Thursday, April 29, 2010

"Anime is Going to Die", Oh Woe is Us!

Do you recall the whole hoopla about two years back when the bubble finally burst on the US anime market? I mean really, did they think that somehow the market would continue to expand forever and forever? Did they really think flooding the market with hundreds upon hundreds of titles, sometimes with multiple versions with boxes or limited edition items, was sustainable or a good idea? Well obviously Eric P. Sherman of Bang Zoom! Entertainment did. He dubs anime, and seeing as the market has severely crashed, he isn’t happy. He wrote this up on the weekend.

I fully understand his comments, but jeez, blaming fansubbing for the demise of Geneon, CPM and ADV Films on those who download fansubs is absurd. We know that Geneon made some really, really bad choices. Releasing stuff like Cybuster, Human Crossing and Rumiko Takahashi Anthology which sold like lead bricks. Some sold way less than 100 copies per volume according to an ANN podcast. It was also the absurd amount of money paid for licences such as Heat Guy J which was in the order of a six figure sum for EACH episode. CPM was a victim of the Musicland bankruptcy with hundreds of companies being owed over a hundred million of dollars of unpaid invoices. This is what screwed CPM. Finally, just about everyone knows ADV isn't dead. They're pretending to be dead under the guise of several companies, mainly Section 23 (a sly reference to Texas bankruptcy law) and Sentai Filmworks. They did this to get away from their bad choice in Japanese financial partners. Again, nothing to do with fansubbing whatsoever.

Even worse is Sherman's comparing of copying files to stealing copies of Guitar Hero and cheese (!) from shops. While I again I understand where he is coming from, the analogy is a pretty silly one. One download never represents one sale as the music industry. While it might look like I'm trying to defend fansubbing here, I'm not. I buy anime on DVD and haven't acquired a fansub since it went from VHS to digital online (some 10+ years ago). I just find there kinds of articles that Sherman and the like write aren't very helpful. You can see by the posts on the blog it was published on that the responses have been overwhelmingly negative. It's getting people narked off rather than onside. No surprise there really.

What Sherman and other industry people need to understand is that it is no longer 2003. They need to change. It's no good whining like an idiot and blaming everyone else.

Unfortunately the “I know how to save the industry” armchair marketers have voiced their opinion in various blogs and forums. Sure I don’t mind anime fans discussing the issue, but hell, the stuff they suggest is completely unfeasible. Like cheaper anime. Fuck me, can it get any cheaper? We’re talking about US$30 or less for half a season. It’s not like the 1990’s or even the last decade. These people still wouldn’t be happy if DVDs were given away for free. They whinge about everything; subtitle fonts, lack or even inclusion of dubs. It's petty bullshit and lame excuses from those who just don't want to pay. Then you have the free streaming people who want titles out hours after their Japanese broadcast. Seriously, how does this help the US company? Japanese companies are the ones who do this. Unless a US company licence the show before it airs, and how often does that happen now days?

Seriously, I no longer care about the industry falling over in the US. At my current backlog rate, I’ll be finished sometime in early 2012 or. I have more than 2000 DVDs, about 300 or so VHS, 50 or so laserdiscs, about 200 manga, hundreds of English language anime magazines and tons of artbooks. My conscious is clear is everything falls in a heap. I’ve done the right thing. Really tired of the whining. They need to solve their own problems rather than asking others to do it for them.

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