Ask John: Is the American Anime Market Saturated?

Question:
Do you see the anime market saturated yet, or is there significant room for growth?

Answer:
Market saturation is, of course, relative. North America will never have as much English translated manga and anime available as what is published and released in Japan. Although there’s certainly more contemporary Japanese art available in America now than there ever has been before, there are still countless number of titles available in Japan that most American fans have never even heard of. My totally off-the-cuff guess is that there are hundreds of thousands of manga titles and series available in Japan, of which America sees only a tiny fraction. But the difference is that Japan and America have different breaking points for market saturation. Japan is capable of supporting a much larger percentage of published manga and anime than the current American market, and I think that will always be the case. It makes sense to assume that Japanese popular art is most popular and prolific in Japan, and may be popular, but not as popular, overseas.

Considering just the American market for anime and manga, it’s difficult to judge the market saturated or still viable because there are conflicting characteristics to consider. On one hand, there are a tremendous number of anime series, and even entire genres that have either no, or very limited exposure in America. There’s relatively little anime dating from the 1960s through early 1980s available on American DVD. “Kodomo anime,” or anime for Japanese children such as Anpanman, Doraemon, Crayon Shin-chan, and Chibi Maruko-chan is virtually unknown in America. Love and dating simulation anime series like Graduation, Ajimu, Canvas, Memories Off, and Refrain Blue are virtually unknown in America. Sports anime are only very recently beginning to slowly filter into the American marketplace. And as I’ve mentioned, there are thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of manga series unavailable in America. As long as these genres remain unknown in America, logically there should still be room for their American release.

On the other hand, as a professional anime retailer and distributor, I’m in a position to see first hand that even among the anime that is available in America, there are deserving series that get overlooked or marginalized, which suggests that the American market is either preoccupied with a select percentage of American anime releases, or there are simply too many releases coming out in America for average consumers to keep up. Considering the demand for anime and the popularity of anime in America, I’m inclined to say that the former, rather than later, reason is more to blame. In my personal observation and opinion, the majority of the domestic anime fan community is primarily interested in consuming only anime and manga titles they’ve heard of. In spite of the protestations of numerous domestic anime distribution companies over the damage inflicted upon the domestic industry by fansubs, it’s largely anime titles that have been extensively fansubbed which sell the most copies in America. Likewise, manga with affiliations to well known anime series outsell obscure and unheard of domestic manga releases seemingly exponentially.

With the sheer amount of anime being released in America these days, and the average anime fan being a young adult, or younger, with a limited amount of disposable income, it’s logical to expect anime fans to be selective with their purchasing dollars. It’s logical to expect consumers to purchase anime titles they feel safe purchasing- titles that they’ve heard of. Furthermore, with anime now a very trendy hobby, there’s a palpable incentive to go with the flow and consume the anime and manga titles that everyone else is consuming in order to be a recognized part of the “in crowd.” There are those anime fans that choose to go against the grain and buy and watch only what they like, regardless of its trendiness, and some anime fans that specifically seek out anime that aren’t the hot, popular titles of the moment. But these sort of fans are the exception. If, indeed, my theoretical analysis of the American anime fan community is at least partially true, it may be said that the American anime market is not remotely saturated, but the fan community itself is artificially limiting the potential of anime in America by ignoring less mainstream titles, more obscure titles, and specifically narrowing its own consumption of anime and manga varieties and titles.