[babbito2k]

I am not really a big fan of this specific show, more of mahou shoujo in general. The show's fans are entitled to be upset, and I know also that some people posting here know what happened with Sailor Moon and "Card Captors." What I want to say is that there are two different markets for mahou shoujo; one group is a "cult" comprised of a segment of anime fans and the other is young girls who will potentially want to see broadcasts.

I think that trying to get American girls to watch this kind of show is a waste of time; not many of them read manga and so on (though this may change); the culture is not the same at all. We don't even have all the related toys and stuff to sell to the girls who like the show (not that I care if they buy that stuff, but it is strong cross-marketing support that is not available). Cutting up the shows for broadcast is inevitable and just demonstrates that the market is not there at this time.

The "cult" will get what it wants regardless. Fansub groups sub these shows because they themselves have an interest. They create new interest and satisfy the cravings of the old-timers. Regardless of American broadcast versions and so on, the shows are available in some uncut form up to and including unedited release on home media.

This was true in the case of Sailor Moon; it was always possible to get ahold of unedited fansubbed material (prior to the release of "Uncut") because people felt that it consituted an authentically different product from the show as broadcast.

IMO fansub groups should not be categorically labelled "obsolete" now or in future due to cases like this where even licensing and broadcasting a show does not meet the needs of anime fans.