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Actually America is a secondary market for anime — it's only recently that the Japanese have started selling here directly (in fact companies like FUNi are lice
by michaelpinto 16y ago
Actually America is a secondary market for anime — it's only recently that the Japanese have started selling here directly (in fact companies like FUNi are licensing anime not producing it). Most anime is broadcast TV so they make their real money from advertising and the marketing of merchandise, it's only in America where the DVDs were a primary point of consumption. So they have different issues (and blind spots) than the recorded music biz.
- tsotha 16y agoThis is a key point. Part of the reason they have such a piracy problem with anime is until very recently only a handful of series were released in the US. For most titles a fansub was your only option if you wanted to watch at all.
- michaelpinto 16y agoWell in the old days we traded VHS tapes that weren't even subbed! ; )
- tsotha 16y agoHeh. I remember watching the laserdisk version of Laputa at a friend's house circa 1990. Took me almost ten years to secure my own copy.