Anime localisation — translation, dubbing, and subtitling for non-Japanese markets — has gone through several distinct eras: the early fan-distributed dub era, the licensed VHS and DVD era of the 1990s and 2000s, the simulcast streaming era of the 2010s, and the current consolidated streaming era dominated by Crunchyroll and Netflix. Each transition has reshaped the economics of translation work.
The fansub era
From the late 1980s through the early 2000s, much non-Japanese anime distribution was unlicensed: fan groups recorded broadcasts off Japanese TV, added subtitles, and distributed VHS tapes — and later digital video — to other fans. The fansub culture established norms for translation aesthetics (literal vs. localised renderings, on-screen translator's notes) that licensed releases later adopted.
The licensed-DVD era
Through the 1990s and 2000s, North American distributors — ADV Films, Funimation, Bandai Entertainment, Pioneer/Geneon — licensed anime for English-language release on VHS and later DVD. The era established the now-standard practice of providing both subtitled and dubbed audio tracks on a single release, with English dub work concentrated in a small number of studios in Texas, Los Angeles, and Vancouver.
The streaming era
Crunchyroll began as an aggregator of fan uploads in 2006 and converted into a licensed service from 2009 onward. Same-day streaming of newly broadcast Japanese episodes — 'simulcast' — became the default. Sony's acquisition of Crunchyroll from AT&T in 2021 and merger with Funimation produced the current near-monopoly in licensed English-language anime streaming; Netflix's parallel investment in original anime co-productions and licensed exclusives provides the principal competition.