Is the Anime Industry Dying?

A Brief history of anime

Anime, or Japanese Animation, has been around for decades. Astroboy is probably the oldest, well known Japanese cartoon. “After being the first comic to be animated in Japan, being shown on Fuji Television, dubbed into English and sold worldwide, he’s been a lot of different places in between!” (http://www.astroboy-online.com/history.php). Speed Racer, Sailor Moon, Dragonball and other Japanese cartoons made their way to the United States and grew to a 2.8 billion dollar industry in the USA alone in the year 2007.

An Anime Legend

Hayao Miyazaki is one of the most famous anime feature film directors in the industry. His Studio Ghibli's most known works include: Spirited Away, Howl's Moving Castle, My Neighbor Totoro and Ponyo. He has a unique imagination that usually stars strong women in his films along with aspects of environmental awareness. Ponyo, for an example, sends the message about the pollution that is dumped in our oceans and how a magical fish girl is rescued by a young boy. Walt Disney took honor in dubbing his work in English and sharing it with America and other English-speaking countries. Spirited Away made a record breaking gross sales of over 234 million U.S. Dollars in Japanese theaters alone with over 10 million in the USA(http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0245429/ ).

Statistics for Sales of Anime in the USA

According to the Anime News Network website, character goods make up more than ninety percent of the entire anime market. With 2.512 billion dollars in character goods and only 315 million dollars in DVD sales(http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2009-04-01/n-america-2007-anime-market-pegged-at-us$2.8-billion).

Industry is dying

Every year people are buying less and less anime DVDs and most of the blame is pointed on to illegal internet file sharing and fan-subs. Japan's anime industry relies on America's anime fans to keep the business afloat. Even the legendary Hayao Miyazaki faces closing his studio if sales in America doesn't go up. “Cut Magazine has an interview with Hayao Miyazaki where the venerable animator confesses that if their upcoming Arietty the Borrower doesn’t do well in the box office, plans are already in place to shut down Studio Ghibli. Presumably Miyazaki means the American box office, as the film has already been released in Japan.” (http://www.geekosystem.com/studio-ghibli-closing/)

Analyzing the problem

One of the reasons that American anime fans resort to free internet file sharing for their shows is because anime takes too long to be translated in English and want access to the most recent material that is released. American television also doesn't have enough anime aired on cable unless its strictly for children. Naruto, Pokemon and Dragonball Z all have been poorly dubbed and edited to meet the children cartoon rating standards to be broadcast on channels like Disney XD and Cartoon Network. This issue goes far deep than this. Most anime fans are adults! They don't want the edited shows and horrible voice overs. They want purity and more material like any fan of any show would want. The DVDs that are available at the stores are way overpriced for the average anime fan and more than likely only sell if that consumer has seen the anime before and has a well knowledge of where their money is going. If something isn't done soon, retail revenue will be lost, jobs will be dropped, trade in entertainment will be depleted and, most of all, anime will cease to exist.

Forming a solution

Unless if this is researched, the problem doesn't announce itself to the anime fans in America. The only thing that Japan has tried to solve this problem is have the government donate some money to keep this wonderful tradition alive. Which is, unfortunately, the wrong thing to do. This answer is more simple that it seems. Make anime more available to the public! An investment in a cable channel that features teen rated anime during the day and more mature shows in prime time would help the business immensely. With a widespread of genre varieties and proper advertising, anime fans can go out and buy the DVD's of the shows they fall in love with on the way. Treat these shows like any american reality drama or sitcom and the money will start flowing in. More money makes more anime and more anime makes fans all the happier to spend.

If this problem isn't fixed soon, anime will be nothing but a lost past time. So let's come together and save this beautiful art form of unique storytelling and imagination!

What I've learned about Game Design in College

I'm currently attending a game design school for a Bachelor’s Degree and due for graduation in August of this year, 2011. I originally signed up for the Game Art program, but I supposed that not enough students signed up for it so I resorted to Game Design. I love video games! I have a passion to learn how to make them and make it the game industry as many young generations dream to do. I am here to give you the 411 on going to school for this kind of thing and here is the advice.

Take your money somewhere else.

Don't get me wrong, college is great! Everyone should have a degree of some sort, but what you learn in Game Design at a school you can teach yourself! My school teaches the basics of everything from art, programming, sound design, planning to documentation. It's up to you to pick your niche or two and work on that on your own. Mine is concept art and design. I have a classmate that is an amazing programmer and another that specializes in level design and 3D modeling. MOST OF THIS YOU CAN LEARN BY SEARCHING THE INTERNET. What you pay at game college for is:

Networking.

The faculty staff are there teaching for a reason, they know there stuff and they've worked in the industry. Many of them are still working in studios as well as teaching. You're classmates and your teachers are all competition as well as your future associates! Some of your teachers may be only a few years older than you and fresh out of college. Don't get caught up in drama and definitely don't burn bridges just because your teacher came off as a complete douche. Pay attention to who is doing what and who to stick with. Attending a college like my own you will come across people who are “party people” or “game potatoes”. Stay away from those people, playing games and having immature fun was high school, you are here to build yourself a career, build a good portfolio and get a good job. It's great to play games for research and testing but don't waste too much time on playing games when you could be making the next best hit that premieres at E3! (or doing your homework).

If you want to get your foot in the door this is what you need to do:

Find your passion and go for it!

If you are completely set on working in the game industry, find your specialty. There are many free programs out there for you to use and try out. Free tutorials are available online. Try EVERYTHING, before making a decision. If you find that art is your field, draw everyday, go to an art school, draw and make as much material as you can. Consider making a comic to show that you can draw the same characters well and frequently as well as telling a story. If you want to be a programmer, tutorials, books and forums are available all over the internet and it wouldn't hurt to get a degree only in programming. Level Designer? Unity and Unreal Game engines have free versions of there software plus with tutorials and forums! Sound Designer? Get your hands on some free sound effects and some good sound editing software, we use Adobe Audition. 3D Modeler? Blender is free! If you are in college you can get any Autodesk Software for free! That's Max, Maya, Mudbox, etc!

Okay, okay! Hold up, Andie! What if I want to be an actual game designer?

You won't be a game designer straight out of college! They may teach you how to design games but in reality game studios will not hire a game designer unless they have YEARS of game industry experience doing grunge work like the rest of us! Find something you can do in the production of games, work your way up the ladder and you may be lucky enough to land a lead designer position. In a sense, all crew members in a game studio are designers. They pitch ideas and work together to build something great and fun for the public to enjoy, so you will be designing games from the get go.

Networking!

This is what will get you a job. Find some people who has your dream job in the industry, email them for advice (NOT A JOB). If they email you back then that's great! Build connections and make friends. Kiss some butts and work on your stuff. Find others who are willing to work on making an actual game with you to share credentials for portfolio work. It doesn't have to be a big game, heck maybe even a flash game for kids but a fully functional game that you worked on would give you bonus points to potential employers.

Set goals and keep yourself busy! Don't be distracted from your work and don't waste too much time gaming! Games are awesome, but work on making them better. I can't stress this enough! Manage your time, network, and always keep learning! You will do just fine!

The world is what you make it.

Wow, I have to say that a lot has happened in the past couple months. I broke up with my boyfriend about two months a go and finding my interests in places I never thought possible. I'm learning more and more about myself each day. I feel I can conquer the world. I am hopeful. I am grateful. I am scared, too, but I know that everything will be okay if I just take my time and handle my relationships with love and understanding. My last entry was depressing, I know. But I have learned something that is priceless to me.

The world is what you make it.

I have great friends, a caring family and a wonderful new outlook on life. I can't wait to travel the world after graduation and learn new things that I have been blind to before in my own selfish pessimism. I've decided that an optimistic opportunist lifestyle suits my needs at this time. New friendships are in my sight. New employment. New love.

The world is amazing and I am happy.