AnimeSuki Forum - View Single Post - Is the (English/American) Anime Industry Dying?!

AbZeroNow · 2012-02-24, 00:35

I only made it through the first 3 minutes, but I could already tell that there was some seriously faulty information in that video.

Regarding Bandai and fan reaction: Bandai hardly licensed anything last year. The biggest thing they did license and release for 2011 was K-On, and they did it in 4 singles and they changed a song and they went with lossy audio on the Blu-Ray when they could have went with lossless but didn't because TBS told them not to, and they didn't release some JP extras that fans really wanted. I did purchase all four singles, and I will purchase whatever Sentai releases of the second season. Bandai also released the Girl Who Leaped Through Space, subtitle-only and used the broadcast version instead of the home video version because Sunrise didn't give it to them. Looking at those two examples, is it any wonder why it was fading away. And the most critical thing not mentioned in the video(it could have been mentioned later): the parent company in Japan shut them down because they though they weren't profitable enough. Now they could have continued on for a few more years, but the parent company took the ball and went home. I doubt fans could have done anything differently.

As far as Japan's anime industry goes: anime sales were at their all-time highest in 2011 in Japan. Anime is of course, first and foremost and will always be catered towards Japanese audiences and the Japanese domestic market. If they incidently release something that Western audiences really like, then that's just gravy to them. The American audience doesn't really enter their minds except as an audience that gets their product at a major discount and more often than not, Japanese companies delay our getting our anime on Blu-Ray because they, rightly or wrongly, believe that reverse importation is a major threat to their domestic market. You see, us getting 12 episodes for $60 on Blu-Ray is a much bigger problem than any fansubs that we see. I suspect that we may see more Japanese companies releasing Japanese Blu-Rays with English subs at their prices to keep the price of the BDs in their country to the level that keeps the industry profitable. Of course, they can only do glorified imports on certain properties(Type Moon series for instance) and they'll probably keep delaying Funimation from releasing DVD/BD combos of things like Strike Witches 2 so they can keep milking that series domestically.

The Japanese and American anime markets are different. The American market is starting to go for legal streams like Hulu and Crunchyroll where the American consumer can preview(or watch the whole series) a series before they buy it(like they do in Japan). The Japanese market sells anime in singles at something like $500 to 1000 per cour(this is a rough guess from what I've read in threads here, feel free to correct me on this). The American market tends to sell series for $40 to 70 per cour and they sell anime in half-season or full season boxsets. Somehow if the American market could sustain enough people buying at Japanese prices, then the West would certainly be an audience that Japanese companies would pay heed to. But given how little anime is shown on television these days, and how sales here still pale to sales over in Japan despite our lower prices, Japanese companies will cater to the audience that supports them the most: the otaku.

I see fansubs being scapegoated here, and I have read here and elsewhere that people who watch mostly fansubs end up supporting the Japanese industry in their own way by buying thousands of dollars worth of anime merchandise. Merchandise is often what Japanese companies use to make tons of profit on anime(which is used as like a advertisement for the merchandise) and buying legitimate anime merchandise does support the industry. I think the anti-fansub people ought to keep this in mind when they loudly decry that fansubs are what's wrong with the industry. And I should add that I tend to buy my anime from R1 licensors and I watch my anime on licensed streams.

Again, if those more knowledgeable in some areas wish to correct any mistakes in facts, please feel free to do so.

2012-02-24, 00:35	Link #15
AbZeroNow North American Haruhiist Join Date: Oct 2010 Age: 43	I only made it through the first 3 minutes, but I could already tell that there was some seriously faulty information in that video. Regarding Bandai and fan reaction: Bandai hardly licensed anything last year. The biggest thing they did license and release for 2011 was K-On, and they did it in 4 singles and they changed a song and they went with lossy audio on the Blu-Ray when they could have went with lossless but didn't because TBS told them not to, and they didn't release some JP extras that fans really wanted. I did purchase all four singles, and I will purchase whatever Sentai releases of the second season. Bandai also released the Girl Who Leaped Through Space, subtitle-only and used the broadcast version instead of the home video version because Sunrise didn't give it to them. Looking at those two examples, is it any wonder why it was fading away. And the most critical thing not mentioned in the video(it could have been mentioned later): the parent company in Japan shut them down because they though they weren't profitable enough. Now they could have continued on for a few more years, but the parent company took the ball and went home. I doubt fans could have done anything differently. As far as Japan's anime industry goes: anime sales were at their all-time highest in 2011 in Japan. Anime is of course, first and foremost and will always be catered towards Japanese audiences and the Japanese domestic market. If they incidently release something that Western audiences really like, then that's just gravy to them. The American audience doesn't really enter their minds except as an audience that gets their product at a major discount and more often than not, Japanese companies delay our getting our anime on Blu-Ray because they, rightly or wrongly, believe that reverse importation is a major threat to their domestic market. You see, us getting 12 episodes for $60 on Blu-Ray is a much bigger problem than any fansubs that we see. I suspect that we may see more Japanese companies releasing Japanese Blu-Rays with English subs at their prices to keep the price of the BDs in their country to the level that keeps the industry profitable. Of course, they can only do glorified imports on certain properties(Type Moon series for instance) and they'll probably keep delaying Funimation from releasing DVD/BD combos of things like Strike Witches 2 so they can keep milking that series domestically. The Japanese and American anime markets are different. The American market is starting to go for legal streams like Hulu and Crunchyroll where the American consumer can preview(or watch the whole series) a series before they buy it(like they do in Japan). The Japanese market sells anime in singles at something like $500 to 1000 per cour(this is a rough guess from what I've read in threads here, feel free to correct me on this). The American market tends to sell series for $40 to 70 per cour and they sell anime in half-season or full season boxsets. Somehow if the American market could sustain enough people buying at Japanese prices, then the West would certainly be an audience that Japanese companies would pay heed to. But given how little anime is shown on television these days, and how sales here still pale to sales over in Japan despite our lower prices, Japanese companies will cater to the audience that supports them the most: the otaku. I see fansubs being scapegoated here, and I have read here and elsewhere that people who watch mostly fansubs end up supporting the Japanese industry in their own way by buying thousands of dollars worth of anime merchandise. Merchandise is often what Japanese companies use to make tons of profit on anime(which is used as like a advertisement for the merchandise) and buying legitimate anime merchandise does support the industry. I think the anti-fansub people ought to keep this in mind when they loudly decry that fansubs are what's wrong with the industry. And I should add that I tend to buy my anime from R1 licensors and I watch my anime on licensed streams. Again, if those more knowledgeable in some areas wish to correct any mistakes in facts, please feel free to do so.