Anime today, and the industries that shape its creation and distribution, are on a similar trajectory to what video games have been experiencing since the peak of the covid pandemic around 2020. Back then, everyone was stuck at home and had nothing better to do than get through their gaming (or, in this case, series) backlog. More people bought subscriptions to gaming or streaming services to watch anime, and the industry grew rapidly to meet the demand — but then, when restrictions were lifted and people returned to their offices or schools, both industries struggled to adapt again.
Like video games, which has seen record layoffs this year, many believe to be a result of its massive expansion in 2020, anime has also fallen victim to its own success. Crunch, remakes that may or may not justify their existence, Long-promised and revealed titlesand online discourse flashy animation Opposite interesting article has shaken up the medium for the last few years. In many ways, anime is experiencing a similar boom to the gaming industry, although too much of a good thing can still be a case of having too much of a good thing. It's unclear whether it will follow a similar path, but we do know this: it's not sustainable.
The struggles of the anime industry
As in the gaming industry, mismanagement by anime studios often leads to a crisis that forces animators to rush out a project that could have spent more time in development. Look no further than respected studios like Mappa, whose rapid rise to fan-favorite studio status has been a success with acclaimed shows Jujutsu Kaisen and the final season Attack on Titan It coincided with the studio gaining a reputation for enabling crunch while canceling long-promised projects. A phenomenon akin to Naughty Dog and its long-running cancellations The Last of Us 2 online multiplayer content After years of development.
Anime has a distinct advantage due to its abundance of seasonal content, adaptations of burgeoning weekly manga series that are quickly turned into twelve 20-minute anime episodes. For years, this feedback loop has kept both industries healthy, but it has also shown signs of instability as animators and manga creators are overwhelmed by demand. produce more content weekly.
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In the best case scenario, manga creators and animators They took long breaks for their own healthIn the worst case scenario, They produce raw materials to meet the seemingly limitless demands of their consumers.. And in an emergency, the solution to the problem of not having a new series to adapt is to remake old series.
As with games, contemporary anime has gotten a little too comfortable with weaponizing nostalgia with anime remakes. Spice and Wolf, Fruit Basket, Urusei Yatsura, Ranma ½, The Rose of VersaillesAnd Magic Knight Rayearth to name just a few. Some remakes (e.g. Neon Genesis Evangelion (reconstructing films) to justify their existence by exploring alternative narrative beats of the source material Final Fantasy VII Remake trilogy, others, like Netflix and Wit Studio's anime remake One Piece—appropriately titled “One Piece”—confused fans.
When asked why they'd remake an ongoing anime that's readily available on most streaming services and has its own live-action series, Wit Studio head George Wada gave the same answer that Capcom used to justify remaking Resident Evil 4 for the nth time: It's a combination of modern-day technical advancements and the following argument: The original format of the anime (4:3 ratio) is off-putting for new viewersThe common refrain that remakes are only necessary because the originals are old is an uninspired justification by the games industry. The Last of Us 2 remake shortly after the original's release.
Anime monopoly problem
And just like the modern gaming world, Monopoly has infiltrated the anime industry. Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard and recent mass layoffs It points to the problems that arise when one company swallows up another. Anime's version of this is Crunchyroll, a pirate website that became a media conglomerate owned by Sony. It bought itself for a fortune Earlier this year, rival Funimationfans faced each other loss of anime they own digitally, closing digital storesand price increases.
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This becomes especially acute when you consider that, like gaming, animation only has four major streaming services: Crunchyroll, Hidive, Netflix, and Hulu. While each has its own advantages in terms of presentation and cost, these services often fail to properly promote a show or delayed broadcast schedule rut Like Disney-exclusive anime. It's no wonder manga and anime fans are so vocal about piracy and not paying for a service nickels and dimes at every opportunity.
Not everything is dark and gloomy when it comes to anime. SuperGiant Games Hell The anime that revolutionized the roguelike genre has seen blockbusters such as: Frieren: Beyond Journeys' End And Delicious in the Dungeon Freeing the fantasy genre from the monotony of uninspiring sentence-long isekai fantasy series. Their Secret? In addition to being written by women, a rarity in a male-dominated field, both series dare to go against the flow by not copying and pasting tried-and-true anime formulas.
While all of the above does not explicitly spell out the fall of the Roman empire as we know it for the anime, there are structural similarities to the game's situation. undoubtedly in disarray after the layoffs it's worrying. I hope anime can right the ship and focus on quality over quantity.