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Well, 2008 is over, and what a year it has been. Anime has continued to grow in the UK from a fandom point of view, with more dedicated events than ever before, including cinema screenings, cosplay balls and a packed convention and in-store event calendar. Amecon 2008 left its mark as the UK's biggest ever anime convention, the MCM London Expos attracted five-figure crowds and we were treated to major anime titles like Bleach, Death Note, The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, Tales From Earthsea and FLCL.
2008 was also the year when anime companies started to explore
alternative distribution methods for their anime. Beez
entered the Blu-Ray market with Bandai's stunning
simultaneous worldwide release of Gunbuster and Freedom,
whilst US video website Crunchyroll struck several
distribution deals which saw them stream anime for free and
completely legally. Other video sites have followed suit and
leading anime distributor FUNimation have started screening
their titles through various video sites and their own web portal.
The biggest announcement was that Naruto, once so expensive
that no Western distributor could afford it, was to be legally
streamed online shortly after the Japanese airing. In response
the fansub group Dattebayo announced that they would stop
distributing it illegally now a viable alternative was available. |
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But whilst everything seemed to be going swimmingly for anime fans the world over, the same was not true of the industry itself. Even before the credit crunch hit there were signs of a slowdown in consumer spending, a slowdown that one of the best known Western anime distributors was ill prepared for. ADV Films had gambled on future returns with several business expansions over the last few years, but it became clear in early 2008 that things weren't well for the company. ADV collapsed in spectacular fashion, going from one of the biggest anime distributors in the US and Europe to barely surviving its financial woes in 2008. Although the company just |
about pulled through and even began licensing anime again in the US, its
near demise saw
ADV still exists in the UK as a label managed by Lace
Digital Media Sales, no longer an independent company but a name
with an impressive back-catalogue. It wasn't only ADV
that suffered though, Revelation Films - FUNimation's
sole distributor in the UK - reduced their anime releases and then
suddenly stopped them altogether, although they are due to start up
again in 2009. These were the visible signs of the credit
crunch, they were by no means the only ones. Many other
companies in the US and Japan have been tightening their belts, with
anime studio Gonzo and US publisher Tokyopop laying
off staff and reducing their output. A combination of slowing
sales of non-essential items such as DVDs and books, and a general
lack of cash coupled with ever-increasing piracy has seen many
distributors and studios being hit. However, it's not all been
doom and gloom. |
MVM and Manga Entertainment have been going great guns in the UK, picking up numerous great licenses that will no doubt be on many people's shopping lists for 2009. Their 2008 releases were superb too, as were those of Beez and Revelation prior to their slowdown. Even ADV rounded off the year with a host of cut-price boxsets so it was in general still a good time to be an anime fan. But will it continue to be so? In truth there was only one big winner in 2008, and that was FUNimation. They were already a major player in the anime industry, but not only did they make several huge license acquisitions in the US, they also picked up many of the titles |
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