The American Anime Industry in Trouble
There’s a thought I’ve had for a long time – every time I walk down the store isle to look at anime DVDs I wonder – should I really buy that or just be content with the fan-sub version? Right afterwards I would think – you know if enough people thought that and then decided not to buy any DVDs the industry might hurt. I always worried that one day fan-subbing might hurt the sale of anime DVDs in America and since it was a niche business to begin with the impact would be stronger than in other industries. Well it turns out I might be right.
According to here article sales of anime DVDs in America have dropped from from $550 million to $350 million in 4 years. If this trend continues it could be major trouble. What really surprised me though is what has already happened. Geneon has been forced to make layoffs and has recalled ALL of its anime DVDs – confirmed here on ANN. Also ADV has removed a number of titles from its release list, all of which are listed here. Coupled with the fact that it stopped production of Newtype USA I hypothesize that they are having business trouble as well.
The point of all this is that while I realize that the industry its self has fault as well (being way behind with some releases and some bad dubs to name a few reasons) we as fans contribute to the problem as well. If we stick exclusively to fan-subs and never buy any anime DVDs then in effect we starve the industry. Its not just DVD sales that will stop however if the industry has trouble – anime on TV networks will suffer, industry events at cons, in effect any attempts of making anime more main-stream will disappear because it will be unprofitable. So all I’m saying is if you appreciate the industry at all buy some DVDs. Not everyone has to run out and make a massive collection, but if you have a favorite series that you see – when it comes out on DVD buy it. Even some old series have been put into affordable box sets now. If we all support the business a little bit I think we can convince them that anime is something we want in America. Take it or leave it – just my belief but I hope you all consider it – arigato.
[...] mysterious disappearing ADV Titles – solved? Kind of? As I mentioned in an earlier post - ADV has removed several titles from all mention on their site – including fan favorites like [...]
The mysterious disappearing ADV Titles - solved? Kind of? « Bouken Deshou Deshou? said this on March 27, 2008 at 2:36 am |