Ask John: Why Aren’t There American Made Anime Television Shows?

Question:
I’m a huge fan of anime, and I would most likely move to Japan because of anime and video games. I watch pretty much any anime I can get my hands on, and I realized that there isn’t any American made anime. Now I may be mistaken, but I’ve never really seen any American made anime. Is there any? Are there any plans for American anime shows?

Answer:
Technically “American made anime” is an oxymoron. If it’s made in America, technically it’s not anime. By definition, anime is 2D style animation produced mainly in Japan, intended mainly for Japanese viewers. I can only guess that there hasn’t yet been any significant amount of “American anime” produced because there’s simply no market for it. American television networks largely aren’t interested in broadcasting anime. American television networks want to target American viewers, and the most sensible way to appeal to the greatest number of American viewers is to broadcast American programming created specifically to appeal to Americans. By and large, the mainstream American public has yet to accept the big eyes, wild hair and more mature subject matter typical of anime, and American television has largely marketed to that consensus. This is clear based on the fact that there are literally thousands of anime TV series available, but only a handful have ever been broadcast on American television. As television networks exist only to earn a profit for their employees and shareholders, it’s logical to assume that if anime programming was actually generating a lot of money, networks would be quick to license and broadcast more of it. But anime simply doesn’t attract as many viewers as home-grown American cartoons do, doesn’t earn as much money as traditional American cartoons do, and therefore isn’t flooding the American airwaves.

So essentially, there’s no reason to make “American anime.” The market for anime in America simply isn’t big enough nor profitable enough for any American television network to intentionally create or commission animation in Japanese style for Americans when they could instead create something in a much more marketable American style for Americans. Furthermore, it’s much easier, cheaper and faster to simply let the Japanese studios and artists create Japanese animation instead of having Americans attempt to create Japanese animation. While the market for anime in America continues to grow, and we will definitely see more anime on American television in the future, I don’t anticipate seeing any significant advancement in “American anime” in the foreseeable future.

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