Anime Industry in Decline?

I agree with the part that anime has seemed to have a surge in echii-ness recently that may not translate well in terms of sales in a U.S. market. I'm sort of wondering how much of this echii-ness is really even demanded by the Japanese market; I'm sure that by now most of those people who once found it enjoyable are now, like me, growing rather tired of its constant overuse. Some of the most popular manga series I can think of right now really aren't even that ecchi which leads me to wonder why the anime production companies seem to be focusing on those (usually poor) series that are. I think they need to do some market research and see what their customers really want!

I've also noticed that this whole issue of Japanese anime companies struggling isn’t really that new of an issue. Sure the recent recession(s) may have been a contributing factor, but anime companies seem to have been struggling for several years now it seems. I don't know how many times I have had to watch and suffer as the animation of a series gets worse and worse as the season progresses to the point of having nothing but still frames or blacked out secondary characters by the end. I even recall a few series over the years having rather abrupt, seemingly forced endings due to rumored money problems.

After the loss of ADV in the United States, I don't really see a bright future for the market potential over here either. I don’t really think there are any commercial companies left really that cater to the older audience. Most of the anime I see getting licensed these days seems to be getting repackaged for a younger elementary-middle school audience. Fansubs or low-quality commercial streaming sites I fear may be the only available options in the future if things keep going as they are. As I see it, you better start learning Japanese today if you want to be able to watch anime on DVDs in the future.

Placing the blame on "illegal download sites" though seems a little immature in my opinion! I honestly believe that most people who watch fansubs really aren't even part of the potential market for commercialized domestic anime, let alone the Japanese market. I feel there is a large segment amongst fansub viewers who would probably never buy an anime DVD even if that was the only available means of watching the anime. There is also the other side of that coin as well, being that there are many who watch fansubs who usually will go out and purchase the DVD(s) of the series(s) they enjoy thus helping the market. Despite this though, many of these companies love to go on about how fansubbers are hurting their sales and constantly feel the need to threaten them and their viewers. As I see it... fansubs are almost like free advertising! If only one of these commercial U.S. (or Japanese) anime companies would embrace the fansub groups and their communities and cater to them then I'm sure they would reek profits out of it.

Jam it back in, in the dark.