Odex
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| File:Odex logo.jpg | |
| Company type | Private Limited |
|---|---|
| Industry | Animation-related distribution |
| Founded |  Singapore (1998) |
| Headquarters | , |
Key people | Peter Go, CEO/Director Stephen Sing, Enforcement Division |
| Products | Video VCD / DVD |
| Revenue | Approx. S$1m[1] |
Number of employees | 20[1] |
| Website | www.odex.com.sg |
Odex is a Singapore-based company that licenses and releases anime for local and regional (Southeast Asian) consumption. It was registered in 1998, for the purpose of licensing and importing overseas drama and animation into Singapore, which it began distributing in 2000. It was placed under media and public scrutiny in 2007 when it began to prosecute downloaders of videos which were sub-licensed to the company.
Pricing
Odex anime are generally cheaper than their American or Japanese counterparts. This is largely due to the lower cost of living in Singapore. Another reason is that Odex boxsets do not include extra materials such as posters.[2]
Odex claimed to have attempted to fight anime piracy by offering lower prices for their anime box sets. During this promotional period, a 13 episode VCD box set was sold for SGD$10 while a DVD box set went for SGD$20. However, people point out that the lack of favourable reception to Odex's move could be attributed to the fact that these reduced prices only applied to a few anime titles which they assert were old or were relatively unpopular. [citation needed]
Takings for 2006 were reportedly half that of 2005, which the company attributed to anime piracy. Odex claimed that these led to them serving downloaders with lawsuits.[3] However, people assert that Odex had merely shifted its business model from sales of anime to profiting from legal blackmail. [citation needed]
Product packaging
Odex VCD packaging can be seen with two silver strips at the top and bottom, with the words "Original Japanese Animation" along the side, with its logo. The VCDs are packaged as square box sets, with a CD folder containing 6 discs with 13 episodes each. The DVD boxset is not packaged like the R1 and R2 sets which come in one disc with 2 episodes, but by 3 discs with 12 episodes, using dual-layer DVDs.
Dubbing and subtitling
Odex's VCDs contains Japanese language audio, while some releases also include a Chinese dubbing. Subtitles are written both in English and Chinese, whereas only English subtitling is available for Odex's DVD releases. For their DVD releases, Japanese language audio is present, whereas some titles also ships with Chinese dubbing, occasionally with dubbing done in English. Subtitling is also available for the DVD release, containing English, Chinese and Malay subtitling. The quality of the dubbing and subtitling is subject to much debate, however most online anime viewers criticize the quality of their work. Most anime viewers agree that the quality of the subtitling is lousy and nonsensical. A former employee of Odex allerged that this is because Odex did not translate directly from Japanese, like reputable anime companies. Instead, Odex decided to translate from cantonese translations, thereby substantially reducing the quality of the translations and causing the subtitles to become nonsensical.
History
1997 Founded for the purpose of licensing and bringing in videos ranging from drama to animation of all kinds into the region.[4] 2000 Formed the animation section, to license and bring in Japanese animation into the region. Thus changing the whole company's direction. 2003 Formed the Anti Video Piracy Association of Singapore (AVPAS) to fight video piracy in Singapore. 2007 Sent out letters to alleged downloaders of their licensed anime. Further changing this company's profit strategy.
Controversy
Odex has run into plenty of criticism since the start of its business. Many fans have criticised the sub-standard quality of the anime[5], thus claiming that Odex has been profiteering by riding on the success of the anime fanbase in Singapore. Odex refuted this claim by stating that quality issues were due to the limitations of the VCD medium, and that their DVD releases have similar quality as other R2 releases. Despite Odex's claims, many netizens still continues to state that the quality is not on par with what Odex claims.[6]
Odex has also been criticised for not catering to consumer demand. Anime titles licensed and sold by Odex are usually unpopular anime, which many fans may not have heard of before. Even though Odex has been able to secure licenses for more popular anime titles, many anime fans claims that these titles usually arrive in shops until very late, usually a year after it had aired in Japan.
Odex's subtitle translations often come under fire. Many allerge that the English subtitles are directly translated off Chinese subtitles in releases from Hong Kong, thus resulting in inaccurate translations.[7] This causes the anime to lose its original meaning, causing many fans to be slightly confused about the anime's plot. Many also allegre that at least a number of Hong Kong DVDs used for translated are pirated, thus resulting in inaccurate translations. However this may not be the case anymore, as the practice of using Hong Kong DVDs for translation was supposebly stopped. Others claim that Odex copies its English subtitles directly from the works of fansub groups, citing Gundam Seed, Monster and The Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi as prime examples.
Numerous sources have also reported that the ISPs of Singapore (SingTel, Starhub, PacNet) have received court orders, requesting them to hand over necessary information to ODEX. Peter Go has also been reported to claim that Odex still needed to pay the ISPs for subscriber information, despite the fact that the ISPs have to willingly disclose the information.
Accused downloaders who admitted to their guilt were required to pay hefty fines, ranging from about SGD$3000 to SGD$5000.[8] It has been argued by the Singaporean community that the all costs bored by Odex to track down each downloader could not have amounted to SGD$5000, causing the community to be suspicious of Odex's intentions. Many netizens - anime viewers and non-anime viewers alike - allege that Odex was seizing the opportunity to cover up for the losses it claimed to have made over the past few years.
As court hearings between Odex and the ISPs were done behind closed doors, the exact procedures that Odex used to trace downloaders and any substantial evidence they gathered to be presented in court remains unknown. It is also unclear how much information Odex has received from the ISPs.
Another issue that came to light was that Stephen Sing, under his alias of xysing, bragged about suing anime downloaders.[9] This was admitted by him, but he rejected its relevance, making no apology, claiming it was taken out of context and was posted 2 months ago,[10] before the controversy reached the news. His claim was easily revealed to be false, as the post was made less than a month before his apology.
On 23rd of August, District Judge Ernest Lau rejected Odex's request to force Pacfic Internet to disclose its subscribers information. Justice Lau pointed out that only the AVPAS, not Odex, had the right to take action. He also expressed doubt over the reliability of Odex's evidence.[11]
In a press conference held on the 30th of August, Odex claimed that the crackdown "was meant to be just an enforcement" and not "a profiteering mission to get as much money from everybody." Odex also claimed that there was no fine involved, but about a third of the recipients preferred to settle with Odex for an undisclosed sum.[12] This caused a huge uproar among the community, as many claimed that Odex had "threatened them with legal action" should they choose not to pay Odex.
In the same conference, Odex also attempted to justify their actions as due to fears of Japanese anime dying. Odex claims that the Korean animation industry collapsed due to downloading and that the Japanese industry is bleeding to death from downloads. However, the Korean animation industry is currently the world's third largest behind Japan and US.[13] Similarly, the supposedly bleeding Japanese anime industry is also reported to have experienced three consecutive years of growth.[14]
Criticisms
Dubbing and subtitles
Odex's subtitling has been criticized by fans of anime for having font with lower quality and sometimes inaccurate translations, as compared to fansubs or imports.
Odex blames the censorship laws in Singapore for inaccurate subbing. Odex says that they had to tweak subtitles in some of its anime to conform to the Board of Film Censors' (BFC) requirements. However, this was refuted by the BFC, saying that they never asked for subtitles to be tweaked and would prefer accurate subbing as inaccurate subbing might mislead people into purchasing anime that is actually unsuitable.[15]
Quote from Senior Asst. Director of Board of Film Censors on Odex's claims that they had to tweak subtitles to meet BFC's standard:[16]
"The BFC has never asked for subtitles to be tweaked. We require that subtitles accurately reflect the content of a film or video so that we can classify the content accurately. Inaccurate subtitles also do no service to the community or to the young who may be misled into thinking that an anime is suitable for them when it could be meant for a higher age group."
Odex states the excuse of the limitation of VCDs as a medium. Furthermore, all of Odex's translations are done by out-house translators, often resulting in limited control over the quality of these translations, whose quality are checked by an editor. However, this hardly justifies the inaccuracies in the translations due to their choice of translators. Furthermore, its Chinese dubs, an exported job to companies in Taiwan and China, is often criticized as being monotonous or of poor quality compared to its American and Japanese counterparts. [citation needed]
Also, Odex has recently received more flak with the release of The Melancholy Of Haruhi Suzumiya. Odex is accused of ripping off the subtitles for the show from fansub group A.F.K.[17] after local anime fans noticed similarities between the fansub and the official release by Odex. Shortly after the end of the show on 26 September 2007, netizens were furious that Odex had blatantly ripped off the subtitles, with many forums and blogs calling for the dissolvement of Odex with immediate effect. The blatant copying of the fansubs also diluted Odex stands against fansubs. Many netizens allege that it would be impossible for Odex to obtain the subtitles without downloading the fansubs themselves. It is also unlikely that the fault does not lie with Odex, as the official word from Odex is that their translation work and subtitling work was now done "in house". Thus, many netizens allege that Odex's crusade against downloaders has been a mere facade, as the company itself also downloads fansubs. Others allege that Odex had abused its rights to ban fansubs, only so that Odex could copy fansubs themselves. There has also been no official word from Odex regarding the subtitles.
Odex's Response to Questions Raised
The Odex directors are often criticised for being unresponsive to the questions raised on their claims, actions and press releases; especially those that expose the loopholes in Odex's statements.
For example, since September 2007, Stephen Sing promised to come up with an official press release, regarding the lie that Peter Go and him told about the BFC requiring Odex to tweak it's subtitles to conform with the BFC's requirements. However, there has not been any statement or response made concerning this issue up til this date.
Releases
Odex has been harshly criticised by the anime community, citing the lack of releases over the past months. Furthermore, many anime fans resent the fact that Odex has been unable to release anime within a "reasonable" period of time after they have been aired on televisions in Japan, which has led to the lack of support from the anime community who have chosen to watch the earlier fansub releases. However, this could also be due to the fact that Odex takes its anime directly from the Japanese DVD release, which only are released in Japan about 4 months after airing. Also, Odex chooses a money-saving tactic by releasing a DVD set with about 12 episodes, instead of the typical Japanese 4-episode release. Thus, the long delay could be possibly due to Odex's market tactic.
Odex has also promised to release anime episodes via its Video-On-Demand a few days after the Japanese release. However, when the Video-On-Demand debuted, Odex failed to deliver its goods, instead releasing old anime series that many have not heard of before. The lack of constant updates to the Video-On-Demand was also harshly criticised by netizens, claiming that Odex had only released the Video-On-Demand to quell dissatisfaction among the anime fans while it continued to enforce its stand in illegal downloads. Furthermore, the Video-On-Demand system has yet to operate ever since the defacement of Odex's official website, causing speculation that Odex was no longer interested in serving consumer interest and was only serving their own interests.
Customer service
Following the harsh reactions of its Anti-Piracy actions, Odex set up a forum[18] on its website, stating that the aim was to "foster and improve" relationships between the company and the anime community. Two of the forum administrators are registered under the name xysing and Peter Go. However, instead of promoting closer ties, the forum was bombarded with criticism. Users have frequently complained that their questions and opinions are not answered. Data[19] also shows that Peter Go, as a forum administrator, is not active in the forum. This causes more netizens to be suspicious of whether Odex truly listens to consumers as claimed. Also, some people have revealed that the forum uses an IP Unmasker[20] to check on the netizens, raising controversial issues among the forum users. Many have speculated that Odex uses the Unmasker to reveal which netizens on the forum have been guilty of downloading anime, but there is as yet no evidence to elucidate such intent. There was also speculation that the forum was only a farce put up by Odex during the period when there was media attention on the Odex fiasco because Odex suddenly took the forum down days after the media attention on Odex dwindled.
Furthermore, after the website was hacked into and subsequently defaced, the official website became inaccessible to the public. This aroused speculation that Odex was either closing down or had already folded, much to the delight of many anime fans. Anti-Odex supporters claim that the lack of media coverage on Odex for the past months and the various online campaigns that rally fans to cease purchasing Odex's products, are indications of Odex folding. However, there is no concrete evidence regarding this.
Anti-Odex netizens now claim that Odex no longer cares for its customers. Previously, anime lovers visited the Odex website to check for the latest updates on anime that Odex had acquired or was planning to release. However, ever since the defacement, Odex has yet to restore the website. This enraged many anime fans and encouraged them to lash out at Odex, claiming that they could no longer watch anime due to Odex's "Anti-anime enforcement" or receive any updates to the anime culture in Singapore.
Other business
Other than licensing, Odex also does English dubbing, translation and/or subtitling for other companies.
Odex also sells programs to television stations in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, such as NTV7, MediaCorp TV12 Central, MediaCorp TV Channel U and Starhub E-City Channel 56.
Odex's Anime list
Anime exclusively-licensed by Odex
Anime sub-licensed and on sale by Odex
Anime sub-licensed but not on sale by ODEX
Notes and references
- ^ a b 'We learnt to be more humble...Yes, we've made mistakes, Chua Hian Hou, The Straits Times/The Star (Malaysia), 2 September 2007
- ^ An example of a typical DVD set from Odex.
- ^ "Mr Go added that the company had no choice, as he claimed that Odex's business had been severely hurt by illegal downloads. -The New Paper, 8 August 2007
- ^ http://odex.com.sg/?p=aboutUs
- ^ Odex’s Haruhi Part II! « Sekai wa〠Utsukushii deshou?
- ^ Odex’s Haruhi Part II! « Sekai wa〠Utsukushii deshou?
- ^ "They get a Chinese translation script from Taiwan or Hong Kong, and have their people translate from that into English, introducing a large number of translation errors in the process." -The Panegyrist
- ^ "...were made to pay between $3,000 and $5,000 in reimbursement fees to Odex..." -The New Paper, 8 August 2007.
- ^ Thread on SCORD where the post may be found.
- ^ He said: "I wrote that comment almost two months ago, so when my friend told me what was happening, I couldn't even remember it." - The New Paper, 15 August 2007
- ^ Full text of judgment against Odex
- ^ CNA report on press conference
- ^ 'Dead' Korean animation industry is world's third largest
- ^ 'Bleeding to death' Japanese Anime industry experiences third year of growth
- ^ Comment by Senior Asst. Director of BFC on inaccurate subbing
- ^ Comment by Senior Asst. Director of BFC on inaccurate subbing
- ^ Fight Against Odex!
- ^ http://www.odex.com.sg/forums/index.php
- ^ http://www.odex.com.sg/forums/profile.php?mode=viewprofile&u=81
- ^ http://www.odex.com.sg/forums/viewtopic.php?t=135
External links
- Odex Homepage
- Official AVPAS - Authorized Anime Titles for Singapore
- Template:Wayback