Is the (English/American) Anime Industry Dying?!

[Sheba]

Originally Posted by totoum

They can't read english?
Can't speak for Germany but I doubt the majority of French fans speak english well enough to visit ANN

Yeah, we have a tendency to slack off during our english classes back in middle and high school. I actually forced myself to pick up what I have missed out when I got my first internet access.

[Lord of Fire]

Originally Posted by totoum

They can't read english?
Can't speak for Germany but I doubt the majority of French fans speak english well enough to visit ANN

speedyexpress48 mentioned that the site has an American POV. This seems to suggest that he believes non-American fans might have issues with the site's content more than the language. I could be wrong, of course, but that's the impression I got.

[orion]

Originally Posted by Lord of Fire

speedyexpress48 mentioned that the site has an American POV. This seems to suggest that he believes non-American fans might have issues with the site's content more than the language. I could be wrong, of course, but that's the impression I got.

Well, Alexa does have the data for which country is represented.

http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/animenewsnetwork.com

Originally Posted by Alexa

Visitors by Country for Animenewsnetwork.com



Country

Percent of Visitors


United States

39.2%


Japan

4.8%


Canada

4.3%


France

3.1%


Saudi Arabia

3.0%


India

3.0%


Brazil

2.9%


Italy

2.6%


Indonesia

2.6%


Germany

2.1%

[Lord of Fire]

Well, Japan probably has its own sources for anime news, and the Western anime fanbase is quite small outside of the US, so I can't say these numbers surprise me. Whether or not there are other reasons for ANN's visitors being mostly Americans, is not really of my concern.

[totoum]

Originally Posted by Lord of Fire

speedyexpress48 mentioned that the site has an American POV. This seems to suggest that he believes non-American fans might have issues with the site's content more than the language. I could be wrong, of course, but that's the impression I got.

It's not about non-American fans having issues but rather that the American POV is pretty much irrelevant to someone not living there.

[cyth]

Originally Posted by totoum

It's not about non-American fans having issues but rather that the American POV is pretty much irrelevant to someone not living there.

That may be true, but the site has obviously had to internationalize to a large extent.

Anyway, I liked what I got out of the third part of the article, in conjunction with the latest ANNCast.

BTW, does anyone know if Crunchyroll and other sites really turn off advertising if you subscribe? I'd hate to be a paying customer and get my ass profiled by ad tracking software.

[solomon]

Originally Posted by speedyexpress48

To be honest, I doubt that most anime would be a hit anywhere besides East Asia. China may be the biggest potential market right now...even with the mass piracy and regulatory barriers, you can easily squeeze money from the huge population number and anime/manga is way more accepted there than in America.

Agree, foreign productions only go so far in America, especially since the "new car smell" has long since wore off for anime. France has a vibrant comics culture and is relatively less skittish about "objectionable content" at least now

(I've been watching ripped Parisian dubs of American Dad and South Park and the damn things are "Not recommended for those under TEN years of age, WTF?! )

They also have good history of fandom there (ask some old(er) heads in France about Albator, Goldorak, Nicky Larson, and of course "Les Chevalliers De Zodiac."....so awesome.)

There is a caveat, protectionist heavy China is apparently weary of allowing TOO much official penetration of foreign productions on the airwaves, or something like that according to wiki (LOL). They wanna prop up their own industry.

[speedyexpress48]

Originally Posted by solomon

Agree, foreign productions only go so far in America, especially since the "new car smell" has long since wore off for anime. France has a vibrant comics culture and is relatively less skittish about "objectionable content" at least now

(I've been watching ripped Parisian dubs of American Dad and South Park and the damn things are "Not recommended for those under TEN years of age, WTF?! )

They also have good history of fandom there (ask some old(er) heads in France about Albator, Goldorak, Nicky Larson, and of course "Les Chevalliers De Zodiac."....so awesome.)

There is a caveat, protectionist heavy China is apparently weary of allowing TOO much official penetration of foreign productions on the airwaves, or something like that according to wiki (LOL). They wanna prop up their own industry.

And remember, you can only push something like anime (hell, any foreign media) in some areas in the US. Push it in California and you won't have a problem, push it in Alabama...probably not a good idea unless it is a college town. Fortunately, I live in a state that heavily respects Japanese culture, but I know there aren't many states like this around in the US.

[totoum]

Originally Posted by solomon

France has a vibrant comics culture and is relatively less skittish about "objectionable content" at least now
(...)
They also have good history of fandom there (ask some old(er) heads in France about Albator, Goldorak, Nicky Larson, and of course "Les Chevalliers De Zodiac."....so awesome.)

Last I heard France is the 2nd biggest manga market in the world in front of the US (1st is Japan of course).

Anime is a different story though,there's the classics indeed (I don't think dragonball has been off the air anyday in the past 20 years,it's always airing on some channel) but I don't think streaming has taken off like in the US and the DVD market seems pretty much dead.

[solomon]

Really? That's very interesting.

I had assumed considering the history of the fandom that the anime market there would be healthier than here? Any ideas why that is?

[Dhomochevsky]

Maybe because they are still airing Dragonball for the 100th time?
It's the same in Germany btw. You can watch TV for years and get the impression that there exist a total number of 5 anime series in the world.

[cyth]

Is that really that bad? Those shows stayed on the air because they proved they are timeless, they keep kids watching. Things are fine the way they are. TV houses get to keep their eyeballs, while the fandom gains new generations of fans later on because of those TV broadcasts.

[Vexx]

You figure maybe 10% or so graduate from the "children" series like Pokemon/DBZ to the "boy child" series of the Bleach/OP/Naruto type series... and maybe 20% or less move on to the "REST OF ANIME". Even if they didn't watch those gateway anime, it was in their peripheral vision.

[speedyexpress48]

Originally Posted by Vexx

You figure maybe 10% or so graduate from the "children" series like Pokemon/DBZ to the "boy child" series of the Bleach/OP/Naruto type series... and maybe 20% or less move on to the "REST OF ANIME". Even if they didn't watch those gateway anime, it was in their peripheral vision.

Actually, I would say a lot of fans start at Naruto/Bleach nowdays from what I can see...DBZ is pretty much dead here. Naruto is still goddamn popular though.

[Ithekro]

If the Japanese continue to make BD with English subtitles they might even do away with the American distribution system as redundant.

[Vexx]

Originally Posted by Ithekro

If the Japanese continue to make BD with English subtitles they might even do away with the American distribution system as redundant.

That was actually my first thought when I saw the region coding for Blu-ray, that in the long run the US licensees were toast.

[Ithekro]

It would be useful if dubbing remains popular (both ways).

I know the Japanese like to dub America TV shows....but somehow I just can't see a Japanese guy being able to pull off Mr. T in the A-Team. (and I know they must have since GONZO used the theme from that show as the basis for one of the themes in Full Metal Panic years ago).

[Dhomochevsky]

Originally Posted by cyth

Is that really that bad? Those shows stayed on the air because they proved they are timeless, they keep kids watching. Things are fine the way they are. TV houses get to keep their eyeballs, while the fandom gains new generations of fans later on because of those TV broadcasts.

It is certainly not a bad idea to start with a classic like DBZ. But all of the other anime are of the identical, long running shonen type.

There are no further stepping stones into anime fandom and there is no variety.
So it's no wonder the fanbase stays at a limited size as viewers quickly enter and leave the narrow target zone of those shows.

[Sheba]

Originally Posted by totoum

Anime is a different story though,there's the classics indeed (I don't think dragonball has been off the air anyday in the past 20 years,it's always airing on some channel) but I don't think streaming has taken off like in the US and the DVD market seems pretty much dead.

You are forgetting One Piece that have helped the TV ratings of one channel on the terrestrial television network, the 17th channel iirc. I think that the state of the DVD market is where it is now because publishers like Kaze and Dynamic keep licensing everything under the sun, without knowing if it will make it big. Also customers now waits for bargain packs like Black Lagoon, the whole series, sold for 19 euros. My most recent purchase had been Redline because I felt like this kind of show needs support.

[totoum]

Originally Posted by Sheba

You are forgetting One Piece that have helped the TV ratings of one channel on the terrestrial television network, the 17th channel iirc.I think that the state of the DVD market is where it is now because publishers like Kaze and Dynamic keep licensing everything under the sun, without knowing if it will make it big. Also customers now waits for bargain packs like Black Lagoon, the whole series, sold for 19 euros. My most recent purchase had been Redline because I felt like this kind of show needs support.

Oh indeed I couldn't pass up on Black Lagoon and I got Redline on Bluray.
Hell I got Kure-nai for like 15 euros.

I guess I overdid it a bit,but still I've got the impression that they've got more choices over in the US,both in DVD and in simulcasts (though yeah at one point kaze was licencing everything)