As an anime enthusiast and writer, I’ve devoted over ten years of my life to the study of the industry. Every major happening, every huge event has passed through my watchful gaze as companies rise and fell, and hits came and went. I’ve seen the industry grow to massive levels, only to shed most viewers in a heartbeat. And, most important, I’ve seen the landscape change five times over, as technical revolutions shifted the landscape and consumer behaviors altered with time.
The current industry, though, is awash in red. The environment is a blood red sea of competition, where the players are fighting tooth and nail for customer attention. Companies search desperately to find the next Dragon Ball or the next Cowboy Bebop in their attempts to rocket to the top.
Over the next few weeks, I’d like to begin an in-depth study of the industry. I’d like to expose the Blue Ocean view of the industry, and hopefully find solutions to the situations that we currently face. It will be a longer-term study, one that will look at many smaller cases, and a number of the hits that did grow the anime market, as well as those that shrunk it.
This will be a challenge. It’s not an easy topic to cover, nor is it one that people think of when one mentions anime. Still, I hope that you look forward to this study going forward. The first chapter will kick off in the next couple of days.
