In 2000, the anime industry was
on the brink of what looked like a global takeover, and was pushing live action movies to the side. However, trouble began to take hold just a few years later, when
labour issues involving long hours and low pay, along with a
sharp drop in anime DVD sales, began to cause serious trouble for the industry. Although some government officials
pinned their hopes in beefing up exports in order to breathe life into the economy, to industry insiders the situation looked
bleak and
possibly unresolvable using traditional models. However, other avenues - such as the internet, and even internet piracy - were studied for their economic effects. The results?
Mixed.
A
report from the Japanese Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry released in February 2011 came to the conclusion that pirated episodes of anime showed on YouTube did not hurt the sale of anime DVDs, but helped increased sales of them. In addition, in 2011 - when sales of DVDs as a whole
dropped by 13.5% - sales of anime DVDs went up
by 5.3%, ending a five-year slump.
At the same time, this is just the domestic market. Overseas, the increase of available material on the internet does not appear to have helped sales, as a report the same year from the Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO) showed anime DVD sales in America had been on an almost
steady decline since 2003. Sales have been so low, in fact, that even giants like
Bandai Entertainment are shuttering their doors in North America, and Funimation voice actor Kyle Hebert believes piracy has a
direct effect on lagging sales.
But if fans are used to watching shows as fansubs, who buys DVDs? I knew a few guys who would import Japanese DVDs in advance of any US availability, because they wanted pristine video and they had the money, but they were rarities. Most of the fans downloaded episodes, only buying their favorite shows on DVD.
posted by filthy light thief at 5:18 PM on February 2