'Evil' Amazon/ My upcoming Fanime coverage!
Written by Jeremy Snow
Published on 05/21/2007
Originally from Binary Culture / [the-lowdown.net]
http://www.binaryculture.net

The anime community is very angry.

Why? Until recently, Amazon has been selling the Sailor Moon: Sailor Stars box set that is widely known as being a bootleg. All the feedback says so and everyone who purchases it knows what they are getting
into. Amazon has recently updated the listing so that it now is advertised as Sailor Moon: Sailor Stars- The Complete Bootlegged boxset.

God help us. The end of the world is nigh. Someone please stop the evil corporation...etc..etc...

Personally, I don't share the opinion that my fellow anime-lovers have that Amazon is some big, bad villain. They are listing the item as accurately as they can and EVERYONE who purchases the boxset knows exactly what they are buying. Don't try to tell me that they don't.

People are crying about the ethical problem that this poses for the future of anime. Ethics? Are you kidding me? Whether people would like to acknowledge it or not, money IS the ethics of corporate America. And who has money? Amazon. They have deep pockets and powerful lawyers that could tie up any case (God forbid it ever goes to court) longer than anyone would be willing to spend over a DVD box-set.

Still, fans are grabbing their torches and pitchforks and (unbelievably) some are trying to get the story covered on CNN and Fox News. I still can't help but laugh out loud at this absolutely ridiculous notion that two of the largest news networks in the company would attack Amazon over an anime box-set that is accurately described. Please, they are far too busy covering other important things...such as hourly death tolls for the Iraq war or blaming the Virginia Tech shooting on video games.

What this looks like to me, rather than a group of concerned fans, is a massive case of faux-heroism. Perhaps they all feel that they will sleep better at night by decrying the evil of Amazon and all of those that sell the bootlegs. What they fail to realize is that the license holder hasn't said a thing yet. In my eyes, until the license holder steps forward (since they are the ones 'losing money) all of the cries of the fans have no backing whatsoever.

This whole situation has got me thoroughly annoyed, but hopefully I can get over it before Thursday because that's when Fanime kicks off!

I will be posting a blog Thursday night and will update it daily including Panel summaries, announcements of licenses and interviews with guests. These daily updates will be rolled into a cohesive feature at the end of the weekend and I will also be updating the Play! feature as well with new information and response after I see the show on Saturday.

Get ready, this weekend is going to be a blast!