Anime No Way

[Guest ___]

Most of it is relased in R1 on DVD here. the few that have not been released on DVD in N. America are being aired on Crunchyroll or regular cable TV.

[disturbman]

Yeah... Nothing I can get here. I really hate this regional licensing limitations thing.

 

If ever someone hear me: I will pay a monthly cost to be able to watch whatever shows i'm interested in. To be ban from american or japanese shows in ov or sov just because I happen to leave in Europe really bugs me off. That's discrimination...

[Guest ___]

It's not discrimination, it just goes to show anime does not have a fan base large enough to justify the costs of investing in broadcasting and distribution,. It's simply not a profitable enough.

[bill937ca]

It's not discrimination, it just goes to show anime does not have a fan base large enough to justify the costs of investing in broadcasting and distribution,. It's simply not a profitable enough.

 

The Japanese fear anime is a dieing industry.

 

Can 'anime palace' save a crumbling industry?

 

 

Many animators work freelance, meaning paying health insurance and other bills becomes a constant worry. (Mainichi)

 

 

As the foundations of the anime industry begin to crumble, thanks to savagely decreasing pay for artists and animators, insiders are casting a skeptical eye at the government's plans for the provisionally-titled National Center for Media Arts. While aimed at promoting Japanese anime and games to ever-hungry foreign markets, critics wonder: Can an "anime palace" save an increasingly unstable industry?

 

"Since last year, the number of productions and their budgets have been falling," says Junichi Takagi, 35, a producer for anime production studio Gonzo. "A contract for a 30-minute TV episode used to be around 18 million yen, but now it's around 13 million yen."

 

Although the amount of time spent on hand-drawing fine detail has increased, labor costs have remained the same, and Takagi says that "weaker companies started falling out of the running last year."

 

The anime industry in Japan has shrunk since its peak in 2005 and 2006, with DVD sales slumping and online distribution services still in development, and the crunch is being felt at every level.

 

"There's no money to waste. Even if I found a girlfriend, I don't know if I could get married or anything," says a tired-looking 24-year-old animator. After a year in the industry, he's now on an average wage of 70,000 yen a month.

 

A study by the Japan Animation Creators Association (JAniCA) shows that for an animator in their 20s, the average yearly salary is around 1.1 million yen. Staff turnover is somewhere between 80 and 90 percent; and a failure to nurture young workers partly because production is often outsourced to Asian companies, has led to what critics call a "hollowing out" of the Japanese industry.

 

So, are the plans for the new National Center for Media Arts failing to address the real cause of this crisis?

 

"Smaller producers need financial assistance," says Nobuyuki Tsugata, 40, an associate professor of animation history at Kyoto Seika University, who while agreeing that the center's mandate for collecting historic anime materials for posterity is an important one, argues that this can be done without public funds.

 

"It's good for nothing," says veteran animator Yoshikazu Yasuhiko, 61, who worked on the classic Mobile Suit Gundam.

 

"Anime's as tough as a weed. They should just leave it alone. I worry that along with this help, the state will start to police its forms of expression."

 

However, JAniCA has chosen to throw its weight behind the project, submitting a proposal to the ruling Liberal Democratic Party to turn it into a training center for anime industry professionals.

 

"We could also allow tourists to see the actual process of creating anime," says project audit director Daisuke Okeda, 33.

 

And, despite the skepticism, it could prove an opportunity to draw attention to the problem facing Japan's anime world. However, as for the collection, archiving and exhibition of anime material, the Agency for Cultural Affairs has little in the way of concrete proposals. Game producer Tsunekazu Ishihara, 51, a member of the project's investigative commission, wonders exactly how much it can actually deliver.

 

"The estimated budget is 11.7 billion yen. That's about the same as a theme park attraction, so we can't expect too much from it."

 

While there are many issues under consideration, the prevailing hope among anime industry workers is not to let the project turn into empty gesture.

 

"In five or 10 more years, training the next generation will be impossible," says Okeda. And with little time left, the sense of gloom is palpable.

 

http://mdn.mainichi.jp/features/news/20090704p2a00m0na020000c.html

[disturbman]

It's not discrimination, it just goes to show anime does not have a fan base large enough to justify the costs of investing in broadcasting and distribution,. It's simply not a profitable enough.

 

I stand by what I said. It's a discrimination. The licensing and distribution system, like for music, need to adapt to the reality of Internet. A global license, to broadcast or sell this stuff on Internet, should exist. There is no reason in the global world that such regional divisions continue to exist. In fact, the author or producing company could be selling or broadcast this directly on the Internet.

 

I know I will pay a fee or a price to be able to access these ressources if the price is correct. I allready try, one day, to buy videos on Itunes. I was denied this posibility because I was not a US resident. That's pretty frustrating and a loss of business possibilities. The worst thing is, I don't need subtitles or french subtitles to watch a movie or a serie. But if I wait until, if ever it's released here, I will suffer their presence.

 

So like I said, this application of regional licensing system is a discrimination to me. If I want to buy something I should be abble to do so.

[Guest ___]

Well, that's not how the global business works, neither in Japan, the US, the UK or anyone else, the conscious business decision based on demographics and probability. The US market grew like it did becasue it was profitable, the R4 market does not becasue the distributors in these area did not feel it is viable. I want to see Tetsudo no Tabi released in R1 here by ADV or FUNi, it's not discrimination that ADV feels that this is not a viable title.

 

Distributors  have to invest a lot of money in to buying license rights, hiring dubbers or subbers. If they feel it is a losing proposition then they won't do it. that's not discrimination, that's being fiscally responsible to their employee's and the stockholders and board (if applicable)

 

Now, however, if Tokyo TV comes out and say, we're not going to release this to foreign distributors and refuse to sell license right to another country because let's say they think, l Well, Canada couldn't appropriate the humor, or weren't going to going to sell the rights for rebroadcast to America becasue we don't like their views on global warming or on their stance on vampire hunting, then that's discrimination.

 

Not release anime to foreign markets because it is not profitable is clearly not discrimination. As far as the Internet goes, look at the fiasco that happened with FUNI and the episode of OnePeace that was stolen off the net BEFORE iut aired in Japan. That one little act did more to damage online streaming distribution agreements than anything else.

 

I can see why there is concern like there is. It was bad enough with the music piracy which costs a fraction to produce compare with video media. Why pay for it when you can steal it or crack it off torrent for free?

[disturbman]

The problem here is that we are not speaking about the same thing here.

 

I'm speaking about changing the way, a part, of the cultural business is done. I'm not really speaking about physical distributions but only about virtual distribution. There should be a global Internet licence that if someone buys it everybody on the planet, without any border restriction, could access, pay for and consumpt.

 

If it exist the market will be bigger than just the american, the UK or australian one. It will be world wide, much more global than just a national one. It will then open new business opportunities to everyone. For the Japanese producers, in our case, that could easily mass market their product without anyone else.

 

It's a change, some sort of cultural revolution (yeah, I know, I sound cheesy). The one that the majors of the music industry never followed heartedly. I'm sure that there is also lots of people that don't want to buy physical product anymore. I know for some things I'm like that. I just love of being able to buy my game online and then download it when I want to play. Here it could be the same. It could even give a new future to independants producers/makers...

 

As for the problem of the music industry... they are far much deeper than just Internet stealing. For one thing the big business failure is only true for the majors. The Internet opened new possibilities to independant labels and self-produced bands. The fact is also that people now go more out see live music. Less money for the disc industry but more for the artists.

 

And last but not least, the decrease in music consumption start to happened when DVDs hit the market. I'm quite convinced that a good deal of the loss was a move from music to video. I never saw people buy so much movies and series than with DVDs. Money isn't infinite and if people start to buy masively something then something else is going to take a blow. that's mathematical.

 

So I repeart I'm one person, and I'm sure that tons of people will be ready to follow the lead if they were given the opportunity, that is not a native english speaker that will quite happy to buy online things whenever he wants or pay a reasonable monthly fee to be able to see things that he can't see otherwise. It's a long time now that I'm used to import things from over seas, why not take that to a step further?

 

Internet is an unbelievable ressource why not exploit it to the maximum?

[Guest ___]

I think you just summed it up best: Less money for the disc industry but more for the artists.

[disturbman]

So, I finished Welcome to the NHK! and I must say it was a great anime. It really make you dive deep down the otaku culture... and there is also a lot of different train to see. I think many Odakyu (or Tobu), one or two 115 Series, a E232 from the Yamanote Line and a 683 Thunder Bird Series. I think I never saw so many before.

 

Last point. I really can understand more what I'm seeing now that I visited Japan once.

[Guest ___]

I loved NHK, and the other big series I watched recently I liked was K'On!!

 

Not quite new, I did finally watch both seasons of Gundam 00 and liked it. It's been the best non-UC Gundam so far.

[disturbman]

I started Higashi no Eden and it looks like it's going to be a good catch. I'll report more when I see the end.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eden_of_the_East

[serenityFan]

I started Higashi no Eden and it looks like it's going to be a good catch. I'll report more when I see the end.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eden_of_the_East

 

thanks for the tip, I've almost forgot that I love this kind of anime... sometimes I just don't know where to find good titles.

 

so i've now got Higashi no Eden, I can watch it on my laptop whenever i have a 20 minute opening during the day. 2 episodes in, so far so good... 

[Guest ___]

Any other new series out there to recommend?

[bill937ca]

The author of the Crayon Shin-chan manga died in a hiking fall and is getting wide press coverage in Japan.

 

http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/news/20090921p2a00m0na008000c.html

 

http://www.asahi.com/english/Herald-asahi/TKY200909220059.html

 

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20090922a2.html

[Guest ___]

Yeah, that's pretty old news now. When he went missing, and didn't show up for a day we all sorta knew he wasn't coming home. sad times we live in now when the general consensus is that if someone is lost more than 24 hours, they're wolf food. (In this case, cliff food)

[disturbman]

No new things to recommend. I might be catching the Kaiba flight. One episode in and the design is really weird, a bit old school. Might get interesting but I don't know yet.

[Guest ___]

I just finished, Zan Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei Episode 11, minus the final episode slated for release this week. Starting Spice and Wolf this week.

 

 

 

ただの人間に興味ありません。この中に宇宙人、未来人、異世界人、超能力がいたら、あたしのところに来なさ い。以上。