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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.

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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. the stories didn't seem to 'flow' properly. They always felt like they weren't quite all there, so to speak.

Flash-forward to late 2008. I don't remember how...I don't remember why...but that winter I discovered the fansubbing 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 and funny and really opened a window to (a part) of the Japanese culture and mind-set.

From there I was intrigued. The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumyia was next. nice! then Hayate no Gotoku, Kannagi: Crazy Shrine Maidens and Kashimashi - Girl meets Girl. Shakugen no Shana (and the humorous chibi-style Shakugen no Shana-tan). I couldn't get enough. Well, between then and now I can't even keep up with the anime list I have going on here. I have over 3TB of anime - all the shows I have been following since October 2008.

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 the humor and/or plot points that were too Japan-centric, for want of a better term. Ironically, the one Japanese-ish thing they stupidly DO do, they direct their voice-actors to use high-pitched, fake-y voices that simply don't work in English.

Yo! FUNImation, Bandai, alla' ya. The Japanese Seiyuus sound wonderful, cute and sexy with those voices... BECAUSE IT'S IN JAPANESE! Forcing your English voice actors to do the same is idiotic. BECAUSE IT'S ENGLISH! Gods, how backward can an entire industry be? "Well, we'll strip out all the honorifics, cultural references and important plot points...but let's try to keep the voices the same."

• Dragonball Z is a perfect example. On Cartoon Network it was week after week of a slow-moving, blandly dialogued, grunt-fest. To my surprise and delight, the real Dragonball Z is a clever and well-written hybrid of the martial arts and sci-fi genere's. Lots of pun's and clever wordplay... as expected from such a complex and lyrical language

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 that is a good thing. The one's that do make it here to the States are 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.

Fansubs are not illegal and torrenting fansubbed material is not illegal either. On the contrary, many creators in Japan encourage the practice, as it affords a larger group of people accessibility. They make money on me. All of my anime figurines were purchased either from Tokyo or Hong Kong (PlayAsia, J-List etc.).

The only ones who can possibly be affected by the fansub community are the talentless cretins U.S. licence holders, such as FUNImation and Bandai and their ilk. I will shed no tears when those sausage factories finally bite it. Just as scanilated manga has put businesses like TOKYOPop to the curb, so will a burgeoning fansub community put these bastardizations to rest as well. And rightfully so.

My dream licensing company would:

1. Leave the original animation untouched
   
2. Not change the meaning of the dialogue when bumping into something not directly translatable (i.e. use liner notes)
   
3. Understand that honorifics are often essential in dialogue for establishing plot, setting and character
   
4. Not simply assume every English-speaking person is a moron, unable to grasp foreign cultures and concepts
   
   Anime and Manga themselves are as popular as ever in Japan and will not be going away any time soon. Japan is recovering nicely from the tsunami, surely they can weather the loss of some Pokemon card sales and Power Rangers halloween costumes.