That is what it was like to me to get my first subtitled episodes of anime.  Subtitled episodes of anime are starting to get very popular.  Not only can you see what it's like for the Japanese.  You get to hear the original music, original VAs, see the original footage, and more.  

Nowadays you can find almost any anime that you could ever possibly want to watch.  A lot of sites out there now are doing their own fansubing.(I talk about how you can make your own in a little while.)  All you have to do is go to there website, place an order, send your order and check, (or cash or paypal) and wait for your order to come in.  It's that easy!

So here's the lowdown:

American Translation:

1. Sometimes don't have all the footage and music

2. Cost an arm and a leg to buy on tape 

3. Don't have the original voice actors

4. Always are in A+ quality.

Japanese Original Fansubs

1. Have original voice actors

2. Can usually be bought at about $6-8 per tape

3. Have all the original music and footage

4. Can somtimes be really bad quality but are 
   most of the time B or C quality. ( Websites usually post the quality)
   
   So now that you are educated in the ways of the Fansubs.  Go out and by some.  Don't worry, they don't bite.

That is an excellent question, which is why I am going to tell you how.  Once you get enough fansubs from different places.  You will probably want to make your own and get some profit.  In the beginning, you will probably loose money buying the equipment. (Unless you already have it)   In the following I am going to go step by step in the process of making fansubs.  I use examples of things that are good to use.  If you e-mail me at anime-bin@att.net, I can usually steer you in the right direction of where to buy it.

 If you want to make your own, you really only need 2 VCRs, a cable cord to connect them, a blank tape, and the original tape.

But if you want to make a good fansub, then I would suggest you read the following.

V.C.R.

Now that DVD players are out.  You can go down to Wal-Mart and get a VCR really cheap.  But a really cheap VCR usually make really cheap copies.  If your planning to sell fansubs, I would suggest you buy a VCR that has Super HIFI and has multiple taping modes.  For a VCR like this you will probably spend around $125-$150.  Make sure you can return it to the store if it doesn't tape well.

If you want to go all out, you can buy a dual deck VCR.  These babies are extremely easy to make copies with.  You insert the original into one and the blank into the other and press record.  That's all.

And remember, if you are going to use a single deck VCR, you have to have 2 of them!

Cables

When choosing which kind of cables to get if you are connecting 2 VCRs, I would get monster cables.  They have the best quality and aren't very expensive.  

Don't forget, when connecting 2 VCRs, the longer the cable the worse the quality.  Try to keep the cable as short as possible between the VCRs.

Tapes

If you see a 10 pack of of tapes in Sam's for $5.95,  tt usually won't tape that well.  The colors will be bland and the tape won't last that long.  Your customers won't like it when they can't see what's on screen after the 3rd time they watch it.

When buying tapes I would suggest TDK EHG (Extra High Grade) .  They last for a extremely long time.  If you record in SLP (sometimes called EP) you can usually get T.V. quality out of them. (If you have a good VCR) 

But be warned, do not get Maxwell tapes of any type.  They don't usually last that long.

Taping Modes

 How good your VCR is and how good your tapes are is what make you decide what mode to tape in.  Most fansub places use SP (Standard play).  That way they get the best quality copies and please their customers.  Below talks about each mode.

SP

1. You get 2 hours of footage.

2. best quality

3. Can sometimes make the copies look better than the original (On good VCRs)
   

EP

1. You get 4 hours of footage

2. Medium quality

SLP ( Sometimes called EP)

1. You get 6 hours of footage

2. Worst quality

3. On the best VCRs you can get T.V. quality. (Really handy)

Unless you have an extremely good VCR or a customer asks you to record their tapes differently, I would suggest using SP.

Prices

I would suggest starting off at $6 a tape.  But I would not let your customers buy less then 2 tapes at a time.  Why?  Because if your customers are only buying 1 tape, then they probably are just getting a couple of episodes that they need.  Plus it is a lot easier to keep track of a 2 tape order then a 1 tape order.

Also, when posting the prices on your site, I would add in the shipping and handling that is required for that amount of weight.  Go to your post office and see if they will let you weigh some tapes to get an idea of the postage and handling. 

Well, that's about it.  If you want to send me anything about this, send it to      anime-bin@att.net.