Still, most fansubbers are quick to point out that the vast majority of their ilk understand the rules, and follow them accordingly. In fact, more often than not, the fansub community seems to police itself with a reflexively deferential manner towards all things licensed; the minute a licensed company decides to jump on the wagon and release a title itself, most fansubbers bow out gracefully, pulling their own work from the shelves. Just as the computer junkies have divided into "crackers" and "hackers," the fansub community is quick to distance itself from those that cross the line. Fansubbers realize that the best way to survive in a gray area of legality is to make things as black and white as possible.

"There are some people out there who keep an eye out for 'bootleggers' and report them or just make the fan community aware to stay away from them," Daniel says. "We would only want to make money off our work if we bought the properties off the creators legitimately. That's why fansubbers tend to stick to a code of ethics."

That's not to say that there aren't the occasional disagreements between fansubbers and the rest of the industry.

"The groups mostly stay away from each other," Andy explains. "The only time that a company really warned fansubbers was right before 'Rurouni Kenshin' was picked up. A representative from the Japanese branch of Sony's SPE VisualWorks, Inc. asked fansubbers to stop all activities. Most fansubbers complied immediately. This was the first time any company from Japan expressed concern about the fansub phenomenon. And since the fansub community immediately stopped, I think it sent a good message to Japan about the respect fansubbers have for the original work."

Some distributors, though, have been known to take their official translation directly from a fansubber. In such instances, the fansubbers have no legal recourse, since the title wasn't theirs to begin with.

"I have heard of companies lifting scripts from fansubbed videos," Andy continues. "I guess this is fine, if you pay the fansubbers for their script, but I don't believe that was ever done. Maybe the companies don't even know that is happening, since they often hire out for translations. It is feasible that the translator took the liberties. I'm not sure. When it happens, though, fansubbers are vocal about it. And with good cause, I think, since they work so hard in putting together these videos."

Regardless of the sometimes-tenuous relationship, a few fansubbers actually make it over the wall, landing jobs in the industry. But even then, most say it's best to keep a history of fansubbing secret. When told that "Andy" was only willing to speak under anonymity, Daniel wasn't surprised. "The industry doesn't look favorably at fansubbing, but won't do away with it because it's bad publicity for them," he says. "In the professional world, it's best not to be associated with fansubbing."

American distributors are now snatching up titles left, right and center, the anime phenomenon fueled by entities like the Cartoon Network and Suncoast Video and the kind of hype that drives profits through the roof. In this climate, however, the fansubbers hardly fear running out of titles to translate.

"There are still a lot of titles that will never come to the US," says fansubber Yenny from Chiaki's Anime Fansubs (http://welcome.to/chiaki). "For example, older series like 'Garasu no Kamen' or more serious anime like 'Romeo's Blue Skies' or 'Candy Candy.' Although we're happy that bigger companies are licensing a lot of titles, I think a lot of us are more concerned about when they will release those titles."

Long hours, little recognition, callow disregard from your heroes. It's enough to prompt an answer to "why bother at all?" But fansubbing isn't such a bad life. The Team Abcb website (http://members.tripod.com/~TeamAbcb/main.html) allots web space to promoting their upcoming projects. Most of the time it's filled with a running commentary on the latest hotspot to go drinking and which models they hung out with. Pariah or not, there are worse ways to spend your time.