Manafih Corner

Masakazu Kubo is well known to Pocket Monsters fans as the Executive producer of the series and movies. He is also the director of Shogakukan's Character Business Center.

Anime is currently a large market worldwide, but according to recent statistics, Anime sales are in decline. Recently Masakazu Kubo posted his proposal to help the currently floundering animation industry. In his proposal, he praises fansubbers and suggests that ways should devised to officially make use of their abilities.

Pokemon doesn't seem to be one of the 'affected' shows though. Pocket Monsters Movie 10 was the 'Top Grossing Anime Movie of 2007' in the Japanese box office, while the Pocket Monsters Movie 9 DVD places 18th in total sales in Japan. The English dubbed version of Movie 10 was announced earlier this week and will air on Cartoon Network on February 24th. The movie is expected to do quite well in North America.

Pocket Monsters Diamond and Pearl's Japanese ratings have been fairly consistent, while Pokemon Diamond and Pearl in the United States is one of the highest rated shows in the 'boys 6-11 and boys 2-11' demographic.

Shogakukan has been very vigilant in removing episodes of their animated series off video websites like YouTube. Many users posting copyrighted episodes have had their accounts suspended and their uploaded content deleted at the request of Shogakukan. Many fans are disappointed that Pokemon related AMV's are also removed.

There are many reasons why Pokemon fans in particular are drawn to fansubbed episodes of the series. Many of the episodes have a lot of edits, especially earlier in the series when 4Kids was responsible for the English Dubbing. The recent voice actor change in the English dub has also disappointed long time fans of the show who had grown accustom to the original voice actors. With the availability of the Japanese episodes online, it gives fans an alternative to the dub that they didn't have in the past.

Pokemon producer's advisory group suggests dealing with pro-level fansubbers

The Japanese government's Task Force on Media Content Business and Japanese Brands published the fourth series of proposals from its content-planning working group on February 1. The proposals discussed "a comprehensive policy for promoting content in the digital age" particularly, how to eventually legalize the content on Nico Nico Douga, YouTube, and other video-sharing sites. The working group suggested that it may be necessary to approach the illegal uploaders directly, so that Japan can formally approve these sites.

One of the committee members, Tokyo Anime Center executive producer Masakazu Kubo, submitted a document that dealt with three specific issues, including fansubbers. Kubo is the executive producer of the Pokemon anime and the director of Shogakukan's Character Business Center. He is also involved with the Tokyo International Film Festival, the Tokyo International Anime Fair, and China's Beijing Film Academy. The business news website Bloomberg.com recently quoted Kubo in an article about the manga industry. The second of three sections in Kubo's document is translated below:

2) Dealing with Fansubs (Fun-Subtitle) and Other "P to P" Pirated Copies (*1)

Because "Fansubs" are works, such as television animation, on which fans have added subtitles, they are usually made without authorization. Currently, 6 million copies of illegal, English-subtitled Japanese animated videos are said to be downloaded from BitTorrent each week (http://animeanime.jp/biz/archives/2007/12/bittorrent600.html). This has affected the DVD sales of Japanese animation in North America, which have dropped dramatically. As a result, the overseas prices for animation programs have fallen considerably. After the April 2008 television program schedules [in Japan] are laid out (*2), the drop in the number of animated programs will be clearly seen. In short, the Japanese animation business has fallen into a great crisis.

About 10 fans (whose translation abilities are high compared to professionals!) (*3) are said to put animated videos with foreign-language subtitles on YouTube, BitTorrent, and other file-sharing sites. If our country is to formally deal with YouTube and other services, it will be necessary to have some sort of approach to dealing with these individuals. Personally, I hope to resolve this by officially making use of their abilities.

*1 The "Fun-Subtitle" spelling is in the original document. "P to P" refers to peer-to-peer file-sharing.
*2 April is the beginning of the financial and academic year in Japan, so usually, more television series premiere in this month than in any other month.
*3 The exclamation point is in the original document.

Shogakukan seems to understand that there is a growing fansubbing community on the Internet and unlike the American motion picture companies, they are looking at alternatives to suing their fanbase. It will be interesting to see what they do in the future and how they decide to adapt to online distribution of their shows.

Sources: http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/ & Mainichi Communications' MyCom Journal & pocketmonsters.net

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The Rise of Darkrai is the first Generation IV Pokemon movie, and the tenth Pokemon movie overall. Cartoon Network announced today that the movie will air on February 24, 2008 at 7 p.m.

It was also reported that Cartoon Network will air the movie BEFORE the theatrical premiere. "And be sure to catch the U.S. premiere of 'The Rise of Darkrai', months before it plays in theaters!". It seems obvious now that Darkrai will most likely be distributed at theatres similar to how it was released in Japan. It's extremely odd to have a television premiere before a theatrical release. The only logical conclusion is that Pokemon USA is hoping people will go to the theatre to get Darkrai.

Many have been discussing this issue and it seems very clear that most people would not go to the theatre to see a movie that can be seen on television before the theatrical release.

Source : pocketmonsters.net

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Next In Japan

Episode #534
Lucario & The Aura Sphere of Rage!
Airdate: 07/02/2008

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Pokémon Diamond & Pearl are the fourth Generation of Pokémon games. Having come out for the new Nintendo system, the Nintendo DS, Diamond & Pearl makes use of the DS's many functions including TouchScreen and WiFi. Diamond & Pearl also brings back many features from Gold & Silver that have since been removed.

Bringing 107 New Pokémon into the mix, bringing us to a total of 493 Pokémon, including many evolutions of old Pokémon, Diamond & Pearl completely overhauls the battling system. No longer are move's stats based on its type , but rather each move is individually allocated being Physical or Special.

Diamond & Pearl are set in the far off land of Sinnoh and have you playing as a Rookie trainer wanting to go through Sinnoh, beat the Gyms and become the best trainer. However, throughout your travels, you will encounter two rivals as well as the evil Team of the land; Team Galactic, whom are bent on obtaining the special legendary of your version.

Diamond & Pearl has over 400 Pokémon obtainable within it, making it the biggest Pokémon game to date. There are many methods to find the Pokémon in the game; Inserting your GBA Game in for Wild Pokémon, Swarms, The PokéRadar and the Pokémon Mansion. However, this is not all as you are capable of transferring your teams from your GBA Versions through Pal Park, this is however one-way.

Diamond & Pearl also brings a whole new thing into the Pokémon World; online battling & trading. Using the critically acclaimed Nintendo WiFi Connection, you are capable of sharing Friend Codes with your friends and battling with them. You can also trade with them across the WiFi Connection. Diamond & Pearl also have a Trading Station that allows you to put up a Pokémon that you have, state what you want and have someone trade it with you. A very efficient system indeed.

Diamond & Pearl keeps all of the functions the games have had in the last Generation as well as introducing some new ones and reintroducing the Time Based events. It has a cool feature called the Pokétch that allows you to keep up to date with all your goings on including Captures, Breeding, and the location of the fleeing legends.

Source : Serebii.net

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Pokémon USA, Inc. today announced the latest Pokémon Trading Card Game expansion, Diamond & Pearl—Great Encounters, will be released on February 13th. The expansion features more than 100 cards, including more brand-new Pokémon cards for players to collect and three legendary Pokémon with powerful new attacks.


The Pokémon TCG: Diamond & Pearl—Great Encounters expansion will be available in three 60-card theme decks—Eternal Time, Endless Night, and Infinite Space—as well as in booster packs. Theme decks, priced at $11.99, include a unique coin, an updated rulebook, card list, one-player playmat, and damage counters. Each booster pack, priced at $3.79, features 10 randomly inserted game cards.

Coming February 13th. Click here for a closer look at a new Darkrai card!

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