WSJ spotlights low morale in anime industry

Christopher Butcher has penned a very thoughtful piece on the “myth” of all-ages comic books.  Nothing to add, really.  This is just a great read, whether you’re a retailer or publisher, or a part of the “all-ages” demographic.  That basically means everybody, doesn’t it?  That might be the problem…

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Do you want Japan to legalize marriage with fictional 2D characters?  Then sign this petition.  Click the large orange button in the center of the page.  The first field is for your name, the second your email.  Then tell the world the name of your waifu (or hazu) in the comment box at the very bottom.

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Spotted on the Daily Cartoonist –> New York Times… public opinion tracker Forrester claims that 80% of respondents in a recent poll would rather not access news and magazine sites if they had to pay for them.  In the same poll, only 3% of respondents would prefer to receive their news via an e-reader such as the Kindle.

Would we see similar figures for comics, or any other form of entertainment making a transition to online? I’m going to guess that the numbers would actually be worse for comics… since one would never have to “pay” for online content due to the prevalence of illicit filesharing, the Forrester question is almost moot. The access will always be there.

The stat for e-readers is a bit worrisome too…

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Anime-in-decline articles seem to be in vogue.  This time it’s the Wall Street Journal, highlighting low morale among the working class animators who have to deal with low pay, long hours, and an uncertain future as more and more productions are outsourced to other Asian countries.  Passion can only take them so far… without government help, we may be looking at the last generation of professional Japanese animators.  Seriously, who would want to go to tech school for two years, for a job that pays $1000 a month?  (Be sure to check out the video report too, featuring a couple animators who look like they could use a hug.)

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Writing for ANN, Evan Miller has a photo-report of Comitia, the largest original-only doujinshi convention.

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Kotaku has pricing and other information on the PSP Comic Reader service, which will launch in Japan on December 10th with support from practically all the major manga publishers.  The update to enable this function will be “global,” so I suppose its safe to assume the Japanese store will be available to users in North America and Europe, even if the manga will remain in raw, untranslated form.  Comicvine notes that Marvel is on board for the American version of the service, and perhaps Archie and Image as well.  (Second link via Anime Vice)

The Playstation Portable boasts a screen resolution of 480 by 272, which is roughly 27% the number of pixels found in dedicated e-readers like Kindle and nook.  But it has the advantage of color, greater processing power, and the ability to scroll and zoom images easily, having been designed for interactive graphics rather than static text.  Whether e-readers are actually better at reproducing the manga “experience” may be irrelevant… like the iPhone, the PSP is already in the hands of millions of users, most of whom are young, tech-inclined, and already read manga.

Edit: According to Animenews.biz in the comments section, the stores will be region-locked.  So no raw manga for the Americans, and no Amecomi for the Japanese.