There’s been a lot going around about ADV’s health as an American anime distributor. Though ADV representative’s say nothing is “official” yet, it looks as though another American anime giant may be positioned to fall down to some degree. In my opinion, it would be a loss if ADV were to go the way of Geneon. While there are other good anime distributors out there, ADV has been around for a long time as one of the “big guys”, with the now defunct Geneon USA and the still kicking Funimation.
Geneon’s US demise this past October left a bad taste in my mouth. I figured a monopoly was the worse that could happen, but also that other unsavory outcomes were possible. Some fans had the opinion Geneon’s tanking was no biggie, while others who’ve seen this sort of thing before took a “wait and see” approach to the episode.
As ADV started laying off employees, the bad taste in my mouth went from slightly sour to icky. When I read ADV was closing their wallet to anime clubs and shutting down Newtype, I think I became ill. And then when unofficial news surfaced about ADV’s discontinuation of titles, I had to rethink what I originally thought of the US anime landscape.
What would happen if little by little, anime in America, as we know it now, began to disappear? What if, instead of recent anime being released on DVD, any “new” anime was solely available on cable? And what if those titles were nothing but shows like Bleach and Naruto?
Sure, fansubs would gain new fans and a bigger audience, but wouldn’t anime crawl back under the rock it came from in terms of its popularity and mainstream appeal (I use “popular” in a relative context and a loose one at that)? What would happen to manga? Would manga keep the anime culture in America afloat? Or is this a minor setback, one we’ll bounce right back from?
These questions and more are the ones I ask myself and other anime fans whenever there’s some disturbances with the distribution companies. Some questions I toss out to get the dialog going but some I honestly want to know. The biggest, ultimate question, however, would be: What if anime in America were no more…Period.
No fansubs, no new Adult Swim, no video on demand, no YouTube, nothing. Zip. No more anime. Just the series and movies already in your and your buddies collections. All the cool new super awesome shows you hear are being released in Japan would be nothing more than wishful thinking in America.
Reruns would rule supreme (imagine Cowboy Bebop back on Cartoon Network in an endless loop- forever!) Fans would start to further pick apart old series, looking for some fresh nuance to keep discussions alive. Anime conventions would slowly devolve into burnt out shrines of anime past, with no new cosplays, no announcements, just a bunch of fans reliving the Golden Years. It’d be like a Star Wars convention…
And what would you do? Would you give up the medium? Or buy an $80 bootleg DVD of crappy anime from China and Europe? Would you still cosplay? What would your room look like with no new plushies to brighten it? How would you get your fix? What would you do if anime were no more in America?
Yeah, yeah, I know it sounds like I’m being all doom and gloom (it’s only a hypothetical discussion), but please comment below on what you’re anime disaster plan would be!
Things would get pretty darn drastic if that demonic predicion came true.
1. The earth would split
2. the sun would burst
3. Lives would shatter
4. People would scream
5. and for the grande final’e, Black holes would shred amoung the earth, draging both earth and the people on it to a galaxy that will never be known.
And you think you were doom and gloom….HA!
I’m not though, im a nice guy just telling the truth.
Technically, even the reruns would end.
…Japanese animation comes from Japan. To say there will be no more animé in America is to imply that animé is dead in Japan.
And Japan realizes that they can milk money off the American market, at the very least. So animé in America won’t die, at least in the foreseeable future.
If it goes, it goes. I’d offer a eulogy, at the very least, and after that, I’ll just move on.
If the distributers go down a couple of things could happen. Fansubs will rule the world. (oh my god) Japanese distributers will export directly to us raising the prices. Or channels (adult swim) will pick and choose anime whether good or bad. Out of these possible choices i would rather the latter happen. Maybe, all of the choices suck.
Considering how I have NO anime DVDs yet (money can’t go to that right now =P), I’d be horrified and very sad.
I think I could live with watching Lucky Star and FLCL every day though…
I would become a mangaka AND an animator. If possible, I would even open my own anime studio.
We can use all the past shows as a study guide to make our own anime(same concept goes for manga).
Yeah, it’s a fool’s dream, but what a dream!
@Clodax, I doubt the anime gods would let their wrath be felt that way; I think a rash is more their style.
@DrmChsr1, I don’t think reruns ever die. I take Star Trek as a case in point. There were only 79 episodes but they’re still showing those same episodes, 40 years later.
@IcyStorm, it won’t happen for a while yet, if ever, so no need for reruns just yet!
@DM, no, not a fool’s dream. A fool’s dream would be that success and acceptance of American anime would be an overnight occurrence. Easy peasy. We made it, you watch it, you love it. To want to work hard at making something more personal and meaningful is not foolish, but the expectations can often be so. Hard work has a tendency to make dreams a reality.
If there were no more anime in America, I’d find a new hobby – or go back to playing video games and Magic the Gathering.
eerr… so No anime in US means there won’t be expensive crappy anime dvd’s at local HMV, or does it mean US would close it’s border to importing anime-related goods and not allow people to go visit japan? For the first one – couldn’t care less, i import stuff anyways… and if the second one happens, then we are probably at war and should have better things to worry about ^,_____,^
I would laugh, watch anime, and then laugh some more.
The reason there would be no more anime in the US would probably you guys nuking yourselves.
I assuming Ductchman is not from America…I don’t think Rachel is being rediculous or doom and gloom I think shes being REALISTIC. We insist on watching youtube insted of buying and there are very few animes to pick from on on demand or cable (I don’t have the anime channel)anyway. Plus the fact that anime is expensive to buy 3-4 eps at a time in 25 dollar DVDs (boxsets!…which they don’t release soon enough). I don’t know what to say for a solution but I myself am going to go get a job and pay for my anime, thank you.
Dm wants to be Osamu Tezuka? Good Luck with that.
Andrew has the most likely case, but I could imagine it becoming like an almost violent scene at cons or among friends in some weird anime version of alcohol prohibition. People will have hard drives strapped to their legs as they try to sneak into anime bars trying to trade fullmetal alchemist fanart for the chance to view maybe 5 minutes if they’re lucky.
It wouldn’t lead to gunfire, but everyone will probably resort to toy lightsabers and nerf guns.
If DVDs stopped coming out- I’d be happy, cause then fansubs would be more prevalent, and probably more legal than what they are.
If there was no way to get new subbed or dubbed anime ever again- I’d just go back and watch series and DVDs that I haven’t gotten around to watching yet.
@robin, You wouldn’t fight for anime? No loyalty to it? Ouch.
@Meows, Anime is expensive right now, no doubt, but the prices have been going down a bit. $80 for an original language DVD, which may or may not play in someone’s DVD player is a bit steep for the majority of fans.
And why would the reason we wouldn’t have anime here is because we’re at war? Hypothetically speaking, one plausible reason could be anime had been made illegal. Why? Because imports from foreign countries are at a standstill due to trade regulations (thank China for that). Even if distribution companies were still around the money is still going back to Japan in the way of licensing.(end hypothesis)
Doubtful occurrence? Yes, but seeing how it’s a hypothetical discussion, it makes more sense than no anime because we’re at war.
@Dutchman, once again, hypothetically speaking, the likelihood of a dearth of anime due to war is slim. Technically we’ve been at war for five years and counting. In that time, anime and manga has become increasingly popular.
Also, technically speaking, the likelihood of us nuking ourselves is also slim, but thanks for the generalization/ stereotype of Americans. Do you also do a good impression of Asians and Germans?
@Marie Turner, the problems with the anime industry are manifold. Some of it starts in Japan and some of it we bring on ourselves. No clear solution is as of yet apparent. Who knows if DVDs will even be around to buy in the future? We might be downloading all our anime from ginormous servers instead of shelling out cash for a hard copy. I’d much rather do that and eschew the DVDs all together. I really don’t want to pay $30 for a foil-cover limited edition DVD.
@Chiku, I like your perspective. Nerd fights with lightsabers would almost be worth the pain of no more anime.
@DKong, indeed fansubs would ultimately fill the void left by DVDs. I could see massive online communities spring up with people pooling resources to pay for the server (don’t they do that now?) I could even see the communities getting professional translators to sub the anime. But then again, people would need to start shelling out serious cash for top grade fansubs and servers if they were to have any veneer of professionalism.
Oh no…I was always afraid anime would just be a fad. If it dies out, it will probably be this teeny underground following like it used to be before.
I think anime is marketed too much toward teens in America anyway. I used to like anime because there was something for every age, not just children and teens, so maybe the big guys need to start licensing titles toward their aging fanbase? I mean, the reason I’ve fallen out of favor with both anime and manga is that I just can’t relate to teen drama anymore. Nana is great because it’s about a couple of college girls…why don’t they release stuff like that?!
Then again, maybe it really is just a fad and all the people who helped anime become so popular in their teens will turn into cartoons-are-only-for-kids adults ;_;
I make all the world this promise…
“I, Clodax, The last of the Xylex family line, swear to uphold the law, and vow to keep anime in its rightful place for all eternity…
IN YO’R FACE!!!!!!!!!!!
Hey roku,
where do you live?, Amerika (yes i know its spelled a.m.e.r.i.c.a., shut up!), russia, middle east, in my head…….
where?
There would be no more blatant perversion – constant upskirts and “fanservice” and groping males. no more feminine, skinny male antagonists. No more sad cultural inferiority (nice how Naruto’s blonde). And best of all, no more lame-ass anime-tards who wish they were japanese.