Animeigo
By Philip Tan
The fan community for Japanese animation, or anime, began in America
with the exchange of fuzzy videotapes and real-time vocal translations.
A small group of anime enthusiasts and computer software designers
started Animeigo in 1989 as a commercial company to license Japanese
series and movies for subtitled and dubbed release in the United States.
They have since expanded their catalogue to include live-action samurai
movies. An ingenious implementation of commercially available Macintosh
hardware allowed them to superimpose color subtitles without requiring
film masters, thus allowing them to provide their niche market with
excellent quality subtitles without an overwhelming outlay of cash.
Animeigo has distinguished itself as a company of fans, for fans.
From the
earliest days when they recruited their staff over Usenet newsgroups,
Animeigo relies heavily on the goodwill and cooperation of fans to
keep their enterprise afloat. Their web site is reminiscent of a mid-90s
design style but benefits from its long legacy of accumulated information
and two-way communication with its customer base. From the lyrics
of opening themes to annotations of historical backgrounds to amusing
notes regarding peculiarities in translation to polls regarding interest
in new series, Animeigo fosters a relationship with its customers
long after the sale of tapes and DVDs.
Recently, the company has committed itself to releasing new material
on DVD, a big risk and change from its homegrown tape and Laserdisc
production cycle. Their audience is growing larger and more discerning,
forcing them into the more competitive and easily copied digital arena.
Concerning intellectual
property, Animeigo has a lot to lose if users of free media exchange
services
such as Scour begin to share Animeigo products over the Internet.
Unlike
integrated media conglomerates, Animeigo has no resources for original
productions or anything besides the subtitling and dubbing of existing
material. Merging with other organizations may protect its short-term
financial
future but risks compromising the direct relationship that Animeigo
has
established with its customers over a decade of solo operations.
Copying and viewing video streams with digitally matted subtitles
is a more
complicated process than simply running DeCSS, a DVD decryption program
available on the Internet. Still, one can easily conceive of a popular
format
emerging on the Internet that allows the exchange of complete DVDs,
liner
notes, subtitles and multiple audio tracks in a single file. When
bandwidth
improves to the point of allowing that sort of easy exchange of gigabytes
of
data, Animeigo will likely be pressed into making another drastic
shift in
their business plan. Yet, if they succeed in retaining that loyal
customer base
while sustaining their increasingly competitive DVD distribution,
they might be
in an excellent position to leverage technologies that would allow
them to
stream their work directly to the fans. Given the computer savvy of
their staff
and their agility as a small operation, Animeigo stands to benefit
greatly
amidst the shifting sands of digital content provision.