Ask John: How has the Anime Community Changed in the Past Five Years?

Question:
I have been out of the anime loop for the past 5 years. I see that some things have changed. What major changes have happened? In your opnion what are the must-see anime titles that I have missed?

Answer:
I have no idea what’s bringing fans back to anime these days, but lately I’ve encountered several people that were anime fans in the early 2000s, drifted away from the hobby for the later half of the past decade, and are now rediscovering anime. For their benefit, and the interest of fans that have been part of the otaku community all along, condensing a concise yet thorough summary of the anime industry since 2006 is practically impossible, but I can try to summarize the past five years’ most significant trends and highlights.

The American anime industry and community has changed drastically. In fact, today’s American anime community seems almost entirely different from the industry of 2004 or 2005. While the domestic anime industry peaked around 2005, it’s condensed and evolved since then. Declining domestic DVD sales, slow consumer adoption of Blu-ray, increasing proliferation of authorized and unauthorized anime online, and increasing fees and expenses associated with licensing and localizing anime all contributed to a domestic industry crash that forced Geneon, Synch Point, Urban Vision, AN Entertainment, Hirameki, Pathfinder, Artsmagic, Central Park Media, AD Vision, Anime Crash, Tokyopop, Toei, and Bandai Visual to cease distributing anime DVDs in America. Domestic companies including Hirameki, Anime Crash, and Central Park Media went out of business. After losing most of its catalog, AD Vision ceased operations then relaunched itself as affiliated companies Sentai Filmworks, Switchblade Pictures, and Secton 23. The early 2000’s practice of releasing anime domestically on monthly individual DVD volumes was almost entirely replaced by multi-disc sets and “thinpack” packaging – a somewhat higher price per release, but a dramatic decrease in retail price by volume of content. In order to reduce per-episode retail cost, English dubbing over the past five years has become somewhat of a bonus or luxury rather than the standard treatment that it was during the early 2000s.

At the same time DVD sales declined, domestic TV broadcast also declined. The Cartoon Network ended its Toonami programming block in 2008 – a block which had been one of America’s foremost outlets for presenting anime to mainstream American audiences. So domestic anime distribution went online. The fan-run website Crunchyroll launched in 2006 and quickly gained popularity by streaming unauthorized fansubs. The site turned “legitimate” in 2009, forming partnerships with numerous Asian content providers and streaming only video content that it had officially licensed distribution rights for. FUNimation, Viz, and Anime News Network followed suit, offering their own authorized video streaming services that, like Crunchyroll, offered simultaneous international broadcast of brand new weekly anime, and offered anime unavailable on American DVD or Blu-ray. Roughly three years after the domestic “anime crash,” domestic DVD and Blu-ray distribution is beginning to seem healthy again, but domestic licensing and DVD distribution is noticeably more limited and conservative than it was in the early 2000s.

On the other side of the Pacific, several noteworthy paradigm shifts have occurred in Japan. Production studio Gonzo seemed to dominate the early 2000s until the studio encountered crippling financial difficulties and, apart from its hit American co-produced Afro Samurai franchise, almost vanished from prominence entirely. While Gonzo dominated the early 2000s, its prominence has been usurped by fellow small production houses Shaft and Kyoto Animation. From humble beginnings making religious propaganda anime, TV commercials, and its original Munto OVA franchise, Kyoto Animation scored a monstrous global success with its sarcastic, satirical school comedy series The Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi. “KyoAni” followed-up the success with the equally massively popular cute girl comedies Lucky Star and K-On. After toiling in relatively obscurity for years, veteran studio Shaft suddenly exploded into the forefront of viewer consciousness with a string of stylish TV series that appealed to otaku sensibilities: Negima!?, Hidamari Sketch, Sayonara Zetsubo Sensei, Mariaholic, Bakemonogatari, and the current Puella Magi Madoka Magica among them. At the same time small attractive and stylish shows from boutique studios began attracting massive attention, small feature films likewise seemed to steal the thunder of bigger, higher profile productions. Studio Ghibli’s 2006 fantasy film Ged Senki was Japan’s most successful anime release of the year, but the most acclaimed film of the year was director Mamoru Hosoda’s Toki wo Kakeru Shojo, which had an extremely limited Japanese theatrical release and generated massive global respect almost entirely through word of mouth praise rather than high profile advertising. Similarly, the seven film Kara no Kyoukai movie series set theatrical attendance records while screening in only a handful of Japanese theaters. Ghost in the Shell director Mamoru Oshii’s big budget meditative speculation on the nature of war and humanity, The Sky Crawlers, met largely with audience indifference despite massive advertising. Ghibli’s 2009 film, Karigurashi no Arrietty, has earned tremendous critical praise despite being the first feature film from director Hiromasa Yonebayashi. But that’s not to say that all high profile anime features have been overshadowed. The theatrical re-launch of the seminal Evangelion franchise, with only two of four planned films released, has relaunched the massive fan acclaim and adoration of the franchise.

Although the past five years of anime seem to have been dominated by overbearing or ditzy schoolgirls in Suzumiya Haruhi, Lucky Star, and K-On, and the sheer number of annual television anime series produced in Japan has decreased to a more sustainable number, Japan’s industry has also seen a number of other high points. Sunrise’s sci-fi action/drama series Code Geass: Hangyaku no Lelouch and Kido Senshi Gundam 00 became massive hits. Madhouse has recently produced a number of exceptional television series, among them the supernatural suspense thriller Death Note becoming the most popular. The latest installment in the Macross franchise, 2008’s Macross Frontier, has also become the series’ most successful entry since its 1982 debut. Gainax again created a groundbreaking anime, just as they did with Evangelion, by reinvigorating and exaggerating traditional anime tropes, with 2007’s Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann. In the more esoteric field, the Fuji TV network’s late night series of “Noitamina” anime for mainstream young adult women has blossomed in recent years, producing a greater number and variety of distinctive and unusual anime. However, such efforts in Japan have not consistently proven successful. The Fuji TV network’s “Noise” line of unusual anime productions started and ended in 2009, resulting in just three shows. Likewise, TV Tokyo’s “Anime no Chikara” collaboration with Sony’s Aniplex subsidiary, an effort to sponsor original TV anime series that exhibited the “spirit of anime,” premiered in and seemingly ended in 2010 with only three anime series.

Furthermore regrettable, acclaimed visionary animator and director Satoshi Kon, director of Perfect Blue, Millennium Actress, and Paprika, suddenly passed away on August 24, 2010, due to pancreatic cancer.

A number of excellent and (or) tremendously popular anime have premiered during the past half-decade. Just a few of them include Black Lagoon, Gintama, Love Com, Seirei no Moribito, Dennou Coil, Kaiba, Kurenai, Natsume Yuujincho, Casshan Sins, Kimi ni Todoke, To Aru Majutsu no Index, Minamike, Higashi no Eden, Fairy Tail, Durarara!!, High School of the Dead, and Hourou Musuko. But enjoyment of anime is always a personal matter, so rather than recommend “excellent” shows, I always recommend just looking around and sampling whatever catches your eye. Regardless of objective technical quality, a show that you enjoy will always be more significant and meaningful to you than a widely or critically praised show that leaves you cold.