One of the oldest conflicts in anime fandom is the fact that fansubs helped spread the popularity of anime in the early days of the hobby. And to that point how relevant are fansubs to an industry where 90% of everything is simulcast in English and classic series are being license recused all the time? Are there still titles that can be ethically fansubbed? Or is watching any show just dirty piracy?
Sean Russell from Anime 3000 gathered together Sean Ryan from Alpha Counter as well as both Reverse Thieves to discuss the remaining times where watching less than official subs may still be a grey area.
Anime By Any Means – A3K Panel
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The thing about the Aniplex sets, or any other mega-popular current-era show (which drives most of the fansubbing scene), is that most of them are already available streaming (for the US at least). Madoka, SAO, and Gurren Lagann are on Crunchyroll and/or Hulu. Sure it’s not high-end 1080p, but if your goal is just to see these titles to stay in the know, there are budget-friendly and easy legal avenues, unlike even 5 years ago.