somewhere between yesterday and tomorrow

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.