Ask John: What Can Fans Do the Help the Anime Industry Recover?
Question:
I hear that the anime industry in America is in bad financial shape. I personally buy an anime DVD or manga whenever I can, but what else can a fan do to help the anime industry in the U.S.A.?
Answer:
The American anime distribution industry has been and continues to face declining sales and revenue, diminishing retail presence, and tougher options and opportunities for innovation and distribution. There are a number of contributors affecting this situation, chief among them the 2008-2010 (at least) global economic recession, natural aging of the DVD format, increasing digital piracy, and market saturation & cannibalizing performed by the American anime industry itself. If the domestic distribution industry could suffice on well wishes and good intentions, it would still be vital and expanding. But while America’s anime industry provides a fantasy world, it doesn’t exist in one. The anime industry needs money to survive. Without sales revenue, domestic distributors won’t be able to pay wages, production and distribution costs, or acquisition fees. Advertising revenue earned from free online and television distribution is a holy grail, and like the holy grail, it’s a fantasy. FUNimation, Viz, and Media Blasters have aggressively supplemented physical media distribution with online streaming, but these companies still rely on physical disc sales to pay the bills. Crunchyroll subsides purely on member subscription fees, advertising, and digital distribution, but Crunchyroll hasn’t demonstrated an ability to sustain itself from that revenue. Crunchyroll has supplemented its continued existence with numerous massive cash infusions from domestic and Japanese investors. America’s anime industry has never been an advertising industry; it’s a commercial distribution industry. America’s anime industry distributes anime in return for money. Without the later, there won’t be the former.
Especially during the past five years the American anime industry has aggressively urged condemnation and extinction of digital piracy. There can be no denial that unauthorized sharing and fansubbing among anime fans has significantly aided the commercial anime industry. It’s arguable that if an American fan distribution network had never developed, an American anime industry would never have developed either. The sizable American consumer market for anime has largely grown out of the fan sharing and word-of-mouth community. At the same time that unlicensed distribution has created an American audience for anime, it has undermined the American consumer audience for anime. No one likes to spend money unnecessarily, and few people like to pay for a product that’s available for free. Since the unauthorized fan distribution network consists of largely the same people that make up the commercial consumer market, unlicensed anime distribution is rightfully seen as direct competition to officially authorized commercial sales. Spokespeople for the American anime industry have blamed illegal distribution for lost sales and declining revenue, calling digital piracy the strangulation death of the legitimate industry. There’s no doubt that some of the accusation is justified, but this criticism is also ineffective and indirect because downloads don’t necessarily have a direct correlation to lost sales.
If every anime viewer on the planet suddenly ceased illegally downloading anime overnight, America’s anime industry wouldn’t necessarily recover or even improve. If every anime viewer on the planet suddenly wanted to help and not harm the anime industry, and did nothing to aggressively compromise the industry, the industry itself would not improve. Doing nothing results in nothing. The anime industry needs income to advance and thrive. Anime fans contribute that income by purchasing anime. Buying new manga and anime contributes revenue to America’s anime companies. Purchasing used and discounted anime goods from specialty retailers allows those retailers to purchase more stock from America’s anime distributors. Renting more anime encourages rental companies to stock more anime, which they purchase from America’s distributors. The same principle applies to borrowing manga and DVDs from local libraries, watching anime streamed on legitimate websites, and watching anime broadcast on American television networks as these action encourage libraries and TV networks to legitimate purchase more anime and encourage paying advertisers to invest more in anime broadcasts. But, as I already mentioned, these later revenue streams don’t generate enough income to sustain the American anime industry.
American consumers argue and self-justify that anime is over-priced or over-valued. Why pay for anime anime series on standard definition DVD when the same show with fancier colored karaoke subtitles is available earlier and in higher resolution for free online from a fellow anime fan? Why pay for new anime when it’s all the same moé comedy with different character designs? Why pay so much for anime when a mainstream American TV show that’s equally entertaining is available at half the cost? Because anime fans realize that purchasing legitimate anime DVDs and other goods is more than just buying a 3.5 inch diameter plastic disc or a monochrome paperback. The payment for a legitimate anime product is a contribution to the companies and the technicians and artists that conceived, created, and delivered that product. A “Thank you” is a nice sentiment, but it doesn’t pay the rent. The cost of purchasing a DVD or manga is the fan’s way of expressing gratitude in a substantial, meaningful, useful way.
America’s anime distributors don’t want to charge exorbitant prices for anime and manga. If the American distribution industry was laughing and rolling around in piles of money, it wouldn’t be in the dire situation it’s presently in. The domestic distributors that remain active love anime and want to distribute anime. If America’s distributors could survive on, and were able to sell DVDs and manga for a buck each, I’m sure they would. Consumers would be happy; distributors would be happy to see improved sales figures. But reality isn’t that ideal. Anime costs the amount it does in America because that cost is absolutely necessary to sustain the industry. I’m not an inscrutable, irreproachable exemplar. I’ve never denied or hidden the fact that I download anime. However, at the same time, I purchase literally thousands of dollars of legitimate anime goods annually. Not everyone wants to do that. Not everyone is able to do that. No one expects every anime fan to do that. But anime fans themselves should determine their own level and willingness to actively support the anime industry. Watching anime helps the legitimate industry. Talking about anime and recommending anime to friends helps the legitimate industry. Nothing helps the industry more than buying legitimate anime goods. Encouraging each and every anime fan to stop unlicensed downloading and distribution is an admirable platitude, but it’s unrealistic, and it doesn’t, in itself, create any income for the anime industry. Instead, I encourage anime fans that want to help nurture the anime industry that supports anime creators, generates positive and legitimate public exposure of anime, and provides legitimate commercial anime and manga to collectors and fans to simply do no harm and do good when opportunity allows. If all of America’s anime otaku actually purchased legitimate commercial copies of the anime and manga they like or are interested in, the American anime distribution industry would recover its footing and stride firmly and quickly.
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What worries me about the American Anime’ Industry is that it seems to be in a “Death Spiral”. In order to pay for licensing, manufacturing, and distribution they have to charge more than similar, non-anime, products. This, of course, results in consumer resistance which leads to piracy and reduced sales. Which leads to increased costs per item which starts the whole cycle over again.
I really don’t see this changing until someone in Japan decides to scrap the present business model and start distributing their anime’/manga online simultaneously world wide. Considering how reactionary the Japanese media producers are I don’t see this happening anytime soon.
===KGH
“Why pay for new anime when it’s all the same moé comedy with different character designs?” Said quote is exactly my problem with the industry at the momment. I was what I’d consider a slightly above average supporter of anime on dvd since 2002. Buying some where around 15 titles a month at my peak. But, by 2008 I realized I wasn’t enjoying most of the shows I was buying to get my animation fix. So I cut way back.
To be fair, there are Moe titles that I like, some I even love. But, these are justly simply more interesting shows, with heart. Examples: Kaleido Star, Azumanga, Haruhi Suzumiya. If there were more shows like these I would still be a big buyer of Anime. But what can the R1 industry do if the majority of shows being produced in Japan are in the stagnant genre of Moe? And, Funimation has to drop interesting sports anime like Big Windup! because of poor sales?
What the whole industry top to bottom needs is compitition. Japan was (and is, I guess) way ahead of the rest of the world in animation. But, it’s hit a dead end and has become (for the most part)stagnant. If and when other countries step up and can create shows that can rivial Japan’s, we would see a return to inovation in content.
I really don’t see this changing until someone in Japan decides to scrap the present business model and start distributing their anime’/manga online simultaneously world wide.
I agree with this but think we’re only partway there… because the infrastructure presently in place to distribute manga and anime internationally is only one aspect of the out-of-shape business structure currently in place for the initial production and funding of manga and anime, on the front end. Change the way funding is generated for projects, change revenue expectations, adjust the way revenue is divided among contributors, reorganize distribution methods, change the world.
Buying anime isn’t enough. You have to tell your friends and/or relatives.
I don’t think anything can be done. The fandom has declared it’s relevant price point, and that’s not going to allow the creators and the like to continue to do their work.
Which see: Compare the likes of Kaleido Star and Daioh to today’s pedophilic crap…
“I really don’t see this changing until someone in Japan decides to scrap …”
This is the problem right here. Every day, we US fans are constantly told the Japanese can’t stand the way companies are selling their products, but are tolerant because it’s better than $0.
I’m completely shocked the Japanese market still charges $80 for 3 episodes in today’s market, especially with such a huge hit on the economy.
Things aren’t going to change. There are just too many people who want the “good ol’ days” back, but don’t even realize there were no good ol’ days to begin with. People reference anime before the bubble burst, but look closely and it’s easy to see there wasn’t really much revenue to begin with.
People tend to forget there were *more* distributors back then, and it’s very difficult for me to believe these companies “rolled in the cash”. It certainly explains why so many went under long before streaming had an impact on their revenue.
“Compare the likes of Kaleido Star and Daioh to today’s pedophilic crap…”
*YAWN* Another pointless argument. Reminds me of people in the early 90s complaining all anime had to offer was giant robots.
I should point out Kaliedo Star didn’t fair too well. Nor did Big Windup. Non-pedo shows yet fans refused them. Way to prove a point, fans.
Oh well. Nothing to do now but ride this train to see what station it stops at.
All I can say is: “Hell yeah, John!”
This is my exact sentiment. If you love anime, it takes more than that love to support the people who make it. You have to pay up so the folks that bring it to you can make a living. Pretty basic concept.
At the same time, anime distribution companies do need to adapt. I don’t think the problem is they aren’t listening to the fans, because the fans want free anime, and this just isn’t going to happen. The industry is too small here to be sustained on advertising revenue and merch sales, this much is evident. It seems pay digital download on consoles might be the way to go.
Yeah, not everyone can afford to say thank you properly. That’s life. Not everyone is going to like every anime. For every fan like me who will buy every title I come across regardless of quality, there are thousands of fans who only buy what they like, and this makes a lot more sense than how I do it, but I’m a little more extreme than many fans, so pay my purchasing preferences no heed. Buy what you like and enjoy!
Fansubs, of course, have their place, but with official simu-casts becoming more common, that place is becoming smaller and smaller. The problem comes when people are irresponsible with fansubs, though I agree with John that not every fan-sub viewer will be a DVD purchaser if fan subs weren’t an option.
What concerns me is the community at large is doing nothing to support official releases even when it costs them nothing. I’ve been to far too many anime conventions (even large, pay ones) where they show nothing but illegal fansubs. I was just at one where they were screening Zipang and D-Man Gray, and they were fan subbed version, yet these titles have been out for a while (more irony: they had a Funimation ad in their program book).
The darnest thing is, most anime companies will happily provide you with free permission to show their titles, and most will give you free screeners! I run GarasuNoShiCon, and from day one, I’ve had a great relationship with most of the companies whose material we run, and its not hard at all to establish a good working relationship with them.
I’m getting a little off topic, but the point is, anime companies are willing to give the fans what they want, but they have to actually tell them, and it has to be realistic.
Looking back, the “good ol’ days” were really not that good to the dedicated fan. Anime was expensive, and god help you if VHS was your only choice. Nowadays, anime is really cheap, priced as low as American TV show releases in some cases. Grabbing a 13 episode release for $24 the day it came out was unheard of a mere 5 years ago. Anime fans have it good now, and for those who don’t care for the current releases, there’s still always past releases, and I assure you there are hidden gems waiting to be found.
So take a look at AN’s selection of titles and support the staff (and John’s collection)!
By the way, can someone list all of the pedophilic releases that are coming out in the US, besides Strike Witches and Vampire Bund? Starcade is always so concerned about it, so I must be missing hundreds of titles and only focusing on a few dozen that aren’t loli.
For the sake of the FBI: that was humor.
Jello: The studios probably should discount some of that shit in Japan, but the real problem is they’re screwing themselves out of ancillary revenue-i.e. merchandise, soundtracks, etc. Part of the reason Ghibli is still around and strong is it makes money off of everything related to its movies, not just home video, not just theatrical, but the toys, the artbooks, etc. And let’s be honest. That’s where the real money’s at, which is why they still put out limited edition releases over there. I think the studios could get away with until now, because the boom, coupled with the demand for content on tv, only led to the worst-case scenario of them breaking even. But now, they really need to get a bigger piece of that pie, just to stay afloat.
My opinion regarding this issue is that the U.S. anime industry has become completely obsolete. In the past, the only options for anime fans in the U.S. were to learn Japanese and import anime or to rely on the domestic industry to provide a translated version. This was and remains the U.S. distributors only real contribution. They translate (often not especially well) a product that they played absolutely no role in creating. I say good riddance. Fan translations are generally superior in every aspect. And if you really want to support the anime industry buy anime online from Japan. Then no one has any reason to complain. Also, I feel it is somewhat unfair to expect U.S. anime fans to spend large sums of money on anime when collectively we are of little importance to the Japanese market where anime is actually created. In other words, as John has pointed out many times previously, anime is targeted at Japanese viewers. Us non-Japanese otaku are not the ones being marketed to in the first place. Why should I spend my money when I don’t really even count as a consumer? To express my appreciation? To be honest, I’ll keep my money and leave it to the K-On fanatics to keep the industry healthy. I couldn’t compete with that level of appreciation even if I wanted to. Will the Japanese anime industry collapse because I refused to contribute? I doubt it.
While it is true sales of other items like CD’s, artbooks, toys, etc. does help, it is not and has never been a real source of income for the American Anime Industry. I have to agree that there never was a “Good ole days” in anime as many of the Independent distributors operated at a loss and have gone out of business since due to financial issues.
While I can’ say for sure, the real reason I believe Studio Ghibli has the money it has is because of contract deals with Disney. Marketing, sales, distribution, and money needed to get their feature films in theaters was almost entirely fronted by Disney. This saved them from having to spend the money they had, and while they had to give up some of the money earned from sales, they get to benefit from Disney’s built-in audience who would have otherwise never heard of Kiki’s Delivery Service or Spirited Away. The same can be said for Manga Entertainment’s survival based almost solely on selling the company to Starz. The premium channel distributor markets Manga’s work as “Extreme” or “Exotic” cartoons. While we know this to be false, it does give Manga income from a group outside their normal audience.
As for Fan Subs, they are by no means superior to the Anime Industry’s Dubbing or Subbing work. While there is some expected variance in quality for both, I find that Fan Subs are the ones more likely to make mistakes and over Americanize. I have even personal witnessed an anime that tried to defend an obvious typo as being correct and provided a web link in the sub-titles as proof. This did prove the word was a word and in the context was correct, but still did not fit the story or what was most likely stated by the character in the scene. While the Anime Industry has its fair number of failures, especially during the 90’s, the practice has gradually improved. We now have a Industry that goes out of its way to change as little as possible related to anime. Sub-titles now are nearly pure translations instead of the “interpretations” we use to get.
I completely agree with many of the points John has made and I also believe many of the fans who are pirating licensed anime use weak BS justifications for their activity. Weak excuses like, “I can get higher quality from Fan subs.” You are talking about a guy who upscaled a series from is distributed format to 720p or 1080p using a home computer. Your Playstation 3 or Blu-ray player will do this on the fly with any DVD you have. “You can get it earlier.” This is true and mostly not Americas fault. Often times the original source for fan subs released in American was the work of Japanese fans. The Japanese Industry doesn’t consider American distribution as a primary income source for their material and largely look the other way when this happens. We can fight piracy all we want here, but is proven failed approach. Cops arrest drug addicts all the time and doesn’t change the drug problem. If you go after the source, the drug distributes (not the dealers), you can do major damage. To be frank, if American Anime Industry want to slow or reduce piracy, they need to get the Japanese Anime Industry to help.
I will get it out of the way. I download anime. I also go out of my way to to find stuff that cannot be acquired through other means or is no longer licensed/distributed. While I gladly admit I have some licensed material I did not purchase, like John, I also spend several hundred dollars a year on my Anime habit. Piracy is not killing the industry. It is pouring salt in the wound. Those who only download anime through less than legal means, needs to just admit it instead of pointing fingers back at the industry.
Lets be realistic. You can go the amazon.com right now and get nearly every anime Funimation and Manga hold license to on Blu-ray in 1080p or 720p for $25 to $40 a series depending on length. It is roughly the same price as any American TV series on Blu-ray. Is moe dominating the industry? No; however, it is all that fans talk about online, on forums, in reviews. While it may not all be good or bad talk, it is a buzz and companies cater to what is talked about the most. They will not move away from moe, they will just try to prove they do it better than everyone else. There is a large diversity of anime, but what people talk about the most will always be on the forefront for ads and title release listings.
I really wish a elect group of fans to represent us and people who have power in the Anime Industry can just sit down and talk about it. They show use the true cost to provide us with the greatest animate material on Earth, and we show them what we want and are will to pay to see.
I also believe one of the primary contribution to piracy is the fact the audience for anime between the ages of 15 to 26ish are also the tech heads in American. Anime fans are usually the ones with custom built computers and are the more web savvy users. I think I speak for some when I say, I don’t have the physical storage space for the amount of anime discs I should own at this point. Hell, I had to give away some of my VHS collect to make room for new stuff.
Maybe the Industry should experiment with digital distribution like Apple does with music. If the Industry proves a fast, legal way for us to get our fix through digital distribution, I am sure they can at least improve income. Serious business, Funimation if you let me get the anime you offer for free in HD with no commercials for download at a price, I am in. The system is already in place, just give the option.
PetrifiedJello Says:
Oh well. Nothing to do now but ride this train to see what station it stops at.
Can i see your ticket please.