I emailed a Straits Times Journalist...

...who wrote this article.

His name is Chua Hian Hou.







This is my email. I know I may not be fully knowledgeable about the issues, but I'm doing something about this.

I say we nuke his inbox. Some foreigners if possible.:

I am an anime fan currently serving my nation.

Overall, I feel that your article will have a positive effect on the anime scene in Singapore. It will shock those who do not know much about the fansubs they are downloading to abandon them and buy the stuff ODEX is selling.

However, do note that we are in the golden age of the internet now. Information is freely passed around and is difficult to be restricted, unless you want to mess around with human rights.

Not many people in Singapore know this, but there exists an English animeblogosphere. It can be accessed at www.animenano.com . Many insightful articles and reviews of all types can be found in this blogosphere. The fact is about 90% of English animebloggers are Singaporean. The actual anime fandom is online, not offline. Those who are caught are likely to be the offline types who do not have access to information.

As they say, knowledge is power. This is the reason why " 'pirates' here download more anime files than any other country except the United States." This is NOT ridiculous, considering the Americans themselves look to the animeblogosphere for information.

In fact a famous Singaporean animeblogger who goes by the online alias DarkMirage has reported in a blogpost (http://www.darkmirage.com/2007/03/13/net-infamy-windows-100-interview/ ) that more Americans visit his blog than Singaporeans.

Do note that foreign anime fans all over the world look to the animeblogosphere for their daily dose of anime news. This may seem like a small thing in Singapore, but already foreigners are getting a bad impression of Singapore from this crackdown. To direct your attention to several blogposts highlighting this issue:

http://animedesho.animeblogger.net/?p=2539#comments

http://www.darkmirage.com/2007/05/30/apocalypse-now/

http://haitaka.googlepages.com/home2

http://www.riuva.com/?p=630

http://www.riuva.com/?p=631

http://www.riuva.com/?p=628

http://www.darkmirage.com/2007/01/09/an-open-letter-to-odex/

As you can see, the power of online reporting far outshines your pathetic article. Your article only serves to further agitate the local and international anime community. It is a very simple matter for one of these influential animebloggers to scan and post your article online.

If ODEX becomes bankrupt, you will share some responsibility for your actions. Already many anime fans hate ODEX to a very deep degree as can be seen from discussions all over the net:

http://sgcafe.com/showthread.php?t=33862

http://sgcafe.com/showthread.php?t=33797&highlight=odex+peter

http://www.chuangyi.com.sg/board/cgi-bin/forum/YaBB.pl?num=1180587287/0#0

http://www.chuangyi.com.sg/board/cgi-bin/forum/YaBB.pl?num=1179751065/0#0

We are not the pirates you deem us to be. Many of us actively import expensive DVDs of anime series that we are passionate about. The people who download illegally and prefer fansubs to DVDs are likely the "outsiders" that are not passionate enough about anime. The merit of your article is to eliminate these outsiders.

Entire industries are surviving and built due to the proliferation of fansubs. The primary reason why ODEX products, and other anime products in Singapore, are selling is due to the proliferation of fansubs. Honestly, most Singaporeans would never dream of buying Japanese cartoons unless they have experienced them for free. ODEX's marketing has always been almost non-existent. Fansubs are providing the free marketing and now the AVPAS wants to eliminate this. And from reliable sources, I don't think ODEX has enough funds to kick up a marketing campaign.

I also found it interesting that you failed to mention ODEX's VCDs in your article. There are only about two or three anime titles released on ODEX DVDs. However, almost a hundred titles are released on their VCDs. If you read the above threads and/or go out and sample some VCDs you'll get a basic understanding why most of us would rather die than purchase ODEX products. And due to the bad reputation ODEX has built up over the years, it is only natural that we are reluctant to purchase their DVDs.

As you can see, you're treading extremely dangerous waters here. You can choose to either be more transparent, or choose your words more wisely.

We will be watching what you, or your colleagues, write in the future.

"Anime fans do not need ODEX, nor fansubs, to survive. ODEX needs anime fans to survive." - modified from http://haitaka.googlepages.com/home2