日本のアニメバブル崩壊

I rather follow a series with good story ^^;! good, consistent art is a big plus too ^^;

maybe that's the reason why there are many RAW,fansubs,and piracy on anime !!

I think giving away some quality merchandise with dvd's would help sell it as well. I do watch anime, but I buy the dvds of the series I really enjoy, and usually those have a great story line, amazing art, or some sentimental tie to them. It's true, the moe anime tends to bore me more than those with a real story line. I think some more marketing would be good too, to get people to watch other series instead of sticking to a particular genre.

But yeah, in the end, it all comes down to the price. I love Lucky Star something fierce, but I'm not willing to pay 25 dollars at Best buy for one dvd with a few episodes of it. I tend to wait until a box set comes out instead of spending such a ridiculous amount on one dvd.

7000 yen for 2 eps really is too expensive, for me 4 eps for 30 usd is already a complaint

I think the whole "crap quality" anime judgment is right. There is a trend to do the same things in titles, that pretty much stop new people from entering into this industry.

anime recently has been utter crap. i've been watching lots of old school anime recently, and just following up with the basic shounen anime (major and one piece). i have also been drifting towards us prime time tv shows. as someone who views anime as potentially better than movies can be, I want something with more content and substance. rather than focusing on quality, anime seems to be trying to hook in 'new' adolescent-pubescent teenagers on crappy moe /ecchi stuff. the quick buck , so to say.

i remember walking through a japanese anime store and balking at the fact that there are only two episodes per dvd! sure the box looked nice, but man... that's expensive.

Buying legit anime in Canada and the US is expensive! I have to admit that many titles out there don't interest me because of either the art style, the storyline is over used, and I'm not really into the whole "moe anime" which seems to be half of the anime industry atm.

recession hits everything, they shouldn't expect themselves to be immune, and especially with some ridiculous pricing, its no wonder they're declining. business models need to evolve =)

To be honest, the cost for DVDs in Japan is very expensive compared to here in the States. They sell single or double episodes for what costs the price of 4-5 episodes typically. You can even purchase an entire 25-episode series for the cost of 4 episodes in Japan. Plus a good percentage of the DVD sales here usually come with little extra dit bits like keychans, patches, stickers, or cards inside. The Limited Edition boxes are double the price in terms of retail but come with t-shirts, figures, sound track CDs, etc...which make the purchase well worth it. If you want a week or two after the release date you can get the Limited Edition release for much cheaper, closer to the cost of the regular release.

I don't download, only purchase. Just picked up Clannad Vol. 2 yesterday actually but I've been too busy to watch it all. Just had enough time to complete the Kotomi Arc and stopped on the episode with the basketball game.

In terms of watching new anime, I rarely do. K-ON! is the only title I'm following now and while I have other series that I'm interested in there really isn't much time for me to sit down and go through them all.

If, and when, they do get licensed will I set aside some time to watch the series before the release to gauge whether or not I want to buy it.

So far it works. I get to budget and sift through all the titles to get what I really want.

The economy in decline is affecting the anime industry. Not only that but the rise in illegal downloading has affected much of sales for companies. It's understandable, though, with more people trying to save money yet not wanting to sacrifice their hobby if they can. Of course, there is no argument in the legality of such actions.

Either way, the industry has to adapt to the rush of masses preferring digital copies of what they're watching. There is progress which is good. They only have to translate that to the hard copy material as well.

You can have quality and quantity....which is what the next generation of fans want.

For North America, the amount of anime I'm still buying is a lot cause I'm behind. And I usually buy everything in the thin-pak collections. I do agree that a lot of crap anime is coming out...but theres always a crowd for those too >>; Thats why they exist.

The major reason I think is the FANSUB community! Thats whats destroying the industry. But I think they are starting to finally find away around that. (for North America anyways)

Latest buys (last couple of months) have been the complete set of Rozen Maiden, Maria Watches over us season 2, emma season 1. And random ones all over. Oh, and Code Geass I still need to watch...
Doesn't help that I buy figures, games and manga too...

I tend to see only the stuff licensed for North American release. (I watch it subbed though)
Lately there have been some releases that are subbed only, and have minimal extras (if any).

Some that I have seen and really liked are:
Rocket Girls (this one is fun - could call it engineering porn :)
Resurrection Hime (first volume seen, waiting for second volume eagerly)
STR.A.IN. (this one is massively underrated) even has a BJD as a character!
Indian Summer (Cute story, but lots of fan service)

I hope there's more coming soon :)~

Well.. I think I did watch a lot less anime recently. After Code Geass and Gundam00, I don't think I've really watch anything on a weekly basis. I was hoping Full Metal Alchemist would be new, but the first ten or something episodes are going to be just like that last version. Now that Nanoha Force is going to be a manga, I think I'll quit anime real soon.
But I'll continue to be robbed by the statues companies(people call them figurines but I call them statues).

The past couple seasons haven't been too bad. As long as there is at least one or two series worth following, I consider it a good season.

I tend to buy fantastic Anime (Moe or not) that are timeless either online or at a few trusted local stores. While I think some mainstream Anime has disappointed greatly (yes that's G*****!) I think in recent years there has been great Anime like Code Geass, Skip Beat, Nodame Cantabile, 5 cm which I will not hesitate to buy and collect the DVDs.

Anime dvds are too expensive. I rarely find myself buying anime dvds, unless it's an *AMAZING* show that I can't get enough of.

Lately I've only been following Queen's Blade and K-ON!. Nothing else peaks my interest, really...

I fully agree with the more than 2-episodes thing - frankly, I've always found that ridiculous. 2 episodes doesn't even begin to fill a disc, and doesn't justify the packaging its in, let alone the price. And switching discs every 40 minutes? Really?

I'm of the opinion there should be at least 6 episodes - not sure about the quality, but I guess 4's a good number if 6 doesn't fit. No fewer than that.

As for recent titles? I'm not sure. I don't usually watch a lot of recent titles, as I usually wait until the season's over and only watch stuff that's been received well or sounds really interesting. My time's pretty much split 50/50 between new shows and older classics.

lol I was complain about One Piece anime from Funimation that only got 13 epsiodes on a volume.
But now i see in JPN they sell 2 episode for a volume is to expansive ??

i believe that the anime industry today is trying too hard. some series have cliche storylines, and some can use better animation as well. the fans are also to blame. we're demanding more and more episodes after a new one comes out, or when a series has just finished. i remember during the summer of 08 when Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu was popular on crunchyroll, fans demanded that the episodes were desparate for a new subbed episode, that subbers were annoyed and almost dropped the series. the crap quality comment is true, as well as the comment on DVD's. i'd love to buy the DVD's but 30-40 bucks for a few episodes is just too much. as for watching anime myself, i limit myself to 2 otr 3 episodes a day, depending on the workload i have afterschool.

Lately, i've been rewatching stuff rather than stuff from the latest season

They're targeting the audience the rightway, but the audience is getting tired of the same thing over and over and over and over....

Too much of a good thing perhaps

I find myself having a hard time finding a good series or two every season. The problem is after a while you've already seen those scenarios or character types before, so it just seems like a rehash. To this day, I still don't know why DVDs are that expensive. I'd rather go buy a bunch of manga or save up for a limited edition box of eroge.

i do agree that the recent anime has mostly typical stories/character.
and dvds are too expensive.

I have trouble saying that the current anime is crap because i am following more shows this season than the last two. I guess its a problem for some people because the shows i am watching are overly shounen but they are still great shows. I am certainly enjoying Mazinger, Sengoku Basara, FMA, Basquash, Eden of the East.

Although i will agree that the Blu-Ray(s) and DVD(s) are insanely over priced.

Hmm I'm following several anime this season (although of course K-ON! is the number 1). Truthfully I've always thought a term such as cliche has been stuck to anime for ages. Many times we see the smae aspects being used over and over again... But is that not a like for all forms of entertainment? The good ones are the ones that stick out from the mass of cliche, stereotypical series.

I find this very true. I used to watch almost all the shows out during each airing season, now i only watch 3-4 shows. This was partly due to the fact that a lot of the animation quality have been lacking quite a bit. And a lot of the new Anime have very generic storylines now.

I know many people outside of north america who would buy the series that are release over here instead of buy in japan, but i think that is because the dvds and boxed sets have more episodes on them and i guess the read the subs too ..

The industry's been collapsing since 2003+; most copy off from once-good titles, which then become "generic". I've been rewatching old shows than watching newer shows now.

Someone should seriously get good screenwriters in there. I'd rather watch a terribly-animated anime with a powerful storyline rather than watch a beautifully-animated anime with zero storyline. (These days, most are terribly-animated with weak storyline)

Quit DVD and Blu Ray already and sell downloads. Discs don't look sexy in a room, figures do.
Just sell quality goods and / or tie them up with download sales.

Oh, and please stream everything over the internet. Can't feel like buying a TV just for watching anime when I can download it from BT, but I'd watch some anime on time (with CM and all) if it were streamed.

I have to admit I haven't watch any anime since the end of gundam 00, I need to find a new series. ^^;

btw was wondering, how much do these dvd company have to pay for royalties. I suspect they have to pay the anime creator more than the actual cost of production of the DVD. although regardless of that, 7000yen for 2 episodes is highway robbery. imo it's a worse sin than piracy. they definitely have a large margin of profit.

lately i have been watching short anime series that run 12 or so episodes and they seem to be mostly moe ecchi stuff- im trying to change it up a bit.(i mostly stayed within the gundam universe) i dont have much to compare to, but i am almost ashamed to admit im starting to get into this ecchi stuff LOL
the stories are full of loopholes and WTF just happened moments but i can let that slide because of the mood of the series
more serious titles demand more closure lol

*serious note*- with more choices, people become increasingly unhappy with their choices- the "paradox of choice" (barry schwartz)
i remember when i was much younger whatever anime was on deserved an award because i didnt have much to compare it to- basically i went ape$41t over anything on

Hey Danny, now's the perfect time to get in. When the market is falling, it's best to lay a "put" and buy when it reaches rock bottom.

Please tell me someone got that reference <_<

I used to buy DVDs, 30 dollars for a measley 4 episodes. For Hellsing I think you only got 3 episodes. And then I discovered Netflix, which was a Godsend. Now I can watch all the anime I want for a little under 20 dollars a month.

The price issue is really not something to ignore. It seems that sometimes it's hard for big companies to understand that average workers have low salaries, and beside watching anime to at least feed themselves.

I mean, look at how many comments are money oriented:
-Lower the price!
-Our pockets don't go on forever.
-DVD's should have at least 4 episodes.
(...)
-7,000 yen for 2 episodes is out of the question
-Who wants to watch crap quality expensive DVD's?

7,000 yen for 1/12 of a series (in most cases) is just stupid regardless whether it's a good series or not..

I'm definitely taking less doses of anime these days as I have more things in my life that comes in priority (school,games,dc.com).

I don't keep track of all the new anime that comes out. If I find something that interest me I'll watch it. Most of the anime I'm into is old school stuff and I like the animation style a lil more than some of the new stuff.

The way I see it is, more episode in a DVD with limited edition item attached, this will definitely push the sales.

I'm not watching live streaming from Japan, so I'm can't comment on the current trend of the midnight series had been more moe than glore.

Quality, not quantity as always.

In my opinion, the value of anime DVDs has gone down significantly in the past few years. And by that, I mean how much an average consumer feels an anime DVD is worth, not just the price. With time-shifting anime becoming so easy on the Internet and the relatively low quality of DVDs compared with over the air 720p broadcasts, it's not too surprising.

Here in the US, anime has become quite cheap to purchase on DVD. Of course, it's popularity has already peaked here and licensing companies are struggling, some going out of business entirely. Supply will eventually shift to meet the demand. It's just that in Japan, people have been willing to pay crazy amounts for 1-2 episode DVDs so that's how it's been. If people stop paying for anime DVDs at those high prices, the companies will be forced to react and lower their prices ^^

I never buy DVDs... well maybe anime movies but once I've watched a series I don't usually rewatch it, even if I thought it was really good. I save anime I download on my hard drive or burn them to discs but even then I don't think I've ever gone back and rewatched a series. DVDs are still pretty expensive too... I've seen $25+ for one DVD numerous times :/ Also, I wouldn't say series quality has been declining though... there's still a few gems that come around every once in a while but that's how it always is. That and it's just a matter of personal preference too. I'm sure people can find a series they like among the stream of new releases.

I usually bought anime when i was in high school, like Love Hina, or S.E.Lain or Gate Keeper. but lately i thought that i only watched those anime once. so i decided to buy anime that i really like to watch over and over again. well..the declining anime quality is also one of the reason though.

Right now, i only follow K-On, Gintama, Valkyria Chronicles, Queen's Blade (as ecchi as Danny!), and Koukaku no regios. most of them downloaded it once and then deleted it.

So, do you like to watch anime over and over again more than once?

Speaking of catching up on old seasons, I've only begun to catch up on toradora and minami-ke. yeah, other than k-on and queen's blade, there isn't much out there, I'd probably give shangri-la a go.

Anime is in a bind. I'm all for supporting the industry. The situation is that outside of Ghibli movies, not many series have their region 2 sets with subtitles and those that do only have a few volumes like this, not the entire set. ("Saikano" is one of the few exceptions, but I gave up looking for that entire set because you can't find sets anymore.) I can catch words every now and then, but not if I were to have friends over and then I'm off elsewhere. This is a big reason why I don't buy a lot of anime.

What about region 1 sets? I can't remember the last time I ever saw any movie on a region 1 player in my house. My family uses the family room DVD player way too much, which is why I don't borrow anime series from libraries anymore.

I used to watch fan subs. In fact, I was part of a fan sub group. I don't watch fan subs anymore because I am very picky with them. For example, if I want to watch a fan sub of the "Quiz Magic Academy" anime, it has to be from a group that has played the games before and that is very good overall.

As a result, I'm watching less anime. I read lots of manga, but that is largely in part because of how I borrow manga from the libraries at least once a month. I'm not up to date either way.

Oh. I'm unfortunately picky with anime. An anime needs to be good all around from the art to the story. (A series can get away with not having a story if it's very entertaining such as "Di Gi Charat".) What's interesting is that unlike lots of people outside of Japan, the seiyuu list is a big priority and I will more likely watch an anime with barely young seiyuu than the young seiyuu. Between the series with Tsuru Hiromi-san as the star and the series with Mizuki Nana-san as the star for example, I will instantly watch the series with Tsuru-san as the star before the series with Mizuki-san as the star.

I'm into macha anime and as of late, it is so so at best. There are WAY too many remake - even Fullmetal Alchemist which is only a couple of years old gets the remake (yes, yes, I know this one follows the manga). Mazinger gets remake this season, there were Casshern from last season.
Even my kids (8 & 5) is getting sick of Keroro after 10 years and 250+ eps. Not to mention the on going 30 years of gundam.....
Anyway, I hope there are some newer better (in every way - idea, story, design, picture) coming soon.

I think it's going the Hollywood/Music/Gaming Industry/all things popular way.

Pretty natural to happen in our consumist/capitalist regime.

As soon as it becomes a lucrative/famous media, we have a overflow of people trying to enter the market.

So, instead of having a few hardworking people making it because of their love for the art, having real talent to create and produce compeling worthy stories, trying to always make new things we instead have poor rushed industrialized content that only attempts to repeat sucessful formulae. What they call souless characters and stories that are not trying to tell a story, to surprize the spectator with interesting ideas, but only to rebrand and resell old stuff, which will sell because it's becoming more and more famous, attracting new people who didn't have contact with the old classic stuff.

BUT that doesn't mean that everyone is contaminated by that.
We still have great series, movies and music out there, we still have great animes.
Only we now also have tons and tons of industrialized stuff too.

Unfortunately, for me it's kind of a pain going through tens of animes to find one I actually think is worth watching, so I drastically reduced what I watch too.

Been some months I don't start a new series, and I have at least half a dozen to finish watching.

So, my conclusion is: No, there is no such thing as Anime Decline.
This is the very same BS I already heard for almost everything that becomes famous out there... be it music, rock, series, movies, games, books, etc etc.

It's quite the opposite: Anime is on the rise. More now than ever. But there's a high price to pay for that, and the price is lots of cheap quality animations that are made only to suck money from fans.
We'll still have quality animes, but they will be few in comparison, just like on any other mainstream art that involves creativity.

I agree that the industry is decaying and i got one good example to support it: Rosario to Vampire. Awesome storyline, art and it would make an excellent anime, but what happened then? too much ecchi stuff ruined it. This describes the whole situation. The companies are forgetting what made anime epic: original and fresh ideas like evangelion. (sorry couldn't think of any other classics ^^;;)Too much ecchi series (well there is nothing wrong with ecchi series with a good story, right?) is using the ecchi scenes as their selling point what is wrong.

Besides the overpricing is also huge factor. I mean i don't know how could people afford anime dvd costing 7000 yen (about 70USD) for 2-3 episodes per dvd, that makes a 12 episodes series cost 35000-42000yen (around 350-420USD!!) that is overkill.

i voted for the middle option. There is certainly an overabundance of average unmemorable series out there.

About the "too much crap moe anime" and "quality not quantity" comments made. I could not agree any more. doing so would cause the universe to warp and bend around my will into a negative reality.

I love good plots, but I do need my dose of moe sometimes.
So there should be more srs bsns stuff with good quality instead of all of the quality going towards the generic moe slice of life.

Yeah the industry needs to evolve badly. It was shaky enough in the US when anime was supposedly reaching it's boom but those of us working for a couple of the publishers still ended up without jobs and now the Japanese publishers are complaining about the lack of sales during a world wide recession? If they weren't so adamant about their refusal to introduce new methods of distribution they might be doing better now.

The quality of shows has gone down though for sure but that's not to say there aren't any good titles to check up on. I actually like Sengoku Basara as I'm a fan of the games, K-On!, Valkyria (so addicted to the game atm) and I guess even Queen's Blade have something to offer (Tomoe...).

I say stop with the eroge adaptations for a while and go back to the days when people created titles because they had a crazy idea that might just work. The entire industry needs some adventurous individuals to be injected into the creative teams.

Honestly, it's been a long time since I've bought anime. Of course, I've been a broke-student-living-on-noodles for years now.

Quality varies widely. Too many shows on the low end of the quality stick.

Too many entirely one-dimentional shows. Whether Moe, Fanservice or Mecha, they have that one thing, and absoltely nothing else going for them. Like a good plot or decent characters for example.

Too many series based on manga, where the storyline is gutted to either squeeze in more Moe and/or Fanservice, fit it into a 12-13 ep block or both. If the manga is good enough to animate, it should be good enough to do so without heavy rewriting.

Japanese DVD prices are mind-bogglingly insane - unlike the manga prices which are quite reasonable.

Almost nothing is made that I'll be recommending to people 10 or more years from now.

personally, i'm reading n watching more anime than ever before (legally too!). although i hv to admit most of them r old stuff, only new anime i'm catching is Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood on TV.

Too many moe/fanservice based anime as of recently. I hate it but some of my friends like it... Honestly, I have no idea why.

I think the DVDs are WAY overpriced for two episodes. I would buy them if they were 2,000 yen.

Although anime DVDs are generally on the expensive side (i.e. price-per-episode is very high), buying DVDs is one way of supporting the industry. Making shows available earlier for download or releasing complete series at a lower price later are alternatives to buying expensive single volumes DVDs, although a lot of people find it hard to wait until a series is available as a complete set. It's worth noting that DVD sales are a small percentage of overall revenues for anime companies, especially in North America. The companies are just responding to demand.

If you love anime then it's important to support producers and distributors any way you can. Several prominent anime companies have gone under in recent years.

Nobody wants to pay too much to see the shows they like. I think anime fans should be more active in finding ways to influence what gets released, when, and in what format. Anime producers and distributors have a part to play as well, by actively soliciting feedback from fans. The producers and distributors need fan support, so its in their best interests to listen.

At peak consumption a few years ago, I was following around 11-15 titles a week with some extra series I'd marathon every couple of weeks. Right now I just follow a few series from specific animation studios' works or I find interesting series that get played at the university anime club. Most of the series I like to follow are joke or gag oriented rather than story since there's only so much development you can fit into 20 minute intervals and a lot of series with good stories get mindless fillers when the anime out paces the source material or the writers don't know how to copy and paste.

I haven't been watching as much lately either. Mostly because the anime DVD market here in the US has been dying hard in the last couple years. Big players like ADV are all but dead now, and Funimation is really the only one left that provides quality anime on DVD and Blu-ray releases. I knew the US anime DVD market was on life support when an amazing release like Clannad gets extremely shoddy treatment by ADV. Crap packaging and no dub. Lame.

I only following K-ON and Eden of the east. K-ON animation quality at episode 5 kinda lower from the episode 1, I notice that and hoping get better.

For DVD, not anymore as our local licenser distributor did not take any anime series to license anymore. Well at least for the anime series I like it. Last time I buy is Evangelion, but kinda dissapointed because I swear to God if the anime was censored, while I hate censor.

I agree with too much moe in the recent anime scene... I miss those days when the captivating factor when watching anime are the deep story lines, interesting characters <and in interesting, I don't mean moe-interesting>, and the like... that's why I stick to mecha anime, not too much moe there... ^^

The only reason I download anime is cuz I live in the US and we don't get anime here (only dubs which I dislike). As for DVDs, I don't have a region-free DVD player and with Blu-ray, I can't understand what's going on without subtitles.

Now, if animes were released on Blu-ray with english subtitles, I would buy my favorite animes, like K-On!

I stopped watching anime period about a year ago. Everything just started getting ridiculous, and a series hasn't called for me to watch it in the longest time. The last series I watched was Zoku Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei. Funny stuff there.

And we in America complain about only 4 episodes a DVD when we can get full seasons for the same price of other shows.
There's also the 12 month disparity to new shows.

Im stuck on older anime more and more...

I even have started rewatching all the anime I've seen before...

New anime is losing its touch...graphically it can be superior...but thats where it ends

I tend to find myself watching the same amount of anime as I always do, not really more, not really less. The thing is, I find my watch-list consists usually of 2 or 3 new anime and the rest is all older. Let's face it, the anime industry is about the same as the gaming industry. Older games had worse graphics and simple gameplay, but because of this, they had exponentially better stories, characters, and were genuinely unique most of the time. Same goes for anime: older anime has worse animation and had more RL movie-like character qualities(which really isn't a bad thing), but were more unique and story driven, whereas today anime is pretty much the same basic elements repeated over and over again. There are some diamonds in the rough out there, and occasionally a new series will actually be well done...but that is a rare occurrence.

Almost all new anime is either something about high school life, something about robots, something about a buttload of girls being ecchi over one guy(or vice-versa, or with eachother), or something that is just silly characters doing retarded things that make no sense for a whole series. WHERE IS THE ORIGINALITY PEOPLE!!!! It's like the anime industry doesn't care about quality anymore, and just wants to throw out as many ridiculously expensive crappy animes as they can. *sigh* I'll stop here before I go on for another 20minutes about this. :P

/rant -_-

with 7000 yen i can buy 3x new Blu Ray movies with minimum 3 hours watch time or buy a anime DVD with 1 hours watch time. I think then its easy make a decision.The price is not only the problem :(

DVD store at my place: crappy fansub + not original + crappy price = such a waste buying it or in other word they burn it into CD or DVD then sell it in crappy price (_._)

I would really hate to see a serious decline in anime become reality; it's such a huge part of my life. Being in the U.S., as others have note here, I'm at least a year behind everyone else. I'm only a handful of episodes into Gurren Lagann, and I just finished the first season of Code Geass. R2 is not even out with English subtitles yet as a U.S. release. I do watch Japanese TV on the weekends, though, and I agree - the majority of the newest anime is pretty bad and unoriginal. Some of it is *TOO* ecchi - are primary school girls really moe? Hmmmm....

I watched a lot of shows, some better than others. I do admit I was never really a fan of the whole moe stuff, I like it if it's a show or two like that. Mecha, I gotta say if it's high quality like Macross Frontier and Gundam 00 I can watch as many as there are. As far as buying DVDs I don't mind if it's 4-5 episode for a 12-26 series if I really liked it. I don't mind paying $40-60 for complete series either.

Original Japan DVD are way to expensive imho. 2 Episode DVD for 30+ buck, do not want!

Also, fansub are doing a better job with the animation then license studio does, which is an irony. Also, so call license animation DVD from Hong Kong and Malaysia studio are nothing more then TV version with lousy English sub, total rip off.

/rant end

Only two eps on one disc and at such a high price is just ridiculous...

I still watch plenty of anime, and I do try to purchase the shows I have watched, but I hate being nickel-and-dimed by single volume releases. I really only buy shows that have been released in full boxsets.

If the current trend is leading anime into a decline, companies will find a new "hot thing" soon enough that will revitalize the industry. Although right now, the general economic malaise isn't really helping. I just don't think anime as a medium will ever go away.

Myself, I generally agree with what is being said. As for myself...

I have found that I can no longer get into the Gundam franchise since they seem to do nothing more than modernize their previous works. SEED? That is just a remake of the original. 00? Try a remake of Wing. And so on.

I still dislike slim-pack DVD sets. For example, I like SHUFFLE! but do not like how they packaged it as a slim pack. So now I have to either consider buying it as individual DVDs or hope they put it on BD.

Then there are import titles and ones that get licensed. I am currently waiting for K-ON! to finish up before I see it, because the hype has tone down the enjoyment level. Other series like Code Geass had gotten bashed for a "poor" second series... While Gurren Lagann is a typical GAINAX series that was only saved by Yoko.

Good series tend to be overlooked thanks to more hyped mainstream series. So it feels like they push out three hyped series that are inferior to their manga series for every one good series. So I end up finding that series I want end up being too far and wide.

And also, some of the remaining companies have started to be smart by offering more episodes/DVDs for a slightly higher price. But this is at a time when I am hoping to develop an anime collection through the BD format.

Beyond that, I just have one personal feeling when it comes to prices.

If people stopped flaming and trolling the American production companies because they are dubbing a series, not using scripts that fansub "companies" used, and simply bothered buying either the import DVDs (or BDs) or the domesticated releases (you can remove the subtitles if you like it "raw")... More companies can stay in business and maybe either increase the episode count or decrease the price.

You know which series I want to see animated? I so would love to see "Kitchen no Ohime-sama" animated and by some studio like Madhouse or Deen. Yes, it's shoujo, but...it's actually good shoujo. A girl goes to a cooking academy to see if she can find a childhood friend and the only clue she has is his spoon. Why can't series be like this anymore? I don't know.

I would have said "Justice Gakuen" too. Problem? A seiyuu passed away years ago and...when my dream of a "KoF" anime occurred, that ended up being a nightmare.

This season's Anime line-up is really horrible to my taste.
Also, what's up with 3-4 of them being Medieval/old era?
The only Anime I'm waiting for each week I suppose is K-ON!
I like Hatsukoi Limited too, but that's only because I've already read the manga.

I agree with those comments from itai news, I find myself barely finishing an anime series. Most anime now have crap endings too which leads to no real conclusion. The usual harem all the time will start to lose its popularity. I came across serei no moribito some time in the beginning of the year and thought it was a master piece or close enough liked the ending especially, they did well in creating the atmosphere of a royalty and commoner departing. Moe, moe, and more moe with no deep storyline and interesting characters are a no for me after a few episodes. As said above most of the episode for a harem anime are usually the repeat: girl grabs guys arm, another does the same, fight over the guy, guy ends up getting yelled at, why not just say which one he likes? well if he did that then the story ends correct?

Seriously they got to lower the price for those god damn dvds in japan.

>I do find myself watching less anime.
Same here.

I find myself watching not as many series as I used to due to overall quality ans story, but hey I think certain times of the year have way better and more choices of anime to watch than others. There is definitely way way too many anime choose from and it makes it a lot harder to find the good series with in them.

I think I'm still watching as much anime, but not necessarily new titles. I like to catch up on old popular titles that I haven't watched yet.
I totally agree that 7,000 yen for 2 episodes is out of the question. I usually buy my DVDs on sale at rightstuf.com. You can buy whole series for under $50. Definitely beats 7,000 yen for 2 episodes. I don't really care that much if there are extra features on the DVDs or not, except it it's like extra Special episodes or mini-special episodes.

Okay, time for TLL to anger some people (like always).

A lot of people are pointing fingers at the Moe/fanservice trend
but who were the members in this very same community who continue
to post every dang Mio (K-ON!) picture they discover online?
Who continues to post reviews to each K-ON! episode that's released
and solely concentrated on the 'moe' in Mio wearing a bikini????

And i know a lot of you enjoyed Queen's Blade disgusting way to
deliver fanservice.

i just watch the old anime now

I remember when I was about 13 or 14, I bought Neon Genesis Evangelion DVD by DVD over the course of a year from a local comic shop. They charged me $40 per DVD (including tax) for a total of about $320. ($320 canadian... which is like... 27000 yen?)

The only anime I've bought since then has been FLCL, Haruhi and Lucky Star. Everything else I've either torrented, or watched it streaming online. DVDs are a difficult sell for folks over here because no one wants to buy something DVD by DVD because it's so much more expensive, but no one wants to buy a box-set either until they've seen the series. Most people around here just download all their anime and only buy their favorites which make up maybe 5-10% of everything they've watched.

I also agree that there's too much moe. Don't get me wrong, I like moe, but every now and then I'd like to watch something that isn't about Japanese high school girls.

I think the last REALLY cool thing I've watched was the movie Tekkon Kinkreet, which brings me to another point. I think anime is getting to be a bit stylistically stagnant. What I really liked about Tekkon Kinkreet was that it was animation, and it was noticeably Japanese, but it didn't look like anime. I think more anime ought to not look like anime.

There is too much fanservice and moe. And all of them look alike @_@
Right now I mostly watch old anime.

i'm guessing some titles have a very tight budget on them that resulted in the declining quality of animation and directing (eg: akikan, minamike okaeri)

minamike was supposed to be a very good title but the 3rd season looked like utter crap for me :/

Anime is definitely WAY too expensive in Japan, they need to lower the prices on DVDs.

I think a lot of anime is crap lately because there are way too many bad filler episodes. There are some anime I've wanted to watch, but then I find out their on episode number 209 and the series is only halfway through. ><;

I don't buy them because most of the time because 1) It's not worth it. 2) And on top of that it's only a few episodes per box... to add up to a full season or the whole series it becomes insanely expensive

Here in the US, cartoons air on television with numerous "pop-up" banner advertisements (sometimes animated) that cover up to 25% of the screen for many seconds at a time. Plus, there's the usual obtrusive station logo in the corner of the screen. Also, stations like Cartoon Network only broadcast in Mono audio. All of this combined adds up to something you can't just save an HD copy of any enjoy. There's incentive to purchase a DVD for higher picture and audio quality without interruption or interference.

With Japanese programming, there seem to be fewer obtrusive elements during the airing of programs, so someone like me can quickly and easily view an episode of Japanese Series X with excellent picture and audio quality, comparable to a DVD. Why bother purchasing the DVD then?

With shows like Rosario... Vampire... whatever it was, there was a lot of editing done on the television broadcasts, so that created incentive to go out and purchase a DVD. It may sound annoying, but causing "damage" to the original program airing raises the probability of DVD sales.

The only problem with THAT is that DVDs are easily copied, and a quick torrent search will yield many "DVD Rip" hits. This is the problem with any digital media -- it can be copied and distributed with great ease. Television broadcasts can be recorded and distributed. DVDs and audio CDs can be copied as digital media files and distributed. Perhaps most disturbing of all is that any printed media such as manga or artbooks can be scanned and distributed as high-resolution image files.

All of these scenarios render the purchase of original product almost meaningless. There will always be consumers who prefer to have the actual official CD rather than a collection of illegal mp3s (or are for whatever reason unaware of the ability to acquire the product free of charge), but the availability of the illegal copies will always decrease the number of product sales.

So once again, what do you do? Increase protection on DVDs and CDs? Produce printed media with scanner-proof reflective paper or ink? Butcher the original broadcast of video on television? I don't think the problem is quality of programming. People will always consume utter garbage. They always have and always will. It's the ability to acquire said garbage for free that hurts sales and industries. The only industry I can think of that escapes the threat of free and illegal distribution is the toy/figure industry. It's the difference between digital media and three-dimensional/tangible media.

This is extremely intelligent, and it's good to see the industry is finally willing to listen to the consumers on how to make Japan's anime system better.

They're also losing international audiences who always torrent since they can't get it any other way.

Totally true, most of the new anime are just recycled story. I also find myself watching more old series than the new ones.

Well, what I know is that new anime come in by the numbers every season.
Would like to watch them all but its hard even keep track of them.

If they start bundling quality exclusives (figures, postcards..etc) with all DVD releases then it makes them more attractive. Weapons to kill a collector's wallet.

I used to watch a lot of anime. Started when a friend got a copy of Akira back before DVD's, hell, back when CD-ROM's, were a new thing.

Too many shows now are aimed at kids. Now it seems, most all anime now has that one charachter meant to be the comedic element of the show that I can't stand. Initial D is a good example. Itsuki (I think that was his name) almost ruined the entire show for me.

Akira, Lodoss Wars, Ah! Megamisama, Death Note, Genshiken, Last Exile, Escaflowne and Kenshin were all bought after I downloaded a lot of it. Now I don't even bother to download it free. I just wait to hear about whats big from others. And really, Death note has been the only thing worth watching for quite a long time (to me).

I've gotten more and more picky about anime lately, simply because I can't be bothered to watch the latest highschool slice-of-life drama fest whose plot has been recycled for the 9,000th time. If a show can't grab me in the first 5 episodes I generally drop it faster than a hot potato.

The anime scene right now is in the same self-destructive loop that the American comic industry was in about 20 years ago: The producers believe that X is the only thing that sells, so X is all that they produce, so of course X is the only thing that sells, and then they turn around and wonder why their sales are slipping when they'e 'giving the fans what they want.'

I would rather watch one or two really good creative series a year than ten or fifteen cookie-cutter ones.

And $70 for two half-hour episodes? Otaku are crazy (I think we all agree on that) but there's a vast sea of difference between crazy and stupid...and you'd have to be a bona fide idiot to pay that much for two episodes!

There definately has been an uprising in garbage lately. There are only a few which really shine out, Higashi no Eden comes to mind. It seems maybe GONZO may have forseen this occuring as I think I remember them saying that they would spew out less anime but make them more quality.

oh why why why delillah!!!!

I remember hearing about this recently and the one thing that confused me is, Where is all this Mecha anime that people feel its flooding the market? Last time I checked, this season maybe has 2-3 mecha series? The only flooding that Mecha is doing is some of the crap Bandai pulls with kits and action figures. We don't need 15 version of the RX-78 Gundam Master Grade. They need to start making new stuff and stop sucking the blood out of 0079 Gundam. Same goes with Gainax and just about anything they make (even though most of their work is really good)

Yeah...

It was bound to happen with the economy the way it is. Unless it's exceptional or something new, many people stop buying because it just isn't worth their suddenly more precious and/or scarce money supply. 2 eps per dvd sounds like something I'd personally never do. High quality is one thing, but at that price point, you'd have to make a heck of alot of money to afford a bunch of complete series. Here in the US, companies seem to be packing more into dvd's or at least selling entire series as thin-packs at lower prices, as opposed to what I remember from the past with 3 eps per dvd at higher prices (which can still happen, just less so). The only problem with, say, 6 or 7 eps to a dvd, is that the quality goes down, but it's not awful or anything. Some people might notice, but it hasn't started to bother me (the Clannad collection I have is good enough for me).

I still buy dvd's, but it has gone down a bit recently (filling out my manga and figures now, heh). There has always been a heavy amount of utter crap anime one has to wade through to get to the gems, I think people are just starting to tolerate it less. That, and as was mentioned above, the same things are getting recycled. I don't think there's anything wrong with moe or otherwise, it just tends to get overused as the only selling point to certain animes, which then creates the problem (although I've always personally thought fanservice was way overused, but maybe that's just due to my gender. I've just become immune to it at this point, as in it won't keep me from watching a series unless that's all it has to offer). Too much of anything gets annoying. But I really go for the story/setting/general premise of the show. If that's what I consider good, then the stuff around it isn't usually quite as important (but it can enhance/detract from the overall impact it has on me).

There are still quality shows in modern times, one just has to look. Plus it's all preference as well. It's like that old music debate with the people on one side saying nothing new is good and only classic music has merit, vs. the opposite, modern music-o-phile. There's good stuff from both times, it just might be harder to find depending on your POV. Maybe this will simply be a catalyst for innovation? I think some new directions would be a nice change :) Just my 2 yen.

xD Now if only the higher ups at the studios could hear us. =l Too much fanservice on a series that didn't have that much to start with kills it >O

Meh, I think western anime fans who complain about the seemingly obscene price of merch over here don't know how much Japanese fans take it in the rear. Over here you can buy an entire season of Aria for only 50 dollars. That would probably get you two episodes back in Japan. Anyways, you just have to cherry pick your shows and not be afraid to try out the lesser-advertised ones that usually turn out to be hidden gems such as Eden of the East.

So true. I used to try to watch everything, even if I knew it was going to be boring; but now I just pick my favorite 2 or 3 shows per season.

However, maybe we can only tell that stuff has been old and rehashed because we watched so much in the past :) For some people, they might be new!

While I have been watching a lot of anime, very little of it has been recent. I've been archive binging on older titles I've heard are good, such as Evangelion, or the semi-recent Nanoha, which I just finished watching all of a few weeks ago. I did watch Testuwan Birdie Decode, but that was just okay, and I gave up on To Aru Majutsu no Index because it just kind of wandered off.

I'll quote John Lasseter here: Story is king. Always. If the story is good, it will last far beyond its initial airing, whereas if the story is mediocre it will quickly be forgotten.

7000yen for 2 epi is a bit too much o_0. I wouldn't mind buying it for a whole OVA, though.

agree, only 2 out of 10 from anime nowadays has good storyline
the others just selling moe
recently I watched old series too because of this

I wonder why the anime studios mostly make anime based from Galge while there are many good Light Novels and manga with good story

There isn't that much good recent anime I too am catching up with old series I've missed.

Hah. I hate to be the bearer of bad news. But it is going to get worse. Why? Negative population growth in Japan. That equates to fewer and fewer young people(core demographic?) around to enjoy anime, buy anime, purchase anime-releated merchandise, etc.

On the bright side, I won't live long enough to see it happen. Probably will take a century or two. :P

That is why I DON'T watch K-On - too much moe is bad for my health...

thats why FMA and darker than black are being remade

I don't buy DVDs unless its something etremely good (Funny thing I have never bought an anime dvd...)But I do tend to download all episodes I want to watch and then watch them in the weekend , I also catch up on many old series

DVD sales are falling (domestically and internationally) and the quality of anime series are falling at the same time.

bittorrents, fansubs, online streams, current economic climate, etc. are not helping.

anime popularity and sales tend to go up and down every 5-7 years. i dont think we hit the bottom yet, but it will recover.

go and support your local anime stores. they would appreciate a friendy smile.

I don't watch less, but that's because my backlog is endless....The amount of new series coming out is indeed way too much, and I think everyone would benefit it the industry would focus on quality of quantity. That way you can keep up with a greater percentage and maybe it can even lower the cost cuz 7000 yen for 2 eps is insane

I'm mainly watching older series now, there hasn't been many i've liked the look of recently.

Write in English, I have limited representation, too

To have to use Japanese

===

日本のアニメ産業は、 CDやDVDなどの高い価格によって維持されてきたと考えています

キャラクター商品などの場合もあるが、人気を得ていない商品の場合も、メインは、ソフトの売上に依存することでしょう

多様な作品世界と、高品質の作画として市場をリードしていた80 〜 90年代のOAV市場が低迷がされ、

多くの作家や制作社が大人、マニア向けの深夜のTVアニメとしての方向をかけることになっていますけど

多くの作品が出て、市場の消費構造の悪化になり、同様の商用コードで、消費者がうんざりするようになっており、

自動録画システムとダウンロード形式の普及により、過去のように、あえてソフトを購入しなくてもされ、

ソフトのベースの市場が崩れているのが最も大きな問題だと思います

より大きな問題は、一度変更し始めたの消費形態は、昔に戻るが難しいということです

既存の制作方式や収益モデルを、将来の構造に合わせて、改革が必要でしょう

私は、産業の未来が、小規模なコアマーケットの消費者中心の細分化されたオフラインマーケットと

appstoreようなオープンなオンラインマーケットで作られることができるだろうと考えています

this season's anime that I watch:
K-on, queens blade (for the ecchi), valkyria chronicles, tayutama (me liek eroge anime). but even eroge-made-anime and anything-made-anime usually turn out not as good.... sigh

Less Naruto and bleach (200+ Eps) more GITS and Macross (around 24/25 eps or 50 eps)

the anime serieses that go on and on and on and on and on and on........
uhhhmmm....what was I saying O_O
oh, they kinda lose the plot and start going off on a tangent :P

its like playing a MMO VS a Single player game.
Play for instance MGS4... its got DAMN good cinematics and character development, and a GREAT story line...yes it is the 4th one in the series but then do that with anime like gundam seed and gundam seed destiny or Gundam00 and its 2nd season

Play a game like WOW....and it just seems to go on FOREVER...no actual ending, you know, once you drop Illidan, or whoever, its like..."wow, I killed him, lets go grind some more random creeps" NO SPECIFIC ENDING, no fancy end FMV...nothing

I buy most of my anime DVD's with various genres.
What I don't get is that artists and writers can write and draw anything. Yet they choose to follow well worn paths. I think the Susan Boyle clip proves a point. A person doesn't need to watch hours and hours of content. Half an hour of quality or something totally unexpected is much prefered. I err heavily on the side of quality which is why my own book and series is taking a lot longer than other manga artists.
Can't wait to release it as it is fresh and exciting.
Another 8-10 months of work before availability though.

Although most are average I see at least one or two stand out that I want to see each season. Last fall was one of the busiest anime watching seasons for me. I've watched about half of the anime of 2008 at during that season.

Well it's very true that anime DVDs are the most expensive things in Japan. People here complain about the prices too, but the companies always point out how much more expensive it is in Japan and we're lucky to have it cheap here. I find Amazon is the best choice to get my anime DVDs these days.

The only new anime I've been keeping track of is K-ON.

There was a period I used to watch old anime series. Now I just watch anime that weren't out recently like Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei or something

Agree... I think most of the latest release... by just looking at the DVD cover and little synopsis at the back failed to impress me...

Nonetheless usually I will like those anime from Kyoto Animation (Lucky Star, Haruhi, and maybe soon K-On) and surely anything that comes from Bandai/Sunrise - I'm a Gundam fan...

As Danny said = "giving away quality freebies with a DVD to push sales" - I agree with this... recently I saw they sell Code Geass DVD Box Set with some nice figurines...

Wouldn't it be good if we buy Gundam anime that comes with 1 unit of 1/144 HG kits... hahahaha.. or maybe those trading figures....

I will buy the original box set of any anime DVD that I love... for sure... and I agree that anime studio should lowered the price of the original DVD box set so that more people will buy them.

Let's face it, everybody want to get the original stuff.. but sometimes due to the expensive price many people end up choosing buying the pirated copy of that particular merchandise. 80% of the consumer is not rich people.... Those involved in the pirated business understand their local customers better... at the end it's money who talk the most...

Who would buy the pirated copy DVD if the original box set comes with nice freebies and at reasonable price.... Otaku like me, that's different story, for sure I will buy the original DVD box set... but we must also consider others as well...

I admit that I watched Gundam 00 anime from the one downloaded by my friend... but immediately after the official DVD box set is out - I will grab them for sure...

A lot of anime as of late is moeblob/eccihi overdose/etc but that doesn't stop people from watching it, people just aren't as likely to buy it probably.

I'm just sorry that people doesn't give credit or chance to really good series, instead they watch crappy moe or 1284132901829308120938 episodes of shounen.

I have to agree with the Itai News-comments. I came to Japan about three month ago, and I was chocked at the DVD-prices. Even counting by the "regular" yen level, it's maybe twice as much as for "western" tv-series. I buy all of my DVDs from Book Off, Trader and the like now, because I just can't afford new ones! I think if the DVDs had four episodes instead of two, 6-7000 yen would be more reasonabe.

Can't say much about the general developement in animes tough, as I find my self picking up more titels this season than I did in total last year. But I can agree with that there are many moe "clones" being released, there's also pretty always the same stereotypcal characters regardless of wich series. Always the tsundere, the ojousama, the tomboy and some other random character. Of course fans are getting tired of that eventually. Even if I liked K-On, there are definetly more intressesting titels out there. From this season I would probably pick Higashi no Eden and Cross Game to be the most unique ones.

I watched quite a few series a couple months ago including Kanagi and Toradora because they had good artwork and a captivating story that developed and went on very well. I watched Kemeko too because it was a great laugh.

This time so far, I'm only watching K-On. I thought the artwork was cute and decided to give it a go and I feel in love. It's just good, easy going viewing. It's light hearted and fun without being ridiculous.

I used to buy Anime DVD's but they are just so expensive now. Each dvd costs about £20 over her, and when you only get 3 or 4 episodes it really costs too much. If I buy anime dvd's then I wait and hope that a complete series box set will be made in the US, then I'll buy that for a fraction of the cost of buying the dvds here.

Ah anime DVDs...
I first got really into anime thanks to Death Note (cliche, perhaps, but still a great anime)
and it was at that point, after watching weekly dubbed anime on TV, that I finally considered investing into the anime industry. My first trip to HMV (which is a 2 hour drive away, I might add) led me to realize that one DVD of my treasured Death Note would cost me about $35. As a 16 year old high school student who doesn't have a job (yet), I REALLY don't have the money to buy 12 of these DVDs.

Onto the industry... After having been a fan for around half a year (only, lol) I've seen my fair share of some GREAT anime. I said that the industry is averaged out, but I think it's more down than in the middle. Every so often I'll cross an amazing anime (Like Eden of The East this season) that is just completely different, and very thought provoking. That said, I honestly think that this "every so often" is just way too little. If you can hook me on anime with Death Note, than why not the next guy?

My point is: I agree with saying the industry really needs to get better titles. Again, instead of piling on moe anime with cute bishoujos and fan service, they should do something creative, even if it uses more resources.
As well, the prices of anime merchandise is WAY too high. I don't mind paying $10 (CAD) for a volume of manga, but like $60 for a figure, $35-40 for a DVD with only three episodes, and everything else is just way too much.
I think if the prices were lowered I would even still end up paying that same amount of money, or more, but in return have more merchandise for what I payed.

Have to agree with some of the points mention. Flooded with 'service' and no storyline anime, which i really dislike. Anime DVDs are expensive, so only the very nice titles will bring me to spend on them.

This article is really about the Japanese home market for anime, which is different from the US, UK or other markets.

IMO, the current anime is average but it's getting to the point that it's utter crap

I agree that what the industry needs is more quality anime than quantity and lessen the moe anime titles.

Now that was quite a read for me after reading the other comments from DC users. Even now, I've been watching older series =S

There are some good titles this season.
I agree with some of those comments. Looking at a picture of the next line up of anime is full of moe and whatnot.
I want more Gurren Lagann scale epic anime.

I Download it, then watch it, if the story goods (and the art not so bad) I continue to watch it, if it bad, bye file! :D

Yea I've also noticed that recent anime has been the same thing over and over. Thought there have been some good ones that have come out. I'd just like it if they made better quality animes instead of just filling them with fanservice so much that it ruins the show exp. Rosario + Vampire.

I disagree with the notion that the standard formula for selling anime has gone down the drain - if trends like Vocaloid/Miku don't prove the success of moe characteristics, I don't know what will.

Frankly, I feel like the main issue at hand is the marketing of anime. With the proliferation of new technology, there's no longer the need to rely on the retailer to obtain sales on the original product such as DVDs, and we soon see a movement happening with anime that happened with the music and movie industries. In the end, the marketing and designs for anime need to realize that the production of goods now a days cannot follow the same traditional marketing strategies as before. Improvising with viral marketing, an emphasis on goods that are not as easily obtained at home, and other services could provide a stronger source of profit and business than anything.

Unfortunately, the traditionally (relatively) higher profits from selling DVDs may be clouding the minds of animation studios that would like to see higher yields from such products, but if companies are unable to come up with a new structure to tackle the market with, despite the ever increasing pool of people from around the world that become interested in Japan's otaku culture, then they'll continue to see the declining numbers in sales.

We can't avoid the postmodern growth of simulacra, but we can begin to develop ways to accept it as an aspect of modern society.

Hmm... I'll be honest and say that I never bought any Anime DVDs before, yes... not even a single copy... Well, except for some fansub that was sold in VCDs or DVDs by money hounds swarming in my lovely country called Indonesia, I was unaware of free fansub back then, nor do I have access to a reasonable speed internet access... ^^;

The only consistent contribution I ever made to the otaku industry is forking my cash into manga, more recently into figures... but yea, never directly buying the DVDs....

Shame on me, I know... even for figures, perhaps if it's available in digital form, or piratable with equal quality, I'll be downloading it via torrent by now...

So far, the price set for otaku stuffs are just not acceptable in my financial condition... But it has been such a bad habit that I don't think I can quit it unless I'm filthy rich. It's sad to know that I'm part of the people who actually contributed to the decline in anime industry... T.T

I barely watch new anime anymore as it is mostly full of moe-licious loli girls with little clothing, simpering personalities and huge tits. Everyone seems to love this (hence the abundancy of it) so it just keeps getting churned out, with quality, character and plot development taking a back seat.

I was watching the 4-part Dominion Tank police OVA from the olden days, and it made me realise what most anime lacks nowadays. Memorable, likeable, mature characters that ARE NOT just moe-y 10 year old simpering girls whos only recognisable feature was their breast size and hair colour. Even the puma twins in tank police - they were meant to be sexy and provocative, but the creators did it with subtletly, rather than the huge, jelly chest wobbling monstrosities you see in most modern anime like queens blade, sekirei, ikkitousen etc.

Gah - i could go on forever about this. My otaku powers have faded quite a bit over the last few years thanks to this explosion of moe and eroge. I want mature, sensible anime with memorable characters again.

Hopefully, this news will mean a shake-up in the style of anime these days.

I'm watching mostly older stuff now too.. catching up with old mecha shows.

I have a lot in my watchlist this season, most of them are worth watching ^_^

As for DVD... YEAH, IT'S FREAKIN EXPENSIVE!! -_-
5k Yen for 2 eps? Won't buy it unless i'm reaaaaaaally in love with the series ( K-ON comes to mind )

I'm watching old stuff right now too
animes this season are crap, YES INCLUDING K-ON ..it's just an overhyped piece of-
queen's blade is crap too, but atleast it's sticking to its genre

the problem with anime today is ..it drifts away from it's genre...
a slice of life anime suddenly having 2 girls baring breasts for no reason

it might just be me ..but ..you know
they should stop the ecchi crap and get back to story telling

To me at-least a quality movie is something that has been produced by studio Ghibli and a good series would be evangelion or Iresponsible captain Tyler or any version of Macros, heck I like Shin Chan for its humor. Anime has been in decline for 10 years here in the states from what I believe is the introduction of computer animation into the field and the cheap cost that comes with producing animation by pc as compared to drawing it by hand. Spend a week watching Cartoon Network and Nickelodeon during the day time and you'll see some really crappy pc based animation with equally crappy plot lines that even my 5 year old wont watch. The late night stuff on Adult Swim is rehashed 8 - 20 year old stuff for a reason because it has staying power and none of it or very little of it is pc generated anime for that which is anime.

Prices vary here depending on region and city and street but from what I have seen a complete series that is popular with 12 episodes can run $79 USD without any treasures added to the packaging while a single dvd with 3 - 9 episodes can run $30 if its packaged in a large cardboard shell ment to hold additional episodes and the shell is the thin grade school construction style of cardboard. Even when I had a disposable income of $2,000 USD a month I still spent nothing on series and focused only on movies for the quality and length of time and have looked specifically towards products that were produced by Miazocky and other well known artists within the industry. What has helped bring anime further into the main stream home in the states was the interest that Disney had in Miazocky in stories such Howl's moving castle and Spirited Away and his and the studio's other works.

Ouch, 7000 yen means that Japanese anime fans pay more for 2 episodes then I do here in Australia for some (but not all) anime boxsets/fatpacks (containing 13-26 episodes each, between $60 and $99 AUD).

eventhough i seriously got into anime about 3 years ago its evident to me that there are more moe/ecchi anime than other genres.......this maybe because anime producers just want to make a quick buck......also i have to say that recently the overall qulity is starting to go down hill for most anime but the quantity has gone up......as for me i find myself watching alot of anime of late but most of them i watch to just pass the time....and im only really excited about K-ON! and Senjou no Valkyrie.....

Finally someone said it out aloud. From what I've gathered, there's been a huge increase in the produced anime each year, and it is simply.. everywhere. The only bad thing is that with quantity you lack quality and vice versa. I'd still rather watch one really good series than a truckload of sh... erbet.

The themes and especially the characters are becoming too generic and every slightly bigger animation is tried to make the next evangelion.. I've never understood the moe and considered the overly exaggerated fan service to be nothing more but an annoyance that tries to distract the viewers from the mediocrity of the series.

I guess it's the same with the games too. While the western games have a number of varying themes, environments, characters and new innovations in gameplay, there are merely n'th sequels in the Japanese games. Only non-sequel that has arrived recently I can think of is the Noby boy and that's pretty weirded up as well, might be a fun toy, but I can't believe that it would keep my interest for too long.

I'll have to quit before this turns into a short story. But I hope my anger for current game and anime industry is clear.

Agree 100%.

I've found myself only following K-ON as well. The other anime are either too slow paced or too unrealistic for me.

I am very lucky....I got into Anime about 6 months back. So I have lots of series to watch that are splendid. K-ON! is all I am watchng at the moment, I am just happy I have all these old series to choose from with the current lineup.

I never came to watch old anime but GITS was awesome.

I have to say that good anime is declining, but at least we still have some nice ones like Eden of The East and K-On this season. Two game adaptations are interesting too - Valkyria Chronicles and Tears to Tiara.

As for those who complaints about K-On having no plot - isn't it a slice of life anime? What plot?..... It's about the daily lives of 4 girls in a music club. (though I have to agree that there's not much music.. but it's only ep6 so...)

Moe anime? Well, I do agree some are trying too hard on making moe anime. But K-On is fine :3 Its a substitute for my Lucky Star crave.

I prefer to read manga, since animes these days don't really interest me. I rather watch old ones like Air, Haibane Renmei, GITS, Golden Boy or Shinkai Makoto stuff.

I think Lerry just hit it on the head there: K-On! is a substitute for the Lucky Star crave. I mean, lets face it: K-On! is basically Lucky Star with guitars. Lucky Star itself built on the Haruhi craze... and so forth. It's a formula, it WORKS, it makes money... and at the end of the day these production houses have to make money to survive. Now the formula's wearing off, we need something new, but untill a new formula is found...

So, yes, I AM watching K-On! it's about the only show I'm following this season (though that's more due to a dodgy interbotz connection so I can't run too many torrents at once). I like it, it's fun, it's light, it fills 26 minutes of my life so I don't have to think in them... but it is AVERAGE, at this point it's still a cookie cutter show. Average sells, it has the broadest assured market appeal, so it'll be an assured cash cow. They'll be able to sell lots of merch, people will be caught up in the latest craze... and I don't begrudge that. However, to me, personally it isn't good enough to make me go and buy the DVDs. It's an impermanent show, it's fun for now but I don't need a physical reminder that it existed. It's also why I probably won't spend my cash on figures or anything for it either... because I know that in 18 months time I probably really won't care anymore, something else will have come along to fill that gap.

To me that's why the Fansub community isn't an issue: if I watch a sub, and I like it enough I'll buy the DVDs, try before you buy. I don't have the pockets (like most of us here) to buy everything, so I have to be selective, and because I can view things first I can know what I want and therefore am probably more willing to part with my cash.

However, I do think that the anime industry has started to descend into mediocrity a bit, to try and follow the formula a bit too closely. Character or plot development has gone to the dogs a bit in favor of trying to cram in as many cute girls as possible. The example I always like to cite here (and it is a bit old now I know) is the ToHeart series. The original ToHeart anime was a great slice of life show, ToHeart2 was just... I don't think I even bothered finishing it. I love the slice of life genre as much as the next life and sleep deprived uni student... but the same thing can't keep being stamped out over and over again with different faces and still keep me interested.

The last series I really got caught up in (like, really caught up in, fan forever, special place in my heart type caught up) was ARIA, which was also notably the last set of DVDs I bought. Before that... it was Martian Successor (or Mobile Battleship, depending on your perspective) Nadesico. So yeah, looking at that I also stand in the camp of those going back over older series for entertainment value. Notably, wasn't Nadesico produced around '93? Which was also another recession period? Maybe our other trouble is that we've all had lot of cash to splurge, so mediocrity was able to cut it's share of the market... maybe with the latest downturn a bit of anime Darwinism as it were may set in.

I was probably going somewhere with this, but I honestly can't remember where. But heym I'll keep watching and, if something sparks my interest enough, I'll keep buying.

海外OTAKUの皆様には、ぜひ７０’から８０’(昭和５０年代)
の作品を観て頂きたいですね。

"quality freebies with the DVD"

We can turn this around and shift the focus to the DVD being an add-on. It's a different approach, but it might increase patronage this way. It's not going to look like shoving down DVDs down the consumer's throat.

The quality of anime are really going down...and so far, i only bought one set...and its not even complete...so they should focus on quality...rather than quantity...

There is so much released each season... And charging so much for DVD's with just 2 episodes... I really-really don't get that...

I usually buy DVDs if A: I love the series to bits and don't want to wait for the box set.(I did that with Angelic Layer, Super Gals!, Haibane Renmei, Haruhi ofc and few others.) B: I buy the DVD's when the boxsets come out of my favourites, like Clannad, Elfin Lied, Kanon etc. I don't just do this with anime though, do it with most TV shows I like too. Doctor Who released DVD's with a couple of episodes on at a time, like anime, doesn't charge as much, but I still wait for the boxset with the prettier front cover.

No wonder its on the decline. Cos there is SOOO much moe anime being released that they just wanna get more out, and sell more. And its not working anymore.

And no... our pockets most definately don't go on forever lol.

There's less and less good stuff out there. I can't stand moe/loli series like K-On or Strike Witches (sorry Danny), and there's too much of those around right now. Eden of the East was mentioned before, and I agree that it's pretty interesting. Noitamina has a pretty good track record for showing shows that I like. Another ridiculously good show out there right now is Eve no Jikan or Time of Eve. It has an interesting look at Asimov-style androids and a pretty unique visual style, though it comes out at a rate of one 15-minute episode per 2 months, which can be painful to wait for at times :

I do buy DVDs still, but less and less often, mainly because there's been less good shows coming over. Last thing I bought was Baccano, and before that...I can't remember, it's been too long.

I have been finding myself watching less and less anime these day because from my viewpoint some titles does not worth it at all. What I did is just pick the nice one out from all the 30 to 40 each season.

Hm I also don't like moe/loli anime much. I do watch K-ON! But I don't get all the hype around it, it's just a decent show lol..
Basically these moe/loli anime are all pretty much the same just with different characters really. Does tend to get boring.

But I'm glad this season has some interesting series like Eden of the East, Cross Game and Phantom ~ Requiem for the Phantom.
Other than that, for me it's just finishing older series that I didn't see yet or have yet to finish.

DVD's should have a least 4 episodes on them
And there are really too much fanservice anime

I don't buy anime series simply because here in Brazil there are rare anime DVDs for sail. We have lots of non-official anime DVDs, but I rather download them then buying unofficial products.

The thing is, nowadays there are hundreds of sites where anime can be seen for free, thus eliminating the need to buy the material. Though there are the exception of those who still buy the DVD, the majority prefer spending nothing rather than something. Sadness~ T.T

This ties directly in to another topic on this board titled "Are Anime DVDs Worth It" on about 9/27/08. Many of the same concerns were raised then just as now. The Anime industry has become long on price and short on quality. It is now feeling the result of that business model.

Yup, it is dying. I've practically been watching the same damn show for the past 2-3 years >__<

What did the anime industry expect when almost all of the titles that have been coming out are utter garbage. I continuously get the feeling that I've watched new series before because they use characters that are carbon copy's from other anime and unoriginal story lines. Simply adding moe to a bad anime doesn't magically make it a good one.

Ya, the industry is dying but some good shows as still being produced like K-On, Eve no Jikan and Cross Game this season.

I've mostly been getting into older shows though like Touch,KOR,Macross etc.

i haven't finished watching the old anime series yet. so new ones are not on my list. the latest new one i watched was birdy the mighty decode.

I confirm, I watch less anime than before, because of a triple combo "less quality / less cult licences / less free time" T.T

The amount of good series realy has declined over the years, which realy is saddening.

I started watching anime because of series like cowboy bebop and neon genesis- not generic moe title 26, or standard mech anime 74.

It's a combination of a few factors... (in a way it's a rehash of some of what was already said) ^^;
1. DVDs are obscenely overpriced in Japan, why should anyone pay ¥7000 for 2 episodes when in 6 months they could get the same series at $30 for 4 episodes a pop in North America and in many cases in a couple of years get the entire series for $50 in North America?
2. Obviously Youtube and other similar sites are lowering anime DVD sales.
3. The current economic crisis.
4. The market is saturated for certain genres, certainly moe and mecha. (although the mecha saturation is old news).
5. It used to be that if you owned the PS2 (or before that the Saturn) you could play 90% of otaku-oriented video games. Now you have to own a PS3, an XBOX360, a PSP, a DS and a Wii. (or at least 3 out of 5 to get say 80% of those titles). Anyway, obviously if you're buying video game consoles you're not buying something else... DVDs for series that you can download online or record from the TV etc. is an obvious target, no?

What should they do?
1. Make fewer, more original series.
2. Considerably lower DVD prices.
3. Concentrate on selling merchandise like figures, wall scrolls, character goods etc. and expect less earnings from DVD sales.
4. Complain less. Like someone said on the thread, didn't the anime bubble burst 15 years ago?

The idea that anime was better content-wise in the past is an illusion. The thing is, the only anime people remember from the late 90s are the very best like Evangelion, Karekano, Cowboy Bebop, Utena, etc. But, there was plenty of crap to go around back then too. They're making more anime now, but it's not by a factor of 10, and there's more genres now than then... There's plenty of good anime from the last few years, yes, it's maybe 10% of all series, but that's how it's always been.
A word to the wise:

Not all the manga series should be turned into anime, not all the anime series that are made should be watched and not all the anime that's watched should be expected to sell well on DVD. No brainer, no?

I'm only following K-ON!, Hatsukoi Gentei, Higashi no Eden, and Pandora Hearts. Others are pretty boring.

Since it use LightNovel to anime, it start to show less good story around the market
And the anime DVD is expensive, if you want to collect the whole set, it cost 30,000 -60,000 yen, so need to choose very carefully. And too many relate goods in the market, which people will have less money go to DVD. The pie is the same see how you divide it

I'm new here so the only thing I can say about this topic is they need to make more spice of life anime, more drama, more love story, coz I've been getting bored in the same power to power action anime. I prefer to buy DVD's that has a spice of life in their cattegory!!! Anyway this is my chance to shout out I LOVE YOU KOTOMI,LACUS,SHANA,LOUIS even if you're just an Anime hehehe, Rock on CLANNAD!!! Your the best!!! ^_^

Looks like the same happens to the anime industry as happens to lots of other industries. Consumers today have less to spend and have become more picky in their choices. This means that quality ends up being more important than quantity. Each title should be more creative and hopefully unique with a decent story.

I read somewhere that a number of computer games have been canceled. The reason is the same and since the gaming industry had considered the last few years as boom time, they just tried to produce as many titles as possible. This meant that their new titles were actually games they had already made, but with improved graphics or similar (but no new creative/interesting story). Now people will not buy titles like that anymore.

While it's sad that this might result in fired people and possibly companies failing to survive I will still have to say that in a way I'm happy about the current situation. The boom times resulted in a lot of crap and now they have to make quality stuff to survive.

My take on it is this.

This industry is like no other.. Push the bare minimum out, and charge the absolute most for the product.. You name any industry that doesn't have the in their work ethic somewhere. And generally IF something is popular.. Moe anime for instance, By the time its being beaten past dead like a horse.. people have moved to generally something else. but the industry doesn't hire peeps in the know.. they have focus groups.. who focus reality so far out of any possible distinction its a moot point to call it reality!! Anime industry is not different form the auto industry.. or the popcorn industry.. They think oooh people want big suvs.. when really people want nice easy to drive cars.. or vice versus..

The recent shows have been a bit monotonous.. but, I watch cause Ya find some good nuggets out there.. just takes some searching.. and some stuff I watch cause I'm bored!

Just my take on this.. If industries really wanted to be on top of things.. they should be making the fads not responding to them

its a bland year for pretty much most things
in this case, with anime, the only series i got into is regios after "sifting" through the crap amount of moe anime. ive stopped watching naruto and bleach these days ( started reading the manga instead due to ugly fillers)
i miss the old times where anime were actually good
guess i should watch my old collection starting with ghost in the shell series

I don't watch too many anime nowadays mostly because of the crap stories and worse CGI and cel shading rendering. I miss the good ol' HAND DRAWN and HAND PAINTED artworks. Makes one appreciate the effort more. In fact, I'm beginning to change my view about Japanese anime being better drawn than western cartoons. There are no more shows that made me gaze in wonder. I'm already missing the excitement I felt when I first watched, let's say, NGE, Escaflowne, the original Ah! My Goddess OAV, and Magic Knight Rayearth around 8 or more years ago. The current line of anime shows just don't do that anymore. At first I thought maybe it was just me being more mature now than when I first watched anime as a kid, but when I watched Akira, Ghost in the Shell, Stardust Memory, etc. just around last year, I felt the same way I did when I was a kid. Only then did it really dawn on me on how craptastic the anime of today are......sad :-(

I pay to stream 720p anime, it's cheap, reliable and great quality. I don't ever buy DVD's this way, but I can pay like $2 per episode if I want to download it to my computer. I rather do this and use my money for other merchandise, like the Hatsune Miku nendoroid I just pre-ordered :)

I feel like there are coming out with ok~ series this season nothing really got my attention but still there are popular ones which ia good like K- ON

-Quality - not quantity.

that's all.

Over the past few years, other than some standouts (Hell Girl, Haruhi, Gunslinger Girl, Code Geass, Bleach, Death Note) there really has been a lot of blah shows. Now, I don't watch as much as some folks here, but I'm sure that those who do have seen more and more blah series.

Shangri La & East of Eden are the only ones I'm watching out of this season, it really has slowed down. :/

This season is actually a whole lot better compared to the past 4 seasons.

And I would so love to buy the dvd versions but I got the same problem with some of the complaints up there. I mean c'mon, two episodes in one dvd? heck, even some bluray releases only has 2 episodes. That's just utter crap considering it's more expensive than hollywood bluray releases. At least put in about 5-6 episodes each. That should be fair enough considering the size allowable on bluray.

They really should follow American standards and release the minimum of 4 episodes a disc for only 30 bucks or less.

Gotta agree with this one. I'm currently watching K-ON!, Chrome shelled regios and 3 others. I find myself going back to catch up on some other stuff as well. Wanting some different material. Digging up the old goods that have been overlooked.

I don't know where the blame should be laid opon.

Do we blame ourselves for Fansubbing and downloading?

Do we blame the Studios for catering to one set of fans and lack of creativity?

Do we blame the licensees for not get the new stuff out fast enough?

Recession?

Over saturation?

Internet?

It was just this year that Funimation and Crunchyroll are using the "Can't beat em, join 'em." mentality

Not to mention most anime fans do buy the DVD's when they come out.

This is one tough puzzle to solve.

As a BD/DVD/Online producer I can confirm that the manufacturing cost of disc formats is fairly low. DVD is much cheaper. However, by the time you add the cost to stock items in shops, add the cost of shop staff and so on, the cost has crept up a fair bit.

Online though turns out not to be amazingly cheaper. You still have to maintain a server system and do billing and so on, also promotion is more difficult because potential buyers will only see your video if they specifically come to look at your website. So actually, online distribution replaces certain bricks'n'mortar problems with different types of problems.

In either case, the distribution/sales cost is dwarfed by the cost of creating the content in the first place. It is just as expensive to make a video for network as for disc. You can put the same content out through both channels, though the network channel tends to be lower visual quality due to compression.

If anime is genuinely showing a decline, the reasons in my opinion are:

1. Declining child population of Japan = lower number of viewers.
2. Too much low quality, copy-cat content = less compelling reason to buy anime.
3. Fan-subbing damaging the export market = reduced profit for producers.

uh yeah i noticed this T____T soo right now im downloading visual novels like crazy XD to keep me company =3

i follow a series i like then i download it to save my wallet from any pain.

I haven't noticed much of a quality decline, but I do feel anime needs to be cheaper.

Of the new series, I'm following K-ON! and Eden of the East. Also, I too am watching Romeo x Juliet now :D

I agree with everyone of those comments. I am sick of all this garbage and what they expect us to pay. Every season I find myself watching less and less.

In many ways I believe the growth of anime outside of Japan is to blame in part. In the early '80 many companies here in the state and in Japan started to sell all the crap that anime fans ignored in Japan. Maybe it is a coincident that the industry started to decline at the same time. Personal I feel it has something to do with the current state of the industry.

I agree, some of the Anime released in the last few months didint really appeal to me..

Classic supply/demand economics at play here, nothing really surprising. It's nice I can buy hugely popular anime off the shelves here but the rest had to be imported and my country customs tend to view anime as pornography. =/

I think there are too many cliche in anime; the quality of the artwork is also one of the main factor an anime could appeal to me.

Wow that room is amazing!

Yes, many anime just blend into each other after awhile. When you've seen one schoolgirl anime you've seen almost all of them, same with the mech stuff. There are anime that I liked when I watched them, but would not spend the money to own....watching it once was enough for me.

And yes, it should be cheaper...spending about $70.00 for about 12 episodes is absolute crap. They really need to lower the price on anime and figures.

There are too many Moe' series and not enough of extreme action series. People need something like 3x3 Eyes, Noir, Gun Smith Catz, and Mad Bull 34, Guyver.

YES finally they take notice <<

I noticed the decline of interesting anime since 2005 when some of my still favorite animes were aired, such as Ghost in the Shell: SAC and Samurai Champloo and Haruhi. I agree largely on the crap moe line more than anything considering I've been sick of moeblobbing animes for awhile, it even made me second guess K-on! at first.

Anyways, I would really enjoy some good quality action anime right about now. Basquash! is the closest thing I've got for this season in Japan, and to be honest it has been a let down so far.

There's basically two parts to this decline desu. One is the business model and the other the content.

As for the content side.

It is true lately that new releases haven't been really exciting. Currently I'm only watching K-ON! out of all the new ones. Rewatching some oldies too, like Rurouni Kenshin and Macross. They really should stop the moeblob-photocopy machine, and come up with fresh stuff to blow our minds again. Stop being lazy and start innovating, go crazy nuts!

Ok, Business model.

In my view, DVDs, or in a wider aspect physical medias, are in the process of becoming the past. I have a feeling that around 1 generation later, most adults then (which would make me an oji-san already) wouldn't be interested in Blurays, DVDs, etc and the kids would probably wouldn't even know what those are.

I'm 23, and I absolutely hate using discs. I'll take a disc image or HD movie file anytime. Rather than having to dig through a collection of discs, popping open the drive, putting it in, waiting for the disc to be detected and then played, which wastes about 5-15mins, most new OSes' search tool (like MacOSX's Spotlight and Windows7 search bar) will be able to let you start watching what you're looking for in under 10 seconds. Or if you keep your files tidy, going through the folders should take a few seconds only as well. Besides, I don't have to worry about discs being scratched when I lend it to a friend, or it being damage by the weather. Not forgetting physical medias will take up a LOT of space, and if you want to backup a copy of it all? Good luck.

I think an application/software that allows users to watch/preview/buy/review/comment animes from all producers should be created. A centralized place for people to watch and buy anime downloads. There's actually a very successful example of it already, just take a look at the iTunes (Online) Store.

Make it available throughout the world, with no restrictions on different country's credit cards, or location (or that would hurt, make a smaller crowd even smaller). Put in a preview function of around 30-60 seconds for each tv episodes, and longer ones for OVAs and movies, so users can have a taste of it before they purchase. Make it around 200-500yen oer 24 minute episodes (different price for SD and HD quality?) and around 1500-2000yen for movies/OVAs. HD is a must. This way, the alibi of "It's not available in my country!" or "It's too expensive (in my country)!" will not hold anymore. It also allows for people for are forced towards fansubs/pirated copies (like for the reason's above) to go the legal way.

How about making it so that if you own the entire series, you can top up an amount to get the DVDs shipped to you? Maybe have special packages that bundles with special/limited edition figures if you purchase the whole season/series. That would compliment and perhaps improve the sales of DVDs. Merchandises like figures and collectibles, novels, artbooks, and perhaps mangas can also be sold there as well. And if there's any news or updates, you'll know for sure that everyone using that application/software will be notified about it, since whoever's in charge will have control over the contents of the app/software. More awareness, more sales.

The only trouble in this is getting the top folks in the producing companies to cooperate. And paying the royalties/licenses. Is there anyone else that has to be involved that I missed out? =.=" And on a side note, they should definitely hire some of the good fansubbers out there to do their subbing...! Why fight them when they're doing a better job?! Join forces!

Well, though I'd love to, I'm still not able to put this plan into action myself. Don't know where to start. Or if someone else can do it, I'd be happy that this thought I had for such a long time didn't go to waste.

There, got that off my mind. Hope I didn't exceed any word limits, or cause the need to have one... ^^;;

Yeah the DVDs are crazy expensive. We know the costs to cover are more in Japan but seriously they are way too expensive. I buy them at book off because I dun wanna spend 300+ on something that has 12 episodes. 100 sure My friend is buying kitaro and they have no boxsets 0_0 she is getting the 60s, 70s,80s, 90s and 00 0_0 thats like 40 bucks a DVD or more

YEP! I'm also catching up on older anime. 90% of the stuff that has been coming out lately is all filler no killer.

I do agree that recently there has not been as much anime that make me really excited as in the past. DVD's are also way too expensive, especially when there are cheap/ free alternatives.
Even K-On, the best anime this season, is just another merely above average moe anime.

The reason why "MoeBlobbing" is running rampant is all thanks to the otakus that crave that sort of thing in Japan. If its in high demand, more will be made to meet that demand. Hence why Pokemon, Yugioh, Gundam and every other marketable product, show or idea is just about in every corner of the world. Problem is that companies don't get it through their heads that enough is enough. If it's making money they don't care and continue selling the license of said product to others and further milk it.

It's a good thing I stick to obscure, old anime such as Spice and Wolf, Assemble Insert, Iczer-One, Sentou Yousei Yukikaze and Solty-Rei (among others). They may be 2 episode OVA's or just a 24 episode series that sadly ends with no sequel but the story, characters and art satisfies me that I don't regret it ending...ok maybe a little. It's also important to note that the decline in anime is in part to how easy it is to make anime now. Back then each frame was drawn by hand and colored by hand, now with drawing tablets and painting programs and what not; any idea that gets the slightest approval from the director becomes anime.

US publishers are also to be partly blamed. Just like video games, there are a lot good anime titles that have never seen the day of light in the US. Fansubs are fine and dandy if you just want a clump of video data, me I prefer to have an actual physical copy with its case. Of course...sometimes it's not easy to acquire that rare anime because the seller will not sell outside of its country (-cough-Amazon.jp-cough-). And then there's that "too good to be true" deal of finding the entire series for a mere $20 or less at some site, you know the ones, 24 episodes in just two discs. Ah I think I've ranted enough...these are my two cents on the decline of anime. -flee-

I bought a whole bunch of dvds this summer, because they're pretty expensive/hard to come by over here. The only problem is that I'm so far behind, that I'm still working on older titles. Plus it would help if I had more time...^^;

I think it just fluctuates. In my opinion 2009 has not been a great year for anime, nothing has really got me greatly interested, but we still have fall and winter.

I think manga has been really great this year though.

at first.. i stop watching for a bit..because their was moe anime..coming out..and i was like eh..but then a lot new line up..caught my intress.. ill admit i watch the moe aniems too. lol but then i started see interesting ones..and now i am back on watching some of thew titles and some of news one that ended already.. and i also think it flucates too and as manga..yeah its gotten really good some are ending now and some are finally ending

fanservice and moe aren't a problem. I think many shows rely on those two things alone for entertainment value, and that's when they are seen as a problem. If a show has a good story the fanservice and moe are the cherry on top of greatness. There are too many weak plotted amine, and the DVDs cost too much. I think amine should be digitally distributed without DRM for a cheap fee. The company producing an amine could have a soft subbed version of an amine show available for download the night it airs in Japan. It should only cost a dollar or two an episode. While this may sound cheap, it has been proven to work. NIN released a whole album for 5 dollars without DRM, and they made tones from it. When shows are provided quickly and conveniently {easier and quicker than torrents} at a fair price, most everyone is won over and pays for them. It make is easy and convenient for the consumer {DRM makes things a hassle}, and when you aren't being gouged for something most people enjoy supporting the artist

Follow the Law of Averages. The more People Reached the more Money can be made.
Japan needs to promote their important anime series on television companies for FREE AIRING and then sell internationally merchandises and other items based on audience ratings.
The level of Detailed Artistry, StoryTelling, Substance, Attractiveness, Moral lessons and Values that can be learned, Knowledge imparted through entertainment and Delivery should be topnotch.
Hey, even parents who think it would benefit their kids to watch a particular anime knowing it teaches good Moral Lessons and Good Values plus important Knowledge would promote it to their children as well.
Seek the Great Story Teller Japanese People that can really touch people and Great Anime Artists to put to drawing those great stories.
Not every Great Story Teller can Draw! We need to help them visionaries.
Have critics analyze it first before putting it out on free airing in full blasts such that it attracts and hooks the admiration of MORE audiences, that means a bigger market, and make them yearn to order figures and items straight from Japan Hobby Companies that speak and write in English.

The anime can be pirated which is good, consider it as FREE ADVERTISING, and more types of people gets to watch it and knows its greatness
but figures and merchandises made straight from Japan are really hard to copy.
Look at DragonBall and Evangelion, it was on free airing which means a lot of people got to watch it and know it exist in the first place and got interested, then curious, then intrigued, then hooked, then addicted and wanting merchandises related to their "Favorite" Anime Story.
It had a great story, people got really hooked, they liked it and started talking about it.
So many Rei Ayanami merchandises were sold.
A large portion of those people craved for merchandises relating to the series because it really hooked them
on a strong emotional level.
They connected.
You're dealing with emotions here. Most people can't fight their emotions.
The more people a great anime story is able to reach and hook emotionally, the better.
Then, Japan needs to reach out more and make their products more accessible.
Have English websites, speak the English language as your own Secondary Language.
Make your merchandise more accessible. That's the right time for milking it.
It is a great power to speak to the whole world. Not everyone can understand Nippongo and Kanji
nor does everyone have the patience to learn Japanese Language but English is for everyone.

For all of you here in the US: crunchyroll.com is your friend.