The american anime industry is it near the end?

[Malificus]

would consumers buy a product they know nothing about?

Argument fails as people see movies on the premiere day. |:<

they're not even like seeing a movie on tv and deciding you'd like to own it.

Fansubs aren't just a preview, they're having a copy already.

[Kalium]

would consumers buy a product they know nothing about?

Argument fails as people see movies on the premiere day. |:<

Many of those decisions are made based on trailers or reviews. They are not uninformed decisions.

[BasharOfTheAges]

In general, I fail to see the moral issue with watching something free-to-air with the accepted legality and moral correctness of devices such as Tivo. I'd wager a significant amount of people feel the same way.

A tangential though? I don't think so - Any business that is centered around getting people to pay large amounts of money for a free-to-air product (or even a cable product if you'll allow me some leeway) is on shaky ground to begin with.

[Brad]

The American anime industry is a really peculiar thing.

Imagine yourself at Best Buy and you're looking through the DVD aisles. You see a ton of movies. Most people who would buy these movies buy them because they either saw the movie in the theater and really liked it, or they saw a trailer for it or promotions on TV or what have you. Then you have american TV season boxsets. Obviously they've had the opportunity to see the show on TV already and became and fan and thusly wanted to own the boxset. These 2 sections make up the vast majority of the DVDs they sell. A product they have prior familiarity with in some fashion.

Then you have the anime section. Now granted, there are shows here that you could have seen on american TV as well and thusly have the same appeal as a regular TV season boxset, but most of the stuff on those shelves is media that has had no american showing at all, either in theaters or on TV. So it's no wonder that many people who are mostly unfamiliar with anime pass by that section with a certain amount of confusion. "What is all this stuff and why is there so much of it?.. Who is this for?"

Obviously, it's for people like us. People that are anime fans. Then comes the question of, where did you find out about the show in the first place? For many people, it would be because they watched the fansubs. Or maybe in some cases they saw an AMV using the series and that got them interested (I know many people who bought RahXephon for this very reason back in 2003). Or maybe they read about it in NewType/Anime Insider/etc. Whatever the reasoning, it's far removed from how typical consumers normally base their DVD purchases.

So because we can say with some certainty that a large chunk of this small sect of fans first became aware of the show by watching fansubs, we then know that they already HAVE the series in some form. So then it comes down to the base utility of a DVD. It's convenient for group viewing, it (usually) comes with an additional English dub, sometimes they have decent extras. Is this amount of utility worth the purchase? There's also the fan-drive. Maybe we want to support the anime by giving the studios/distributors/etc. our money. Or the fan in us just needs to fill the collection.

My point here is that the buying draw of anime DVDs vs. movies/TV seasons is HUGELY skewed based off of the niche market, the oftentimes lack of familiarity by the general public, and the outrageous leap in price when compared to a normal TV season (which I understand is different due to the licensing & production costs associated with releasing an anime series, but nonetheless, the price numbers are far higher when you compare the amount you pay against the amount you get).

Because of this, I'm amazed the American industry has survived this long. But it's a strong testament to how fan-based this community really is.

[Mroni]

Well to dub an episode for an english release the cost usually hovers around 10,000 dollars. That's alot of overhead. I have no problem with fansubs as long as they are not commercially available. If you see a fansub series and like you are obligated by GOD or DOG or whoever to not be a cheap ass and buy the commercial release.

Mr Oni

[Sukunai]

The dvd releasers need to get 21st century and that means 10 years ago no longer works. No argument means much. Reality rules.

If they want to make a buck, they have about a week's grace before fan subbing arrives it seems if the show is worth even having. If they released it as a subbed product the day it aired, fan subbers likely wouldn't spend the effort. I'd buy subbed anime if I could. I can rarely find ANY form of anime product though in local retail.
Of course I'm ok with downloading fansubbed anime.

And hey, we're all human, you wouldn't watch a movie as a rental if you didn't have to. Come to think of it, you don't. Hollywood is having the same trouble anime releasers are having. If people DON'T have to pay they likely won't.
The internet doesn't care about rules and laws. Sucks, get over it the internet is not going anywhere.

Ever look at the anime, and look at the content, and ponder, "what's the chances of this getting on tv in a timeslot that actually matters?".

Not likely in too many cases. I've seen what passes for acceptible on North American tv. Remember, the US is the land of "thou shalt not let adm marry steve". And as anime is knee deep in homosexuality, it's a barrier. Anime is knee deep in young people with no clothes on, and that too "bothers" the non anime public.

Violence, no problem, just look at our games. But let a girl take off her top and flash her boobs, and the game just scored massive free publicity. Gore though, and blood, not as much an issue.

And while you can find anime in stores, it's stocked like its a freak. It's put in a section as if it's not run of the mill stock.
And they stock it in most cases as if it doesn't matter if they have all the discs of a series. That's like a bookstore stocking random books in a series and not caring if the interested reader ever gets a book 3 in a set of 6.

The unimaginative methodology is not helping them. Nor is the fact that it's a product from a foreign culture that views a lot of issues through different eyes.
We the anime fan, are simply not the normal individual of our society.

For instance I personally DON'T care if in an anime the girl is a lesbian. I don't care it the boy in an anime is into boys. I don't care if the anime personality walks around naked or half dressed. Hell panty shots are just panty shots, and it's not shocking in an anime any more so than in a movie or tv show.

I'm a parent, and NO damnit, I have not been concerned if my 13 year old son sees yuri content or nudity. And I wouldn't care if he was 8 or 9 either. Then again, my son wasn't raised in a home where sex is some weird taboo with a ton of religious baggage.

But that baggage of society bugs society when they see it in our anime. "Oh my god how could they put that in a children's show?". Get real fool.