Why does Japan get to have all the fun- Do we need our own light novels and animes
On the right hand side you may of noticed, a variety of poll questions asking whether there is a need for more anime and light novels made outside of Japan. I asked these questions because the fact is countries in general are spending ridiculous amounts licensing and copyrighting material such as manga, light novels, and anime from japan instead of building their own industries basically using the excuses of cost and lack of interest by english speaking fans for such industries. They basically saying the bean counters in general why spend so much making our own when we can simply license without all the effort. This leading to an argument that me and my friend had in which the united states and most english speaking countries in the world have become countries that no longer produce a product but instead outsource everything and basically getting from outside their borders from where asian countries.
You can state well we are super power countries with strong currencies which cant support such loser commodities because of labor cost involved with products such as manga, light novels, and anime, and why do all the work when we can simply get a license and redistribute. When I hear that I understand from a business point of view money is money and wherever you can save a cost you do, but than I think about this we are being underestimated as people in general. As people who live in nations that no longer produce we longer have anything to strive for, basically dumbing us down as a whole, or the term dumbing down of a nation. For this discussion lets do it like this as fans of manga and anime, do people feel that english speaking nations should invest in the development of their own light novels, mangas (not graphic novels), and animes and try to compete on this world stage or leave it to just japan. I ask this because I think as a whole we have the same potential to create high quality animes, mangas and light novels as japan but the only thing stopping us is because in our minds this is only a japan thing, I think as a whole industries for anime, manga, and light novels can be developed especially now with everything being digital and cost for productions being so low, why cant we. Please everyone lets discuss this I would love to hear everyone's opinions, thought, new ideas and so forth.
You can state well we are super power countries with strong currencies which cant support such loser commodities because of labor cost involved with products such as manga, light novels, and anime, and why do all the work when we can simply get a license and redistribute. When I hear that I understand from a business point of view money is money and wherever you can save a cost you do, but than I think about this we are being underestimated as people in general. As people who live in nations that no longer produce we longer have anything to strive for, basically dumbing us down as a whole, or the term dumbing down of a nation. For this discussion lets do it like this as fans of manga and anime, do people feel that english speaking nations should invest in the development of their own light novels, mangas (not graphic novels), and animes and try to compete on this world stage or leave it to just japan. I ask this because I think as a whole we have the same potential to create high quality animes, mangas and light novels as japan but the only thing stopping us is because in our minds this is only a japan thing, I think as a whole industries for anime, manga, and light novels can be developed especially now with everything being digital and cost for productions being so low, why cant we. Please everyone lets discuss this I would love to hear everyone's opinions, thought, new ideas and so forth.
There have been a few attempts to establish something like that in the US like when they make anime versions of DC and Marvel stuff. Sadly very few of them catch on to the mainstream public and many fans dislike how most amerianime attempts still retain a cartoony look to them. In time something may pick up but without massive fan support to create potential profit for western animes, it will probably be a while.
ReplyDeleteI remember once watching a documentary and it came down to american cartoon studios focusing on the toy market when deciding a cartoon plus the fact that most american studios attempt to not focus on teens but more on kids. Like the dc universe with the side kicks was an attempt to attract teen markets but they did it wrong the series suffered, no one cares about side kicks plus as you said had a somewhat cartoony feel to it. My theory for an anime company to make proper animes in the united states it would have to be free of traditional tv and cable channel and publish releases directly on the web. On the web anime studio would not be constrained by board room politics. My logic if usa was to have an anime industry it would have to disconnect itself from TV channels in general until its proven that a market exist on its own. TV channels tend to change opinion when they see success occurrs, its that old mentality of why take a chance first lets see proof
DeleteNJMANGA I've been following Deus Ex since Yankano but only just made an account because all the recent activity in the group outside of manga. It's been very apparent that you are trying to get opinions on a western produced manga/LN & with your recent search for an artist, I have to ask, are you planning something? Did RWBY influence you to try something new? Needless to say, it's piqued my curiosity & whether or not you pursue new ventures, I wish you & Gott all the best.
ReplyDeleteThis is a great topic. I remember debating this a while ago.
ReplyDeleteBefore we begin we need to discuss something. What would exactly be anime, manga and Light novel?
The Japanese consider Light novel, as the name implies, a lighter for of novel. What's that? It would be story with smaller sentences, without long paragraph, not many complicated kanjis, overall written in a simpler way and targeted for younger audience (mainly otakus). But wouldn't that be Young Adult literacy? The main difference is the theme. While both have battle fantasy, YA has almost none romantic comedy with school and daily lives. Of course it has many more differences, but I'd say they are close.
And what about anime? For them, anime is short for animation, and it means The Simpsons, American Dad, Adventure Time and Pokemon are on the same category. Of course we consider anime to be animation from Japan, with their drawing and story. But remember Panty and Stocking? That would be closer to Adult cartoon than anime, but since it was made in Japan, we consider anime (and somewhat above cartoons). But there's something more. Animation is still considered for children in the occident, even if there are adult cartoons. But there are some cartoons that break this. Avatar the Legend of Aang did this. It was also considered for children, but it showed a great story with an even greater drawing, and it can be considered "anime" for us. Of course it''s only one. We need more battle fantasy animation made on this side of the globe.
And Manga? I agree with you, there's a difference from Graphic novels. Not only the drawings, setting and reading order. As the name implies, graphic novels are novels told in form of drawing, while manga is a story made to be told in that format. There's many manual books for both, and they are very different. (That's why many adapted LN to manga aren't popular). I'm not sure if I'm explaining myself properly.
With all this said, there are two main reasons for not having many LN, Mangas and Anime from "this side". As you, one of them is money. It's very expensive to produce any of this media, and it's just easier to import from japan. Or maybe it's a plan from japan (Outbreak Company?). Even LN... I'm a amateur write, and I can say even to release one book it can be very expensive. For newbies, the publishing are basically betting, especially with so many new writers popping out.
And the other reason would be... prejudice. Whether we admit or not, we are pretty much inclined to say something from japan is better. And that maybe is killing the interesting in producing theses medias.
Sorry for any mistakes in this post. English is not my first language.