The animation industry on Merzen is most comparable to the early home movie experience- you have big productions from the first layer, middling productions of varying quality- usually direct-to-dvd or TV- from the second layer, and the poorly animated bootleg cruft of the third layer.
However, as opposed to what we think of poorly animated movies, Merzen has a fascinaton and deep obsession with them. Many of the most well known, beloved, most aggressively preserved movies are these "low quality" "budget" films.
In actuality, films and shows from the third layer are often passion projects, filled with more clumsy and genuine love for the craft than the other two layers combined. In spite of the cheesy, mediocre voice acting and subpar visuals, they're often fascinatingly complex and well written stories that tie deeply into the heart of the third layer.
The "cheapness" of third layer movies is literal though- they are made as cheaply as possible. Without focusing on visuals the artist can spend less on supplies, and doing the voices themself or with friends and family means they can stretch their units out further in other areas of their life. Come time to distribute, their frugality means they can also charge less when selling discs while still turning a profit.
And that cheapness is what makes the market so viable and how these movies became a subtle, pervasive part of the third layer. Where 500 unit movie tickets can be too much to justify outside of the occasional treat and home videos and rentals being nearly as bad, the 50 unit third layer movies are a much more reasonable option. Coupled with the irregularity with which they are produced and sold, they're a common impulse buy when shopping in the third layer.
