Odex
BOOOO COCOMA
Odex |
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Shawn Tok (Chinese: 卓轩正; born 8 January 1994) is a Singaporean singer. He studies in Loyang Secondary School and is the overall champion of the 2007 Campus SuperStar compeitition, gaining just 1 point more than the female champion, Keely Wee.
Other Information
Shawn won good remarks from the judges, but not on all episodes of the Campus SuperStar compeitition, especially on the last episode, when the Grand Finals were held, because Shawn's performance was below par.
“I began singing from the time I was in Primary 4… after I watched Daphne Khoo on TV,” said Shawn once, “My mum forced me to sing every day from 8 to 10pm for the past one week, and told me how I can improve my singing."
Shawn's mother reportedly spent S$100,000 voting for Shawn in the Campus SuperStar compeitition.
See also
External links
References
  | This Singaporean biographical article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
 | This article needs additional citations for verification. (August 2007) |
 | The neutrality of this article is disputed. |
| 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.
General Impression
Basically Odex is the most hated name among Singaporean otakus and with good reason. Odex has been sending letters threatening legal action to cheapskates who download anime illegally if they do not make a settlement with odex, which typically involves payment of several thousand dollars in SGD. While otakus have no grounds to criticise odex for taking legal action against cheapskates, they lamblast odex in other aspects.
Criticisms about odex are primarily about the quality of its anime vcd's, which otakus' claim leaves much to be desired. In addition, otakus allege that its translation of some anime are poorly done and at times, blatantly copied from fansubs. Otakus feel that a company that shamelessly commits plagiarism in commercial production has no place in policing the download of anime; it should improve on its quality of work before blaming piracy for loss of unrealised profits!
Otakus are also peeved by the fact that Stephen Sing, one of the directors of odex allegedly goaded at cheapskates caught by odex in one of his posts in an online forum.
Ted Fox (http://anime.tedfox.com/2007/others/news/choice-quotes-by-odex-stephen-sing-and-peter-go/) points out that:
A character with the online nick “xysing” has been found saying some interesting things in online forums.
“Nope~ Me too busy sueing people~ (o.o)y” “Hahahahah! I double-6-ed so many downloaders~ serve them right! (o.o)y” ~posted by xysing in SCORD forum
And thanks to Hardwarezone EDMW’s CSI team, (thread here) It would appear that xysing is Stephen Sing Xin Yang. Which Stephen? That Stephen who is one of the directors to ODEX and the Secretary to Anti-Video Piracy Association of Singapore. Credit to Ferolare, who did up a wonderful entry compiling all the “evidence”.
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, otakus 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. It is also likely that otakus were not aware of the reduction in prices.
Takings for 2006 were reportedly half that of 2005, which the company attributed to anime piracy. Odex claimed that these led to them serving cheapskates with lawsuits. [3]. However, otakus assert that odex had merely shifted its business model from sales of anime to profiting from legal blackmail.
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 on it. 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
Most or all of Odex's products contain Japanese language audio, while some releases include Chinese dubs as well. Subtitles come in Chinese and/or English varieties for the VCD releases.
For their DVD releases, it is the standard for Japanese Language audio to be present, along with Chinese dubbing in most. Some titles also feature American dubs.
Subtitles available on Odex's DVD releases include Chinese, English, and Malay.
History
1997 Founded for the purpose of licensing and bringing in videos ranging from drama to animation of all kinds into Singapore. [4]
2000 Formed the animation section, to license and bring in Japanese animation into Singapore. Thus changing the whole company's direction.
2003 Formed the Anti Video Piracy Association of Singapore (AVPAS) to fight video piracy in Singapore.
2007 Started sending out letters to illegal downloaders of their licensed anime. Further changing the company's direction.
Controversy
Odex has run into plenty of criticism over the past few years. Many fans have criticised the sub-standard quality of the anime, citing low resolution[citation needed], hence claiming that Odex was 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. Members of online anime discussion forums, however, states that the video quality is worse than what Odex claims.[citation needed]
Odex has faced criticisms for not catering to their customers' demand.[citation needed] The anime titles licensed and sold are not popular, and the quality is generally perceived to be poor.[citation needed]
Odex's subtitle translations often come under fire. Allegations are that the English subtitles are translated off inaccurate Chinese subtitles in releases from Hong Kong, resulting in inaccurate translations.[5]
Yet another allegation is that at least a number of Hong Kong DVDs used by Odex are pirated although this may not be the case anymore.
Other allegations are that Odex rips subtitles directly from the works of fansub groups, citing examples such as Gundam Seed, Monster and The Melanchony of Suzumiya Haruhi.
Numerous sources reported that the ISPs of Singapore (SingTel, Starhub, PacNet) have received court orders requesting them to hand over information to ODEX. [citation needed] Mr. Go stated in an interview that Odex needed to pay the ISPs for subscriber information despite having the court ordering the ISPs to disclose the information.
Quoting Mr. Go in The New Paper on August 8th, 2007:[6]
"The money they've been made to pay is to cover the costs which Odex has incurred.'Mr Go said besides the usual legal fees, they had to pay the ISPs for identification of users, the US company hired to track illegal downloads, as well as the additional administrative staff."
Accused downloaders who admitted to their crimes were required to pay fines ranging from SGD$3000 to SGD$5000.[7] It was argued by the Singaporean community that the usual legal fees, ISP's users' identification fees, US company fees and additional administrative staff could not have sum up to SGD$3 million, and it is unknown what will happen to any remaining sum. As the hearing for the cases (requesting for court orders to disclose the information) between Odex and the ISPs were highly confidential, 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.[8] 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[9], before the controversy reached the news. His claim was easily revealed to be false, as the date of the post showed it was less than a month old.
There was also an article from strait times stating that Odex director Peter Go was at the centre of a copyright infringement crackdown during 1999.
A ONE-TIME firm started by the men behind Odex, the company at the centre of a crackdown on illegal downloading of anime, was itself raided by police for copyright infringement. The firm - Games Mart - was set up by Odex director Peter Go in 1994 to sell video game consoles, games and accessories. An Odex spokeman said it was raided in 1999 by the police for peddling counterfeit game controllers and other accessories. The spokesman said that Games Mart was shut down in 2004.[10]
On 23rd of August, District Judge Ernest Lau rejected Odex's request for a court order forcing the last ISP, Pacfic Internet to disclose its subscribers information. Justice Lau pointed out that Odex does not have the right to take action and expressed doubt over the reliability of their evidence [11].
In a press conference held on the 30th of August, Odex said "This exercise was never meant to be just an enforcement. It's not a profiteering mission to get as much money from everybody. It was conceptualized with a very big picture (in mind)" and that "Odex said that there was no fine involved. It said 300 letters were sent out. About a third of the recipients settled with Odex for an undisclosed sum. The rest are being mediated" which was really contradicting in the statement itself. [12]
In the same conference, Odex also attempted to justify their actions as due to fears of Japanese anime dying. Odex supports this with claims that the Korean animation industry collapsed due to downloading and 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 similiarities between the fansub and the offical release by Odex. Shortly after the end of the show on the 26th 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.
Releases
Odex has also been criticised for its late anime releases. Anime fans usually have to wait for a long period of time before Odex releases anime after they have been aired on Japanese TVs, which has led to the lack of support from the anime community who have chosen to watch the earlier fansub releases.
Furthermore, Odex's Video-On-Demand system, which promised to provide new anime episodes one week after they are aired on Japanese televisions, is rarely updated, and currently sells outdated anime series.[18]
Legal threats towards fansub downloaders
As of 1 June 2007, Odex has sent letters to people downloading anime fansubs of series from Japanese companies that AVPAS represents. The letter threatens legal action against its recipients. It is stated in the letter that the recipient is given a period of time to contact Odex for an out-of-court settlement. If Odex is not contacted within the deadline, legal proceedings will then be issued.
Lack of customer service
Following the harsh reaction of its Anti-Piracy actions, Odex set up a forum [19] on their website, stating that the aim was to "foster and improve" relations between the company and the anime community. Two of the forum administrators are registered under the name xysing, and Peter Go. However, instead of fostering a stronger relationship, the forum has brought about many criticisms. Users have frequently complained that their questions and opinions are not answered. Data [20] also shows that Peter Go, although registered as an administrator, has not been been active in the forum, causing many more netizens to be even more suspicious of whether Odex is listening to its consumer base. Also, some forumers have revealed that the forum uses an IP Unmasker [21] to check on the netizens, causing much alarm among the forumers. Many have speculated that Odex use the Unmasker to reveal which netizens on the forum have been guilty of downloading anime, but there has been no proof that Odex has any intention of catching downloaders on the forum.
The forum has been currently taken off the internet, with no plans to return it online. It has been replaced by an FAQ page.
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 Aug 2007
- ^ http://odex.com.sg/?p=aboutUs
- ^ "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
- ^ "Court forces ISPs to reveal culprits" -The New Paper, 8 Aug 2007
- ^ "...were made to pay between $3,000 and $5,000 in reimbursement fees to Odex..." -The New Paper, 8 Aug 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 Aug 2007
- ^ Strait times article.
- ^ 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
- ^ http://fight-against-odex.blogspot.com/2007/09/urgent-news.html
- ^ http://www.odex.com.sg/products.php?productType=3
- ^ 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
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