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@eskercurve: +1 - You make some really insightful points.
The reason why I acted in a fairly dubious matter about the future prospects of Anime in my previous post in this thread is because as part of a dedicated fan base for this particular genre, me and other staunch fanboys and fangirls generally value Anime as superior to American-based cartoons. Perhaps the reason why Anime has not penetrated fully as some would desire into the markets is because of misconceived first impressions and generalizations by some people.
For example, I'd imagine that some individuals who are first introduced to Anime by an avid watcher would mistakenly group Anime into the category of "toddler and young children cartoons." However, in most cases, this is not necessarily true at all. Anime and manga's target audience varies from teenagers to middle-aged people and even beyond. Thus, as mentioned in my previous post above, reasons similar to this may be precluding cable and broadcast television companies from airing these types of shows on a regular basis. There are very few channels, at least in the USA, that are dedicated to Anime nowadays and have been for quite some time; and even the channels that do show a few Anime series only air the non-violent and non-sexual ones. A hardcore fan would still have to use the Internet to stream or download the series that are adult-themed.
Speaking of the Internet, do you think that online pirating and P2P domain hosting of such episodes may hinder the global growth of Anime? We already witnessed the decline of the music industry in terms of profit-making due to piracy in the USA, as well as in other countries. I have this concern as well, where distributors are hard-pressed to make revenue from physical and even digital sales of Anime.
@eskercurve: +1 - You make some really insightful points.
The reason why I acted in a fairly dubious matter about the future prospects of Anime in my previous post in this thread is because as part of a dedicated fan base for this particular genre, me and other staunch fanboys and fangirls generally value Anime as superior to American-based cartoons. Perhaps the reason why Anime has not penetrated fully as some would desire into the markets is because of misconceived first impressions and generalizations by some people.
For example, I'd imagine that some individuals who are first introduced to Anime by an avid watcher would mistakenly group Anime into the category of "toddler and young children cartoons." However, in most cases, this is not necessarily true at all. Anime and manga's target audience varies from teenagers to middle-aged people and even beyond. Thus, as mentioned in my previous post above, reasons similar to this may be precluding cable and broadcast television companies from airing these types of shows on a regular basis. There are very few channels, at least in the USA, that are dedicated to Anime nowadays and have been for quite some time; and even the channels that do show a few Anime series only air the non-violent and non-sexual ones. A hardcore fan would still have to use the Internet to stream or download the series that are adult-themed.
In a way the stereotype of the avid anime fan is reinforced by what gets marketed the most. The most popular anime in America is the shounen (young male) targeted series. Further, many series don't penetrate into the adult realm to be "taken seriously" because the majority of other cartoons that children get exposed to are clearly for children. In my opinion the last cartoon series that could potentially be enjoyed by adults were the Animaniacs and Batman series from the 90s. But even those were targeting young teens. So it's not surprising that the vast majority believe that anime is nothing but a niche for immature or otherwise marginalized people or the young.
I do not think that this will change until a series by happenstance makes it big here. Ghost in the Shell was one that I thought might change things, but then they had to make the main protagonist a buxom woman. Others that seem to make a mark in adult audiences also have a lot of violence, which doesn't help its image either.
In a way films like Kiki's Delivery Service may make the genre more acceptable if families can enjoy it, if anything for the fantasy and "exotic" aspects of it. Time will tell.
An interesting aside: manga and anime have been popular in France for over 40 years now. They have their own industry for it, amazingly, but I've always thought the French appreciated different art forms, more so than Americans. So it will be slow going I think.
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Speaking of the Internet, do you think that online pirating and P2P domain hosting of such episodes may hinder the global growth of Anime? We already witnessed the decline of the music industry in terms of profit-making due to piracy in the USA, as well as in other countries. I have this concern as well, where distributors are hard-pressed to make revenue from physical and even digital sales of Anime.
It's interesting you mention this. P2P sharing is halfway tolerated because the publishers and distributors recognize it's part of increasing the fanbase while eating away at profits. It's an interesting and different method of thinking, contrasting the Japanese conglomerates' attitude to those of American film and music studios, who have obviously chosen to more prolifically prosecute those who share music with others digitally. Apple helped create a new paradigm and I think the flim and music studios owe them their IP and enterprises, as their new way of doing business saved their industry.
I think eventually the Japanese conglomerates will have to do something similar here to ensure future profitability and future projects can move forward. They've tried really hard releasing the first season of many new series, notably Fairy Tail, on Hulu and Youtube. How well that translates into sales I don't know. All I know is they won't tolerate it because unlike in Japan, they can't sue doujin authors for copyright violations, since it isn't nearly as widespread here.
I think Japanese culture is so well liked in the USA (I'm not familiar with how it works outside the USA and Japan so don't ask me) mainly because despite it's reputation, it really isn't all that weird at all. Japanese society is also heavily influenced by the USA and I'm not surprised if there is the Japanese equivalent of a 'Weeboo'. Japan has for quite a long time made and/or designed much of the electronics and computer products sold in the world and understandibly Japanese culture was exported with those products. Even many video games today have Japanese influence; the Final Fantasy series and Mario/Nintendo are Japanese products, for example.
Anime has a great appeal since you are mixing both North American and Japanese cultures. Anime was heavily influenced by Disney and Warner Bros cartoons from what I understand. It creates entertainment that is novel enough to catch your eye but isn't so weird that it turns you away. I have several anime DVDs myself and the influence of Shinto is obvious. However, Shinto isn't really all that far from the major world religions and contrary to the common perception of all Americans as being hyper-religious 'Christians', many Americans aren't and might not find it as bizarre as one might think. Also, anime has the cartoon feel but is more 'adult' in its mannerisms and topics. It's usually not over-sexualized (outside of hentai) but pushes the envelope more than US cartoons, and that might be the appeal to US fans. American society can be puritan to people outside of it, and many Americans themselves don't like the puritan environment. I don't think Disney is going to sexualize Mickey and Minnie Mouse anytime soon and to many people Disney is a kid's company. Japan and the other developed countries are usually more comfortable having a more looser and risque environment overall is what I'm thinking; what is considered very puritan in Europe and East Asia would be either normal or borderline extreme in most US States. It's not a surprise that Japanophiles are less puritan than the average American.
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^ I would hardly call contemporary American pop culture 'puritan', the media is pretty secular and liberal. Not that it really pushes the envelope or anything, even sex scenes in movies are pretty 'safe' and are hardly like porn films. But the prevalence of pornography coming out of the US shows that America should tell you something. It seems after the US Japan is one of the biggest producers of pornography as well, but funnily enough, the genitals are often 'blurred out' in Japanese porn.
But yes, maybe you're referring more to animated films, where there is more of a tradition of more 'adult' animated films that are taken as seriously as live action, unlike the strict categorization of animated films as mostly 'kid's stuff', although many American adults are beginning to appreciate animated films more. The Disney classics for instance, mainly the older ones, definitely have a very universal appeal.
US entertainment is hardly puritan. I'd say it's vulgar, just without full nudity. I imagine the entertainment teens in the US are exposed to warps them more than teens seeing boobs in say French television. Japanese entertainment is extremely conservative though (in comparison), aside from some late, late night programs on the less watched channels. There is not a Japanese equivalent to the Real World, Jersey Shore, or any other similar trash show that is popular with teens.
Speaking of the Internet, do you think that online pirating and P2P domain hosting of such episodes may hinder the global growth of Anime? We already witnessed the decline of the music industry in terms of profit-making due to piracy in the USA, as well as in other countries. I have this concern as well, where distributors are hard-pressed to make revenue from physical and even digital sales of Anime.
Merchandise sales, other than dvd's, seems to be the money maker in the Anime world.
I guess cartoons like Anime is one of their biggest export, they are also well known by exporting cars/automobile (Toyota, Kawasaki, Honda, Mazda, Mitsubishi etc.), samurai sword & ninjas usually portraying in action movies.
Japanese make good cartoons, I like it. Their AV films are good too. But I'd rather say most of their cultures are derived from China, so they are much like Chinese culture.
Japanese Anime seems to be picking up a vast new audience in the many parents that are attending festivals like Supanova. I've written a review on this exhibition. [url]http://www.weekendnotes.com/supanova-pop-culture-expo-gold-coast/[/url]
As a parent I was aware of Japanese pop culture from the country itself in the 1990's, however, I wasn't aware of its value until I watched the political and philosophical Attack on Titan. It seems it has a place in modern education to explore such issues as environmental damage, political control and psychology in general.
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Others that seem to make a mark in adult audiences also have a lot of violence, which doesn't help its image either.
Supanova Gold Coast
