Someday, I?ll compile this into a real essay. I don?t have much time right now. This probably belongs in a weblog. It's not spell-checked or grammar checked. I'll do that when I write this for real... er... someday.
Basically, anime as you know it is going straight into the crapper. This is a downgrade from the current position of lingering gingerly over the crapper while the waters swirl below.
Here?s why: No one in the chain is focused on the long-term upside.
^^Part 1: It's Japan's Fault^^
Animators get paid bunk. At the source, you have a unstable economy (more stable in recent years, but still pwned) that isn?t training the next generation of genius animators. Most of the current round of animators will move on and find other, more rewarding jobs as fry cooks and delivery people as their low-wage jobs are shipped to even lower wage countries like Korea, China, and my sentimental favorite, the Philippines.
In short, the aging generation of people who still do it because they believe in it are going to die and those ideals and secrets will probably not be passed on at a high conversion rate. Pffwip. What?s the sound? Did it just get dumber in here?
Point two. Apparently, (although this requires more research), Japanese animation companies are horribly, horribly mismanaged by people who don?t understand how they can leverage their own markets, much less international markets. More money doesn?t necessarily make better television. However, it certainly couldn?t hurt to fund the infrastructure already in place instead of picking it dry and wondering why the golden goose stopped putting out. Japan: Stop letting the Americans eat your lunch. This does not require an MBA. Do not trust them. We do not hesitate to decimate our own citizens on a regular basis, much less ones from a wealthy trading partner. We have more lawyers than you have chopsticks and we?re not afraid to use them.
Recap: we have a slow bleed of master level talent from the trade and no money in it to care. As you may have surmised, the Americans are about to share some blame.
I?ll post the second part tomorrow and combine these when I get honest, proper weblogs working.
Edited Mar 28 at 10:02 PM
Eh, I went ahead and wrote up a quick second part.
^^Part 2: It's America's Fault^^
Right now, you have exactly one player in the market who understands how the game works: Cartoon Network. The have the displacement, they have relatively good taste (at least in picking things that will be liked, regardless if they?re actually good), and they have the experience to pull it off. Most importantly, they **know their audience**.
So let?s look at a few common myths:
**Anime companies deserve our support.** Wrong. This isn?t 1995. In those days, it might have been sincerely difficult to turn a buck. Now, your market is 10x and somehow, certain struggling companies are making claims to have turned their money around on shows during presale. Some have been commended by the business world and corresponding publications that don?t understand one bit how this market works. How is this possible? (See part 1: It?s Japan?s Fault). At the prices the Japanese let things go, you might as well license whatever you can, trash or not. Maybe someone will buy it. Shouldn?t we avoid flooding the market with crap? No, apparently we should flood the market with crap, as long as it's \\our\\ crap.
**Good shows sell themselves.** Wrong. Anime fans are usually pretty bright as far as brainless consumer culture goes, but no anime fan can keep track of all the nameless, faceless releases clogging the shelves. At a local Fry?s, anime used to be pushed front and center. A 30-foot wall of it was the first thing that you saw coming into the store. Now, it?s been replaced by DVD music compilations. Is this any surprise to anyone? Look at the titles. I?ve seen several thousand hours of anime, but yet there?s always a few dozen that I have no clue about. I?d hate to see the average new fan attempt to buy a show that would interest him or her. What do you base it on? Genre? Package design?
**Genre:** How were the titles at Fry?s arranged? And Best Buy? And any other local megastore I?ve seen that sells anime? Alphabetical. Bad, bad, bad. Mysterious hentai (or at the very least something I?d be a little embarrassed handing to a checkout girl) next to shoujo next to comedy next to drama. Box sets that look identical to other box sets except they come with only one DVD. Shows that universally omit planned total DVD and episode counts. A total mess.
So let?s talk **package design**. Is every show on the shelf about pedophiles or swimsuit competitions? Granted, many shows **are** about these two popular topics (See Part 1, It?s Japan?s Fault). However, if you tell the average person on the street that there?s a great trove of adventure and fantasy adventure shows mixed into the adult video section? Simple. You don?t. Most people will see T&A and think one of two things: 1) Great! Right up my alley! 2) This is messed up. Anime is sex and violence. Mostly sex, possibly with violence. Creepy sex. Very creepy sex.
**Fansubbers are killing the market.** Absolutely wrong. Fansubbers are making your market. The day we destroy the last fansubber ? and a great many of them deserve to be destroyed on arrogance alone ? is the day that anime has finally collapsed under the weight of its own lawyers. An open declaration to all anime licensors: your marketing blows chunks. With all the money floating around in anime these days, why is marketing limited only to anime stores and websites? What good does this do? Why aren?t game magazines, gaming websites, webcomics, and cable television bursting at the seams with anime trailers? In case you?ve been listening to RIAA propaganda for extended periods of time without ear protections, here?s news for you. Adapt or die. Most anime has zero chance without fansubbers. Without market recognition, you have nothing. Fans know there?s a lot of choices and it?s painfully easy to make the wrong one (Again, Part 1: It?s Japan?s Fault). I?ve got a few ideas how to adapt, but they?re totally unfounded and it would detract from the point.... basically, stop blaming other people for your inability to react to market conditions, especially in such an idiotic way as going after you best marketing tool.
**Now, for the future. Here?s a possible doomsday scenario:**
Anime Americana clogs the channel with a bunch of shows that outright suck and are poorly marketed. Who do they blame? The fans, naturally. As a last desperate act to save a padded profit margin, fansubbers get sued into oblivion, DVDs continue to be ripped, and the stream of steadily crappier anime emerges from Japan to be hastily dubbed and packaged for a consumer base that no longer cares. Licensors start consolidating as they hemorrage cash. Cartoon Network becomes the only make-or-break player in the market as it?s the only group that knows what marketing does and earned their stripes the hard way ? not via a massive Japanese management oversight. If you don?t play on CN, you don?t play. Eventually, licensors can no longer afford to enforce their high-brow anti-fansub policies, the number of fansubbers triples from the current crop of kids just now getting interested in Japanese, bandwidth and technology remove any final barriers between Japanese television and The Ex-Consumers of Anime Americana. It starts all over again, Anime 2000: on the verge of The Breakthrough. Except this time, it isn?t cool or underground or special. It?s just there, on life support right next to the kitchy martial arts section and adult videos with Asian actresses.
Anime studios are failing to support their creators. Anime licensors are failing at nurturing their market, making meaningful business moves, marketing their product, and planning for the future. One or more parties involved need to step up and take some responsibility for the future or we?ll all lose out.
Edited Mar 28 at 10:35 PM
Hey, you certianly have something to say Jason and I agree with most of it. I'm annoyed at the Japanese companies for not promoting any of their anime stock in the west, it always seems to be a western company going to the efforts of importing/releasing stuff over here. There's little initiative from Japan on this ground. I also agree that the creators don't get enough credit (money and recognition) for their work and hiring out cheaper animation studios to do the majority of the work is a way to hamper the industry's creativity and hold over the medium.
Heh, me and my bro have said that if we won the lottery jackpot we'd commision our own anime OVA which would be cool. Newbies and exisiting fans alike could trust that our product would be worth buying! HA HA HA!
