Anime Crisis

DB Halting Fansubbing Production Indefinitely, Effective Immediately
2007/12/27

Dear leechers,

We have warned everyone repeatedly on the issue of streaming our subs.

We sincerely appreciate everyone's efforts to spread the Naruto/Bleach love, but were growing increasingly frustrated, not to mention worried, over our repeatedly ignored requests not to upload our material to Veoh, Youtube and other streaming sites.

Perhaps you guys aren't aware, but the flagrant disregard for our requests puts us in an increasingly vulnerable position as a fansubbing group. We don't want to be shut down (which is something we are in constant threat of) and if our rules are not honored, we may well be.

Therefore we once again make this request:

Please do NOT upload any of our released episodes to streaming sites.
Since it's hard to get people to comply just by writing in these news, we need to get your attention. So effective immediately, we are forced to stop releasing our subtitled episodes for ALL our current projects until the request is met, full stop. This includes Naruto, Bleach, Pitagora Switch and Pokemon.

We regret that we have to take such a drastic stance, but our requests have gone ignored for years. There's not much more we can do to protect ourselves and to continue bringing these episodes to fans, but we believe that taking these precautions now will keep us operational for the long run. And we hope to keep bringing these episodes to English-speaking fans for a long time. Please help us by abiding by our rules.

Here’s the issue: Dattebayo translates and subtitles anime, and released the episodes for public download on our website. Lots of well-meaning fans then take these Dattebayo episodes, re-encode / cut them into parts and upload them onto streaming sites like Youtube or Veoh. THIS IS BAD. The reason is not because Dattebayo is stupid or annoying or mean.

It's disrespectful to the subbers’ wishes, but more importantly,
Fansubbing is not legal, and with the popularity of Naruto/Bleach growing, legitimate companies have licensed them for DVD releases outside of Japan.
That makes fansubbers a target - although Dattebayo makes no money, legally the companies have all the right to shut us down. Because Dattebayo is a prominent fansubbing group, it's at constant risk and legal threat. When you put videos on Veoh/Youtube, that exposes the group and makes it a big target.

To this end, Dattebayo has politely and repeatedly asked uploaders on many streaming sites to STOP UPLOADING our files. Many people assume that the uploaders have Dattebayo's permission, but that's not true. The uploaders have basically ignored all polite requests to stop. With recent changes to Youtube "copyright enforcement" policy, it's nearly impossible to get Dattebayo material removed once it's been uploaded, therefore leaving our work in horrible quality for everyone to view.

Which is why Dattebayo has decided that we will put a hold on all our subtitled episode releases until the uploaders comply. We've been way too nice so far by letting this issue slide, but this is the end. Here's our (repeated) request to everyone who butchers our work by uploading it to streaming sites. STOP. If you're an uploader, please DO NOT UPLOAD DATTEBAYO SUBS to any more streaming sites. If you're guilty of doing this in the past, and your streaming site account is still valid, GO AND DELETE ALL THE DATTEBAYO VIDEOS WHICH BELONG TO YOUR ACCOUNT. We NEVER gave ANYONE permission to upload our work to ANY STREAMING SITE. If you're not an uploader and want to help, flag our work you find on streaming sites as copyright infringement, send private message to uploader asking to remove content, etc. This is probably futile due to immense amount of idiots who are unable to read yet are able to figure out how to click "upload" button, but it doesn't hurt to try.

It might be annoying to have to figure out how to watch anime without Youtube or Veoh, but trust me, it's really not that hard. And some fans complain, "I don't know how to do it! It’s too hard! I need Veoh!" Well, if we fansubbers can figure out how to download Naruto, translate it, time it, edit it, encode it, release it - surely you can learn how to watch it. Or you can always (and should) buy the DVDs when they're released officially.

Dattebayo is providing a SERVICE - a free, fast, reliable service. Fansubbers would like to keep providing the service, so we hope everyone can understand why this decision has been made. Dattebayo's wish is NOT to shut down anime-sharing - it’s to keep it alive for the long run. Please help by considering the bigger picture.

Without streaming sites, anime-watching may become less convenient, that is unfortunately true. But it's better than shutting down fansubbing entirely - because then you'll have no anime at all.

Dattebayo Fansubs, LLC. Taking internet seriously for the last 3.22 years