Forum - View topicAnswerman - Impenetrable Markets
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TarsTarkas
 Posts: 5824 Location: Virginia, United States |
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If they could make lots of money, they would probably consider it, but there is not enough paying Western fans to make that even a consideration. |
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HyugaHinata
 Posts: 3505 |
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I think there could be a small market for Drama CDs in the US. If they were used for intermediate/advanced Japanese classes, they could well sell at least a few hundred.
I sometimes listen to the Toradora! Drama CDs. They're not that difficult to understand if you've been learning Japanese for a few years (and they'd be easier to translate than entire prose novels). |
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mdo7
 Posts: 6253 Location: Katy, Texas, USA |
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Yeah it's unfortunate, sadly, Japan won't make MP3 or podcast version of these dramas avaliable. BTW, putting radio dramas as podcast seem to be working well according to a Guardian article in the UK and a Wall Street Journal article. I know Radio drama in Japan are popular, but as Justin said there's not a big market in the US for it and Japan doesn't make use of MP3 or podcast to distribute these radio dramas. So it's not worth it. Also I agreed Japan doesn't really take the international market as they used to, I think Japan dropped the ball compared to their Asian's neighbor which I won't mention their name, but Japan's neighbor take the international market seriously and make sure they don't ignore the fanbases. About the 2nd part: Yes I agreed why some anime releases don't have dub in them, the cost of dubbing anime can be expensive, so I don't mind they sacrifice the dub to keep the companies going. But it won't make dub fans happy. About the 3rd part: it's not only that, there's another reason why Hollywood premiere in Japan is dead last, it's because Japan's movie market isn't as big it used to be. I remember in the past, Japan (and Hong Kong) used to be where Hollywood do their Asian premiere, but that's no longer the case anymore. We've seen Hollywood films doing Asian premiere in Mainland China, but now the premiere for Hollywood films in Asia is in South Korea, that country became the 5th largest movie market worldwide. From what I observed, more Hollywood films are getting Asian premiere in South Korea not in Japan, Mainland China, or Hong Kong as they used to in the past. Yes South Korea is now where Hollywood film do their premiere, Japan's movie market is not as big as it used to hence why Hollywood films seem to premiere in Japan dead last. So if Hollywood want to target the Asian market, South Korea goes first, Japan and China goes later. It's no wonder why CNN said South Korea is the "Hollywood of the East". I believe Will Smith back in 2012 praise the Korean film market. I don't know what to add for the 4th question/answer because I don't read manga on CR. EDIT 3: adding the Wall Street Journal article titled Return With Us to the Thrilling Days Of Yesteryear—Via the Internet. Last edited by mdo7 on Sat Mar 22, 2014 3:31 pm; edited 3 times in total |
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Oneeyedjacks
 Posts: 307 |
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Speaking of Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust, is that movie stuck in some sort of licensing hell? It's easily number one on my list of stuff that desperately needs a rescue and Blu-ray remaster. |
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Meygaera
 Posts: 324 Location: Maryland |
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So an English speaking audience could never influence marketing decisions in Japan?
I think we're forgetting about a little unpopular girl named Kuroki Tomoko. Who's fault is it that she's not popular? It's definitely not the English speaking audience I can tell you that. It was the Japanese otaku's reaction that initially made her unpopular, however they advertised on the physical manga release that it was "a smash hit on the overseas version of 2chan!!" Plus with the new Space Dandy anime airing dubbed simultaneously, I'd say the times are changing for the better. |
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Rederoin
 Posts: 1427 Location: Europa |
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1 anime(Space dandy) out of the 180+ that will air this year, is hardly a sign of chance. And going by the known data, the Watamote anime wasn't exactly a success. |
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Mister Ryan Andrews
 Posts: 219 |
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I don't blame Japan for not caring about the American market.. US fans seem very cheap. You always see people complaining in disc sale threads on their favorite show doing poorly and then you ask them if they imported it and they went all 'No way, that's expensive!'. Until American fans want to put their purchasing power where their mouth is, they shouldn't expect any kind of representation in the medium.
Watamote was already made, and being popular on 4chan isn't going to decide if it keeps being published or not. It's a selling statement since a lot of series use 2ch as an advertisement, in this case they try to use 'Gaijin 2ch!" as a selling point. It's not like the editors of the magazine went 'Oh, well 4chan likes it, let's not cancel it'. It only continues to exist because of the Japanese sales, not what an internet message board thinks. Space Dandy has production issues which is why it's probably a good idea NOT to do that. You have people working on the show complaining about the dub changing stuff, and I have to imagine the very short time frame anime is made can't be a very comfortable work environment. How do you dub a episode if it doesn't get finished until a few hours before it airs like it sometimes does in Japan? Just do an audio of the script and hope it matches up and there's no last minute changes? Space Dandy might be a fun experiment but I doubt it's something they'll make a habit out of. And hey, it's only being done with Space Dandy because Watanabe's stuff is more popular in the US than Japan, specifically Cowboy Bebop which Adult Swim has run into the ground and refused to let die.. I doubt any other American networks or Japanese company would put as much effort into this kind of push for any of the hundreds of other shows that come out every year. Exception to the rule. Plus we got to see how much Space Dandy sells. Airing it in the US is cool and all but how do they make their money back off American fans? I think that's kinda the kicker for catering to Americans. We know how anime makes its money in Japan, but American fans don't buy as much as Japanese fans, and I wonder how much they make off TV advertismenets. I think SD's profits are still going to be up to Japanese disc sales unless I'm missing something. Last edited by Mister Ryan Andrews on Fri Mar 21, 2014 6:34 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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DmonHiro
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Watamote isn't a smash hit ANYWHERE. The Japanese disks sold very few units, and while the manga did get a boost, it was very insignificant. I don't think it was that popular in the US, but even if it were, it would still not make much money. So yeah...
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TarsTarkas
Posts: 5824 Location: Virginia, United States |
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Also, don't think Watamote was aimed at the West, it was just by chance it resonated with some. |
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Looneygamemaster
 Posts: 192 |
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I have noticed a vocal group of users who consistently report that American loved anime "wasn't popular in Japan" and that "anime will keep pandering to otaku." And I may be wrong, but every time I read something like that, I detect a sort of...pride. Like "We're GLAD all anime is the same otaku-pandering stuff."
If this is true (IF, mind you), I have to ask...why? Won't the same thing over and over again get boring? Is it wrong to hope for something different? |
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Mister Ryan Andrews
Posts: 219 |
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What do you mean different? People use shows like Kill la Kill or Space Dandy as an example of 'anime that buck the trend of otaku pandering' despite the absurd amount of tits and ass in those shows. 'Otaku pandering' is a useless term that doesn't mean anything apparently if they can look at Ryuko's outfit and go "NOPE, nothing pandering going on here, unlike that KyoAni crap!" Then it just leads to 'I remember the good old days of Cowboy Bebop and Trigun' which goes into the 'well, those shows didn't do that great in Japan..' and then THAT goes into 'Well, they should cater to the American markets then!' and then 'Well there's no money there' and yadda yadda. I got no problem is with the way anime is right now, maybe you can elaborate? There's plenty of variety for me but it seems like the people who DO say 'it's all the same' don't explain why they think that outside vague phrases and words like 'moe' and 'otaku pandering'.
Though I'd totally love to see what happens if US fans bought BDs. Seriously. Get everyone on different sites together and go 'Okay guys, let's all pre-order vol 1 of this show' for something they think is anti otaku pandering and see what happens. I think it'd be a fun experiment if they do manage to coordinate and do that and suddenly this random show has 10K+ volumes sold and how the companies might react if they saw those sales were from import sites or something. Would be a fun business experiment. |
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Cptn_Taylor
Posts: 925 |
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The artistic dissonance between what japanese fans like and what western fans like in anime has being going on since the start of tv anime. So it's not a new phenomenon. The big big big difference between then and now is WHAT influences japanese anime creators are subject to. This has nothing to do with western fans, purchasing power or not. It is a 1000% Japanese problem, one that has been tackled to death even by industry giants the likes of Tomino and Miyazaki.
As is true of every other medium, accept the fact that most of production is "shit" and every once in a while you'll get a pearl. It's going to be different for every fan but the gist is that. Most of what gets produced (now or then) is/was forgettable. Few things stand the test of time. |
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sailorsweeper
Posts: 416 |
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I have thought this myself and would love to see what would happen. |
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Shiroi Hane
Encyclopedia Editor
 Posts: 7580 Location: Wales |
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I don't know if there's a word missing there somewhere, but I'm having trouble parsing that sentence.
There was a web radio programme for Kiddy GiRL-and that included both seiyuu chat and a pre-recorded mini audio drama. It can't be the only one. |
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egoist
 Posts: 7762 |
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Japanese like American things except American things made in Japan. It's about the same feelings American fans have towards anime made in the US? Well, I wouldn't blame either. It's just an instinct to doubt anything vaguely fake.
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