For many of fans of anime and manga after a long day nothing is more relaxing then getting on the computer and loading up your favorite show or manga. Normally they would probably have it saved in a file, on a hard drive, or just go to a site that already has it all for free. Sounds easy and convenient right? Well got some bad news for the fans and that is what they are doing is actually harming the industry as a whole.
For a better understanding let me explain. Within the anime community there are several sites that host a plethora of anime and manga for free like kissanime.com, anime44.com, batoto.com, mangareader.net, and etc. These sites are able to provide fans to stream, download, and read manga all at the expense of nothing.
To begin let me start with how manga has been affected by this. Manga was at the height of sales in 1995 since the release of One Piece who sold approximately over 320 million copies and Dragonball who sold approximately over 230 million copies. Now for a while there were trouble of sales in domestically in Japan but the market grew in the US, until 2007 (The Death of Manga: Failure to Adapt, 2015). That was when it was at its peak until 2012 where manga sales had dropped dramatically in the US by 43% (Manga comics losing longtime hold on Japan, Paul Wiseman, 2007).
Now that’s just manga. One of the biggest sellers that is now starting to take a toll is anime DVD sales. At panel with executives of Viz Media, a well-known anime studio, at Anime Expo 2008 they brought up the looming issue of declining DVD sales in the US. They said, “the slow turnaround between when a show is broadcast in Japan and when it finally gets officially released in America. Often it takes months and sometimes years for it to happen. Anime fans these days are spoiled by being able to download fansubs hours after episodes air in Japan” (Anime Expo 2009: Panels and Games, William Hong, 2009). The act of piracy of anime and manga has become such a concern that last year Japan had to begin enforcing a strict anti-piracy campaign. The campaign entails that, “the Japanese government will next month start a huge extermination operation against 580 foreign sites which have illegally uploaded anime and manga contents on the web without the copyright holders' permission” (Japanese Government to Start Anti-Anime/Manga Piracy Operation Next Month, Mikikazu Komatsu, 2014).
Although to where now the government of Japan has had to enact an anti-piracy campaign, there are others who will argue that piracy of anime and manga is actually good for the industry. The Japanese Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry published a study that they argue that piracy and free streaming, “does not negatively affect DVD rentals, and it appears to help raise DVD sales; and (2) although Winny file sharing negatively affects DVD rentals, it does not affect DVD sales,” (Internet Piracy Boosts Anime Sales, Study Concludes, Ernesto, 2011).
Now that study does seem to bring about some relief.
Though that’s just one of the minor arguments that really now has to contest against what is happening now.
Because of all this I have proposed a solution that mainly the fans can fix.
The solution that can be made is pushing for more availability of the official release, its products, and for legitimized streaming sites to have more shows through the use of petitions and writing letters to executives of streaming sites. For streaming sites like Netflix, Hulu, and Crunchyroll have a section to watch anime shows but they are limited. Writing a petition or letter to those sites advocating for more shows is crucial as fans tend to go to free streaming sites to because they can’t find a show they are looking for.
Then there is a solution that is even more simple yet doesn’t isn’t pushed enough and that is supporting the official release. It isn’t that fans don’t want to but just the options for them to support are slim. Usually stores that do have anime and manga are very limited and are small. Then there are places like Barnes and Nobles, Suncoast, or FYE do have anime and manga but they have very small sections. Those stores can be expanded in that product by writing to them and showing that there is in fact a good demand for this trade just not enough of it being supplied.
Indeed there are means to acquire free anime and manga through streaming sites and just pirate them but that harms the trade. Not to mention that in a way fans can be caught in legal issues so for the sake of avoiding lawful issues and to keep the trade alive then take action. Refrain from using free streaming sites and push that this is a trade that’s in demand and it is still rising therefore it needs more suppliers. So stand proud for there is hope on the horizon.
The Death of Manga: Failure to Adapt. (2015, April 27). Retrieved from http://postbubbleculture.blogs.wm.edu/2015/04/27/the-death-of-manga/
Hong, W. (2009, July 17). Anime Expo 2009: Panels and Games. Retrieved from http://asiapacificarts.usc.edu/(S(x3fuyr550gchmnzo2pzwgpvc)X(1)A(_HpmIkpm0QEkAAAAOTg2OWIzMjEtNTYzYy00ZDkyLWI1YWYtZWE4ZDY1MTkxYzQxPuixPhlSSIV5hxSLye2Sss8AE1s1))/w_apa/showarticle.aspx?articleID=9095&AspxAutoDetectCookieSupport=1
Wiseman, P. (2007, October 18). Manga comics losing longtime hold on Japan - USATODAY.com. Retrieved from http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/world/2007-10-18-manga_N.htm
Komatsu, M. (2014, July 29). Japanese Government to Start Anti-Anime/Manga Piracy Operation Next Month. Retrieved from http://www.crunchyroll.com/anime-news/2014/07/28/japanese-government-to-start-anti-animemanga-piracy-operation-next-month
Internet Piracy Boosts Anime Sales, Study Concludes - TorrentFreak. (2011, February 3). Retrieved from https://torrentfreak.com/internet-piracy-boosts-anime-sales-study-concludes-110203/