Forum - View topicWhat would anime be like, if...
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cookie
Former ANN Editor in Chief
 Posts: 2460 Location: Do not contact me for support. |
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Okay, while reading over the "Prices" thread, I had a flash of inspiration for a new thread (which will probably generate as much controversy as the previous one):
What *would* anime be like, if people never traded tapes or fansubbed anything, even during the 80s? Would it be as popular as it is today? Who would be the major players in the industry? Would it be branches of Japanese companies, like Bandai and Pioneer? Or smaller, niche businesses like AnimEigo? Where would ADV fit in, in all this mess? Additionally, assuming the same shows were produced in Japan, what would be on TV today? Where would it be shown, and how would anime be distributed? VHS? DVD? Specialty shops? I'd love to hear people's opinions and thoughts about the matter.. as long as they're argued reasonably well (read: Non-flammatory). :) |
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Vicious
 Posts: 97 |
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I think it'd be about as popular as it was 7 years ago or so. I think that a major reason that animes gotten so popular is because of word of mouth over the internet(Alot of people being closet anime fans, not wanting to say they watch Japanese cartoons to someone face to face, but on the internet...) and I think that would soften the blow a tad. Still though I think animes popularity in the states would be like 1/30th what it is now with just a few straving companies translating shows, with the rare tv exception that nobody would even know was Japanese, like Voltron and Robotech were in the 80's(70's?)
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Tenchi
 Posts: 4536 Location: Ottawa... now I'm an ex-Anglo Montrealer. |
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I'd be willing to guess that much of what is shown on premium cable/satellite TV now would still have made it to American TV eventually, but without the tens of thousands of hardcore fans (and hundreds of thousands of moderate fans) to keep the TV distributors and cable outlets somewhat in check, all anime shown on TV would be total hackjobs, not just the kids shows. And the stuff aimed at older audiences would be shown on TV first, before it makes it to video or DVD, and it would be dub-only. This is the same as the situation in many European countries; anime fans in North America are damn lucky we get most nearly every anime worth watching subtitled and intact on video/DVD first, before the dub gets edited for TV. I think one of the failings of the previous thread was that no one really made the moral distinction between ethical fansubbers and the Taiwanese producers of bootleg CDs. Fansubbing was fine as a means to an end to increase awareness of anime in North America before there was much commercial distribution of anime; many of the 300 odd legit tapes, LDs and DVDs I own I would never have bought had I not seen them fansubbed. The ethical fansub producers stop producing and distributing their fansubs once the show is licensed domestically, and the ethical fansub viewer should either buy the legit product when it becomes available or destroy his fansubs. Of course, the biggest moral distinction between ethical fansubbers and the Taiwanese bootleg CD producers is that the ethical fansub producers never distribute copyrighted works for which they had never acquired the rights for profit. I think the primary motive for many of the ethical fansubbing groups was to provide material to show at anime clubs, not for individual anime fans to dub their own copies to watch at home (though, obviously, they were well aware that that would happen). The only motive for Son May and Ever Anime was profit, which is the primary motive for every other company associated with anime, with the distinction that Son May and Ever Anime never got the rights for what they sell. The widespread commerical availability of anime now has contributed to the decline of anime clubs and fansubbing in general, since most of the decent stuff is licensed while, or, in some cases even before, it's still being shown on TV in Japan. |
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Cgoten
Posts: 390 Location: Glenview, Illinois |
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I think very few people would watch anime if it hadn't come to TV. Even though almost all of anime on TV is censored. I don't think I would like anime today if I hadn't seen the first 50 episodes of Dragon Ball Z on FOX. Since then I've bought 100+ anime videos and DVDs. More anime is making it to TV and thanks to Adult Swim not as much is being edited. It's also important that more anime makes it to theaters, I think the Cowboy Bebop movie will do pretty good. If more people see anime in theatres they'll start to buy it on DVD.
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Ataru
 Posts: 2327 Location: Missouri (Strikeman) |
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True, if I hadn't seen DBZ on CN, I won't have became a fan of it, despite of editing and dubbing. |
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ANN_Bamboo
ANN Contributor
 Posts: 3904 Location: CO |
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Whoo, tough to say. Without fansubs, I bet the only chance anime would have had in the US would have been on TV (a la Robotech, etc), or else a risque entrepeneur who wanted to bring over some choice anime movies.
Me, personally, I was innoculated with the anime virus back in the days when fansubs were all we had. I may be a young 'un, but I remember the days when me and my friends used to watch 8th gen fansubs, and we thought that was good. *Back in my day . . . * Well, several years back, there was already a domestic anime market, but the titles were mainly the older ones. Nowadays, they're grabbed as soon as they hit Japanese airwaves. Thank goodness for that. |
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