The american anime industry is it near the end?

Mroni · Post by **Mroni** » Tue Feb 05, 2008 9:08 pm

Adv has stopped several series for no good explanation. Geneon has no distributor meanwhile both continue to have thier stuff on the shelves of best hoping someone would sucker themselves unknowingly into buying series that will never be completed. Japanese companies won't let american companies sell series as boxsets until they have sold them as single releases first. Japanese are buying the american releases because they are cheaper which is destroying the Japanese Domestic market anybody see a solution?

Mr Oni

The Origonal Head Hunter · Post by **The Origonal Head Hunter** » Tue Feb 05, 2008 9:13 pm

Mass suicide.

I'll bring the punch.

Wolfy2hk · Post by **Wolfy2hk** » Tue Feb 05, 2008 9:37 pm

I actually think its the Opposite maybe the industry is going down but the popularity of anime in america increases, but so does ignorance

Sukunai · Post by **Sukunai** » Tue Feb 05, 2008 11:42 pm

I think selling singles intentionally first might work with the Japanese market, but this isn't Japan. Maybe they need to grasp that.

I'd rather buy a series as a box set if I truly want it.

Surely the companies have to be aware I can watch their anime without their help.
Hell I can even say screw em and download the dvds if I am pushed into it. I'd rather not, but I sure as hell can.

If they want to market them, they need to market smart. Making a product is not enough to sell it. You have to understand your marketplace.

03germas · Post by **03germas** » Wed Feb 06, 2008 5:20 am

No it isn't near the end. There are still companies like Dreamworks and Pixar which will carry on. But i mainly watch eastern anime rather than western anime because of the better general quality.

Pas · Post by **Pas** » Wed Feb 06, 2008 6:33 am

03germas wrote:No it isn't near the end. There are still companies like Dreamworks and Pixar which will carry on.

Many lulz were had.

OropherZero · Post by **OropherZero** » Wed Feb 06, 2008 9:52 am

and this affects Australia's anime industry because we can't release stuff before the U.S even if we obtain the license from Japan first (Gundam Seed Destiny) at least we have Shakugan no Shana now through Tokyo Night Train and you don't coz Geneon USA is gone =P

OropherZero · Post by **OropherZero** » Wed Feb 06, 2008 9:59 am

wait forget what i said, its confusing (license from U.S or Japan) but theres also the issue of dubbing to take into consideraton - I probably got confused with packagings (our GSD being 10 dvds and U.S being 12) something like that

ZephyrStar · Post by **ZephyrStar** » Wed Feb 06, 2008 10:23 am

Stuff comes and goes.

I think the industry in Japan is suffering right now, because the shows that used to make money and the cliches that everyone would jump all over are fewer and fewer. Recently there has been a big boom in the industry, but maybe it's tapering off in the Japanese market at least. Production companies are losing money because their shows are not doing as well, and the idea of special edition goods and packaging has just become too expensive except for the hardcores.

Japanese companies (such as Bandai Visual, which brought Diebuster over to the US) follows the Japanese model in the US and I think will not do very well. I bought Diebuster, 3 DVD's, @ 45$ per. There's not a dub, it's just subbed. The quality is good, and the special features are decent, but unless you're a hardcore fan or a sub elitist, you're simply not going to pay that.

And I'd much rather buy box sets of things than singles, because generally the special features don't interest me as much as picking up the show, or some shows just aren't good enough for me to want to buy the singles, but a thinpack might be nice to watch once every few years, or for source.

And the popularity of anime might be increasing in America, but I wonder what the demographic is? I'd be willing to bet a majority of it is young people who watch Naruto and Death Note on Cartoon Network and Youtube and probably don't buy dvd's. I know I didn't buy a lot of DVD's while in college, my budget didn't allow for it. But now I pick stuff up on a regular basis.

Also, share and fansubbing have dented the revenues of anime companies. While I'm sure most of us support the industries of our countries, there are a whole lot of people who don't care. "Why buy when you can download it in HD for free?"

If a Japanese production company would hire a person or two to internally subtitle and release their shows subbed in English at the same time or a little later than the broadcast date, through some service on the net, I sure as hell would jump all over that. Legal fansubs. I don't mind paying for what I want to watch.

The fact that this has happened with these US companies is not scaring me yet, but it's not making me happy either. Something has got to give in terms of what they license and how it is distributed, and I think a lot of it is how the Japanese companies are still doing business.

OropherZero · Post by **OropherZero** » Wed Feb 06, 2008 10:59 am

I disagree with what you say about fansubbing, just think, would consumers buy a product they know nothing about? Fansubs at least lets you 'try' a product and people who want industry standard subs or hear about the popularity of an anime through it would choose to buy it. ANN reviews are not enough. A lot of people finish watching a fansubbed series on this site and are saying "i'm definitely going to buy this when its out". I think without fanbase the industry would collapse, because as people risk getting an anime or two and realising its pure crap will just turn off buying anime all together, just my opinion. Also in Japan its legal to download dvds for personal use but illegal to upload without consent. In any case the anime industry is suffering in Japan, the script writer of GiTS stated so, but the arguments against fansubbing aren't warranted to me.