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Taking a look at the future aspects of the anime industry

Future of 'anime' industry in doubt
Money, success elude; outsourcing, piracy abound

Wednesday, March 4, 2009

The Japan Times

ByALEX MARTIN
Staff writer


The deepening recession and rapid shift in the overall landscape surrounding the industry have caused many to fear for the future of one of the nation's most prized cultural exports.
"The global fan base for Japanese 'anime' is increasing, but with the old business model crumbling it isn't translating into profits," said Yasuo Yamaguchi, executive director of the Association of Japanese Animations.
For the past decade, the industry has been hammering out average annual sales of ¥200 billion in what experts described as an "animation bubble."
Yamaguchi predicted, however, that the industry's proceeds for fiscal 2008 — which have yet to be calculated — would be lower than 2007, when total sales dropped almost ¥20 billion from 2006, a record high year, according to AJA statistics.

"The financial crisis is forcing sponsors to cut down on television advertisement fees, and this in turn is shrinking the budgets for animations, pressuring everyone involved in the production," Yamaguchi said.
"I think we'll see a major decrease in the number of anime programs broadcast. Agencies dependent on television as a primary financial source will need to search for alternatives."
Besides the gloomy economy, the overwhelmingly adult content of recent television animation — many featuring violent or highly sexual material and broadcast during late-night hours — has played a part in limiting the audience and making both marketing and merchandising of anime-related products difficult.
Yoshihiko Noda, director of the media content division for ad agency Asatsu-DK, buys TV time slots for popular family programs such as "Doraemon" and "Crayon Shin-chan." He said these trends were a relatively recent phenomenon.

"Animation isn't free. It's the product of hard work and a lot of money, and we cannot continue producing quality content without the financial help from fans," Kawasaki said. "We are seriously concerned that the industry will not survive if things go on like this," he said, acknowledging that whether their new plan succeeds or not, the structural issue undermining the industry will still exist.

"You've got to really love animation to be in this trade," said Takeo Ide, chief animator for the popular television series "One Piece."


Biblography of this source:
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20090304f1.html
The Japan Times

Lines are being redrawn for Japan's anime industry
August 19, 2010|Yuriko Nagano

As production houses cut costs by sending animation jobs to South Korea, India and Vietnam, the number of experienced workers in Japan is shrinking. Competitors in China are another threat to Japan's cultural icon.

The problems plaguing the industry are numerous. Seeking lower costs, production companies for decades have been outsourcing the work to animation companies in South Korea, India, Vietnam and elsewhere, where scores of trade schools have cropped up and artists can be hired more readily.
More recently, competitors in China are cranking out their own lines of films and anime shows, in an effort to draw business away from Japan. Piracy is also on the rise, as bootlegging flourishes on YouTube and other Internet sites. And the popularity of the art form is cooling at home in Japan, as video games and the Web compete for consumers' time and money.
The domestic industry oversaturated the TV market, which led to fewer hits and more shows being cancelled. (The number of anime TV series being created in Japan has been cut by almost half since 2007, according to the trade group Japan Animation Creators Assn.)

As a result, experts say, the Japanese cultural icon that became well-known through hits such as Osamu Tezuka's "Astro Boy" — and the generations of artists behind it — is in peril.

"Japan risks losing its cultural icon, and part of the reason is because we are losing animators," said Yasuki Hamano, media professor at the University of Tokyo.


Biblography of this source:
http://articles.latimes.com/2010/aug/19/business/la-fi-japan-anime-20100819
Los Angeles Times


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