There's an easy way to stir hard-core anime and manga fans into a frothing frenzy these days: Just mention either Nick Simmons or “;Dance in the Vampire Bund.”;

Until a few weeks ago, Simmons was known as the son of KISS bassist and singer Gene Simmons and an aspiring comic book artist who had landed a deal with Radical Publishing for his series, “;Incarnate.”; Hardly anyone in manga fan circles cared until a few eagle-eyed fans of the Tite Kubo manga series “;Bleach”; noticed several panels Simmons drew in “;Incarnate”; looked suspiciously similar to those in “;Bleach.”;

That's when the Internet exploded in outrage. “;How dare this offspring of a famous person rip off a manga artist's hard work!”; the common argument went. And then a good number of those complaining went back to downloading scanlations (manga with Japanese text digitally removed and replaced with translated English text) and drawing fan art of their favorite characters to sell at anime conventions' artists alleys nationwide.

That double standard brought about lengthy discussions among manga bloggers and fans. About.com manga blogger Deb Aoki wrote a great summary of the conversations that took place on Twitter and beyond, which I recommend reading at http://www.hsblinks.com/242. In the middle of all this debate, one person even claimed there was a conspiracy afoot between bloggers and publishers to steer people away from scanlations in an effort to drive up sales—an argument that Gia Manry at Anime Vice skewered with a tongue-in-cheek essay in response, viewable at http://www.hsblinks.com/243.

Meanwhile, what should have been just another in a long string of licensing announcements coming from anime publisher Funimation—“;Baka and Test”; and “;Dance in the Vampire Bund”; were picked up and began online streaming broadcasts earlier this month—became controversial when Funimation announced that it would edit out some scenes “;inappropriate for U.S. viewing,”; as an official statement put it.

Not much is known about what has been cut, but speculation has centered around nude scenes featuring some rather young-looking characters. Some fans have agreed with Funimation, concluding that anything that gets “;Vampire”; out to a wider audience will help. Others have taken up their torches with the customary cry whenever anime gets edited: “;How dare they edit the anime and alter the creator's original intent! I refuse to watch the edited version, and I'll try my best to find the uncut version on the Internet!”;

There's a chance the footage could be restored later; a Funimation representative told Anime News Network last week that it could happen in a DVD and Blu-ray release, pending a review of episodes that have yet to air. Still, I see a common thread in both cases' arguments: Fans seem to have developed a sense of entitlement, feeling that the best way to support the original creators is to find their anime and manga uncut. And if it happens to be free on the Internet, so be it.

That's a troubling trend to me. Anyone who thinks there's a corporate conspiracy afoot is deluding themselves; downloading most material online is akin to stealing from creators. The only proper way to support creators is to purchase their work from companies that have gone through legitimate channels to license it for U.S. release, whether on DVD and Blu-ray, in printed books or hosted on publishers' Web sites, Hulu or Crunchyroll. And in the case of edits, the potential for larger audiences and less controversy should be praised, not condemned.

Jason S. Yadao is the author of Rough Guides' “;The Rough Guide to Manga,”; now available. For more anime and manga news and commentary, check out “;Otaku Ohana”; at blogs.starbulletin.com/otakuohana. Follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/jsyadao or e-mail him at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).