Comments on: How to fix the anime industry http://www.justdave.net/dave/2007/11/30/how-to-fix-the-anime-industry/ Random Ramblings of a Sysadmin Sat, 13 Mar 2010 03:31:23 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: Gen Kanai http://www.justdave.net/dave/2007/11/30/how-to-fix-the-anime-industry/comment-page-1/#comment-17040 Gen Kanai Sun, 02 Dec 2007 01:04:38 +0000 http://www.justdave.net/dave/2007/11/30/how-to-fix-the-anime-industry/#comment-17040 I'm not a huge anime consumer but I do know that even the largest of anime license holders and production companies are not savvy enough to launch new titles globally in all the major markets that would consume the content, which is what they should be doing. Invariably the content is launched first in Japan, and if it is popular in Japan, it sometimes gets licensed and then localized months later. This is a broken system when compared to what happens organically with fans online and fansubbing. I don't see this ever changing. There are no major Japanese anime license holders or production companies that truly understand their global markets. Even companies like "Sony Music" are very different in Japan vs. outside of Japan. I just don't see Japanese anime-related businesses taking their global markets seriously even though it's clearly obvious that the demand is global. The Japanese content companies never thought that this content would be popular outside of Japan. They still seem unable to comprehend that the demand is global. I could make some cliché comment about the island mentality but frankly that's no excuse. The anime industry in Japan is struggling because they cannot market or distribute globally even though the platform of global marketing and distribution (the Internet) is what the fansubbers are using. Even if the major execs from Japanese anime companies read Justin's editorial (which is highly unlikely), I'm sure they'd agree and yet nothing would change. I'd like to end on a positive note but I don't have one at the moment. I’m not a huge anime consumer but I do know that even the largest of anime license holders and production companies are not savvy enough to launch new titles globally in all the major markets that would consume the content, which is what they should be doing. Invariably the content is launched first in Japan, and if it is popular in Japan, it sometimes gets licensed and then localized months later. This is a broken system when compared to what happens organically with fans online and fansubbing.

I don’t see this ever changing. There are no major Japanese anime license holders or production companies that truly understand their global markets. Even companies like “Sony Music” are very different in Japan vs. outside of Japan. I just don’t see Japanese anime-related businesses taking their global markets seriously even though it’s clearly obvious that the demand is global.

The Japanese content companies never thought that this content would be popular outside of Japan. They still seem unable to comprehend that the demand is global. I could make some cliché comment about the island mentality but frankly that’s no excuse.

The anime industry in Japan is struggling because they cannot market or distribute globally even though the platform of global marketing and distribution (the Internet) is what the fansubbers are using. Even if the major execs from Japanese anime companies read Justin’s editorial (which is highly unlikely), I’m sure they’d agree and yet nothing would change.

I’d like to end on a positive note but I don’t have one at the moment.

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