Anime Market Shrank for Second Year
As Yotsuba so clearly put it in her statistically sound graph above, the Animation Industry in Japan is currently hurting.
The Animation Market Analysis Project of Japan’s Media Development Research Institute (MDRI) reports that the animation market in Japan dropped for the second year in a row to 212.9 billion yen (about US$2.26 billion) in 2008. The same research firm had reported that the market peaked at 241.5 billion yen (US$2.53 billion) in 2006, before dipping to 230.2 billion yen (US$2.41 billion) in 2007.
While the artical does mention the drop in quantity of new series in the last 2 years has also dropped I’m surprised they failed to mention the drastic recession that has struck Japan and the rest of the world. Even Nintendo; who must have sold their souls to the money gods at this point, have seen a 40% drop in sales in the last year. People tend to not buy things when they don’t have money. Of course there are probably many other attributes to this rapid dive in profit.
I’m more worried about the effects of this money loss on future series. When money is at risk companies tend cut quality and take less risks. In other words that means less original series, and more series based on Moe (because fanboys would probably rob a bank to buy over 9,000 pairs of Mio pantsu), and over energetic boy ninja demons. We will also probably see more remade series of previously popular series. Full Metal Alchemist, and the new season of Inuyasha are the first things that come to mine. Or other series making spin off movies to milk newer series for more money.
It also would not surprise me if they began to crack down more on illegal downloading of series. I was quite surprised when I watched Spice and Wolf Episode 4 today that twice a “DO NOT DISTRIBUTE ONLINE” message appeared. I’ve seen quite a few weather warnings during anime, but never a legal warning.
Not much I can do since the anime market in America is already sunk. I’ll just sit back and wait for my non-existent Rurouni Kenshin remake now.
Source: ANN
wow :( this is sad but expected. i can’t say that buying figurines = me supporting the industry since they’re related but not completely related. supporting the anime industry would mean buying the original dvds/blu-rays when they’re out. but i dont have the language means to do so…yet.. LOL. in fact I only know of one person who actually buys the original when they’re out. kinda sad huh -_-.
[Reply]
>Not much I can do since the anime market in America is already sunk.
I dunno, I’d say it’s settling into a comfortable groove. Didn’t you see the news about Funimations big sales? Also, ADV is doing quite well with it’s niche sub-only titles…they just got Clannad After Story, too.
[Reply]
I agree with anon. I find the anime market in America is on the rise given from the recent sales statistics and the rate they are picking up series. Still, I hope they are not phasing out dubs as a production cost so they can pick up new series at this rate. Dubs are one of the reasons why ppl buy dvd because they can watch it English.
[Reply]
@Anon & Optic: Maybe its just where I live… Whenever I go to a store the only anime they have are Full Metal Alchemist, Fruits Basket, Dragon Ball Z and alot of really old stuff… or really crappy stuff.
Its practically easier to find Manga xP
This links covers 2006-2007
http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2009-04-01/n-america-2007-anime-market-pegged-at-us$2.8-billion
But is a good example… I wouldn’t buy any of that top selling stuff…>.>
And that is what stores stock up on… but I do live in the middle of no where… so maybe its just me who gets no selection xD
Maybe hellsing ultimate… But I’d rather wait till the series continues airing and buy them all together.
I could probably buy online… but call me oldschool… I don’t really feel comfortable buying stuff online yet xD
Also have never really been motivated over the dubs xP
Not that I’m crazy anti-dub… there are a small handful of good American voice actors… but 95% are awful xD
Personally I always thought it would be more efficient if they phased out dubbing… then series will be released sooner and hopefully for a cheaper price, and cut down on illegal downloads (Though there are some people that will download no matter what)~
Personally I feel Anime would become much more profitable if they started airing it more regularly on tv again… the reason it did become so popular was because of Toonami in early 2000. People aren’t going to buy something they haven’t seen first~ At least I wouldn’t xP
I know they’re trying streaming legally on alot of sites now… But thats only aimed towards people that already are anime fans… once our generation dies off or no longer have time for anime… I don’t know who will replace us since they aren’t pushing to broaden their marketxD
[Reply]
[...] of the Kara no Kyoukai series by the same company. Though something tells me its following my prediction that in this recession companies want to take hold of older successful series and milk them for all [...]
actually, they would hurt the industry more by clamping down on downloads… its a vicious cycle.
[Reply]
wow economy’s really bad now
[Reply]
it’s a cycle.. but as long as internet stays, nothing will stop for good =3.
[Reply]
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Everything Anime, Mauricio Neto. Mauricio Neto said: RT @EverythingAnime: Anime Market Shrank for Second Year http://bit.ly/dhJeks [...]
Leave your response!
Pages
Site Sponsors
Recent Comments
Archives
Categories
Follow Me @Twitter
Blogroll