Why Anime Died in North America

[AnimeDudde]

I published an article recently and thought I'd share it here. It's about the Rise and Fall of anime in North America, tell me what you think.

[Kariudo: Link removed for being self-promotional]

[uncreative]

I think that you're a kid that grew out of it and didn't realize that there are now a different set of kids that haven't yet. I note also that you neglect to mention Toonami outside the most passing mention of CN, which misses the important fact that it aired in a high ratings block for kid shows. Yes, you're Canadian, but that doesn't mean you get a free pass.
You miss that Sailor Moon was brought over based on the popularity of things like Power Rangers, which is another thing you don't hear about much anymore.

I don't know, I guess basically you just need to realize that anime as you seem to see it is a children's phenomenon and that you're not in that social circle anymore.

[AnimeDudde]

I guess in a way I have grown out of it, but how much anime is really on TV now as it was back in the day? How many publishers still exist that did back in the day? I know that anime used to be targeted towards children, but somewhere in the middle it became a mainstream thing that appealed to everyone, which it doesn't any more.

With Cartoon Network I kinda hoped to imply both Toonami and Adult Swim as well, sorry if it was unclear lol

[AnimeDudde]

I guess in a way I have grown out of it, but how much anime is really on TV now as it was back in the day? How many publishers still exist that did back in the day? I know that anime used to be targeted towards children, but somewhere in the middle it became a mainstream thing that appealed to everyone, which it doesn't any more.

With Cartoon Network I kinda hoped to imply both Toonami and Adult Swim as well, sorry if it was unclear lol

EDIT: woops didn't know we couldn't post links here. : o

[Spicey_wolf]

I wasn't able to read your article before it was removed but.. I agree anime has gone down hill in america. There use to be more publishers, more stores that carried anime dvds, more anime stores. Over the years stores with anime either stop carrying it or close down. I saw that happen to a lot of places in my city and I live in a pretty large city. And yes there is less anime on tv, probably because kids and teens now these days are into all those reality stuff and don't have any interest for anime, most probably haven't even heard of it. Through out my life I only met a handful of people who knew what it was...and sadly i probably wont meet much more. Anime is dying, I wouldn't say its completely dead yet though.

[TEKnician]

I wasn't able to read your article before it was removed but.. I agree anime has gone down hill in america. There use to be more publishers, more stores that carried anime dvds, more anime stores. Over the years stores with anime either stop carrying it or close down. I saw that happen to a lot of places in my city and I live in a pretty large city. And yes there is less anime on tv, probably because kids and teens now these days are into all those reality stuff and don't have any interest for anime, most probably haven't even heard of it. Through out my life I only met a handful of people who knew what it was...and sadly i probably wont meet much more. Anime is dying, I wouldn't say its completely dead yet though.

I agree. Although, I literally just got back from buying Gurren Lagaan Box sets from a Sam Goodys nearby. I also agree on there being not enough advertisement of anime here (MOst likely because all the official trailers for them are crap). I've seen promos and trailers in the dvds I have and ALL of them suck...bad. If one of US (someone from the .org) made them, they would be a lot more interesting.

My biggest WOW moment was when Miku Hatsune appeared in the Toyota Corolla commercials. That was like a moment for me. I thought: YEESSSS!! ANIME IS GETTING EXPOSURE ON NATIONAL TV! Everything we own (and I mean EVERYTHING) we own because we were introduced to them, or were interested in them, or were at least curious. All of that is because of one thing:

ADVERTISING

Anime needz mo commercialz. How else are people gonna know about them if no one tells them about it? Hell, i'd make a commercial for free! (even though i know you gotta buy the air time on a network).

[Kariudo]

EDIT: woops didn't know we couldn't post links here. : o

You can post links, just not for self-promotion (or anything else mentioned in the site rules).
I apologize if I misjudged.

[8bit_samurai]

If it's dying, I would think it would be dying in general, and not just in North America. I don't think it's dying, I just think it's changing. Maybe shrinking, but not really dying as in it's-gonna-be-dead-within-the-next-ten-years-or-so type of dying. Yeah, sure, you can't get 'em physically at much places anymore, but that doesn't mean people aren't gettin' 'em. Times change, and businesses change with it. Sure, it ain't on TV as much as it's used to, but then again, there ain't much stuff airing ten plus years ago that are airing today that aren't reruns. Who knows, maybe anime will come back in ten years, or perhaps it will be Korean animation, or American animation, or maybe Canadian animation will stay around a bit longer. Who knows?

[Sukunai]

The now not available article is likely full of crap.

Why do I claim that, well this is 2011 NOT 1997 when I discovered Sailor Moon as well as a few other shows now not really discussed as much.

But it's not like anime has died or anything. Maybe the person that wrote the show can explain the ever increasing volume of fans visiting anime conventions? In the last decade, it was possible to say anime is damn well healthy, in spite of a few companies that couldn't figure out how to market it effectively.

I see manga on shelves of bookstores that have next to no spare shelf space at all store wide.

I see manga on sale all over the place, granted this is 2011 like I said and a lot of that is online retail.

I watch anime as it appears now, on options like Crunchyroll, so who cares if archaic TV options have trouble airing badly mangled TV versions. Cartoon network? I couldn't care less if they air it at all. CN is for schmucks as far as I am concerned, real fans don't wait for worthless mangled versions to appear on archaic TV sources.

I think the truth is clear. Anime never died in North America, the old methods died in North America. Evolve or die.

I also buy all my games as no DRM digital downloads these days, because only a fool really needs the damned box and a silk screened professionally burned to disc copy that even a moron can make on a home computer.

As each year goes buy, I find myself finding an ever increasing sum of ways to watch anime. The only thing in danger of dying, is my spare time

[CodeZTM]

Actually, to be honest, living in Hickville USA, I honestly NEVER saw anime anywhere except the box sets of Naruto/Dragonball Z at Wal-Mart for obscene amounts of money. So I bought/watched everything online.

Just recently [within the last 2-3 years], my local video rental stores have been getting HUGE amounts of anime box sets and singles. Heck, we've even been getting releases when they actually get released! Actually, the local Hastings had to create an entire extra aisle for them all. Both rental and buy-wise.

So, to me at the very least, anime has been getting more and more lively in my community.