Presentation PA #85

Recently, Home Media Retailing magazine published an article titled "Anime Taking Some Punches" in their July 17th issue. The article quotes several industry representatives who made statements on how not everything is perfect for the industry right now.

Even earlier this year, several publications, including Anime News Network, ran articles saying that in 2004, for the first time ever, total North American sales of anime on home video (VHS and DVD) were less than the previous year.

Now, with all of that flying around, one has to ask: is the anime industry on its dying legs? With the way all of the signs are pointing, could this be the beginning of the end? Turns out, not by a long shot.

The companies acknowledge that the market is changing, and that certain changes are going to be made, but that's about it.

Some people have suggested that shelf space is a major part of the problem. However, you'd think that if that were the case, companies would have scaled back their releases by now. Oddly enough though, in the first seven months of 2005, the companies have put out roughly 100 more DVDs than they did during the same period in 2004. The big four companies (Geneon, FUNimation, ADV Films and Bandai Entertainment) each put out either approximately the same number of releases, or more.

This could mean one of two things: the analysts at Bandai, ADV, Funimation and Geneon are a bunch of idiots who are just going to continue flooding the market. Or... the anime industry really isn't in dire straights.

Reduced sales in 2004 were a bit of an eye opener for the anime companies, and they've learned their lesson. The market place for anime is still growing. Every month more and more people are being exposed to anime, and these people are all potential customers. Companies just have to provide them with the right shows to buy. Retail stores are also learning to be more careful. They only have so much shelf space, so they're going to start stocking the titles that sell.

What does this mean for you and I as fans? Well, if you walk into your local Borders, you might actually see fewer titles on the shelves. Instead of a couple copies of each title released that week, they'll have more copies of the really popular titles. They might not even stock the less popular titles.

In some cases, anime companies are going to slow down their releases of the less mainstream titles. Some titles with a small but devoted following might only be available as collections, only online, or might just take much longer to get released. And yes, unfortunately, they might not even get licensed. As one brand manager I spoke to put it, "We might personally love a show, but we have to look at the numbers and if the show doesn't look like it'll sell enough, we'll pass on it."

So while the industry has taken a few punches, regardless of what you might have read in other publications, or heard online, the anime industry, thankfully, is here to stay.

-- Christopher Macdonald