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In many times we are viewing a story without paying. It can be an animation broadcast on television. It can be comic or light novel that is only translated by volunteer online and one is forced to view the pirated version as this is the only way to view it. So there should be times we feel that want to have some ways to pay some money back to support the comic / light novel writer or the animation company.

Currently the most common way to do so is to buy some products, like Blu-Ray Disk, poster, figures, toys and video games etc. However, when the comic / novel / animation is so rare that you are forced to view a pirated version, it usually means it is also impossible to buy these products. Even if it is possible, it feels odd to buy unnecessary stuff just to show my support. Sometimes it is just not environmentally friendly, and sometimes (think of Strike Witches) you really need to be brave enough to just possess the product itself.

Then I think of the donation page or the "Buy me a beer" button in many free software site (like this one). So I am thinking if there are similar things for ACGN (Anime, Comic, Games, light Novel)?

Aki Tanaka
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cytsunny
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  • You can send a check to the creator. – ton.yeung Jun 02 '16 at 04:12
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    This is an interesting thought, but I would imagine the answer is "no" in general. Mixed funding models where a content creator derives some income from sale-of-goods and some income from donations are quite rare, after all (like, maybe you see it occasionally with internet-age content creators who operate via Patreon/etc?). – senshin Jun 02 '16 at 04:14
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    When it's a fan translation of something that's commonly available in Japan but not available in your language, the obvious way to support it is to buy the original work in Japanese, and use the fan translation to understand it. For instance, you can import the Fate/Stay Night visual novel and use Mirror Moon's translation patch on it. You can also support efforts to bring the series out in your language, like the Clannad Kickstarter that actually resulted in an English release (only for Windows, right as I got rid of my last Windows machine...) – Torisuda Jun 02 '16 at 05:12
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    to correct @Evilloli the version of Fate/Stay Night Mirror Moon translates is an old, old version and chances are you're only going to find second hand copies in which case the money will never reach Type-Moon. you'd best bet is to buy the [Digital Realta Nua versions](http://www.typemoon.com/products/fate_dl/index.html) from Amazon Japan and use Beast Lair's translation. since these are digital they should always be in stock and your buying them directly from Type-Moon – Memor-X Jun 02 '16 at 07:57
  • @Evilloli For popular and old seriees like the Fate/Stay night, there are many ways to get a copy. However, for more recent and less popular series like GATE: thus the JSDF fought here, I am still unable to get a Chinese copy of Comic or light novel, (Chinese is my mother language and English is just my second language) and I am afraid I will never be able to as the series has already ended in Japan. – cytsunny Jun 02 '16 at 08:47
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    @user1273587 I meant use an import website or Japanese bookstore and buy the book in Japanese, then go online and read the illegal fan translation in your language. That way your money gets back to the author, even if you're reading the unauthorized translation – Torisuda Jun 02 '16 at 14:48
  • If you become a premium member on crunchyroll the money you pay about a small amount goes to the manga writters. Here is the link to help you out http://www.crunchyroll.com/interstitial/android – Golden time Oct 26 '16 at 17:59

1 Answers1

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Simple answer is no. Anime are created through production committees. How they come about can vary. The best way to support a commercial work is to purchase the principal media (discs) behind them or the source material (novels, manga).

The crowd funding, Patreon-type model is not very well-known or accepted in Japan, but they do exist. The most notable recent one is Nekopara. However, these happen fairly infrequently, and typically only happen for smaller or self-published work instead of bigger IPs from established.

кяαzєя
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  • I think even for smaller scale production, crowd funding is still a different idea as the "buy me a beer" mode I mentioned. For crowd funding, we need to pay before the team start producing, while the "buy me a beer" mode is just to pay after producing (or even after one watch/read the product) – cytsunny Mar 12 '17 at 07:27