The Eastern Edge

On a cheery yearend note, it looks like I'm finally not the only one saying the comic and animation industry is eating its own and killing the art over here in Japan. This has been the case for a very long time and anyone who's had an opportunity to look behind the curtain knows that "Cool Japan" has been smoke and mirrors for about a decade now, if not longer.

Well, the Comics Journal has a post from yesterday by Roland Kelts which quotes Frederik L. Schodt as saying, “The structure of the industry has sucked the life out of it,” Fred continued. “Manga and anime are dead.”

Thank you! Now I can quote you when I talk about what I've seen and am accused of being hater.

However, as much as I agree and I think it's about time someone with clout told the enthusiastic Japan-fan 'otaku' out there that the party is definitely over, I would suggest that he's pronouncing the patient dead before the heart has really stopped beating. I’m not known as an optimist when it comes to Japanese comics and animation lately (and for good reason!), but I would argue that Ghibli is the real heart and soul of Japanese animation now and it’s beating strong as ever, despite the struggles of other studios and the industry as a whole. As for comics - and this goes for animation too - I think there is plenty of suppressed creative energy just waiting to break the shackles of an oppressive, soulless industry as soon as they are shown a glimmer of hope.

Comics and animation, or manga and anime if you prefer, are definitely in critical condition and showing no signs of improvement. But blaming downloaders and the recession is akin to treating congestive heart failure with chicken soup. Many industry insiders can’t see the forest or the trees from the inside of their panic rooms either, and the quack industry doctors who think fansubs, scanlations and broadband internet is what’s killing their patient are missing the underlying illness. Crackdowns on pirates may be the ventricular assist device of choice right now, but what the industry really needs is a heart transplant. The sooner the better, too.
No amount of lame government “Japan Cool” promotions, or overseas fans gushing about the latest J-whatever on their blogs, will get enough blood pumping to revitalize an art form whose own industry is in the later stages of closing the deal on sale of its soul.

I don’t think animation and comics in Japan are dead yet. I, for one, can still feel a pulse. But if and when they do start flatlining - and at this rate it’s next to inevitable - if you ever really cared at all you have got to at least charge up the paddles and zap it a few times before you stick it in formaldehyde for the pop culture museum.

It certainly does look terminal, but I’m not ready to pronounce the patient dead yet. My hope is that enough people realize how critical it is before we get to that point. Looking back nostalgically at things from an era long since past and blind optimism for the future will only result in not seeing the sucker punch coming. It’s time to take off the sakura-coloured glasses and see manga and anime as they really are today – before it’s too late.