Forum - View topicNEWS: Report: Animation Market in Japan Shrank for 2nd Year
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egoist
 Posts: 7762 |
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One of the many parts of the economy shrinking since last year. But still quite sad to hear the number of animes decreasing.
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evablue
Posts: 1 |
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I just have to say something since I am quite passionate about this topic. I registered to this forum just to say this. People think the problem with anime sales is largely due to piracy. Some will admit that anime quality has been getting worse. But anime quality is usually relegated to a sidenote. I cannot speak for everyone, but I have been an anime fan since Neon Genesis Evangelion and anime has lost its edge. It is no longer edgy, anime was never mainstream cool, but it was nerd cool. Now it cannot claim that. We had bebop and evangelion. These had an edgyness to them and an expectation for intelligence. Now anime has gone the way of hollywood, sequels, safety, focus groups and marketing everything to the point of making each character based on focus group testing, attempts for "catch all" animes that will gather a "wider audience", refusing to criticize the status quo. That is why a lot of people liked anime. Its why I liked anime. It offered storylines that american media didn't. It showed sympathy for sephiroth. It had weak characters like Shinji, instead of hardass characters. It had characters that were not likable. Now anime is full of wide eyed charactures of women who must say ano ano 5 times before any sentence in an attempt to be cute. Anime has always been marketed towards children to a degree, but at this point its almost like a fetish if you like it when your older. The aesthetic is gone. I like some newer animes, I liked haruhi, I like 5 cm, I liked Gurren Laagen, but none of these are the edgy vicious animes that neon genesis evangelion or cowboy bebop were. Not to mention the use of CG and outsourcing to korea killing the quality of anime. I was so dissapointed with the new evangelion movie ripping out all attempts at a realistic narrative and eschewing them for attempts to dumb itself down so that it can reach a wider audience. What anime needs to make money, is less risk aversion and more heart. People would buy anime or anime merchandise because its fans were fanatics over content they adored. People obsessed over neon genesis evangelion and cowboy bebop. I know of no show that gathers that type of dedication anymore. If this continues, anime is will be relegated to a fetish for losers in japan. The studios need to clean up. You cannot beat hollywood at your own game. America had to copy japan to get people to watch its cartoons, anime was a revolutionary leader. It didn't get where it is today by copying american focus group testing, marketing and risk analysis techniques. I wish some anime company would hire me, I have degrees in MIS and finance and i know my shit. Its a damn shame they are killing themselves the way they are. I can't even admit to liking anime anymore. Its a friggen joke.
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Tofusensei
Posts: 365 |
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I beg your pardon? |
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egoist
Posts: 7762 |
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That was a huge sentence, but don't worry i think i read half.
Though i agree with you up to a certain extent, bebop was pretty much americanized enough and eva.. well i probably would've loved that anime if Shinji weren't so coward, always repeating the same thing but even when u said the old animes were better, eva had that horrible ending. I don't think exterior influence is bad for the animes. |
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HellKorn
Posts: 1669 Location: Columbus, OH |
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Back in the supposed 80s and 90s -- the time that a lot of naive, red-glassed nostalgia-oriented anime fans like to look on -- where did you have anime like Utena, Lain, Denno Coil, Haibane, FLCL, Texhnolyze, Paranoia Agent, Bebop, Kaiba, Mononoke, Wolf's Rain, RahXephon, Champloo, Evangelion, Last Exile, Ghost in the Shell: Standalone Complex, NieA_7, Ghost Hound, Windy Tales, The Big O, Eureka Seven, Kemonozume, Fullmetal Alchemist, Le Chevalier D'Eon, Now and Then, Here and There...? Or films like Pale Cocoon, The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, Mind Game, Millennium Actress, et cetera...? Show me the diversity, experimentation and freedom that your so-called Golden Age produced that hasn't aged in the slightest. If you can't, then shut the hell up. |
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Daimao Raki
 Posts: 593 Location: Dark Side of the Moon |
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Edit: Upon reading your post for the second time, I get what you are typing. Outside a few OVAs I own from the Golden era, they really can't match the shows you have listed when it comes to thinking outside the box and established concepts. I can say that cause I own most of the shows you have listed and hold them in high regard |
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HellKorn
Posts: 1669 Location: Columbus, OH |
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This is my original post, responding to an assertion that it was Evangelion that somehow "ruined creativity" in anime, when it really did everything but. The anime industry is suffering for different reasons other than quality. An argument could be made for oversaturation, but that's only one particular issue; at the same time, you have studios reaching out to non-otaku audience via Noitamina (though this attitude should be pushed more and more). |
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Mushi-Man
 Posts: 1537 Location: KCMO |
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It's not surprising that the anime market is hurting right now. It's to be expected in these economic times (especially in Japan). Let's hope that in the coming years we'll see a turn around in the industry.
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Daimao Raki
Posts: 593 Location: Dark Side of the Moon |
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Keonyn
 Subscriber Posts: 5567 Location: Coon Rapids, MN |
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I think anyone who actually is trying to convince themselves or others that piracy is not a major part of the problem is fooling themselves. Just as I think anyone who points their fingers at the fansubs and says it is all their fault are equally fooling themselves. Piracy is part of the problem, yes, but it's not the only problem.
I have to admit, I have been an anime fan for some time and have purchased many DVDs, and have quite a collection as a result. In 2008 and so far this year though, my purchases have dropped dramatically. Why? Because I honestly see a lot of shows released that are full of cliches, weak and generic plots, and equally generic art. Even the second Gunslinger Girl became a total joke as it went in that direction, in spite of the original featuring such amazing art, story and music. Part of me has realized that the concept of anime being some great medium above and beyond that of domestic and other global mediums was completely dependent on a few stellar releases now and then, amongst an overall abundance of titles that were just as full of cliches, generic plots and audience pandering as the fans have always accused other mediums of being. I mean, in the end, I've come to find that anime is no different from the other mediums. It has its own share of differences that set it apart from the rest, but as far as a ratio goes of quality to crap, it is quite honestly the same. It's just a different kind of redundant and repetitive elements than the other mediums have, so it caters to a different audience, but it is just as redundant and repetitive as the rest. Unfortunately with the recessions impact on titles, it seems like it's those generic and repetitive titles that are getting the money, and the ones that stuck out are the ones getting left behind. As a result, my interest in anime has seriously relaxed this past year to year and a half, as has my spending towards it. |
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Jarmel
Posts: 280 Location: NYC |
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Needs more moe.
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Josh7289
Posts: 1252 |
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It sucks that there's less money in the industry when the people who work in it are already getting paid a pittance.
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ninjaclown
Posts: 199 |
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Niche titles aren't going to save the market. |
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einhorn303
 Posts: 1180 |
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Niche titles might not save *your* market (mainstream or pretentious titles). They will, however, save my market (pure otaku anime).
Well, Evangelion did basically give birth to moe (in a codified form), and a lot of the reactionary types on ANN would say that's what "ruined creativity" in anime. Last edited by einhorn303 on Thu Jul 30, 2009 10:33 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Daimao Raki
Posts: 593 Location: Dark Side of the Moon |
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