Toon Zone Talkback - Fate Of Japanese Animation Industry In Doubt

Not more doom and gloom.

Sure, I understand times are tough right now, but we'll get through this just fine. Japanese animation is not going to die.
 
The economy is a real killer these days. With the inclusion of fansubs, it's not much of a wonder what some of the Japanese anime industry's problems are.
 
Help me out here

From what I've been hearing is that one of the problems is that noone buys the DVD's when they're out they just cling to their fansubs. Is that true?
 
If it's not complaing about not having original ideas for movies and TV shows, it's losing money to create, write, produce, shoot, and direct them. Face it, those two factors are the reasons why the entertainment world is pretty much suffering.

I hope that there will be more anime hits in the future but in the meantime, I'll continue to broaden my horizons.
 
Since the overseas market is that important to the anime industry then they should try to make the show available to be viewed in English, be it dubbed or subtitled, as soon as it airs on Japanese television.
That way, they're beating the fansubs to the punch!
 
Every freeloading so-called fan out there should read this. A lot of this I knew, but it's very useful to have this information irrefutably stated all in one mainstream, legitimate place.

I do think it ended on a positive note--as positive as it can be given the context, anyway. I specifically mean that bit about quality over quantity, and Yamaguchi's final comment: "I think we need to think, philosophically, about what our users really want."

Related to that, it was encouraging to see certain key issues highlighted, such as the lack of mainstream appeal in a lot of recent work as well as the related issue of "adult" content that unnecessarily exists in many broadcast series.

I have to admit, reading this makes me want to subscribe to Crunchyroll, considering that AFAIK this is the one video streaming site that is obviously making the creators money. As for elsewhere, yeah, I'll be dutifully clicking on those aRAB.

The most concerning part to me is not the current downturn, but the apparent systemic problems that have apparently always existed or have existed for a very long time. The one that stood out to me is how copyrights are divided up instead of being held by the production companies. I sincerely hope this is eventually addressed, as that strikes me as a practice that is basically ripping off the creators of money that they deserve. To not see any secondary benefits?

There at least seems to be substantial awareness of the problem now. I hope we'll see some tangible changes within the next year or two. It hasn't happened quite yet, considering that a studio can still actually produce a show about a soda can that can transform into a girl.

In short, great article. A fine reality check for just about everybody.
 
That's why several Japanese companies are doing just that with Crunchyroll. As for dubs, that's a lot harder, but it has happened recently with Kurokami, and that was actually on American television (granted, on a channel nobody gets, but it's still a big deal).
 
I've actually had that idea for some time now. The Japanese production companies could start up cable channels here in the states, and air them subtitled within a few days of it airing in Japan. In that way, fansubs would be pointless.
 
I found this from the article interesting:



So if the adult oriented anime (not hentai) isn't doing well, why do they continue to focus on it so much?
 
Well, hardcore otaku are a reliable source of income. But the thing is that's not enough, and if you go out of your way to cater to them at the expense of your mainstream audience...that's not good. And it's definitely a losing proposition if you want to market your product outside of Japan.
 
That would be an interesting way to go about this. I know that fansubs have caused some problems for the industry, but I didn't think that it was the whole problem. The article did do a pretty good job with explaining some of the other problems. I'm not sure if they could do something like this since it takes awhile for an episode to be translated and all but if they did do something to lessen fansubs, that would probably help them.

Like I said, it was an interesting article. I understand how the economy has been pretty bad, but I don't think that they'll stop Japanese animation altogether. I do hope that they take care of the problems that they're having and realizing what causes the problems is a good first step. I think that focusing more of quality than quantity with their series is a good idea to go with too.
 
Well I'd argue part of the problem is the shift in DVD distribution on our end. Clearly people (myself included) got tired of buying singles, especially when box sets were bound to come out eventually. In addition to that, it certainly doesn't help when fans buy into singles and then companies like Viz never finish releasing the series. Then of course there are issues in the fanbase with dub-only and sub-only releases.

I'd say though that online distrubition is going to play a key-factor if they want to make more money. Ideally, they need to adapt a fansub mind set and start making things availabile online at the same time they are in Japan (or closely thereafter). Not only that, but they need to provide good translations (accurate, with notes and honorifics) and sub text that is good quality not the same old boring semi-unreadable font you find on DVRAB. However, for me personally, if this were to happen I would like to see it straight from the source via an American or Japanese company and not a third party like Crunchyroll (whom, I don't really respect or trust).

They can go after all the fansubbers they want though, but I feel that will only anger and alienate a part of the fanbase that they could potentially tap in to.

On Japan's end though, I would argue if overseas sales are such an important part of the anime-industry in Japan then they need to start making shows that are not the same loli-filled, otaku-aimed stuff we see at least 4+ of every season.
 
If I may ask, why? Because of their history? This is understandable (as well as hating their site design... and to think I give you my money... murable murable...), but now they are the only site that the creators are using for simultaneous English-subbed online distribution and making money from it.
 
This. Honestly, I don't see why companies like Viz even bother if they don't plan on finishing the series (like Full Moon! They quit halfway through!)

As for the article, I'll be 21 soon and I'm not dying to watch as much adult stuff as I can. I like the shojo stuff still, and even though I've seen some grown up stuff (Perfect Blue comes to mind), I don't want to watch only that.

I like the last paragraph of the article regarding hand drawn animation. Digitized stuff in high quantities turns me away.
 
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