Mmm, fresh wank.
This would be my first post here, but I'm a longtime lurker. Just never found any worthy wank to post... but now I have. Oh yes. This is anime wank of the finest kind. It's the old 'legality of fansubs' debate kicked up a notch.

For those not in the know, fansubbing is when fans translate, subtitle and distribute anime, for free, no cost. It's purely a labor of fannish love. Ethical fansubbers - which make up most of the community - only sub and release series that haven't been licensed for release in North America. Once a series is licensed, the fansubbers usually stop subbing it, and stop distributing the episodes. Now, there are a few groups that keep subbing licensed stuff, in the gap between licensing and actual stateside release. Most of these groups keep very quiet about what they're doing, and will immediately stop subbing once their anime has been formally released.

However, there is a group called Anime-Junkies that's become rather infamous in anime fandom. They're 'renowned' for releasing fansubs extremely quickly, subbing an ENORMOUS number of series at the same time, and having horrific subtitle quality. They also sub a lot of licensed stuff.

Here's where the wank comes in.

Anime-Junkies is currently subbing a series called Ninja Scroll, which has been licensed since before its Japanese release. So they sub it. That happens often, true - several groups are subbing the enormously popular (and very good) Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, even though it's been licensed for a while.

However, the licensor of the title in North America, Urban Vision, discovered this. They e-mailed Anime-Junkies and asked them if they would please stop subbing and distribution of Ninja Scroll.

The response? Well, it speaks for itself. Responses from the subbers range from the ever-polite "Rot in hell" to "Who the fuck are you anyways to buy a series we were doing?" Wank of the highest caliber, here.

And the wank spreads as one of the most well-known anime news sites, Anime News Network, releases an editorial on the whole thing, slamming Anime-Junkies for their behavior.

Watch as it spreads across the community! Fun for all!