Forum - View topicNEWS: Anime Firms Say They Were Forced to Take Low Tenders
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Ktimene's Lover
 Posts: 2242 Location: Glendale, AZ (Proudly living in the desert) |
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I don't understand what this means.
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GATSU
Posts: 15585 |
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The production companies got low-balled.
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Redd the Sock
Posts: 55 |
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It bascally means that when animation companies outsourced their animation to smaller firms, instead of negotiating a fair price for the work based on expenses incured for the work, they basically offered these firms an inadaquately low bid, and said take it or we walk and you don't work at all. This happens all the time in the staes, burt I guess Japan has different labor laws.
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Spotlesseden
Posts: 3514 Location: earth |
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it can't be help. Anime market dropped from $2.9 Billions in 2006 to 1.9 billions in 2009. Companies have to cut back.
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mglittlerobin
 Posts: 1071 |
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Well with the Recession in the U.S., people aren't really want to buy Anime right now. I'm going to but I don't throw out lots of money at it, just a few shows I like.
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samuelp
Industry Insider
Posts: 2249 Location: San Antonio, USA |
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The solution to this problem? Less animators/animation houses. As long as there's a glut of animation houses and not enough work to go around, they'll be able to gouge the price into the ground. Basic law of supply and demand.
Japan likes to support (i.e. subsidize) small and inneffecient methods of production (mainly farming), and they dislike when small businesses like this get screwed, but that's just the state of the industry. I mean, where is the money going to come from exactly to pay everyone a fair wage? |
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Kenji_Ikari
 Posts: 144 |
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Even without recession, I'm not surprised if the market stops growing as much. The anime market exploded in the 00s, both in America and somewhat in Japan. It might have just hit it's limit.
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pparker
 Posts: 1185 Location: Florida |
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I agree the market may be shrinking faster than we even realize. Without going chicken little, some inside comments, like the guy from Robert's Corner Store and from the Best Buy people point to pretty devastating drops in demand for DVDs. While I'd like to think it won't get worse, the consequences of stores dropping or cutting back on anime hasn't been fully felt yet.
I also suspect we are going to see a LOT less anime being licensed in the U.S. and a LOT less dubbing, which is a shame. A well-done dub particularly for a non-Japanese setting really makes a difference in attracting new fans, and I enjoy them as well under certain circumstances. As to the small animation shops, it sounds more like price-fixing, since they mentioned monopoly. If the large studios have tacitly set a bar on payment, that means the small shop can't wait for a better deal. Regardless of the deal, they won't get any more money. That would not be a good thing, obviously, but as tenuous as profitability seems to be (e.g., Gonzo), I doubt things will change much. The government can fine the production companies, but they can't force them into non-profitability. The producer's solution to such tactics would be more offshore work and lower quality productions. The government needs not to knee-jerk and just let the market work through this situation, or things will end up worse for the small shops. |
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Proman
 Posts: 947 Location: USA |
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Sounds like now, more than ever, Anime companies and the industry as a whole needs to take the quality over quantity approach.
That, by itself, won't solve all of the problems, but it should make things easier. |
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kokuryu
 Posts: 915 |
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Good consideration - but the term "quality" is what is thelinchpin here. Looking over anime from several decades, I found that the anime that had the highest growth and longest runs usually did not rely upon how "moe" the anime was, and far too many current anime do. The story actually carried the anime moreso than anything else. I think the anime industry has lost its focus on why it became popular and is instead focusing on how to squeeze every yen it can out of the market. |
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pparker
Posts: 1185 Location: Florida |
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Did your disparagement of "moe" have anything to do with your 666th post? Are we to assume its intended destination from that  .
You're right. What lasts is excellent story-telling, even beyond exceptional animation. Though what makes a classic is of course both. It's not different from any art form, though. The percentage of great is normally very small, and a lot of commercial crap has to be sold to finance the opportunity for the great to happen. Believe me, I don't know the answer to changing that, if it's possible. Even when quality is attempted, it seems to fail at a high rate. For every Gurren Lagann, there are a parade of Linebarrels of Iron--the show that was intended to be of a "quality" to save Gonzo. Gainax seems to be the only studio to have at least a 50% hit ratio, besides the niche players like Manglobe whose output is too low to have much effect on the market. I'm just rambling, but... the silver lining is that almost inevitably when the entertainment business gets into deep trouble it's a harbinger of a revolution. The American movie business has traditionally spawned gangs of new creative talent that changed the landscape in the wake of slumps because the old guard finally panicked and threw up their hands, allowing new blood the freedom to experiment and ultimately to take control. Maybe this will give fresh faces a chance to do something different and produce more interesting anime. |
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FeralKat
Posts: 402 |
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Congrats media pirates! You did it!
 Hope this is a good lesson to you all.
/sarcasm. |
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enurtsol
 Posts: 14889 |
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See, this is what's keeping the Japanese anime industry from becoming big budget productions like Hollywood, for good and bad.
Since this is an inquiry for an anti-monopoly violation, it seems like the companies that commissioned animation work (in other words, the sponsors) are in collusion to keep the work tenders low or blackball studios that don't accept low tenders, leaving the animation studios with no choice but to accept because they can't get any better deals. (Kinda like if sports owners secretly agree to not pay above a certain amount to any free agent player, or other teams agreeing not to hire a player except for the team that "owns" the player.) |
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Mohawk52
 Posts: 8202 Location: England, UK |
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Ktimene's Lover
Posts: 2242 Location: Glendale, AZ (Proudly living in the desert) |
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Piracy does indeed have a contribution to the SOL anime industry.
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