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NEWS: Anime Industry Takes in Record 2.0 Trillion Yen in 2016

Not so fast. Netlix is going to be financing 30 new anime series in 2018. That hardly constitutes a blip.

Did you buy it? Or are you looking at the 2015 one?(the free 2016 one is not available yet) Because I didn't see those numbers anywhere in the NHK article, or the AJA overview page, or much of anything about streaming. My Japanese isn't the greatest, but I think I would've noticed that.
Anyway, I'm pretty sure it's a misunderstanding of the numbers because internet distribution world-wide accounted for nearly 30% of industry revenue in 2015. A drop like that doesn't make any sense. If you get back to me, I can run down the multitude of reasons that it doesn't. Starting with as Blood- noted, Netflix is making 30 anime with significantly larger budgets than a typical TV series. They wouldn't bother if they were truly so insignificant.

relyat08 wrote:

Did you buy it? Or are you looking at the 2015 one?(the free 2016 one is not available yet) Because I didn't see those numbers anywhere in the NHK article, or the AJA overview page, or much of anything about streaming. My Japanese isn't the greatest, but I think I would've noticed that. Anyway, I'm pretty sure it's a misunderstanding of the numbers because internet distribution world-wide accounted for nearly 30% of industry revenue in 2015. A drop like that doesn't make any sense. If you get back to me, I can run down the multitude of reasons that it doesn't. Starting with as Blood- noted, Netflix is making 30 anime with significantly larger budgets than a typical TV series. They wouldn't bother if they were truly so insignificant.

I mixed the numbers from 2015 and 2016 up, but unless I brain farted my math I just did a quickie math problem of dividing the 34.9 billion yen export value of overseas sales in 2015 by the 1.83 trillion the industry as a whole made in 2015 which gives us 1.91% of the industry comes from overseas value in 2015, not 30%.

Youtube reviewers were not a factor in Seven Seas dropping Kodomo no Jikan, Borders being reluctant to carry it was. Please stop spreading the myth of anti-anime/manga social justice crusaders. Some people may not like certain titles and be vocal about it, but they don't censor anything.

Basically, what I'm saying is that when I look at Japanese fans of anime, and Western fans of anime, I see these two groups going in completely different directions, and that worries me.
It's not so much about the revenue that could be made off of Western fans, though that is a thing... but it's more about... I feel like Western anime fans are going to be pulled out of anime. I feel like we're going to have a bunch of things made for a Western audience - whether in Japan (e.g. Netflix's upcoming material) or out (e.g. Voltron), and that, for the North American and European "anime" fanbase, those shows are going to become more important than the shows made for and by Japan. I feel like Westerners already prefer those shows. Things like Studio Trigger's anime fall into that category as well. MAPPA's work fits in both, as do most big shonen series.
But I feel like there are so many nuanced and interesting areas of Japanese "otaku" pop culture that get completely ignored outside of Japan, and I worry about what will happen to those types of things if they get left out of this internationalizing boom...
Because I don't watch anime for things that are only a step or two removed from DC and Marvel movies. I watch anime for the things you really can't get anywhere else.
I also want to bring new audiences into anime, who might not be interested in shonen or superhero stories, but would be interested in music like the groups I posted links to. Or, who would be interested in a light fantasy romance story that's more glamorous and pretty than the ones you can find in English books - and stories like that never get made into movies or TV outside of anime.

There's so much disconnect with merchandise, events, stores, museums, collaborations, fanart, doujinshi, and trends that Westerners will never hear about or know exists unless they actively take part in the Japanese fandom. Honestly, the western fandoms are pretty neglegible when it comes to Japanese media. If one only sticks to English communities, they really do miss virtually everything.

When there is a decent following for English voice actors and their performance, I'd love to see local publishers to figure out how to monetize their talents for maximum effect. Japanese publishers/promoters, they create audio dramas and radio talks to promote their small unknown media property first before going big with animation production.

When I was in Japan on March 2017, I almost went to see late Satoshi Kon's Paranoia Agent behind-the-scene all night talk event which had staffers who worked with Kon. Although I didn't get inside because tickets were sold out, they displayed Kon's artworks and storyboards. As for me, events like this make anime enjoyable because there is social interaction event outside of convention season.

Seiyuu do that because it's expected of them. Seiyuu are expected to have a wide range of talents like singing and dancing in addition to voice acting because they themselves are a brand. English voice actors don't do that stuff, and the work doesn't pay that much. I've heard about American anime voice actors made the jump to video games because there's more moneying in doing games than anime, like Laura Bailey who doesn't really do anime dubs anymore. Union VS non-Union is a real big deal in America as well. Union VAs usually want more money, so companies use non-Union actors since it's cheaper. Voice acting is kind of considered a second fiddle industry here where people cut corners to save costs. In Japan it's not surprising to see the seiyuu being one of the highest paid people in the production.

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When I was in Japan on March 2017, I almost went to see late Satoshi Kon's Paranoia Agent behind-the-scene all night talk event which had staffers who worked with Kon. Although I didn't get inside because tickets were sold out, they displayed Kon's artworks and storyboards. As for me, events like this make anime enjoyable because there is social interaction event outside of convention season.

Well, it's kind of hard to do production behind the scenes here since the creators don't live in here, and it's not like the dubbing companies are actually involved in making the show so they don't really have anything to share outside how they dubbed the show. Conventions where you see a few directors show up would be your best bet, but I've never been to those panels so I don't know what they're like. Looking at the guest lists for a few recent conventions though, I do have to point out it seems really weird how many guests have nothing to do with anime are featured at these things these days. I've only been to one American anime convention and it was back in 2003, so I don't know much about modern conventions.

The report also cites the success of Makoto Shinkai's your name. film as a factor for the growth