Forum - View topicAnime: Endangered Species in USA?
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NegiMagica
Posts: 1 |
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It's come to my notice that a few companies have been dieing out and others are in danger of the same fate. New Type USA is gone, Geneon Entertainment USA is gone, and others have fallen.
The Reason: People download more than buy. Fact: More and more fans join the anime nation every year. Fact: Most of these fans rather download illegally than go out and buy anime. So is the same for mayn fans that exist already. The reason: DVD prices are high, and the reason for that is, hardly anyone buys them. But think about it, the money that is spent goes to the companies and the producers, if you steal that money by downlaoding, that means less money for the prioducers and the publishers. If we bought anime, that would keep companies strong and wold purchase the license for them, and producers will be encouraged to produce more anime. For example, if you worked at a job you enjoyed and got paid a lot for it, you'd stay right? Well. what if that paycheck kept getting smaller and smaller each time due to lack of sales, you would quit doing what you were doing wouldn't you? I admit, I've downloaded my fair share of anime, but I've also purchased the same anime when it came out in stores, so i believe that makes up for it, right? And you could do the same. It would make a huge difference for the better. Another reason it's dieing here is, the popularity of moe and harem anime is growing in Japan, so that's all that we are recieving here, and most Americans don't find that genre of anime to be favorable. (However, I love magical girls and harem anime and anything else moe so I'm not complaining.) So as something that's popular in Japan grows, we get less of what we really want, just think of it as anime is going through a moe fad and we must wait for the other genres to grow again. it's liek a small anime ressesion(sp). I'm not saying that anime, overall, is dieing, just slowly in America. In Japan, they rarly download anime because it's so cheep there so sales in Japan are skyrocketing, here it's a different story. Also, Expo's and Conventions here are growing rapidly each year, example: Anme Expo, the famous California Anime Convention, for the last few years haven't been able to find a Convention Center big enough to hold the amount of people pouring into their doors, and the main amount of spending on anime is during these conventions, so they are safe, for now. The Solution: Anime is based off of the popularity of the fans, and it's sales and poduction is based off such fans. We have the power to resolve this. So, if we stop downloading, and go out and purchase these anime, we would benefit from it more then just owning the anime, it encourages more anime to be produced and much more. Even if yo can't stop your download urges, how about downloading one or two episodes to see if you like it, and then, if you do, go out and purchase the anime. We know the problem, and we know the obvious solution, so why don't we make a difference and change our ways, buy more than download, it will all pay out in the longrun, trust me. We, the fans, have the power to solve this in a positive way. Please help me, please help all of us, and please, help anime grow. |
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NathanBum
 Posts: 135 Location: Dallas, Texas |
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I buy all my anime off eBay. If they want to survive, they need to lower their prices, or put more episodes on a DVD.
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Shadowrun20XX
 Posts: 1936 Location: Vegas |
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Ouch.What up,you going to start the Anime Protection Agency or something?It kinda needs it actually.
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Emerje
 Posts: 7406 Location: Maine |
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Actually, anime is cheaper now than it ever has been. Despite inflation and the rising cost of living anime has maintained the same MSRP since the 90's. On top of that we now have bulk dealers like Best Buy and a plethora of online dealers that offer sharp discounts, sales, and clearances. In addition we now get more episodes per volume on average as well as various forms of box sets (sometimes as an initial release and sometimes as a post singles release). It's unfortunate that people still think the prices are too high despite how much we've gained over the last 10 years alone.
There have been many, many popular harem and magical girl anime in the past. While it's true that they come in waves or phases over time I think the US industry does a good job of picking the right titles to distribute. However, there is a problem with over-saturation, in other words "too much of a good thing".
I think you're confusing the popularity of anime in America with the decline in popularity in physical media. The popularity of anime in America hasn't really declined, but the popularity of downloadable media is rising rapidly.
This is entirely wrong. They do download but not so much because the majority of anime is TV shows that they can just watch on TV. Movies and OAVs on the other hand are likely a larger problem. Sales are not skyrocketing in Japan, if you watch the news you'll see that producers in Japan are constantly fighting pirating and downloading because they are feeling the effects. And anime is anything but cheap in Japan, $50 for three episodes is hardly what I would call cheap.
Er, doesn't this actually counter your argument about how anime is dying in America?
People have been saying the same thing for years now, both in the industry and in the fandom. Unfortunately it all amounts in different theories on how we can change the industry, nothing has been proven an actual success. Some are testing the download waters, some are trying to give us more bang for our buck, some are trying to pack in more extras for a premium format, and others are responding by closing their doors. It would be nice if people would start buying anime instead of downloading (or buying the shows they download), but unfortunately CDs and DVDs are starting to fall in popularity across the board in favor of digital downloads (I guess you could call it the NetFlix and iTunes generation) Emerje |
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Kirkdawg
 Subscriber Posts: 742 Location: California, USA |
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You probably already know this, but you know you're more likely than not buying bootlegs when you do this, right? As has been said time and time again-the industry will kick in and really thrive when people as a whole decide to buy what they download. If you download a series and decide you like it after watching the first x number of episodes, then buy it. Seems simple, but getting people to part with their money is like convincing them to go to the dentist when their tooth has been hurting for over 3 months. If you want to see this industry get more main stream, get a job and start buying;otherwise, stick to your downloads and watch the subbers. |
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ikillchicken
 Posts: 7272 Location: Vancouver |
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Just so you know, this stuff you're posting isn't exactly revolutionary or unheard of. I'm not sure if thats what you were thinking but this kind of thing is posted all the time. Fansub debates like this happen all the time and almost always eventually degenerate into flame wars and always fail to actually change anyones minds. The fanbase as a whole is never going to just stop downloading so saying the solution is for everyone to just stop is not really an actual applicable solution to real life. It's just not going to happen.
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Kirkdawg
Subscriber Posts: 742 Location: California, USA |
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Just curious, but who said to stop downloading? Not even the person who started this thread suggested that idea; the closest he got to it was
Not really a call to stop downloads. |
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Kabuto Tokugawa
 Posts: 63 |
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There are multiple factors causing the present situation IMHO.
First there is the recession coming in the US and Asian economic markets. A weak dollar means it costs more of the paper currency to be traded for the same goods purchased under a stronger dollar. So anime will cost more dollars for distributors to purchase the rights/liscencing etc and will reduce the number of anime titles available. Second, the fansubs and illegal bootleg market is cutting into a chunk of the North American anime industries potential profits and thus reducing the amount of revenue legitamite companies have to produce and market their products (not to mention the Japanese companies losing the profit that helps create the anime in the first place). Third is the cost of anime. It is a high quality product so it costs a higher price than other visual media like Live-Action Shows (Asian or American). The anime fan base is still comparitively small to that of Live-Action Sci-Fi and Video Games so its difficult for retailers in anime to compete for the cash that non-anime folks who might want to get into anime but feel its too expensive to cross over and buy anime products. Fourth is the move by Japanese anime houses away from the classic anime formula. I.E. the love triangles, epic tales, space operas, sword + sorcery adventures, and more serious themes. Most anime noawadays consists of MOE, young girls in tight skirts, big boobed bad-ass chicks, effeminate males, androgenous males, and all sorts of neat and flashy themes. In other words, the current formula has been used, abused, and over-extended, there are exceptions of course (like Death Note for example) but the bulk of it is in need of change back to the old classic anime style for a few years, and then it'll be time to go back to what we're seeing right now. It's a cycle. That's my opinion on this whole mess. I don't think anime will die in the USA, but I do think it will shrink back to an underground scene for a while. 
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ikillchicken
Posts: 7272 Location: Vancouver |
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Kirkdawg: Actually yeah, he did.
He does later add that if you can't stop completely you could at least buy more so that is a bit better. Regardless, I stand by my point. Whether it's a call to outright stop downloading or just to download less, it isn't going to work. |
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Hon'ya-chan
 Posts: 973 |
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Question: What if the anime I want to buy....doesn't even exist in a DVD format? Can't buy something that is a figment of someone's fickle imagination. |
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Faraz
 Posts: 23 Location: Vancouver, Canada |
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I'm sorry but that is not valid reasoning. When discussing the price of any product, you don't compare it to what things used to cost, you compare it to what other things of similar nature currently cost. So, for anime you compare it to things like movies, TV series, and video games and come to the conclusion that it is in fact more expensive than everything else. I can buy the full Stargate SG1 collection (10 seasons) for $170, or use that money to buy three quarters of one season of an anime. |
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retty
 Posts: 118 Location: Cheshire, UK |
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Ha! I'm going to assume you're American here and therefore you deserve to know how ridiculous that statement is. I've recently started buying US DVDs because they are MUCH cheaper than they are over here. You can buy 26 episode-long series for about £30 over there, whereas we'd be looking at double that over here. Even with paying for postage and tax it's cheaper for us to buy from America. So complaining that your anime DVDs are a bit more expensive than your regular DVDs is a poor excuse for downloading, and it's quite frankly pathetic. |
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cool3865
 Posts: 770 Location: Austin, TX |
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i dont think Anime is dying at all, infact its alive and well.......people that are saying that DVD's are expensive, here is a senario. 15 years ago when VHS was all the rage and back then it was impossible to get Anime (internet wasnt mainstream mainly). back then it was $30 for one tape that maybe had 3 episodes, in the case of say Bubblegum Crisis only one episode!! we paid for it back then, now fast forward to today, you can buy DVD's for $30 and some will have 4-6 episodes along with cool extra features!!!
right now America is seeing a recession so it looks like DVD's are expensive when right now our dollar is really weak. (canada and the euro dollar are doing better than ours) right now i wouldnt worry not untill Funimation, Bandai, ADV, or (i forgot the 4th biggest player in the anime field) when they start losing money and announce closure, then you can worry. |
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ikillchicken
Posts: 7272 Location: Vancouver |
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retty:
If you're going to be needlessly rude and make personal attacks you could at least aim them at the right person. NegiMagica is not claiming that is an excuse for downloading. He/she only said that this is the reason they think people do download. In fact, the whole point of NegiMagica's post was to request that regardless of all this people stop downloading. |
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Zalis116
Moderator
 Posts: 6900 Location: Kazune City |
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