Japanese Anime
1. Introduction
Think about exaggerated physical features such as large eyes, big hair and varied facial expressions and almost immediately, Japanese anime pops into our minds. A very distinct industry different from its American cartoon counterpart, anime has been a very economically lucrative industry within Japan and of recent times, has gained tremendous popularity and commercial viability worldwide in countries such as the United States, Europe and Latin America , further expanding its market. Anime can be categorized into three main streams, namely, feature films such as “Spirited Away” and “Howl’s Moving Castle”; animated TV series like “Naruto” and “Coifboy Bebop”; and original video animations (OVAs) also known as OAVs, which are essentially stand alone titles like “Samurai X” or “Read or Die” that are released directly to the home video market. Feature films are mostly used for engaging a wider range of audience and exhibit excellence in animation techniques and are more expensive to make. TV series are cheaper to produce and focus on different target viewers. Original video animations target specific audience and niche markets, with themes different from the mainstream and often with mature content. This industry, which has audience ranging from young children to adults, is estimated to be worth US$ 7 billion worldwide in 2005 . Over 60% of the world’s animated cartoon broadcasts are made in Japan and just the US market alone for Japanese anime industry is worth around US$4.35 billion. However, lately, not all has been rosy for Japanese anime in terms of profitability despite its rapid growth in popularity. Many issues have been contributing to the falling of Japanese anime market shares. This report aims to investigate and analyze whether piracy and copyright issues are the key forces in the falling market share of the Japanese anime industry or if there are other more crucial factors – factors that may be playing a major role by
Think about exaggerated physical features such as large eyes, big hair and varied facial expressions and almost immediately, Japanese anime pops into our minds. A very distinct industry different from its American cartoon counterpart, anime has been a very economically lucrative industry within Japan and of recent times, has gained tremendous popularity and commercial viability worldwide in countries such as the United States, Europe and Latin America , further expanding its market. Anime can be categorized into three main streams, namely, feature films such as “Spirited Away” and “Howl’s Moving Castle”; animated TV series like “Naruto” and “Coifboy Bebop”; and original video animations (OVAs) also known as OAVs, which are essentially stand alone titles like “Samurai X” or “Read or Die” that are released directly to the home video market. Feature films are mostly used for engaging a wider range of audience and exhibit excellence in animation techniques and are more expensive to make. TV series are cheaper to produce and focus on different target viewers. Original video animations target specific audience and niche markets, with themes different from the mainstream and often with mature content. This industry, which has audience ranging from young children to adults, is estimated to be worth US$ 7 billion worldwide in 2005 . Over 60% of the world’s animated cartoon broadcasts are made in Japan and just the US market alone for Japanese anime industry is worth around US$4.35 billion. However, lately, not all has been rosy for Japanese anime in terms of profitability despite its rapid growth in popularity. Many issues have been contributing to the falling of Japanese anime market shares. This report aims to investigate and analyze whether piracy and copyright issues are the key forces in the falling market share of the Japanese anime industry or if there are other more crucial factors – factors that may be playing a major role by