How popular is anime in Japan today?

Hi all,
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I'm an anime fan from the US. There is a bit of a controversy currently brewing as to the state of anime in Japan.
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Some people here think it's popularity is waning. They view it as being in a slump with little innovation and much pandering to US audiences. ﾂ?
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Now I understand that US audiences tend to be more "rabid" and obsessive concerning anime. But I can't believe anime is on it's way "out" in it's own mother country. ﾂ?
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Any opinions? How popular is anime in Japan. Is it like in the US, with a small group of hard-core fans, or does it still have widespread appeal? What in general are people watching in Japan now (just what is the No. 1 rated show in Japan-of any genre)?
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For that matter, what of Manga? Are adults still reading Manga, or are they just for "the kids".
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As I said I'm a fan, not a troll. I'm just curious as to what you guys think. ﾂ?
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Thanks
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Jim

hmmm...

Meh.... slump? It's kinda subjective.

I can remember times when I felt Hollywood was having serious slumps. Either putting out movies for the sake of having a movie out, or coming up with countless remakes of movies from long ago (and, actually, not so long ago too)--3 examples off the top of my mind, for context: Ocean's 11, Planet of the Apes, The Matrix (which, as flashy and cool as it was, seemed to be a techno remake of Dark City). I think there will always be times when people are running low on new ideas, and have to settle on regurgetated remakes of past hits (good god, anyone see the new Rollerball [2002]?... the original wasn't even that great). Will Hollywood go away because they made a few to many remakes, or borrowed one too many ideas from some other success? Absolutely not. Like the anime industry in Japan, Hollywood is a multi-billion (or more) dollar industry. It won't go out of fashion anytime soon.

On the other hand, in recent times, I think there have been some really fabulous (and creative) Anime's released over here.

No 1 - Probably Naruto (most popular among middle school aged students... but also my personal fav. and I'm 22) Naruto has games out on PS2, Gamecube, and Gameboy Adv. Naruto will have a movie out this summer. There are action figures (I own 8 or 9), keychains (I own 2), a Naruto card game (I don't go that low), and all the other silly marketting toys that are made for such successes.

Full Metal Alchemist is doing well too... (same group)

One Piece is also doing very well.

The reason all of these made it to the anime scene is because they did extraordinarily well as manga (same reason for most anime)--so, as you can guess, the manga industry is also standing strong.

Adults read manga... but they read different mangas than what most of my Jr. H.S. students read (wink wink... nudge nudge--at least that's my impression)

who know............

Anime is not definately slumping in Japan. Currently, there are about 80 programs shown each week in Japan. The most watched animes in Japan are Detective Conan and One Piece. Those two anime steal the ratings every week/month.

There is however a situation in Japan. There is an overflow of anime at the moment and sponsors are becoming scarce. It's this reason that anime get licensed and fansubbing stops for the affected anime for e.g. Hikaru no Go, Wolf's Rain, Stand Alone Complex etc. Anime is starting to attract the mid 20s to mid 30s now in Japan. Heaps of projects are started every year. Actually regarding the manga question of yours, most anime wouldn't exist without them. Most animes start off as manga's or games or even hentai games. Yes, you read correct - hentai games. All it takes is for someone from a anime production company to like a manga or even the idea of a manga and if negotiations go correctly, bang, you get your anime.

As for hentai games turning into anime, often they are toned down to fit the audience. They are often really popular too. Hentai games (or also known as adult dating simulators) are famous for really engrossing storylines with countless plot twists and shocking revelations. H-games are a popular choice for producers because of the potential they have i.e. the good story. With an already good story, a bulk of the work is already done.

Hentai games are obviously for the male audience and so, it's a challenge to somehow transform it into something for the female audience as well. Shingetsutan Tsukihme (Lunar Legend Tsukihime) and Kimi ga Nozumu Eien were h-games and proved popular animes. Though unlike Tsukihime, KGNE had sex scenes. Japan are rather lenient about pervertnedness being shown on television.

After the anime has finished or even during the anime is still running, there is further marketing done. I'm talkin' games, OSTs, artbooks etc. Some animes have heaps of OSTs accompanying them. There are even such things as Drama CDs where the there's just mostly talk by characters of the anime and also comments left by the voice actors. Anime reaps in money every day, week, month, year, decade...go figure. Speaking of OSTs, anime also helps singers/groups and bands break out into the music industry. Over the past year or so, I've seen heaps of artists emerge because of anime. Oh yeah, let's not forget the action figurines.

If it's one thing that's hurting the anime industry, it's the horrendous dubs that accompany them. Just in my preference, I don't care how good the dub is (even if Hollywood actors did the voice overs) nothing beats the original. The Japanese dialogue is almost impossible to re-create into english.

Anime discussion

Thanks for your responses.

Chiquiliauis:

Yeah, Hollywood has been depressing me as of late. What really bothers me when they remake old movies is how they sometimes don't tell you they are remakes. What they want you to do is check out the new film instead of renting the old (especially if the old was better). They do this to both US and foreign films. But usually with minimal detective work you can figure it out and see the original. They also won't release some movies over here on DVD until the US movie has cleared the theaters (DVD regions - bah!). I had to wait til AFTER "the Ring" cleared theaters to see "Ringu" a 1998 movie!


Goggles:

Some dubs ARE dreadful. I usually like to hear the original Japanese and read subtitles. Not that I understand the language, but emotion of their acting comes through much better. I find this true of most foreign films (and Yahoo Serious films ). I saw the French movie "The Brotherhood of the Wolf" with original dialog with subs, and the watched the dubbed version. The acting was HORRIBLE. Monica Bellucci was in it, and she speaks English. But for some reason they had another actress dub her voice, who wasn't even Italian, and did a very bad Italian accent. However I liked the dubbing done on "Spirited Away".

I do wonder what the original dialog in "Shaman King" is like. Sometimes the dubbing doesn't seem to make sense. I think one time they were drinking sake and they dubbed in "orange juice".

Jim

i heard that in japan, many people watch it from all sorts of age groups, as in there are family anime that families watch together, teen oriented stuff, and of course the adult oriented stuff that comes on late at night. and from what i've seen of the used/cheap manga stores on like, every corner of tokyo, it would seem manga is still a popular as ever. but then again, i'm no expert, so...

I would view that anime in japan is very popular also its apart of the japanese culture.

wrightbrain said:

Now I understand that US audiences tend to be more "rabid" and obsessive concerning anime. But I can't believe anime is on it's way "out" in it's own mother country.

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How did you come to that understanding? Frankly, most of the "rabid" fans in the U.S. tend to copy the behavior of the "rabid" Japanese fans, so saying one group or the other is more obsessive isn't really correct. Both countries have their laid-back anime fans and their crazed fans... it's just the nature of things.ﾂ?
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wrightbrain said:

For that matter, what of Manga? Are adults still reading Manga, or are they just for "the kids".

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Manga are written for almost any permutation of demographics in Japan... some are geared toward younger kids, while others toward adults. Some are geared toward men, while others toward women. Some are geared toward mah jongg players, while others toward pachinko enthusiasts... you get the idea. Meanwhile, there's plenty of crossover in the intended audiences as well, so you get a healthy cross-section of the population reading many different types of titles.

I doubt manga or anime will be disappearing for many years yet... but like TV and movies in the U.S., there are good times and bad times. Times when there are tons of really creative stuff out there, and other times when it seems like there's nothing on to watch...

Nice to meet you, by the way... have fun around the Forum!