So what do you think the future of anime is?

[Nyu]

in the U.K and in the industry as a whole? I had a little think about this today while i was pottering around at the gym. What is going to happen to anime in the UK and the world in say 5-10 years? If we look at it as a whole the amount of anime and viewers has gone up with more and more material now available than ever.

But do you think thats where its going to peak? At DVD only releases? Do you ever think there will be anime movies shown at cinemas and be as mainstream as it is in japan? Don't get me wrong i think the market is still strong but with lots of the most popular series begining to age and thier original fans growing older with them will popularity start to decline?

What do i think needs to happen for anime to become even more popular? Well for a start anime needs a decent outline into the UK media, it's all fine and dandy being a niche market but i would really love it to become bigger and better than it already is. Obviously it's easy enough to say create a channel on freeview etc and pump out naruto and bleach everyday (and i would if i won the euromillions) But to be truely succesfull i think the market needs to start pumping out newer material and try to tap into what people love about anime to begin with.

One of the problems with this i belive is the turnaround times in DVD's and the sub/dub section. I have seen some animes where the sub's are tottaly inaccurate and ones with dub voices that are so shocking i would rather watch it in mute.

I belive there is a huge market left untapped in the U.K and it's just waiting there to be exploited, I'm just wondering if anyone has the balls and the money to try and crack that market.

 

[Lupus]

It'll be the same in ten years time, ups and downs, but will eventually reach for what America has.

 

[Ryo Chan]

as said above or, the extreamists that are trying to get certian games banned in europe will move onto anime and anime company's will be afraid to show certain big shows.

 

[random_pie]

as said above or, the extreamists that are trying to get certian games banned in europe will move onto anime and anime company's will be afraid to show certain big shows.

I hope not! :shock:

With the increase in box sets and drop in price of regular volumes (many series can now be bought for £70 in single volumes compared to paying £120+) the amount of sales should go up and this should result in more series being licensed. So if people buy the series that they like then anime could become far more popular in just a couple of years.

 

[Nyu]

As good as that sounds don't you think anime should be aiming higher for that? Possibly even to the extent of the US market. I'm over the moon with dvd prices and box sets but i would love to see a series on T.V before it was released.

For anime to become, more mainstream so to speak.

 

[McIcy]

I would be over the moon if Anime were to take a prominent role on UK tv but there are many reasons why this could never happen, especially not in the mainstream/terrestrial channels. With our own animation industry having first dibs on productions they will always get picked first. Not many shows seem to live a long life on UK tv. Look at shows like Digimon or Monster Rancher (I really liked M.R. its was one of my fave series and definately preferred it to Digimon) they were at one point on after school and saturday morning tv but these have since vanished from our screens. Sure Pokemon still exists but this has been pretty much taken over by Toonami and they are the only ones who show it now.

If anime were to become more mainstream it would have to have a UK influence, like Jackie Chan: Adventures, clearly anime style themes but with a western look and feel in character designs.

I love the fact that DVD's are cheaper now and thanks to the internet we have access to new series that we would never have seen otherwise.

In my opinion the only way anime will truely grow in the uk is if kids are brought up on it from a young age, like the Pokemon and Yu Gi Oh generation, they just need series with a more adult nature (unedited Bleach, Naruto or GITS) to keep them interested when they stop watching the Pikachus and Card Dealers. But it seems that the moment they grow out of the series of there childhoods they are expected to be hooked on teen drama's. If only one or two decent animes were around for them to try out, then maybe the industry would accept them on there channels more freely.

as said above or, the extreamists that are trying to get certian games banned in europe will move onto anime and anime company's will be afraid to show certain big shows.

I agree look at Naruto its only fun til you realise that what is being portrayed is 14-15 year old kids killing each other....... BUT look at pokemon thats about kids catching wild animals and making them fight each other for fun, now isn't that illegal and you'd expect the RSPCA tobe saying that it would encourage kids to mke cats and dogs fight.

One of the problems with this i belive is the turnaround times in DVD's and the sub/dub section. I have seen some animes where the sub's are tottaly inaccurate and ones with dub voices that are so shocking i would rather watch it in mute.

I totally agree with this point too, some anime dvd's I have (Initial D Stage 4 is one), is so bad and off that it would mean that whoever decided to show the animes would have to pay for a re-sub or even more expensively a re-dub which stations are rarely willing to pay for especially if there are cheap UK/US series floating around already in english and can be aired instantly.


I guess in the end it comes down to the easy maths of

FUNDING divided by COSTING = PROFIT



sorry if I have waffled on a bit, but this is my many opinions on the subject

 

[Ramadahl]

But do you think thats where its going to peak? At DVD only releases? Do you ever think there will be anime movies shown at cinemas and be as mainstream as it is in japan?

I very much doubt it will ever be as popular as it is in Japan - that'd require quite the social paradigm shift. I'm sure the market will peak eventually, but where it'll plateau I couldn't say. At a guess, at slightly more exposure than we get at the moment - a good number of DVD releases, with some limited access on TV and at cinemas.

But to be truely succesfull i think the market needs to start pumping out newer material and try to tap into what people love about anime to begin with.

That's also easy to say - what it is that people love about anime to begin with? Do you think it'll be something summed up by a simple common factor?

One of the problems with this i belive is the turnaround times in DVD's and the sub/dub section. I have seen some animes where the sub's are tottaly inaccurate and ones with dub voices that are so shocking i would rather watch it in mute.

I believe there's a few reasons for the turnaround time (to do with the way dubs are recorded, in part), so don't expect it to improve any time soon. As to the quality - as more money comes into the industry the quality is improving. Most DVDs that come out nowadays have fine subs, and the dubs are generally professionally done even if they're not to your taste.

I belive there is a huge market left untapped in the U.K and it's just waiting there to be exploited...

I'd like to think so, but I'm not so sure. Who is this market then?

...or the extreamists that are trying to get certian games banned in europe will move onto anime and anime company's will be afraid to show certain big shows.

I used to think this, but I'm not so sure anymore. There are so many groups complaining about this and that, that people have slowly begun to stop listening. Sure, they'll always be around, but just as hot noise...

guess in the end it comes down to the easy maths of

FUNDING divided by COSTING = PROFIT

Err... divided by? Try minus instead, also makes the maths even easier :wink:

 

[naya_lulu]

sorry if I have waffled on a bit, but this is my many opinions on the subject

I actually enjoyed reading your view....

I really hope the UK public will be able to see that anime is more than what it seems.... it provides us amazing storyline that helps us realize about something....

The real enemy of anime is the distributors themselves for sabotaging the anime being distributed and of course the hypocrites of BBFC who edits and cuts scenes for being controversial; Bleach and Naruto have sexual reference that I'm sure will be highly edited....

I'm also not sure about its future because of the 3D animations success. so how much more in the next 5-10 year?

2D animation are not only Simpsons, SP, FG... there is ANIME... The best we could do is to support anime by buying the DVDs or manga and encouraging people to watch anime then we will be sure there is a future we want. Let our friends watch and make them a fanatic; in projects incorporate them if possible coz right now I'm educating my tutors on anime, I did a presentation about it and will be building an anime site Anyway, thanks for the people who participated in the survey I posted here before... thanks a lot....

 

[Ramadahl]

The real enemy of anime is the distributors themselves for sabotaging the anime being distributed and of course the hypocrites of BBFC who edits and cuts scenes for being controversial; Bleach and Naruto have sexual reference that I'm sure will be highly edited....

Gah, brain hurt... :evil:

The distributors are NOT the enemy of anime - lots of the people who work for anime distribution companies are big anime fans who want to produce good releases. Even the most cynical person should at least accept that they want to make good releases so people actually buy the DVDs... claiming "sabotage" is foaming-at-the-mouth paranoia at it's finest...

And how are the BBFC hypocrites? They just do their jobs which, FYI, rarely involves editing anime. As far as I can recall, outside of Hentai the only editing they've done to anime has been to ep.8 of Paranoia Agent, due to children hanging themselves being explicitly forbidden. And having watched the scene both edited and unedited, frankly I doubt people would realise any editing was done unless they were looking for it.

And Bleach and Naruto having sexual references? Hardly. Even if they did, so what? Like shows have never had that before. There's absolutely no reason to suspect they'll be edited in such a way.

...

woo-saa~

...

Eh, it's been a long day, so sorry if I come across a bit harsh there. Please try to consider it as an education rather than an attack...

 

[naya_lulu]

sorry about it, it's also been a long day and choice of words were exaggerated but it's somewhat true though coz it just made me boil remembering the bad dubs I bought...

I wont take it an attack nor education... more like of a reminder that I should not write something that others would find it vehement.....

 

[Sy]

And how are the BBFC hypocrites?

Well they don't show much faith in their own rating system. They frown upon acts of self harm specifically in animation because they feel that kids may try to imitate what they see (because cartoons are for kids?). Surely though if the age rating is 18 or over then parents won't allow children to watch it anyway and if they do that lies on them and makes the parents irresponsible, the BBFC have done their job and made the warning and the rest is up to the viewer.

Frankly I think they are sometimes sloppy in their ratings and overprotective because of the current 'Health and Safety' idea the country has right now. If people are stupid enough to copy what they see then that's their own malfunction, if parents let kids watch adult situations in movies then again that's the parents fault and if they are in the mind set to do themselves in then they'll find some way of carrying it through.

 

[Nyu]

And how are the BBFC hypocrites?

Frankly I think they are sometimes sloppy in their ratings and overprotective because of the current 'Health and Safety' idea the country has right now. If people are stupid enough to copy what they see then that's their own malfunction, if parents let kids what adult situations in movies then again that's the parents fault and if they are in the mind set to do themselves in then they'll find some way of carrying it through.

I will respond to the bigger posts in a bit im a bit busy now.

But Dave, while i agree with you 100% that it's upto the parents to make sure what thier kids are watching look at what happens in America with the Grand Theft Auto games. They are rated 18 yet some mentally malfunctioned kids get thier hands of a copy and go out with a rifle and take pot shots at passing by cars. Who gets the blame? The parents for letting thier kids play 18 rated games? The kids themselves for being buggered in the brain?

You would think that, but no. It's all grand theft auto's fault, It's the sue happy generation thats to blame on that party. No one wants to take responsibility anymore, its ALWAYS someone elses fault.

 

[skikes]

couldnt give a crap... wud like it to get bigger... the chances hmmm unlikely

oh well im not gonna lose sleep over it as long as I can still watch it :/

 

[Kurogane]

Anime was treated kinda like a fad really, especially in my primary school.

When DBZ and Gundam first came onto CNX, I remember like every guy in the top 3 years of the school couldn't talk about anything else, but once it started to wane, that fad soon died out, and I've never even heard of anime being so popular amongst people since then, just the occasional person I know who watches it. :?

 

[McIcy]

Anime was treated kinda like a fad really, especially in my primary school.

Yeah we see series come and go so often, sometimes they managed to hold on and beat the 'fad' label but a lot of the time they disappear as soon as they appear on our screens

 

[Kurogane]

Anime was treated kinda like a fad really, especially in my primary school.

Yeah we see series come and go so often, sometimes they managed to hold on and beat the 'fad' label but a lot of the time they disappear as soon as they appear on our screens

Kinda irritates me how they continue to broadcast such crappy cartoons and 'anime' on channels, and most kids won't even go near that ****.

They could just air a kick ass series and get everyone hooked then start whoring other animes

 

[Sy]

You would think that, but no. It's all grand theft auto's fault, It's the sue happy generation thats to blame on that party. No one wants to take responsibility anymore, its ALWAYS someone elses fault.

When something bad happens the first reaction is that people will look for somebody to point the blame at. Can't do much about that.

In my opinion, if somebody goes out into the streets and starts gunning people down then I think it took something more than just seeing it on a video game. There must have been other, deeper factors involved for them to reach that point. The fact they played a game that shows the same is just the cop out for others to blame.

On the other hand if they have the ability to go out and start gunning people down just by seeing it in a game then they obviously need mental care. If the game didn't trigger it then it would have been something else. How can you prevent it? Shelter everyone from everything unless it exibits a clean level of tmorals? I don' think so.

 

[ConanThe3rd]

They could just air a kick ass series and get everyone hooked then start whoring other animes

Hell, it doesn't even need to be "Kick-ass" as you put it, it just needs to be decent. I meen even 4kids' dub on Shaman King would do wonders I feel.

However, some companies need to get their thumbs out of thier asses and fast. MVM is not going to get anywhere fast with a flashy new logo and Jetix need to get something in gear and fast otherwise Naruto's a lost cause.
That's not to say some companies haven't come a long way, Manga (who quite frankly put us in this stupid position with Overfiend) have done an excelent job in porting over Naruto and the quality of Beez' releases outgun thier Bandai Entertainment equiviants by a far streach.

However, the next bastion is geting anime on mainstream tv without screwing up something Horrible; That meens not cuting episodes out of nowhere (Oban Star Racers on ITV), Replacing the show with some dumb reality tv nonsence (Astroboy 2k3 on BBC, replaced by Fame Acadamy, and bugger they can't sing anyway!) and the list goes on and on.

Untill someone can do that right, we're in this state of affairsand we're going to be in it for a long time.

Also, Revolation had something good going with thier Play.com price for disks being £10. Concidering that your adverage TV show boxset is like £20 for 13 (£1.50 an ep), selling a 4 episosodes for 20 (£5 an ep) is a ripoff regardless of how you look at it.

 

[Sy]

MVM are showing signs of improvement. Along with better looking products (I haven't noticed any discolouration or fading on recent cover artwork) they seem to be going out of their way to release as many boxsets as possible. That's a good start, but they still need to lower their prices of individual volumes. If they do i'm sure they'll notice sales go up.

Conan, you always make things out worse than what they are. Try to look a bit more positively about the current industry. It's vastly improved over the last year, price drops, boxsets and respectable uncut anime actually on TV are proof of that.

 

[Chaz]

Just a thought, but I was just thinking about the whole companies thing and getting the shows to the UK.

For companies like MVM, ADV and Manga, I was wondering if they had this plus/minus situation.
What I mean is, on the plus side you have quite a lot of manga authors writing up these mangas/animes.This means there's a large variety to choose from.
The minus side is there are far too many being made, they have to assess which would give them most profits. This may mean taking time to look at how the Japanese popularity of it is, and then choosing which ones they should buy licenses for. If they could, do you think they may have bought a lot of it if they could? (Mind you, it is their company, so they also may just be satisfied with the money they're getting at the moment from their already payed licenses.)

As for Jetix and the broadcasting side, they have the buerocrats of the House of Commons pressurising them, telling them what is acceptable etc. Now, say that these games/shows don't brainwash people into becoming gangsters and other frowned-upon cultures. These poor companies are missing out on great chances to get great anime on screens.
And if it's that much of a problem, why not do the pin-protection Sky does on it's movies. I personally saw nothing wrong with mature stuff on late night TV, such as Outlaw Star etc. on CNX.