Is there a time when streaming isn't enough?

There are plenty of ways to access dubbed and subbed anime on the internet, regardless of what country you're in. This ranges from official websites offering subbed only, stream cast content such as Crunchy Roll through to less than legal sites such as Anime Freak with a seemingly limitless catalogue of shows.

It struck me though that, as a student in a dark corner of the UK, I am in no way contributing to the anime industry. As I pointed out some sites are totally legal, with revenues coming from adverts, while others, such as Netflix, are based on subscription fees. I'd be lying though if I said I used these sites all of the time; besides anything else the majority of dubbed content isn't available online legally for any price.

I want to see as much new anime brought out of Japan as possible, and the only way studios can do that is with a good source of income. Fortunately, the US TV market seems to hold up reasonably well in terms of purchasing the rights for new shows, but that doesn't mean I should constantly take advantage of that because one day, they might not be able to.

So what am I suggesting? If, like me, you are stuck away from the delights of American TV and therefore limited to a sadly small amount of channels go out and buy a DVD. In fact knock yourself out, by the Blu-Ray. You know that the content you watch online isn't really of that high a quality anyway and some shows must make you think 'that would be good in 1080p'.

I'm not saying you, the reader of this blog, buying an official DVD/Blu-Ray of an anime will greatly help produce more anime content or vaguely change the industry in the slightest. In fact I know it wont (until I take over the world and everyone has to read my blog, then it might), but it might make you feel a bit better. After all, we do all love it, right?