The Anime Industry in Troubled Waters?
We all know of this current global recession going on and stuff, but we need to ask the question that’s most important to us otaku (or, at least me): What effect will the current economic downturn have on the anime industry?
It sure does look like a negative effect. For example, Gonzo has recently been having lots of losses, and they laid off 25% of their workforce, and it has been speculated that they are desperate enough to attempt to make an ero version of Strike Witches in order to make more money (hey, what can I say? sex loli sells! (NSFW link))
But let’s look at arguments for both sides.
Most pessimists would say something like this: anime, like all entertainment, is more of a “supplemental” sorta thing. You don’t need it to live (well, for most of us), so in an economic downturn, when people are scared about spending money, logically the first thing that goes is the supplemental stuff like anime.
A counter to this arguement might look into the past: During the Great Depression (which this economic crisis is often compared to), the entertainment industries (music, film, etc) were hurt, but they did not vanish. Instead, people used movies and music to temporarily escape from a troubled reality. Instead of thinking about the taxes they had to pay tomorrow, people went to the movies and watched, for example, a horror movie, where there is a fake, but easily identifiable enemy. I could talk about other genres, but whatever.
An optimist might say that anime industry is different: not only do they have a huge and growing audience, but their industry is different from the movie industry as they are trying to use the internet to make money by making partnerships like what a few companies have done with Crunchyroll. (okay, the music industry has done this too. and both industries have rampant pirating issues.) This partnership has resulted in customers getting to translated subbed anime faster, and companies actually making money off the internet.
(Let’s not talk about the Crunchyroll community’s reaction…)
Another thing which sets the anime industry apart from other entertainment industries, and what I think is most important, is the massive amount of fan made content for anime. Conventions and doujinshi events like Comiket show how customers are taking matters into their own hands, and making their own anime/manga. It also shows how passionate fans are about anime and manga (maybe a bit too passionate at times…). This fact alone is what, I think, will keep the anime industry afloat if all else fails. Just look at Type-Moon, a company which had its humble beginnings in a doujin game called Tsukihime. And how can we forget Touhou by Team Shanghai Alice, which has turned into a huge sensation within the (Japanese) otaku community, and may finally be spreading to other countries. At Comiket 75, the first episode of the (unofficial) Touhou anime was released, a good example of what I said above.
Also, one can look at Nico Nico Douga and Youtube, where fan made content dominates, spawning AMVs and MADs of sometimes surpising skill.
A counter to that could be that people are less motivated to do that in an economic crisis, but I think that, by looking at the passion of the otaku community, that the anime industry has a long time before its fire finally burns out.
EDIT: Going off on a completely different tangent, one could say that the movie industry also has a large fanbase, and that if one looks trough Youtube, they can see millions of videos and parodies of popular movies, all fan made. A good example is the Dark Knight: go look it up on Youtube yourself. But I think that movies are on a whole other level: it is hard to anything close to movie quality user made without the use of expensive equipment, but people can draw great pictures with just a pencil and paper.
One thing that will certainly affect the outcome of this is the Internet, which has to power to instantly connect to millions of people and allows for quick and easy distribution of fan made products. Companies need to utlize this tool more, especially the anime industry. But I’ll get to that some other time.
EDIT2: hm, just read this on sankaku. It’s interesting how they don’t like Nico Nico but like Youtube… I guess it does make sense that they stress originality… Well, at least it might lead more utilization of the Internet for profit, which I think is a move in the right direction. But not allowing MADs is pretty hypocritical, as most people have no problem at all with doujins.
I could probably write a whole other article on the copyright stuff… later.
EDIT3: Just realized that Higurashi by 07th Expansion is also a doujin game… read here for some more doujin soft groups/companies.
Online buying vs. Real-life shopping
I’ll just say this in advance: I don’t want to sound like I hate the internet or anything, it’s just that the Internet, like most thinks, has a downside in addition to its many advantages. While the only two posts I’ve written seem pretty anti-Internet, I actually like the Internet for all the good things it provides.
Now onto my post!
I’ve recently been staying at my grandparents’ place in LA, and have therefore been taking advantage of the diversity here to look through the numerous anime merchandise shops in the area. (Shops I suggest include Power Anime, Toylet Collectables, and Anime Jungle.) I’ve recently been interested in PVC figures, and those 3 shops have the biggest selection out of all the shops I went.However, while these shops do have great selection, they aren’t perfect, and don’t have everything.
That’s where the online shopping comes in. Some figures I have seen on people’s blogs, but are not in the shops I have visited.Therefore, I resorted to online shops to try to find figures. (I’ll include a list of different anime goods sites below, because I’m just that nice.) However, I think, while using online shops, I really lost some of the shopping experience. Yeah, it sounds lame, but I think some of you may understand what I mean. In a physical shop, you can see all the goods on sale, look at the physical object rather than a 2D picture. Maybe it would be better to say that physical shops are good for browsing, if you don’t know what you want to buy. I personally often find myself in that situation, but I dunno about the rest of you.
Online shops, though convinient, are often more useful if you know what you want to find, as most have this very nice feature called ctrl+find, or a searching function. However, for browsing, the online store lacks, as you only get to see 2D pictures instead of 3D object. This is even more important when buying figures, as figure-buying is a very picky art, depending a lot on how the figure looks in the 3D, not in the 2D. Pictures can give you some information, but not enough information for something as specific as figures. (also, you never know when pictures are photoshopped, or taken from another source. Counterfeits and scams are more common online as well)
When talking about online stores, we also get into the problem of delivery. Shipping costs are often a pain (though not as much anymore because gas prices are going down), and the bought object could be damaged on its way to its destination.
Not only that, but, referencing to what I said in my last post, shopping becomes less personal when you do it through a site. This human interaction is important, at least for me. For example, in one of the stores I went to, the store owner was a pretty cool guy, and would over give me better deals when buying at the actual store than the website advertised. Also, when in a physical shop, you can sometimes haggle with the seller, while in an online store, the numbers are basically set in stone.
Also, because you are just clicking a button, you do not really feel anything when buying an object online. This could lead to irresponsible spending. (though I know I do this in real life too…)
In the end, I think that a combination of both a physical store and some sort of online presence is good. A website is good to advertise yourself, while a physical store is good for interacting with customers. A problem with many of the shops that I went to is that they didn’t have any web presence, so it was hard to determine what they sold, or if they even existed anymore. (the latter problem happened more than you might think…) The three shops I suggested above were all very good in the fact that they had great selection in the physical shop and a well-established web presence which doubled as online stores.
Summary:
Online shops:
pros: looking up specific items, getting the word out about a shop’s existance, all around convenience, can deliver items far away
cons: 2D pictures, less personal, delivery costs and potential problems, counterfeiting/scams, irresponsible shopping (this depends on the person shopping)
Physical shops:
pros: 3D object, browsing (for people who don’t know what they want to buy), more personal (haggling and potential deals), easier to catch counterfeits and scams
cons: looking up specific items, less convenient (have to actually be in the shop), harder to advertise a shop
Having both is definetly the best, as the pros of one often cover the cons of the other.
Lastly, here’s my list of online shops for anime goods (mostly figures). Thanks to dannychoo.com for a majority of this list!
yes-asia
play-asia
hobby-link japan
hobby search
archonia.com
kid nemo company
power anime
toylet collectables
amazon (I think you’d be surpised how many figures amazon has these days…)
(you know, wordpress is kinda annoying because of the fact that its input window for writing posts is tiny… maybe I should write less.)
(just fyi, I never proofread. so don’t blame me for the horrible grammar or spelling, or all around not making any sense at all. I’m pretty brain dead today, so that might be a problem as well…)
Without a doubt, the decline in human interaction.
Maybe not. I’m not really sure what to think.
First, read this: http://omaemo.dasaku.net/2008/12/26/2008-in-review-christmas-e-nnui/
Afterward, read this: http://memories-of-eternity.com/otaku/the-internet-and-communication-socializing-from-the-comfort-of-a-laptop/
If you’re too lazy to read them (because they are pretty damn long), I’ll summarize the very basics:
For one, both of the authors are anime bloggers, and I doubt any of you read anime blogs anyway, so I guess it’s not relevant. Whatever.
Both basically talk about the effects of the internet on human interactions in real life.
The first contends that the internet is ruining the users’ ability to communicate to fellow people in the real world.
A line which summarizes his thoughts is below:
“The problem with our fandom-linked internet existences is that it has the knack of dehumanising communication to an effortless point where someone exists in your context not so much because you care about him or her as a person, but because he or she shares something in common with you.”
The second agrees with many points the first brings up, but doesn’t necessarily see the internet as something degrading human interaction. Instead, it takes a more optimistic tone by saying that the internet may not be hindering us, but actually expanding our horizons or allowing us to come into contact with people we would normally never meet, as behind the username is, in fact, a human being.
Now, what do I think of all of this?
First of all, I find the subject in general very interesting, partly because I probably am a victim of this loss of human interaction. I remember going to a summer camp at Boston, and thinking, “I wonder if anybody here watches anime… If they do, we definitely should meet up.” In the end, most of the friends I had were fellow anime watchers, though probably not as extreme as I in their otaku-ness.
I can see now that I was using the criterion “anime watching” to find friends, rather then simply opening up, making friends, then asking if they watched anime or not.
But, I agree with both articles. While the internet has made it so our interests are a sort of criteria for making friends, it also has helped us come into contact with new and exciting people, expanding our horizons and-
Ok, let’s just stop now.
I just realized that I am getting flipping nowhere in what I’m saying.
Let’s have some original and insightful thoughts, shall we?
I’ve always thought of the internet as a sort of mask. While there is a human being behind the username, the user uses his username as a mask, and may act differently than he would in real life. Just look at any MMO: half the people you meet are complete dicks. Now, I really do hope that half the people I meet in real life aren’t complete dicks.
Also, people act according to the image they want to portray: somebody who wants to seem formal and proper may always speak in proper language, while somebody who really doesn’t care would just degrade to chat language.
Then again, if you think about it, it really isn’t much different from real life then: people hide behind masks in real life, to further their own goals.
I know that, for one thing, on the internet, people feel like they are given a new chance, to start over and portray a different image than they do in real life.
Somebody may actually be a NEET stuck in his parents’ basement, but online he may be the “top dog” or the leader of a whole community. It really sheds new light on the many-faced personalities of human beings, and the effects of the internet on the growth of such personalities.
We have to ask ourselves the question: Is the internet really all that different from real life?
Of course, I mean in terms of human interactions, rather than simple appearance.
I remember reading this manga a while ago called “Mel Kano.” The premise is that a man meets his significant other on a futuristic online dating site of sorts. (This situation seems to be becoming more and more common these days, with many online dating sites advertising that they can find the loved one for anybody.) While the get very well together online, in the real world the couple often querral and argue with each other.
I just remember one line that is said by one of the characters: (see here for the original page)
“In the world of the internet, we’re not bound by society, and we can freely express ourselves… That’s why I believe that the words online reflect the person’s inner heart.”
The idea is that, instead of a mask that hides us, the internet frees us. A bit different from what I was saying before.
And, it seems that many other manga deal with the internet and people. I don’t remember many off the top of my head, but I’m sure they exist.
Okay, I think I really went on some weird tangent and got nowhere. Ah well, just tell me what you think!
