Japan's Anime Industry is Declining

Japan's Anime Industry is Declining
	Today I would like to talk about Japan's anime industry a little bit.
	"Japan, the Country of Anime" is famous all over the world.
	There seems to be such reputation.
	Seems to be...
	Here in Japan we always heard about our anime getting good reputation overseas, but unfortunately, living in Japan is just hard to know the reality.
	Ignore the oversea reputation first, how about the condition of anime industry here in Japan?
	Decline, decline, decline.
	So it's declining...
	More precisely, we've got a bubble for a certain period. Bubble burst and we got the mess that you can see today.
	Why did the bubble burst?
	The global economic downturn is one of the reasons. Here we are referring to the situation after the Lehman Shock.
	If that is the case, we can do nothing.
	But the fact is, Japan's anime industry had entered a downturn before the Lehman Shock.
	So there are some other reasons?
	During the bubble, we just made anime from any source we got. And now we are fed up.
	Any source?
	When making an anime, usually it would base on an original stuff, i.e. a manga or a novel. As for novel, manga-like novel called "light novel" is most common. Of course there are some good stuff, but during the bubble we just turned anything into anime, including those not interesting at all.
	For a certain period we've got enormous amount of anime on television.
	More precisely, in the year 2000 there were 124 animes broadcasted. In 2006, it raised to 306. In 2008, slightly decreased to 288, and it is expected in 2009 there will be a further decline. About 60 to 70% of the peak.
	That means around 220.
	With the problem of quality, some animes can't sell any DVD at all. Some planned to sell in USA etc., but it is able to see anime through YouTube now, DVD is no longer essential and the business declines. Not just USA, YouTube more or less has negative effect on Japan's homeland market.
	So...audience fed up with the enormous amount of anime, global economic downturn, video sharing websites' negative effect on DVD sales...are reasons of the decline of anime.
	Some companies even collapse.
	Collapse!?
	Still not collapse actually. You guys living overseas may heard about "Afro Samurai", or if you are anime mania you should know "Strike Witches". The company making these titles is "GONZO". Its business is in trouble. Bankruptcy is a real possibility if GONZO can't get some funding from anywhere.
	Oh my God...
	GONZO had just been dismissed from the stock market on July 30, 2009. Its future deserves our attention.
	As we looking in it, there is just nothing happy to talk about Japan's anime industry...
	Nevertheless, companies making good stuff are still HOT. It would be great if their good productions gain good reputation overseas. Also, Japan has a great library of classics, and the amount of these outstanding anime is incomparable. If you got a chance to see, please enjoy.
	That's right.