http://www.japantoday.com/category/commentary/view/the-freefall-of-japan%E2%80%99s-anime-industry

I had noticed. I used to collect several anime series 5-10 years ago, but haven't seen anything interesting in a long time.

Very disturbing. I'm at a loss as to what an American Anime fan can do to help, draw attention to, ect. Any ideas, anyone?

The studios have to take some risks. Nothing Americans can do about it. It's up to the Japanese.

It looks like their studios are having the same issues any other industry faces right now: they can't afford to keep up with lower paying countries. The key difference is while most industries have no problem with farming out their labor to those countries, it does not look like all of the studios want to do that. Of course, it could just be a faze, too. In the 1980's Disney studios nearly died and then they released Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, and a few others. Right now Pixar is carrying them, and not doing that well, either. It could just be a matter of the right person coming along with the right idea to revive it.

Originally posted by amethyst In the 1980's Disney studios nearly died and then they released Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, and a few others.

Hey, that's right... I remember going to see Beauty and the Beast -and at that time (I must have been about 21-22) going to see Disney movies wasn't something I'd have been likely at all to do (I'd skipped the Little Mermaid, and only saw that much later on DVD), but I'd heard it was really good. I remember being really impressed with its quality, especially compared to what they'd put out in the 1980s.

Originally posted by amethyst It could just be a matter of the right person coming along with the right idea to revive it.

Let us hope...

Originally posted by Becky Rock I had noticed. I used to collect several anime series 5-10 years ago, but haven't seen anything interesting in a long time.

At the Comic Con, they have anime running all day in 3 theatres, and last year and this year I was able to watch a bunch of episodes from various different ones. A lot of them really seemed interesting enough, at least in their premises, that I would (if I had time) try to see the whole series, but it's really hard to know from just one episode if the whole storyline is good or not, or how cliched it might be.

Originally posted by lborgia88 A lot of them really seemed interesting enough, at least in their premises, that I would (if I had time) try to see the whole series, but it's really hard to know from just one episode if the whole storyline is good or not, or how cliched it might be.

I look more for characters than plot. Many times if the characters are strong and compelling they can over come a weak/cliched plot. The reverse is also true if the characters are weak and flat, they drive a great plot right into the ground. I think that is why the vocal cast is so important to anime/animation. If the acting is flat the characters stay flat, and the story goes flat.

I might actually be a little bit more the opposite, sometimes. No denying that characters are important, but I tend be drawn in more by plot/premises than characters. Virtually all my favourite TV shows have been ones that are really arc-heavy, where every episode is a piece and continuation of an over-arching storyline with lots of dramatic twists and shocking reveals. I almost never watch sit-coms. Other than Gatchaman, the only two anime of which I can claim to have seen every episode are Fullmetal Alchemist (loved it) and Neon Genesis Evangelion (weird but sort of interesting -I guess that's one that relies on its characters, because the plot never made very much sense at all to me!)

I chose anime by what the characters look like. The more cartoonish they are, with the unporportional facial features, turns me off. That's one of the reasons why I like BotP. I also used to watch Robotech, Speed Racer, Star Blazers, Voltron, Sailor Moon. More recent (if you want to call the last ten years more recent) were Full Metal Panic, Saiyuki, The Guyver. I do love the charcterizatios in Full Metal Panic, although I can't figure out the title.

I watched both versions of Voltron but like the lion (Go Lion) version the best. I also watched Sailor Moon, but think the original and R were the best, S was okay, Super S was starting to stretch. I've never seen any version of Sailor Stars.

Funny, I was thinking something similar while watching anime at the Comic Con -how much I like the more realistically drawn faces in Gatch, over the huge eyes, barely-there noses and tiny chins that there seem to be so much of now. I remember seeing "Full Metal Panic" listed in a Right Stuf anime catalogue, years ago, and initially thinking it was some kind of sequel series to "Fullmetal Alchemist." Hmm, doesn't the term "full metal" have something to do with a type of bullet? (Thinking of the movie "Full Metal Jacket"...) I recall the Japanese title for FMA translates literally to "Alchemist of Steel," -a reference, apparently, to both the fact that the alchemist, Edward, has a mechanical arm and leg, and also to his determined, stubborn personality. Why they used "fullmetal" for the English title, I have no idea... I understand there's a new Voltron series now (heck, there's even a new Thundercats series) but I haven't seen either of them. I thought it was sort of interesting that they were being remade though -made me wonder what a remade Gatch or BOTP series might end up being like if one were made now.

I've seen an episode of both the new Voltron and Thundercats. I didn't like the new Voltron - new lead characters that make no sense, old characters wh don't look the same (Keith and Lance). Thundercats was OK. A younger Liono and Cheetara was modernized. It wasn't too bad.

One Series I haven't seen mentioned is Ranma 1/2. I love that series. I know that the characters are not realistically drawn. But something in that series always made me laugh. One of my guilty pleasures.