Important News on the 2012 Anime Industry: The State of Japanese Anime Overseas

In 2012, Japanese anime overseas acted as a symbol of Japanese culture, further propelling the concept of "Cool Japan" forward. However, it would appear that its popularity is still not being recognized from a business standpoint. Through these contradictory situations, various differences in how the industry is perceived overseas have come to light.

The popularity of Japanese anime can be strongly felt due to the success of anime conventions all over the world. For example, Japan Expo, Europe’s biggest Japanese cultural event which is held annually, had an attendance rate of 210 thousand in 2012 when it was held in Paris. Another example is Anime Expo, one of the biggest anime conventions in North America, which is held yearly in Los Angeles. Attendance for this event broke records in 2012 with 130 thousand attendees.

Last year also saw the rise of anime conventions as a form of business. Aside from being held twice in France, Japan Expo has also been held in other countries across Europe, including Belgium and Brussels. As such, Japan Expo has become a very profitable business franchise. Due to its success, the expo is now expanding even further. This year, the first Japan Expo USA is scheduled to be held in August in Santa Clara, California. Expansion can be seen among other anime conventions as well. One such event is Anime Festival Asia. In 2012, the event, which originally became successful in Singapore, was held in Indonesia and Malaysia. This event, and many others, have become more profitable than expected, which has led to the rise of anime conventions as a form of business.

In contrast to anime conventions, Japanese animation seems to be in a recession in North America. This is evidenced by BANDAI Entertainment withdrawing from selling and distributing its anime movies in North America. Since the 90’s, the intensity of the spread of Japanese anime in North America has been on the decline. In a sense, BANDAI’s withdrawal seems to be signaling in the end of an era.

On the other hand, there has been recent movements to capitalize on the market in Southeast Asia. Especially in India, there have been various PR events for Japanese anime content, which have increased the interest of anime in India’s market. An example of this rising interest is the TV broadcast of India’s version of Star of the Giants, Suraj: The Rising Star, which is a joint effort between Kodansha and TMS Entertainment, who teamed up with local corporations.

There is no doubt that Japanese anime will continue to spread in countries all over the world. Since 2012 was such an active year for the Japanese anime industry, many people are excited to see what kind of business initiatives will be capitalized on moving forward and how they will affect the expansion of the industry.

Source:
http://animeanime.jp/article/2013/01/06/12591.html (Japanese)