WTK

It's slated for early 2011 (but that from a little from the license announcement). I'm sure it's subjected to change.

davidh777

Just mostly echoing what others have said. Pokemon was probably the mainstream peak, and people at that time didn't mind buying single discs (or tapes) of a few episodes. I think the TV-on-DVD boom hurt because people could buy a full season for $40-60 and when they did the math anime didn't look so good. Licensing rights have always been expensive for U.S. companies--they have to bid high on unknown franchises, or perhaps on franchises they don't want so they can get something they do want. And prices in Japan are much higher than they are in the U.S., so rights holders want to charge more or withhold Blu-ray rights, etc. Loss of the mall stores definitely hurt. The fact that a number of U.S. studios have disappeared emphasizes the impression that the industry is slumping.

OutRun2

Hmm, I would argue Dragonball Z was the mainstream peak, and rightfully so, as it remains one of my favorite shows of all time to this day.

Ash Ketchum

Wait, Dragonball Z when it ran on syndication or Dragonball Z when it ran on Cartoon Network? I've been following anime's inroads into the U.S. market for over 20 years and I'd argue that Pokemon began anime's mainstream peak, which continued with Sailor Moon and DB/DBZ on Cartoon Network and lasted right up until Naruto, but then fell off afterward, once Naruto had finished its initial run on CN. But all Sailor Moon and DB/DBZ were doing in syndication, prior to their CN run, was helping to gradually build the audience for anime in the U.S. But it took Pokemon and some of the follow-up series (like Digimon) to push anime to a point where you couldn't NOT talk about it. Nobody was really talking about anime in the mainstream media to any substantial degree until after Pokemon. Even The New York Times had to sit up and take notice.

barbybrant

I can think of a bunch more things the studios did to hurt themselves, at least as far as my own buying was concerned:

Stopped releasing "Case Closed" (Detective Conan) without finishing the series. Stopped releasing "Hikaru No Go" without finishing the series. Stopped releasing "Prince of Tennis" without finishing the series. Stopped releasing "Glass Mask" without finishing the series. Sold "Yawara Part I" and then revealed that the other parts were not even licensed and never would be.

Of course, that makes the customer who gets burned want to wait on buying other properties until there's a whole series release guaranteed, and sometimes by that time (if it happens at all) the interest is no longer there.

WTK

Detective Conan is still ongoing in Japan (more than 600 episodes). FUNimation would be nuts to license everything (and future ones) at once. The franchise just didn't perform (and translate) well here. It reminds me of the Lupin franchise.

Hikaru no Go and Prince of Tennis fall under two of very many series that VIZ Media didn't want to finish.

Glass Mask is not finished so far due to poor sales. They would like to finish it.

Yawara! is even more disappointing. AnimEigo didn't have the whole series. Oh well.

big e

I know the feeling. I've been waiting for Hellsing Ultimate vol. 5 for the last 2 years (it's up to, what, vol. 8 in Japan now?). I know Hellsing has been license-rescued by Funimation and vol. 5 is slated to come out this year, but I'd feel a lot better if an actual date had been announced instead of just 2011.

Ash Ketchum

Sports anime doesn't do well here, for a variety of reasons. Nor does shoujo anime, although shoujo manga does well. Girls are more willing to buy manga than DVDs. And males are more willing to buy DVDs, as long as they promise action. Males are just not that interested in shoujo anime. I would love to see the original "Glass Mask" released here, the one from 1984. I have a VHS fan-sub containing the first four eps. and it's one of the highlights of my collection. But it'll never happen. Not enough interest. I'd love to see the manga published in English.

How have the shoujo anime series "Nana" and "Paradise Kiss" performed here? I know that four box sets of Nana have been released. I bought them all. It's a great show, and the manga's great also. Do the four box sets contain the entire series? Or is there more to come (or not come)? How have the sales been? I have the first volume of "Paradise Kiss" and I'd love to buy more but I haven't seen any subsequent volumes in stores.

WTK

Anything involving Geneon Universal Ent. (Japan) has been noted by FUNi as being time consuming. I wouldn't rule out that any of those Geneon properties including Hellsing Ultimate Vol.5 to Vol.7 gets delayed to 2012 (Vol.8 has not been released yet in Japan).

WTK

Yeah, sports anime typically stinks it up. It's being publicly known that Big Windup! absoloutely bombed for FUNimation. I'm sure they are pretty much done with the "pure" sports anime. They may still license the likes of Bamboo Blade.
I'm amazed that VIZ somehow finished releasing Nana on DVD. The four sets does contain everything that has been created for the anime side of things. You would have to continue with the manga to get more of the story.

Paradise Kiss is/was one of the Geneon USA licensed, FUNi distributed properties. It's currently discontinued. The Geneon USA (before FUNi distro agreement) has been long discontinued. There is only the clear brick re-release now (that you should still be able to find). The original chipboard boxset is OOP.

fujishig

As a lifelong anime fan (first Reideen then Mazinger Z and original Mobile Suit Gundam, untranslated), even I've gotten a bit tired and slowed down my anime watching. Much of it is because I still have a gigantic backlog of good to great series that I have yet to watch/rewatch. Some of it is because of the cutthroat pricing, where if I'm not ready to watch a series right away, it makes absolutely no financial sense to buy it as it comes out. Absolutely none. But then again, I also buy less DVDs (and Blu Rays) as a whole than I used to because I long ago reached saturation with my collection, so at least for me it's not specific to anime.

I do think piracy has hurt. I'm not sure pricing has hurt so much... to me, besides the exclusives and Honneamise-like releases where the Japanese companies think they can release stuff here at Japanese prices, anime is cheaper than ever... there are more episodes per release, and the costs have come way down. Of course, I used to buy 2 episodes on a VHS tape with no dub track for 30 to 40 bucks a piece, and was elated when they started "packing" four eps per DVD with both audio tracks and subs. But the market has saturated, especially for a niche market, and the licensing prices went out of control. In addition to the loss of Suncoast, etc. as distributors, a major mall retailer (forget which one) went into bankruptcy and didn't pay the companies back for the unsold stock, which made a huge dent in some of the smaller companies.

There are also far fewer slots on TV to air/advertise anime. Cartoon Network's Adult Swim long ago morphed to mainly original content... I think Naruto, Bleach, Kekkaishi, and some older shows are the only ones still airing there. I would've thought Gundam Seed would've created a new audience, but that apparently didn't do well at all, and 00 went to Sci Fi.

Also, as others have stated, the state of the anime industry in Japan is not all too rosy either, with budgets tightening and stuff becoming self-referential to the point of excluding the mainstream.

It made me sad when the company releasing Orguss stopped distributing the discs... they had a deal with RightStuf to press the discs on demand, to make it cheaper to distribute. I doubt we'll see many older mecha series come out here, legally.

Manga domestically also seems overly saturated... they did really well getting space in bookstores, but that space has long since been filled, and companies like Tokyopop drastically scaled back. Pirating may not hurt them as much yet, but all the kids sitting in the bookstore reading manga for free probably does something.

chrisc31

Or like me who does not read manga, I only like animes.

Ash Ketchum

I found the Paradise Kiss Complete Collection box set at Kinokuniya Books tonight. It's a shame double dipping on the first volume (I watched eps. 1-4 last night for the TV on DVD challenge), but it was the only way to find the rest of the series in a store at all. The price was high ($39.98), but I really wanted the series. I loved the first four eps.

Ash Ketchum

There may be many more people who only read the manga and never watch the anime. Fujishig's concisely-made point was that the kids who read manga in the store and never buy it hurt the market by being consumers of the product without paying for it. It would be like walking into a video store and watching everything on a DVD player there without buying or renting it. When I was a kid, we could never go into a shop that sold comic books and stand there reading one without buying it. The owner would yell at us and tell us to buy it or put it back. "Whaddaya think this is, a library?" (I remember newsstand/soda shop owners in my old neighborhood, one of whom was a WWII combat veteran and one of whom was a Holocaust survivor. These were hardcore dudes who didn't mess around.) Today's Baby Boomer (and younger) bookstore managers, in trying to create a friendly environment for readers, undercut their own business.

davidh777

It always surprises me to go into Barnes and Noble and see (1) a big bookcase of manga and (2) people sitting there reading and never (as far as I can tell) buying. Why use the shelf space for something that's not making money and presumably not attracting the kind of customer you want either.

OutRun2

So true. I am also guilty of doing this. Not with manga(which I loathe, but that's another topic) but with magazines such as GameFan, EGM, etc. Would drive to the newsstand in Hollywood and would just stand there sometimes for over two hours reading a shitload of different mags Newsstand manager didn't give two shits either

chrisc31

My cousin used to only read mangas but I let her borrow a bunch of my anime dvds, now she watches fan-subs. I got another cousin that I also let borrow a few dvds and now he started to buy dvds he was only watching fan-subs before.

For someone that always do that I can see how its bad, but like if I start reading manga in a bookstore it could change my mind about reading mangas. I never really even looked at a manga before so it would be a good thing if I start doing it.

What I think hurts anime companies more then fan-subs is like FYE, Movie Stop, and other companies that buy used dvds. Anime companies don't get any money for the resale. I think dvd producers should crack down on that more then trying to stop fan-subs. Fan-subs help get people intrested in an anime then they can buy the dvd with an english dub. thers not much difference between selling used dvds and bootlegs.

One thing I think anime and manga companies should do with stores like FYE, and Barns and Nobles is exchange merchandise, get stuff off the shelfs thats been there for 5+ years and put new merchandise in its place.

Ash Ketchum

I think you're being a little harsh there. What do you suggest be done with used anime DVDs? Throw them out and add to the landfill? Send them back to the anime distributor once you're done with them and let THEM resell them? Give them to the library? (That's not a bad idea.) I buy a lot of used DVDs because they're so much cheaper and because I can't find them in regular stores. A lot of anime goes out of print so quickly that sometimes you can ONLY find them in used DVD bins. Plus, I buy a large amount of anime new (several hundred dollars a year--more in some years), including various box sets that have only come out in the last couple of years, so I can say I do my part to keep the market alive.

fujishig

The thing about the bookstores: not only is the manga usually full priced (even at Amazon!) but in the B&Ms, all the kids reading them means I will never buy a book there, because they are basically used!

I agree that returns would help refresh stock, and perhaps there is already a mechanism in place for that, but either way it would be very expensive for the publisher, and what would they do with the old stock? The other thing to keep in mind is that a lot of the more popular series are very long running... Naruto, for instance, is almost up to 50. You still want to keep "backissues" of that for new readers, but that takes away space from other series. I have also never seen a clearance sale for old stock, which would be another way to refresh stock. I don't think the problem is old stock, though...

As a huge manga fan, I highly recommend at least trying it out, especially if the anime series you like was originally manga. Often, you'll find the story gets completed in manga when it didn't in anime, and it has far less filler. It's also much quicker to read than to watch 30 minute episodes if you want to refresh your memory of what happened on a long running series.

As far as used videos: I don't know anyone who buys used anime videos, and I know a ton of people who download and watch fansubs of ALREADY LICENSED properties instead of buying. With the ever decreasing price of anime these days (from individual releases to boxsets to economy sets to clearance sales) I'm not even sure it's economical to buy used anime these days, especially if you'll struggle to complete a set. I mean, you can get an entire season of Full Metal Panic for 20 bucks or less on Blu Ray at amazon right now. Granted, that series has already made it's money on DVD releases and is currently in a big sale, but are those guys who watched it for free on fansubs going out and buying it now? Somehow I doubt it.

Ash Ketchum

The store I get my used anime DVDs from (Book Off) also sells used manga. I go there when I develop an interest in a series long after it's started publication and I want to find Volume 1 and other early volumes, which can no longer be found in the regular first-run comic book stores (e.g. Midtown Comics, Jim Hanley's Universe).

chrisc31

I would have never known Kampfer was really good, its sub-only so a review can't be trusted. Anime Network didn't say they would stream it until after I saw it. I don't download anything just watch streaming. I am going to order it real soon.

Edit: I just ordered Koihime Muso, & Kampfer.

I have a few anime dvds that I bought used that you can't find new anymore. I just don't think stores like FYE, and Movie Stop should sell used in there stores it takes up space that could be used for series that they don't have.

davidh777

I don't really think used sales are a big part of the problem. I do think retailers should have fresher stock and don't know if that's due to one-way-buy policies by the studios, poor return terms, retailer laziness, or what.

It's just a tough time all around for TV product--too many ways for people to watch. Mainstream TV series don't sell like they used to, and now you're talking about a much smaller audience, one I'd guess is more tech-savvy than the norm in figuring out other ways to watch.

big e

I wish Adult Swim would get some different anime shows. They've been airing Bleach, Cowboy Bebop, and Ghost in the Shell: SAC for the last 2-3 years.

fujishig

They did add Kekkaishi, which isn't even slated (as far as I know) for a DVD release yet.

chrisc31

I know what you mean about needing to carry backissues, like it would be unwise to have "Dragon Ball Z" season 5 and not have seasons 1-4. What I am talking about is having volumes 2 & 5 of "Princess Tutu" and no other volume and selling them for $29.98 each. I think Stores like FYE would do much better in sales if they only sell complete collections even is its at the MSRP price.

I just got back from the FYE near me and they are just about done phasing out anime. A new months ago I thought they were just making the area smaller. I hope that FYE closes now to help other stores in the area that sell anime.