Japanese animation in danger

The reason the North American film industry has made huge strides in the last decades is because they have succeeded in keeping the public attached to the stories and characters that they�fve created. This was achieved because the movie industry has partnered up the retail sector. The retail sector provides the buzz that surrounds each film and show and draws people to see it. For the networks, this helps create diverse broadcasting and profit from commercials. The retail sector also provides supplementary products from the shows such as toys and games which turn a profit for everyone involved. For the creative people behind the scenes, this helps fund future projects. For the retail sector, this helps make better quality products. It�fs a win-win-win situation�c but it doesn�ft work if you don�ft respect intellectual property.

That�fs where Japan comes in�c their business model for television and film is self-defeating. As everyone knows Japan is the land of one-shot television and disposable icons. Re-syndication is rare, if ever. The networks pay little for intellectual property and copy ideas to death. Any kind of groundbreaking animation work is labeled �gotaku�h or �gmaniac�h and pushed away. The connection between the retail sector and the Japanese film industry is very shallow. Want an example? Japan just released its most ambitious movie project ever called "Casshern" and there isn't even a buzz about it here. No commercials, no hype, nothing. I checked and people aren't even talking about it on Japanese websites. It's a shame. The �gtarento�h endorse products for businesses but businesses don�ft return the favor. So you have the most popular show on TV right now "��10!�����i�C" with products to sell, but you can only buy them at their traveling exhibit. No one makes any real money and nothing is improved. As a result you have the classic TV show Ultraman, which is over 30 years old now, with toys that still look like a thing you give your dog to chew on.

The Japanese public seems content to wait for Hollywood or whoever to spoon feed them movies like �gThe Last Samurai�hstarring "Tomu Kuruuzu" when they should be making them themselves. With all the wasted potential here it�fs really unfortunate. They clearly don't support their film industry and will pay the price very, very soon. North American distributors have been buying up all of Japan�fs old shows dirt-cheap for years now and will be making a mint off of them for decades. Japan's unique style of animation and storytelling has created a generation on North Americans hooked on the Cartoon Network. In less then a decade Japan will inadvertently pass the torch back to the North American Animation industry. Then they are in real trouble. Good work guys.

 

Panawave has a point. Anime is shown the right way here in the states. Take Dragonball for example, it is always on the Cartoon Networks "Toonami" block in one form or another, it is syndicated over and over, the movies are advertised with popular rock and hip hop bands on the soundtrack, and the toys are everywhere. Even the standard 26 episode anime series is rerun plenty of times. Gundam Wing was on Toonami for the longest time.
I'll always be a fan of anime and the japanese culture, but it seems that this recent boom in its popularity is merely another fad in the states.
The japanese equivalent of Hollywood should take a few pointers from the USA and get more exposure to its fiml industry. After all, even of this IS a passing fad over here there is still money to be made.

 

Duh!!

Is the article not about Animation/cartoons ?
You have just gone ahead and talked about movies. Are we reading the same article ?

 

JT Moderator: We'd appreciate it if you could use shorter paragraphs.

Have you ever heard Plan to rescue ailing Japanese anime industry:

I, as an unassuming slight misfit of a young boy shall embark on my adventure to save the Japanese anime industry by marching night and day to the top of the mystical mountain, encountering four similar misfit creatures, where together we shall enter the enchanted cave on the mystical mountain where I shall seek advice from the pixie oracle, who shall grant me the powers of the magic crystal tiara to combat the evil forces of corporate domination and rescue the anime kingdom after which we will all receive matching but different coloured motorcycle suit type uniforms and ornate but technologically proficient helmets and morphing powers that will enable us to combat evil monsters as a single super robot with the mighty plasma pachydermal sword after which we shall venture into the village on our quest to seek out and destroy the evil corporate commercial monster talking to the local villagers who provide help but warn me and my friends "oh no, you cannot defeat the evil corporate monster for you are just a misfit young kid who could not possibly affect anything" which causes a period of self introspection and loss of confidence until one day I rescue a fair princess astral maiden from the river who rewards me by granting me her special protective magical powers and provides me the opportunity to break in my mighty plasma sword, and so I go deep into the evil monster territory and confront the commercial monster who has been oppressing the world of Akihabaria for sever Eons and when he faces me he says "how dare a mere group of slightly misfit creatures and a silly young boy dare to challenge me and my mighty battle robot" that he then unleashes upon us scattering us running from its helfire rocket cannons and dark power laser blasters yet when all seems lost all of a sudden I see a vision of the astral river maiden who speaks to me and all of a sudden my plasma pachydermal sword becomes activated and I feel a rush of confidence come over me to turn around stand up straight and say "koraaa" in a large voice with lightning bolts booming behind me with great ferocity, that when they disappear my misfit friends are all lined up behind me dressed in ornate yet functional motorcycle suits with matching helmet causing evil robot monster to recoil with surprise, before recomposing himself to come back at us still thinking us the same weak slightly out of touch and underpaid animators who stood before him just a few moments before but now our group of five has joined into a mighty super mecha robot of our own with rockets on our feet that allow us as a single force stronger than any of our sum parts to jump over the rockets and lasers of the evil corporate exploitative robot to land perfectly on our feet on the other side to launch our attack with the magical plasma pachydermal sword on the evil corporate robot's exposed and vulnerable back passage, causing the evil corporate robot to cease and then in a cry of defeat disappear into a massive ball of plasma so bright that all must look away before the robot explodes leaving the evil corporate monster who sent out the robot jumping up and down in frustration at his overwhelming defeat by a group of misfits, to run away to the Americania Star System where he will go on to build another robot, causing the need for the released animation villagers of Akihabaria to persuade King Jun of Akihabaria to allow them to rule the Japa System and to use it as a base for allowing the design of larger and better robots for freeing all the star systems of the galaxy until a final face off finally becomes with the Japa System facing off against Americania in a final battle of Armageddon to decide who builds the best robots and deserves to rule the universe and all parallel dimensions however before our misfit hero leaves on his final quest the pixie oracle of the crystal tiara comes to him once more to give him a special green herb that will give him special powers to fulfill the challenge that lies before him on the night that may be his last that becomes apparent when the oracle disappears and the astral maiden stands before him in the enchanted school uniform and with a strangely enhanced encrypted chest, which causes large octopus like tentacles to extend from the hero and the raising of the mighty plasma pachydermal sword as the tentacles pick up and begin probing the maiden though at first she seems to resist, she soon becomes hot and short of breath and after five seconds of intersectral contact thanks our hero for the longest magical liquid exchange ever from a resident of Akihabaria, before getting into his spaceship and going off for the final battle where an impossible long line of enemy robot drone spaceships are lined up for the first attack where dozens of minor characters not yet mentioned or lingered on are defeated one by one until the entire Japa System Fleet is reduced just to our five original misfit heroes, who finally decide to form the mighty robot and to pull the pachyderm in front of the Americanian forces but to their surprise, the forces of the robot seem insufficient and slowly our heroes are beaten back by the Soundwave Blasting Britneyspears Robot and the Inappropriate Contact Jackson attack robot, and the Throat Cutting and Denying Everything OJ Robot until finally the hero robot is surrounded and the mighty Bush Robot and its Haliburtobot Sidekick hover overhead ready to destroy the final hope of Akihabaria and the Animania kingdom, when out of nowhere, the hero pulls out the Forbidden Lighter of Doom which immediately causes Airlineparanoiabot to stumble away in a panic as the hero robot team work together to move into a reverse formation and all five heroes work together to make every Mexican Tacoforce piece of energy expel at the same time in the direction of the gathered Americania forces before the Forbidden Lighter of Doom triggers a mighty blue explosion that causes the creation of the Mystical Burning Bush and the end of resistance to the Animania forces of Akihabaria and the Japa system resulting in an end to slavery for the Animaniac people and peace, robots and tentacles throughout the galaxy.

Peace

 

You think of all that on your own? What an awexome story. Great jeeeeoooorraarrb!
But back to the issue, I shall support anime by attending Anime Central in May.

 

Heh... jeeoooorrrb. Nice Coach Z impression.

 

Mentioning Ultraman dolls and dog chewing in the same sentence? Seems strange. Did you discover that your Ultraman doll was durable because your dog broke a tooth chewing on it? What is that...GI 17?

 

Great post!!!

 

long?

 

Dear JT Moderator

I hope you can accept that the above post was a parody, and rather than the lack of paragraphs, I hope that someone would notice that I managed the whole thing without the use of any fullstops (plus a bunch of language that frankly, I don't really understand myself).

Best regards.

JT Moderator: Still, one long paragraph is hard to read, making it hard for readers to appreciate your parody, I'm afraid.

 

I think insted of talking about how anime is going down we should do something about it or try to help out in some way even if it is just buying some anime collectables WE HAVE TO DO SOMETHING!!!

 

Anime and manga are too culturaly to japan to ever be indanger. Sure, the quality of anime that gets popular is diminishing, but saying that it is in trouble is like those constant calls saying world oil is running out. Every time they do say it, they find a major reserve that'll last for another 100 years.

this is just a rough patch is all.

 

I don't see anime endanger. On the contrary. It's a unique art form if
anything. The heroes are strong and
the damsels hauntingly beautiful and graceful. Japan shoul feel proud of this art form. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.
The biggest danger I see is that
the producers in the U.S. will try
to copy the form and that it will
be difficult to tell what is truly
the Japanese product and what is
produced else where. Children in America are drawn to the pure imagination of the Japanese writers. American animation as far as television goes, lacks imagination and the animation is too flat. Anime has demention. Also
myth based anime brings to light an
introduction to Japanese culture. It has American children scrambling to learn more of the language and culture. What nation wouldn't want such exposure.