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 ;_;

@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.

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.