So I found it a little interesting that some people are still optimistic, at least about the manga industry. Yen Press is doing well, but it did also just come out of a merger. Viz still has it’s super shounen bestsellers, but while Naruto is a more popular search term than Angelina Jolie, its place on that booklist is still as unpredictable as the price of oil. I suppose for the times, these companies are doing reasonably well. It doesn’t look like any more of them are on the verge of collapse, anyway, and even ADV had some good news to share a few months ago. I think the dwindling economy is forcing a lot of companies to reconsider just which titles they bring over whereas before, it seemed like they were grabbing just about everything that was halfway popular in Japan.

That seems to have led them to somehow skip out on series like Dennou Coil, which deserves much more recognition and attention than its gotten, despite winning significant awards. But considering that Viz has licensed DOGS of all things, I have hope that companies are looking further and harder for titles with underground appeal or popularity. Here’s to hoping we’ll be getting more of a mixed bag and that this will somehow stimulate readers and viewers? I’m not as worried about the anime side of things anymore since the digital distribution thing seems to have exploded to the point that prominent fansubbers are hanging up their hats, but manga online is a harder proposal to sell.

I’m optimistic in that the manga scene won’t be dropping further for the moment, but it remains to be seen whether things will actually pick up. There’s all this talk about that $500 billion stimulus package. I’m not sure how much water the idea of using taxpayer money to pay taxpayers holds, but the immediate affect would (hopefully) be more people spending money, which is good news for businesses, which in turn is good news for workers, which in turn is good news for the economy, including our little otaku industry. I dunno. This holiday season is already kind of scary. I lot of people scoff that the luxury goods industry, but things must be pretty damn bad if rich people can’t afford to be rich anymore.

Then again, poor people go out to see more movies in hard times, so who knows?

Some interesting bits of stuff today though.

Since hitting that record high in early July, crude oil has declined a third and hit the $100 mark today. Sign of a slightly recovering economy? Maybe. Wall Street is still terrified about the fate of Lehmen Brothers, but it looks like GONZO is getting saved. It’s also good to see that Crunchyroll is getting more and more attention; it builds more points for the digital distribution model, and maybe it’ll be a sign for other companies to start contracting with Crunchyroll so we’ll have a more universal platform rather than the scattered one we have now.

Also on the topic of the economy, it doesn’t seem as if anime conventions are hurting much from the general, worldwide slump. Most kids are still planning on spending the same amount at cons, and some are even planning on spending more, for whatever reasons. Otakon gained more than 10,000 attendees this year over last, and Baltimore is determined to keep the event in town because of the annual boost in the economy it provides. On the other hand though, it seems that ADV isn’t quite done crashing and burning yet…but at least FUNimation benefits from that fire. And hey! Manga’s back on the weekly booklist! I’m still interested to see what the holiday season will be like. ]]> http://op.deadend-detour.com/2008/09/hurricane-and-the-economy/feed/ 0 http://op.deadend-detour.com/2008/08/stuff-and-review-seed-supernova/ http://op.deadend-detour.com/2008/08/stuff-and-review-seed-supernova/#comments Fri, 08 Aug 2008 23:28:00 +0000 Kiriska http://op.deadend-detour.com/2008/08/08/stuff-and-review-seed-supernova/
I haven’t written a review in what seems like ages. I guess this is what I get for writing like four reviews a day for the first week or two. I went through almost all of the anime I think I remember well enough to give a proper opinion. So I scribbled out a super short review for a super short series of shorts. It’s kind of a useless thing, I guess. I seem to have paused in my watching of Spice and Wolf and Zoku Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei, along with Yami no Matsuei, which I started for no reason that I can identify. I just haven’t had as much time as I’d like to chill and watch cartoons lately. Very sad. Doesn’t help that some of my time is eaten up by rewatching Code Geass and Gurren Lagann dubbed (gotta keep those TV ratings up, yo). I don’t want to review Code Geass R2 until the series is finished. Same with Soul Eater. I will most likely revise both my CG and Gurren Lagann reviews when I’m finished with their respective dubs and purge some of the fantarding currently present though.

I wonder how one goes about becoming a professional critic. I don’t think there’s any other way I’ll ever find time to watch everything I want to watch. Oh, woe.

This has been a relatively slow news week (lack of a con?), which probably means I should have taken advantage of it and written about any number of news items that came up during AX and SDCC. It’s always harder to write about something days or weeks later though. This weekend is Otakon and there will undoubtedly be another onslaught of press releases*. Joy! Is Otakon the official end of the summer con season? I’m not going to Kinokuniya tomorrow after all. I just have too much other stuff to do (read: I have to keep drawing lots of stuff for AWA). I will most likely also be skipping Kinokuniya’s Cosplay Day later this month for the same reasons. I’m lame, I guess.

* Damnit, as I write this, the first round of Otakon news is already out. Goddamnit.

Well, in other kinds of news, crude oil is at a three-month record low today ($116/barrel), which is a far cry from it’s all-time record high ($147/barrel) just a few weeks ago. The dollar is up against both the yen and the euro as the rest of the world slumps (and as the US runs out of bad news that surprises anyone anymore). I wonder how healthy of a holiday spending season we’ll have if oil continues to drop and as people get used to this tighter economy? I also wonder about the statistics of spending at anime conventions and things and how our niche economy is handling itself beyond the straight-up DVD sales, etc. I don’t think anyone really keeps tabs on this stuff though. Then again, last year’s Otakon gave an estimated $21 million dollar boost to Baltimore’s economy via hotel, food, and travel expenses. See, weeaboos are useful to society after all!

Oh yeah, and the Olympics started today.

Chaos! Panic! Panic! Panic is probably the main thing. Rumors are flying all over the place. Investors are scared shitless which will probably contribute to this downward spiral. Oh, noes! Oh, woes.

In other more fandom-relevant, but distressingly similar news, ADV just keeps sending signals that they’re about to fold. (And TOKYOPOP isn’t being particularly reassuring either.) Their contracts have been severed; they’re losing an alarming number of their titles. The only thing they can possibly do for the next year or so is sit around on what they have left and hope that profits enough to allow for recovery. It’s been done before (Central Park Media), but considering the huge economic woes (see above?) we’re now facing, I’m very skeptical they’ll be able to make it out of this alive.

I’m curious about FUNimation though… As one of the few companies that actually had revenue growth last quarter, I’m glad they seem to be doing well enough currently to be able to afford picking up much of the titles being tossed by ADV and Bandai, but I wonder if it’s really in the company’s best interest. After all, taking up so many new titles all at once, even if it’s just distribution, may be stretching FUNi’s resources a bit thin. It’s also possible that taking on competitors’ titles will cannibalize its own titles. I kind of feel like they should just ignore the dropped goods for now — just focus on their own stuff instead of messing with other peoples’ problems. Even if they’ve been doing well, I don’t think they should take any unnecessary risks right now, and this might be considered one of those risks. I know lots of fans are relieved and ecstatic that some of their anticipated titles will be able to reach them after all, and maybe I’m biased because I’m not heavily invested in any of these involved titles, but I think a longer delay in the availability of those titles would be worth FUNi staying well out of harm’s way.

Then again, this may turn out to be a huge advantage to FUNimation in the long run. Risk is uncertain in the end, eh?

On to some better news though, I trust that all of you have seen the five minutes of Batman: Gotham Knight that surfaced Tuesday. As a big fan of the way the Animatrix was handled, I’m really, really looking forward to Gotham Knight’s release, especially since YES, Kevin Conroy shall be reprising his role as the definitive voice of Batman. Honestly? From the five minute exclusive, Conroy’s voice was my absolute favorite part of it. It’s just so good hearing his voice again for a new project after years and years of hearing him from Batman: The Animated Series, among other animated versions. I approve of Bale’s performance in Batman Begins, but he did try a little too hard to force his voice to sound like Conroy’s when he was Batman. Nothing beats that guy; don’t even try.

The rest of the clip wasn’t all that impressive to me, possibly because the other voice actors sounded painfully generic in comparison. The animation was about average, and the particular style used in the clip wasn’t amazingly unique or anything. None of that really bothers me though. After all, there are five other shorts to look forward to, and just the very concept of anime and Batman coming together like this, as an in-between release preceeding the Dark Knight, is incredibly exciting. Batman has always been my favorite superhero.

I really haven’t looked that much into the information available about Gotham Knight though, just as I haven’t seen the last two or three most recent trailers released for The Dark Knight. My excuse is that I’m excited enough for it already, and after a certain point, it’s just painful to be teased. <_< So July 8th and July 18th, guys. That’s what I’m saving my money for. x3

That isn’t to say that there aren’t factors contributing to these issues from within the anime and manga industries, but with gas averaging more than $4/gal, there are people desperate enough to border hop to Mexico, despite prevailant gang violence, so they can save a few hundred dollars — it shouldn’t be surprising that sales of these entertainment items are falling. Parents are paying double what they used to every month for gas; most likely, their kids’ allowances are shrinking as a result. College students are also struggling with higher gas prices, and that part-time job is getting harder and harder to find. Even though our general age group might like to think we’re still a little isolated from the “real world,” this just isn’t the case anymore.

Back to TOKYOPOP though. As much as I respect them, I suppose I can still be counted amongst the number who are just shaking their heads and saying, “I knew this would happen.” In the last two years or so, every time I walked into a bookstore, the manga section seems to have grown again, and a vast majority of the titles will belong to TP. Viz stayed a powerhouse by licensing the big titles (Naruto, Bleach, Death Note), but TP has always been the forerunner in variety. They licensed fucking everything. Kind of. Despite the undesputably broader range, shoujo still seemed to be their main ticket. Walking by the shelves and skimming the hundreds of titles, I always wondered how much of a fanbase each one had. I knew the anime/manga fandom had been growing almost exponentially for years now, but it still seemed unlikely that these dozens of obscure titles were taking in amazing profits.

Now it seems painfully obvious that TP had outstretched themselves. It should have never come to that; it was just poor decision making.

Their objective with the cutting back on titles and massive layoffs is obvious, but I’m less certain about the rest of their restructuring plans. What exactly are they trying to achieve? New Media? Please, no. Why on earth would you want to venture into a new industry your core industry is in so much trouble? If stretching yourself too thin was the problem in the past, WHY ARE YOU DOING IT AGAIN? I’m shaking my head at you, TOKYOPOP, and if that venture falls through in a few years, I’ll still be with the group saying “I told you so.”

I really feel like TOKYOPOP and all the other floundering businesses in our industry need to re-examine their priorities. Just concentrate on what they know they’re good at for now. There is a time to try out new things and take risks, but with things the way they are now, I think it would be better to hold those off until after the storm — or at least until we know more about what to expect from our economy. Gas isn’t expected to go much higher, but it isn’t expected to go back down any time soon either. Eventually, consumer habits will probably return to more healthy levels, but for now, let’s just ride out the storm without doing anything incredibly… stupid.