll live on.

Perhaps there could be a silver lining into this: many people will start appreciating anime not solely for their “objectionable nature”, but also as a new medium/subculture that Singapore can tap into, to boost up the digital entertainment industry, which was highlighted for “further investment by the Government.” People will accept the fandom associated with anime – the cosplays, the fan fiction works (doujin) and, ironically, the Internet culture -.

The question, then, turns to whether people are willing to part their cash, which puts the onus on Odex (or any other anime distributor in Singapore) to ensure that their products are up to standards.