Is Localizing Anime(& Manga) Worth It?

Let's face it. Anime just isn't as popular as it was in the late 90s to early 2000's. There are less anime that could appeal to a wider broad. Just a niche group. Anime itself has vastly changed compare to what it was back then. Anime is also expensive to localize, from what I have heard. And it doesn't help that localizers have to feel the angry wrath of Anime Purists and Otaku.

It also doesn't help that North America favors Live Action more.

I know Funimation is trying its best, but other than the most dedicated fans, who's willing to watch Japanimation nowadays?

I'm not trying to offend.

edited 24th Oct '12 4:23:09 AM by asiacatdogblue

Yep, I'm still here.

(thumped because all I know of anime is quite obsolete)

edited 24th Oct '12 5:05:11 AM by Medinoc

"And as long as a sack of shit is not a good thing to be, chivalry will never die."

Because there is still a market for it all, I believe it should still be localized in some way. Whether that's subs or dubs is a different matter. The same goes for manga, only without the subs/dubs issue.

They'll likely continue so long as they make money.

*sigh*

So the TC got bored of the responses he got from Game Faqs and decided to post on Tvtropes instead? Nobody bother replying. Let him get bored on his own and he'll go away.

That depends: Is anime getting less localizations because it's less popular, or is is getting less popular because of fewer localizations? It's hard to get a lot of fans for something that you can't easily watch, after all.

I couldn't conceive a dream so wet; your bongos make me congo.

They wouldn't have stopped localizing if it was still selling well. Basically, the anime bubble popped. It was predicted to keep growing but then it didn't. I'd imagine there will always be a market for the foreseeable future, but a reasonable small one.

Would things really change that much?

You're not being offensive. These are truths. Why else do you think there are so many more official subtitles anime instead of dubs? The reason you keep seeing the same actors in decades of shows again and again is because there still isn't enough work to branch out to new talent! Bless Funimation!!

"Anime" hasn't changed. Animation has largely been in the same boat for quite a long while now. What has changed is that people were not familiar with a lot of works in Japan until a fad(Pokemon) created a gateway for many classic series which were already tried and true or approaching their end.(Dragon Ball was pretty much done before it got an international release, as were Tenchi, Princess Mononoke, many giant robot shows, Ranma/Inuyasha, Akria, Ghost in The Shell, whathaveyou.)

Before, North America in particular only got waves of what was cheap, since most were just looking for quick bucks. Whatever classic robot shows anyone saw in the 90s only looked so good because instead of Tiger Mask or Gundam we got Go-Lion and a butchered Macross with parts of other shows stitched in to make some kind of Frankenstein monster. Is Speed Racer really held in higher regard than Lupin III? Was Speed Racer cheaper to obtain than Lupin III?

Networks ran out of classics and now we are getting close to the same stream of feces to mediocrity the Japanese have always gotten. We have to wait for classics just like they do. Is localizing worth it? It is hard to predict what an audience will do but when the stuff doesn't have the record of Dragon Ball, or the runaway success of Pokemon... that the wildly popular and long running One Piece series bombed on North American screens would affirm it is not worth it, the success of Naruto on the other hand remind us no one really knows how an audience will react. There is no undeniable for what kind of show will work, its up to the network to say if it is worth shopping or not. Worth exporting or not.

Modified Ura-nage, Torture Rack

It's the Internet's fault. Compared to 1-2 decades ago, there are more niches being served by the Internet, so the only thing that remains on TV is the absolute mainstream. Niche channels went under Network Decay, because their core audience went online.

Without TV anime forcing it down on their throat, casual viewers have little chance of bumping into anime on the Internet.

I couldn't say that I'm too concerned about it.

First of all, I'm not an American. Hungary is inherently too small to have an anime audience able to support an industry. So sorry if I can't properly empathise with the tragedy of how everyone around you in meatspace used to watch Cowboy Bebop together on TV, while now no one gets the reference with your Kyuubey-themed scarf.

Second, we have the above mentioned Internet. What's the point of publishing anime, if it's there anyways? Japan is doing well funding and creating it, fans can translate it on their own better than professionals, so there is no need to add an extra layer of industrialization solely for the sake industrialization.

Third, even if we assume that a sufficiently large western audience could have significant effect on the Japanese anime production industry, I don't particularly care for the effect that it could have. I like anime as it is right now, I don't need to turn it into an international cartoon industry.

edited 24th Oct '12 1:07:02 PM by Ever9

Anime is still made for profit. Therefore, it is still an industry.

whatever

Uhh... yeah. It is.

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Obviously.

edited 24th Oct '12 1:17:22 PM by Ever9

I don't see the issue with it "becoming an international cartton industry" as your post said when it already is.

edited 24th Oct '12 1:18:29 PM by SimplyWhatever

whatever

The emphasis was on "international", not on "industry".

Anime being too popular in the west would melt it into a globalized animation industry that happens to employ lots of Japanese artists, as opposed to a Japanese animation industry with it's own quirks and special directions.

There is a population in the west that has an effect on the production process of Japanese cartoons, we call it Brazil and it's not going away. Japanese cartoons are the same now as they have been for a long time and are in more danger from changing to due internal forces than anything in foreign markets at this point. Those changes have largely already been put in place.

I suppose from a fan's perspective Saint Seiya and Cowboy Bepop are done now but they were done earlier if you were in Asia. The "boom" period was just a fad, like Go Bots.

Modified Ura-nage, Torture Rack

The reason why anime isn't a fad in Japan is because it's their shows. It's home-grown to them, and not shipped over from a land far, far away with an alien culture. I know it's frustrating that something you spent countless hours of your life devoted to turns out to only be a niche market.

Well, yeah but that's bordering on Shaped Like Itself. I mean, even if a Japanese studio with Japanese staff make the most un-Japanese-y thing ever, (like, I dunno, an America-worshipping drama about the US marine corps?) and it can still be called "anime".

Anyway, outside influences will always exist in any medium, no? Nothing's really gonna stop that.

Also, about the internet and publishing thing mentioned somewhere up: you do know that companies have used the internet to publish anime, right? Even without actually charging sometimes.

Gobots was a fad? As in, it was actually popular at some point?

edited 24th Oct '12 3:18:01 PM by SimplyWhatever

whatever

Wait, what? Sorry, but I don't see my country having any effect on production process of anime. Hell, the number of localized anime/manga here is much smaller than in US.

I admit I don't know much of the industry, though, so I am curious. Why did you say that?

edited 24th Oct '12 3:35:52 PM by Heatth

I'm a brazilian too, and I'm as confused as the guy above

I'm not too much into watching TV to see if I find any anime on it, but the last time I checked, only very popular shounens get localized here. In fact, I think the least popular anime I've ever seen dubbed in portuguese was Gundam Wing (mecha shows aren't big around here at all)

edited 24th Oct '12 4:44:43 PM by ElectricBoogaloo

There's no Part 1, I just thought it was funny at the time.

Are there any Japanese industries not largely influenced by Brazil? I thought you all setup a talent exchange program? I know there was a notable immigration out of Japan last year but I also know there are more Japanese people speaking Portuguese than English, including television channels broadcasting exclusively in the language.

So no, I don't know about Japanese shows being localized for Brazil, but I do know Japanese shows are being done for Brazilians who are being "localized" in Japan.

Modified Ura-nage, Torture Rack

Well... There is a thing between Brazil and Japan, what with the immigrants that set foot in here a century ago, and the cultural interchange aspect, Liberdade district*

, japanese for "bread" being "pan"*

loanword from portuguese "pão"

, and Michiko to Hatchin. But I'm pretty sure it is not nearly as big as you think

I believe USA is still the big western leader when it comes to what is localized or not. Most of PT-BR dubs I've seen (not many, mind you) were indirectly translated from the english version.

Also, I wonder why there's no Brazil in Axis Powers Hetalia, he'd probably be good friends with Japan, but not quite married

edited 24th Oct '12 5:15:30 PM by ElectricBoogaloo

There's no Part 1, I just thought it was funny at the time.

I realize it was a little off topic. My point being Ever 9 does not want Japanese companies pandering to westerners when they already have at least two channels that pander to westerners(namely Brazilians citizens, twenty thousand returned to Brazil from Japan last year). I do not know why that does not translate to more exports to Brazil.

Modified Ura-nage, Torture Rack

The rise of the internet and the proliferation of cable television haven't helped matters. Cartoon Network used to be one of the biggest showcases for Anime in the U.S., especially when Toonami was running. But the viewership is a fraction of what it was back then, and CN has gravitated towards lower-budget comedy shows in recent years anyway.

Like someone said it'd take a pretty colossal hit to jump start the American mainstream Anime market like it was in its heyday.

The Japanese for bread being a loanword from Portugese has nothing to do with Brazil. It was introduced to Japan by Portugese missionaries and arms merchants in the dying days of the Sengoku Jidai and the early days of the Tokugawa Shogunate before they all got kicked out*

.