I said I'd create some sort of FAQ for fansubs and this is it.
For those who don't know - fansubs are, as the name suggest, series which have had subtitles created by fans onto recordings (generally from TV, but some for DVDs are often about which have higher quality). Fansubs are generally created by groups of people within which there are different positions (translator, typesetter, editor, quality control, distributor, etc.) and when they are created they are put up on the web. There are various ways to acquire them; by direct-download, via torrents or bots and many these days just stream it from video sites like
YouTube.
The legality of fansubs is somewhat controversial. For many, until the series is licenced in their country (or at least the area of the world that speaks their language or an appoximation thereof) it is not considered illegal - or even if it were, it'd be unlikely to cause much of a stir (even if people understood enough about anime, etc. to understand it). As far as the English-speaking world is concerned; it is highly-frowned upon and dubious in the United States, in Canada (please note - where we're hosted from) person-to-person downloads is actually encouraged in some places by the government and so its considered pretty safe - here in Great Britain, its generally considered as being not illegal, but not entirely legal either. Different fansub groups have different levels of morality as regards licencing, some immediately cease work and distribution of a series upon hearing that the licence has been purchased in North America and ask that all fans of the series cease distribution and purchase the licenced DVDs when they come out. Others are...more morally flexible (generally saying that they'll only stop when its actually being distributed in their country, or else determining that its up to the morality of the individual fan as to whether or not they download it - that it'd be far more wrong to let down the fan community by suddenly stopping mid-series). Ultimately - whether you choose to download fansubs in general, of series not licenced or licenced is up to you; the fan.
(Please note there are also 'scanlations' this is the manga ecquivilent of fansubs - manga pages scanned and then translated by fans. The same rules with licencing, etc. pretty much also apply to this.)
Most active anime fans these days actively download fansubs (if they can - if you live on campus at UoA, for example, there is no internet connection - so you can't; torrents don't work and direct download is painfully slow for some reason). Please note though, that quality of translation, typesetting, etc. varies wildly from group to group; so you may gave, for example, Lunar at one end (highly experienced, long-standing group with an emphasis on quality and among the most moral with dropping series due to licencing) and We Suck (who live up to their name) at the other. Often there may be some trial and error involved in trying different groups for different series - sometimes it helps to ask on forums if anyone else is interested in a series you want to follow and just ask them which group they'd recommend. Some (myself included) may download a low-quality fansub of a series episode first (a 'fastsub') just to see it early, but then delete it later when a good version (an archive copy, as it were) becomes available. Generally its best for people to find whatever suits them - particularly as different groups tend to focus on their own particular genres of anime, some groups vanish, new ones suddenly appear - like the anime fanbase in general, it fluctuates over time. But with the vast amount of fansubs (and 'rips' - video files made from licenced DVDs; definately illegal - though you're unlikely to get in trouble for getting them unless you start selling copies, which is piracy, and I for one vehemently oppose) available - you may feel overwhelmed as to what to download or, having read this, wonder where to get things like fansub torrents from - what follows are some handy links with explanatory notes given (please note, some sites can go down without notice for a few hours - its not unusual):
Information Sites (what is a series? what seiyuu is [character]? etc.)
www.anidb.net - An intensely informative site with a vast database of anime series;details on length, genre, descriptions given, connections to other series, as well as little things like which group have been fansubbing the series (if any). It also has a calendar function allowing you to see what new series is appearing that month (or others in previous months and pre-announced future ones); my usual method for deciding what to acquire each season is to look at the different titles on the calendar with genres, descriptions and pictures given and make a decision from there (if a series turns out to be no good you can just delete it after all). Please note though - it has no direct links to where to download the fansubs from.
www.animenewsnetwork.com - A fantastic general news site, with reviews, descriptions, statistics and information (like on who voices different characters, etc.) given. More handy than aniDB in many ways for licenced series (though often somewhat more sketchy for series only recently released in Japan).
www.animeuknews.net - A pretty good news site for UK-specific anime news, reviews, etc.
Torrent Sites (i.e. where to download stuff from)
www.tokyotosho.com - By far my first port-of-call when checking for anime, manga, OST, etc. torrents (licenced or not); though its always a good idea to 'customise' the layout of the site for your cookies - so as to cut out all the raws (non-subbed series), non-english fansubs, and anything else you do not wish to see.
www.baka-updates.com - My main back-up site for anime downloads, good and far more simple than Tokyo Toshokan - but more limited (it'll list DVD rips and the groups that made them - but will not provide links to them); plus its just anime, no manga, OSTs, etc.
www.animesuki.com - The most simple and detailed fansub site (with clear indexes for series, groups, etc.) but also the most restricting in that they will not list any series that has been licenced (but handily keep a list of all series that have been licenced, saying when they were licenced and by whom).
Those are the main ones I use - those of you who find other ones handy; feel free to state them (preferably with a short description/review) here. Please note though that is is an FAQ, not a discussion thread on the morality (or lack thereof) with fansubs.
Also note that I've posted this as a fan, not as Dancho (President of AAMS) - the Society does not make any official statement as regards this aspect of otaku culture.
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