Anime in America: The Downward Spiral Pt. 1 - Crash and Burn Marketing

Whether or not you want to accept it, there’s no way one can turn away from the fact that anime, and more importantly the anime industry, is slowly falling apart with passing time. There was a time when the iron was hot, let’s say 4-5 years ago, but that time has come to an end and any way you want to play the blame game is acceptable when determining the causes.

By the time I discovered anime at the age of 12, the whole medium still felt like it was in the late stages of underground appreciation, that being it was catching on, but you couldn’t just walk into any major retail outlet like you can now and purchase whatever series is your current flavor of the month. It came to me on those late nights watching a public access channel that dare show the more violent and risqué offerings, that being a lot of Urban Vision horror/action/pseudo-hentai such as the likes of Wicked City, Biohunter, Pet Shop of Horrors, Vampire Hunter D, etc, and occasionally the likes of Crying Freeman or repeatedly airing the first half of Fist of the North Star. Of course, mosaic-censoring pixilated all the entertaining bits to death. But that was then, and now at twice my age I’ve seen it all come and go, swelling up like blister only to be popped by two opposing forces: the fans and the industry itself.

Let’s skip past the old debate of sub vs. dub because nobody even cares about that nonsense anymore in a world where both language choices are offered on the DVD. Right now the big problem from the industry is piracy, usually expressed via panels at conventions across the country where company reps and voice actors stand up, shake their fists at greedy otaku thieves, then proceed to ask all the “die-hards” to promise they’ll a) stop downloading DVD rips of current American-licensed series, b) stop downloading Japanese series that are currently unlicensed in America and/or in the process of being licensed for American distribution, and c) to buy legitimately released American DVDs. At the end of said panels everyone usually makes a lot of noise, they shout “Huzzah!” and free swag is given away in hopes of encouraging people to get their anime legit, because apparently giving fans chibi character magnets and other trinkets somehow equals a promise will be kept.

To their credit, these companies are right when it comes to the fact that they’re losing money every time someone downloads anime, and they should be mad about it. I can say I’ve never illegally downloaded any anime, but that’s more to do with caring less about the medium at this point to bother hunting for the “cool, hip, new” shows that are really just recycled takes on series I watched years ago. One has to play devil’s advocate, though, and my question for the industry side is: How can you actually act so surprised by all this theft?

As an entertainment medium, anime has never been a cheap media to purchase. Look back to the time when your best bet for finding the stuff was at your local Suncoast, when people still bought VHS, and one likely was paying $29.99 (minimum) for 2-3 episodes at a time. You skip forward to recent years and what has really changed? I’ll use a personal example that everyone who watches AND buys their anime can relate to whether it be five years ago or the present. The series Noir comes out and I buy Vol. 1 + art box to hold subsequent volumes for $39.99. I get a free t-shirt for kicks and judging from the box size I’m informed that it’ll be a seven volume series. Said subsequent volumes come out every month/every other month and are purchased generally between the prices of $19.99 and $29.99 (depending where purchase was made) until series completion and, at said point, I’ve spent somewhere between $160 and $220 (not including tax) for one anime series. The kicker? Half a year to a year past series completion I stroll into my local retailer and spot Noir on the shelves, only this time it’s in a smaller box with thin-pak cases and a price-tag that shouts at me $89.99 and that isn’t even a sale price - it’s the MSRP. Apparently all that extra money spent was so I could have the series right when it came out, you know, with bulkier packaging and an exclusive t-shirt…

The point is not much has changed between now and then. Where once it was an exclusive item with the first volume, now you can opt to get the latest copy of each [insert your favorite anime series] volume with a figurine! Or a soundtrack CD! Or even steelbook DVD packaging! Come on industry heads, you drove all these otaku to thievery with the same kind of idiotic marketing tactics you used years ago, and now when they want something bad enough, well they just steal it. You lose, they win, at least until a lawyer gets involved.

At the end of the day, sure the industry has the right to be upset - the legal right. A ton of “fans” are stealing money right out of their pockets. Everyone knows a company wants to maximize their profits on a product, hence why anime companies release these individual DVD volumes at costly prices, because they have licensing fees to recoup on top of cost manufacturing costs and the like. Once they’ve roped enough of the “die-hards” in at initial release, why not release the entire series down the road for a reduced price? After all, not everyone can afford to spend $100+ per series in the long run so you have to move all that product by whatever means necessary, even if it means putting a price on said product that slaps that anime fan/consumer in the face for supporting your company from day one.

Oh, and Noir today? Amazon.com lists individual volumes at $26.99. The complete series boxset? $80.99. Thanks ADV!

Next time: Anime in America: The Downward Spiral Pt. 2 - Over-saturation Overload!

(Anime in America is a continuing series on the rise and fall of one entertainment medium that has been ruined by corporate mistakes and fandom-related idiocy alike.)