Anime on TV :: Essays Papers

Anime on TV Since the birth of Anime, the American television market has been a player in the industry. When Tetsuan Atom made its debut in 1963 as the dream of a humble comic book artist, few would have guessed the impact it would have on the world of entertainment and the economy of Japan. Discovered by a NBC executives in Japan selling shows for syndication, Astro Boy as it came to be known in the states, started a revolution in Japanese entertainment and giving America, and the world, its first taste of Anime. The success of Astro Boy led to the overnight development of an Anime industry filled with copycats, originals, and half way attempts that lead to what we see today. Famous names like Miyazaki, Otomo, and Rintaro all made their start in the industry that came from the humble beginnings as the gleam in the eye of a man named Tezuka. Over the next three decades anime made repeated leaps into the American market, Kimba the white lion, Speed Racer and Robotech gave way to Transformers, Voltron, and Sailor Moon. Eventually, Dragonball made its debut. All the while Anime was slowly gaining its place in America, meanwhile in Japan it was developing into a full-fledged industry. Today, the American industry of showing Anime has developed to a five plus hour per day airing across multiple networks and cable channels. While the early exposures where largely unchanged, as other, more mature titles where purchased for the US market the editing process began. Due to the US stigma of animation as a strictly children’s medium, shows where edited for language, content, and story. While it is debatable as to whether these changes ruined or improved the anime, it is undeniable that it gave Anime the one thing it needed most to make it in the American market: exposure. Exposure makes market High exposure leads to a larger fan base and while many have no clue or interest in what exactly anime is, carefull look at the TV industry allows one to follow a clear trend, if we have 100 pokemon fans in 1998, then in 2000 we have about 75 DBZ fans who now hate pokemon, in 2002 we have around 45 lovers of Cowboy Bebop, Outlaw Star, Inuyasha, and around 20 hard core otaku who have found the world of fan and digi subs. By 2010, we have an anime industry with accolades of fans swarming in unprecedented numbers, all because a few shows debuted on TV back in the day.