Since the late 1990s, Anime has grown tremendously popular mostly due to globalization and the Internet becoming widespread. When I read Moonlitasteria’s take on the topic on whether or not Anime as a whole have become mainstream in the West, I wanted to share my own thoughts on it.
In the 1990s or even the 1980s, Anime was not as accessible for the fact that broadband Internet was not widely available and very few knew about it. Unless you are living in Japan, Anime was a niche medium to westerners since only some could watch it. If you wanted to watch Anime, you either have to deal with the dubs, borrow some tapes from a fansubbing circle or buy home releases, which in most cases only come in dubs, although there was some subtitled only releases too. While it gained popularity with a few notable and popular being aired on television, most of the shows, especially obscured ones did not see a western release until later on.
Thankfully, things got better with fansubs becoming readily available due to broadband becoming widespread with technologies like Bittorrent and IRC downloads. Also, there are more licensed DVD releases being released by various companies like Funimation and the defunct ADV Films. With forums and fan sites becoming popular during that period time until the late 2000s, Anime have gained a lot of popularity, especially when blogging, wider availability of legal streaming sites like Crunchyroll and social networking came along. This eventually had a positive effect on Anime conventions in the west since more people are attending every to the point that it can become difficult to experience certain events, especially with Anime Expo.
Now that Anime in general along with other Japanese popular media has gained tremendous popularity while becoming widely accessible to most people, now it is time to ask this question: will it ever become mainstream outside of Japan?
To me, while the medium gained a lot of popularity along with manga, light novels and video games from Japan thanks to globalization, I do not see it happening in a traditional sense. The problem is that Anime is generally geared towards a Japanese audience, not for a western one. This is not surprising since most shows or works typically incorporate several aspects of Japanese culture, subculture and/or traditions. Moreover, the Japanese audience tends to have different tastes compared to western audiences when it comes to media and the types of stories told.
Sure, one can argue that Japan have been facing a birth-rate problem for a while and they should cater more to the western audience, do you think they have to make shows to appeal to both audiences to maintain the medium’s popularity? To me, I think it will undermine the appeal of Anime as a whole since most people watch these shows because it is different and unique. Once you take that quality away, you basically have a show that is no different to movies or cartoons from the West.
For instance, this effect was quite noticeable with the Pokémon franchise, especially with the Anime when it became internationalized since 2000. Things like references to Japanese culture such as food, clothes and holidays were removed. In addition, they got rid of some crazy scenes such as Kojiro’s/James’s cross-dressing along with reducing the violence to make it appeal to a younger audience. In other words, the Pokémon Anime has become rather formulaic and bland to some since it lost the aspects that made the show unique and enjoyable.
At the end of the day, I feel that Anime is more of a niche medium that is capable of covering a large variety of genres and topics than one that appeals to a wider audience. Therefore, I do not see it becoming mainstream in the same way like video games. When studios attempt to cater shows to a western audience or internationalize it to appeal a wider audience, some things that made Anime popular such as the unique storytelling, animation and other quirky things are lost in the process.
Of course, the same also applies to other Japanese media such as manga, light novels and Japanese games. Sure, not all shows that come out of Japan will appeal to a wide audience since there are a lot of niches. Still, I think Anime is popular enough to be considered mainstream in a sense of popularity and not in a traditional sense with widespread appeal, especially since mostly everyone in the world can watch any show through streaming while having a wide variety of genres to pick from. In other words, globalization is a big factor that contributed to Anime and other Japanese media becoming popular and widespread, not internationalization.
With that, do you think Anime have gained mainstream status outside of Japan? Moreover, do you believe that Anime needs to change in order to appeal to a wide audience or should studios continue to make shows for a Japanese audience and maintain the cultural references?
I say “no” to anime (and other whatnots) becoming mainstream outside Japan.
As you mention, anime (or Japanimation as some kahoots like to call it) is geared towards the audience in Japan, which is what creates its uniqueness to Western viewers. But if anime was adapted into Western society…either it will go “bland” as you describe or society would have to modify itself to work into the favor of the anime culture, which is highly unlikely.
There is also the fact that not all fans of anime are consumers in the normal fashion. Many viewers watch through the internet, being unemployed middle school to high students or adults who watch it in their free time. Otherwise, they wouldn’t bother to purchase the merchandise. If anime did go mainstream though, this part of the fan populous would be affected in a way that would not appeal to them. Copyright would be a bit more harsh in some countries; the Japanese niche of anime would be lost unless the country keeps anime…as anime. Because it has this unique vibe as a non-mainstream culture in the West, it survives too; going mainstream may be likely to rid away this part of anime in the West.
I do agree with most of your points as if Anime became mainstream in the west and if it was tailored for them, it would lose the uniqueness. In general, I don’t see it becoming completely mainstream for the fact it’s still very niche and it’s apparent with the very limited showing of Anime movies at certain locations.
But you do bring up an interesting point about most viewers. Most tend to watch on the internet because of the wide ability of fansubs and illegal rips, aside from legal streams. Sure, most of the viewers are on the internet, but given that most are middle school students, college students or unemployed, there is no surprise why they won’t buy any merchandise or the DVDs alone. Sure, I have download music at some point, but I stopped doing so since I can buy them and would rather support the artists or show I enjoyed, especially now that I have a job and making money, although I never touched character goods or figures since they are expensive. Still, I think people should at least buy the CDs of shows they enjoy instead of stealing them or subscribe to Crunchyroll at the minimum.
Still, I do agree that there are copyright issues in some countries. To make matters worse, there is no real legal alternative since legal streaming sites region lock most series from being viewed… That is basically a roadblock that will prevent Anime from becoming mainstream, aside from being a popular niche medium.
Adding to what you say about people should purchase a product or subscribe to Crunchyroll, I agree very much. If you do have the means to purchase the goods or at least show your support to the “makers” then please do the bare minimum. It becomes stealing when you can buy it; if you can’t or are in a tight situation where it wouldn’t be the best choice…there can be considerations.
Just like you, I have a job that brings in money and live in an acceptable environment where I can spend without thinking “food or manga” (only an extreme case, but hopefully it gets the point across). I have bookcases after bookcases of manga, anime, light novels, etc. filled with all these merchandise; still I do watch anime online and read manga from rips. Same with CDs: I may listen to a ripped mp3 of it first (or later), but I make sure to buy a copy of its album when I can.
Sadly though, without the illegal streaming and raw rippings, manga and anime would have never spread as it has. Without it, people wouldn’t find the rare gems among the less popular series in Japan. You wouldn’t be able to discuss with friends about it, or research it up so easily. Some people don’t have the physical room to place them or live in a situation where owning such things are not permitted or embarrassing to their character (the later not often, but I know people who are closet “Otaku” because of it).
That is true with fansubs and raws as not everything gets simulcasted or a legal release. While it’s rare, there are still some shows and works that never got translated or a legal stream. Nanoha Vivid is a good example and there is hardly any quality subs, except one from a novice fansubber. At least it’s better than nothing, I suppose.
True, the space issue is a problem and of course, e-book manga still haven’t taken off yet, although there are some digital distribution for Anime. I live in a reasonably sized townhouse, so space isn’t too big of an issue, unless I go overboard, which I can’t since I have student loans and a mortgage to pay off.
Anime has already become popular. Take individuals who do not know too much about it at least know of its existence. At least in America. Yet, anime’s success is there to an extent. Some will never approve of it while others will.
The idea that anime should become more mainstream by changing it and removing its uniqueness is an entirely different question to anime’s obvious success. If anyone would want to make it more mainstream and geared toward an international audience, that should not be done. For any piece of Entertainment that will be removing its creative soul. What makes it unique.
I do agree that not everyone knows about it or might not approve of it, especially with the older generation. Sure, the internet help make it made it widespread, but of course there will be places where it’s not that widespread or popular.
Aside from that, I pretty much said what I said in the reply to the first comment. Internationalization is probably not a great way of making it more mainstream or even making it become mainstream as it would lose it’s unique qualities. After all, Anime and other Japanese mediums are popular because of their uniqueness.
To be honest. I’m not even sure if anime can get mainstream outside of Japan. Even in Japan, anime is not all mainstream. It’s going to be hard for anime to be mainstream outside of Japan if it’s not mainstream in Japan itself. Only quite a few anime in Japan are mainstream (ie: Gundam, Dragonball, Pokemon, etc…).
Also it’s going to be impossible for anime nor any other aspect of J-pop culture to get popular outside of Japan because of accessibility issues and also Japan’s neighbor, South Korea has already “out-cooled” Japan thanks to K-pop and K-dramas (both of them are gaining mainstream visibility in the US and around the world). You may want to read this article about Korean entertainment could surpass anime and manga:
http://www.inquisitr.com/2112938/korea-vs-japan-k-pop-k-dramas-surpass-j-pop-anime/
It’s true that only a handful of Anime becomes mainstream, especially considering that most are niche. However, I’m completely aware about the popularity of K-Pop, which I don’t like since the songs are rather generic and sounds very similar to western music, but there is one thing that South Korea does right in terms of marketing to overseas market and embracing the internet by uploading music videos on Youtube and such while having tours. The problem with the Japanese music industry is that they aren’t willing to look at other market besides their own. For the most part, most of the music is only available on CDs and only a handful of music on digital music stores like iTunes. It’s only recently that iTunes in Japan has become DRM free. But in general, while Japan has made Anime and Manga (to a certain extent) in regards to legal streaming and such, on the music side, I feel that they are limiting their potential to sell more music by ignoring the overseas market.
” I’m completely aware about the popularity of K-Pop, which I don’t like since the songs are rather generic and sounds very similar to western music”
Not all K-pop are like that. I’m not sure which tune would sound good to your ear. But to be honest, K-pop is winning more audiences around the world then J-pop. K-pop has been making a lot of achievement outside of Asia that J-pop/J-music wasn’t able to do. I’m not sure what K-pop music would sound appealing to you, but there are some that sound similar to J-music.
“The problem with the Japanese music industry is that they aren’t willing to look at other market besides their own. For the most part, most of the music is only available on CDs and only a handful of music on digital music stores like iTunes.”
Well you’re not alone, do you know how many people have brought up accessibility issue:
http://aramatheydidnt.livejournal.com/2795291.html
http://blog.onehallyu.com/japanese-entertainment-101-accessibility/
http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/answerman/2015-12-09/.96265
There is another issue about J-pop/J-music is that it seem to lack unity and international fans of J-pop/J-music are not being vocal about this issues:
http://aramajapan.com/featured/international-japanese-music-fans-not-rallying-behind-dempagumi-inc-to-win-best-worldwide-act-asia-is-this-a-sign-of-a-lack-of-unity/51333/
http://onehallyu.com/topic/182822-lack-of-communityunity-among-j-pop-fans/
http://onehallyu.com/topic/59302-why-is-there-a-lack-of-jpop-fans-internationally-compared-to-kpop/
I mean J-pop/J-music aren’t “raising hell” about accessbility issue for J-music when K-pop fandom did this in 2013:
http://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/k-town/1554376/k-pop-fans-raise-hell-after-popular-videos-get-blocked-on-youtube
So why aren’t J-pop fans beside not unifying to solve common issue, but why aren’t they being inspired by K-pop fandom to “raise hell” when J-pop/J-music are being blocked.
“But in general, while Japan has made Anime and Manga (to a certain extent) in regards to legal streaming and such, on the music side, I feel that they are limiting their potential to sell more music by ignoring the overseas market.”
Well I got bad news, Japan isn’t taking advantages of the drama fad that K-dramas created:
http://www.dramafever.com/forums/threads/why-doesn-t-dramafever-add-more-japanese-dramas/4255c4d6271947e2ba2abdefebd6c109/
I mean after K-drama got popular, Taiwan took advantage of the drama fad, and yet we have so little J-dramas catalog on Dramafever, and Viki.
Japan didn’t take advantage of the Latin America where K-dramas got very popular in that area. After K-dramas got popular, Taiwan started to cash in on the drama fad:
http://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-taiwan-latinos-20151015-story.html
As of now, I don’t see any J-dramas having any Spanish dub at all.
The problem is anime and manga appeal is so limited, it may not last forever. I have one other bad new, Japanese language classes in US colleges has been declining for the last few years:
https://monitor-cdn5.icef.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/US-enrolment-in-foreign-language-studies.jpg
source: https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2015/02/11/mla-report-shows-declines-enrollment-most-foreign-languages
As you can see Japanese language dropped by 7.8% despite we’re getting more anime. Korean on the other hand thanks to K-pop and K-dramas has seen a huge surge in enrollment, it jumped up by 45%. So anime has lost it’s cultural appeal and “cool factor” it once had. So there’s no way anime could become mainstream in the US if Japanese classes in US colleges.