Anime Decline continues

R

Ryo Chan

Symphogear
found this interesting article at ICv2 News

According to reports from Japan, both the sell-through anime and manga markets declined there last year. A report released by the Japan Video Software Association sizes the 2006 market for Japanese animation at roughly 95 billion yen ($826 million), or 29% of the total video market. That's down 2% from the 2005 total. Home video sales were down roughly 11% in total, however, so the anime drop is lower than the market decline as a whole.

Home video sales are under pressure in all developed countries, as the catalogue conversions from VHS to DVD are complete and the DVD market matures. Downloading is also starting to be a factor.

The 2006 manga market in Japan was sized by a report from the Research Institute for Publications, reported in the U.S. by ComiPress, at 481 billion yen ($4.1 billion), down 4.2% from 2005. This continues a ten year decline from 585 billion yen in 1996. Print is under pressure in Japan, as it is here, from electronic forms of entertainment.

Japan also has unfavorable demographic trends. With a low birth rate and strict immigration controls, Japanese society is aging, reducing the pool of consumers in the teen and young adult age groups.

The sales trends of manga and anime in Japan are certainly one explanation for why Japanese companies are looking to other countries as markets for their pop culture products. And the Japanese markets for manga and anime are much larger, in both absolute and per capita terms, than the markets in the U.S., which may indicate considerable upside for the business here.
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interesting that japans having to push other countries now to get anime out there, could bode well for us in the short run
 
It's probably because so much of it is readily avaliable on the internet for free now, and more and more people are becoming aware of this. :P
 
The article does raise some valid points, people change over time and so do thier tastes. However this could mean a bigger push into our markets, which could be good news.
 
Alice said:
It's probably because so much of it is readily avaliable on the internet for free now, and more and more people are becoming aware of this. :P
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I agree, most people would rather just dl the fansubs rather than pay for the anime they want to see, lets face it with UK dvd prices being what they are its not exactly a cheap addiction especially if there are multiple series tyou are addicted to.

The cost is not so bad if you are working full time, but when I was at uni, I could only afford a thinpak boxset a month or two dvd's as the rest of the money went on rent, bills and partying
 
What everyone has to remember is that Japan is another world when it comes to television entertainment. The majority of anime produced is for Television where it makes it makes money from advertising like many of the British programs released over here. Coupled with that and the very strong DVD rental market in Japan DVD sales are not that important to a company and are a fraction of those in the UK.

While over here most of our anime is purchased on DVD and even in the states shows are bought even if they are on TV. In Japan the DVD market is a lot smaller and DVD's cost a lot more than here.

I don’t see this slight drop in DVD sales as very important to anime development in Japan. However it could become serous if it continues.
 
Ryo Chan said:
interesting that japans having to push other countries now to get anime out there, could bode well for us in the short run
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I just hope that if sales continue to decline they don't start making more series aimed at western audiences. That would hold no interest for me what so ever
 
butch-cassidy said:
In Japan the DVD market is a lot smaller and DVD's cost a lot more than here.
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You can say that again. We complain about say R.O.D-the-TV being about £14.99 a volume as an example and the japanese releases aren't only the same price or more but each volume only contains half the episodes.
 
i would hope that this will maybe a little beneficial for us bif they do decide to license more series of anime/manga here in the UK.

Even though there maybe a series of anime fansubbed online, i may watch it on there, but if it was a series i liked, i would still buy the DVD as well. Like for example, when Black Lagoon is released in the US, i will probably start importing the DVD's.
 
It could also effect us in a bad way as well they may decide to stop fucusing on the british market and focus on the japanese market again and make it what it was.
 
pomtry said:
It could also effect us in a bad way as well they may decide to stop fucusing on the british market and focus on the japanese market again and make it what it was.
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No, the vast majority of anime in the UK is published by UK companies. I can't even think of a title published by a Japanese company, so it won't affect us.
 
Arbalest said:
i would hope that this will maybe a little beneficial for us bif they do decide to license more series of anime/manga here in the UK.

Even though there maybe a series of anime fansubbed online, i may watch it on there, but if it was a series i liked, i would still buy the DVD as well. Like for example, when Black Lagoon is released in the US, i will probably start importing the DVD's.
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I have about 4/5 series that i really want on dvd but arent available here yet., If they come out here or in the states i'll end up buying them but i can't see myself importing straight from japan.
 
Its hardly surprising that DVD sales are low in Japan, its even worse than the UKs DVD prices.

Lets take a long running show like Naruto for instance;
1 DVD has about 2-4 episodes on it for 3900yen [about £17-18]
Could you imagen how much it would cost to buy teh whole series. =/
Where as in the UK we can get 13 episodes for £20.

and obviously anime being avalible online affects it to. :?
 
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