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or "The Otaku Voting Process"
Let me first by giving some background on the otaku consumer base.
Within Japan, Otaku markets are supported by a small group with deep
pockets. The ideal scenario for a new "product" is that fans preorder the
Blurays, collect all the figures, go see all the movies, you get the idea.
This is nothing new, a production company wants to see good returns on an
investment in creating something like a TV anime. However, the novel part
of this market comes in the mindset of the consumers themselves. They find
it to be their obligation to support creations they like, with the idea
that by buying in to and throwing money at something they are directly
supporting the chances of more things like it to be created.
This reality can most easily be seen in how BD sales work. A typical
TV anime will have around 12 episodes, with the BD set usually
splitting that up in to 3 releases, each containing 4 episodes. When a
show starts airing on TV, the preorders open for the first BD release,
with the later ones opening up as the show airs more. This has lead to
BD preorder numbers acting as a way to gauge "hype" and the fact they
open up at different parts can be charted out to see change in "hype"
as the season plays out. I should also mention that the general going for
one of these BD is roughly 60-70 USD, a full season set usually running
around 200 USD. These prices are inflated because of the idea that
they represent, which is an endorsement of the product in a language
that production companies understand. This is amplified by the practice
for otaku to buy 3 copies of something, they saying going something like
"One to keep mint, one to loan, one to use", showing again that the amount
of money being spent is just as important as the physical item.
In this regard, the "responsiblity" of an Otaku becomes to watch new
things that come out, then find something they like and vote with their
wallet to endorse it such that more like it is created. Otaku culture is one of "active" consumerism.
With that said, the question becomes: if a huge part of Otaku culture is
this consumerism, how does one outside of Japan participate? To get at
this, we must understand how licensing of Otaku media works for the
international market. A licensing company (Funimation, Crunchyroll, etc)
will pay a blanket price for the rights to redistribute media abroad.
Somtimes this is split up, in where seperate countries have seperate
production companies. This blanket payment becomes a problem, meaning that
if you(the consumer) purchase a licensed re-release of a show, your
additional sale is not resulting is more cash ending up in the right
hands. Nor is your sale included in the preorder metrics generally used to
gauge commercial success. One could argue that you are working through
a proxy, and showing the production company that they should license more
shows like that, but that's not voting for "more production" its voting for
"more re-releases". Things have a changed a bit now that crunchyroll has
started acting as a production company for some series, but again this
extra layer of indirection is not ideal.
So what's a international fan supposed to do? The answer is importing,
purchase Otaku goods within the primary market. This puts your vote
in the right place while still giving you that tangibile reprsentation of
your support. This process can be a bit tricky, but their are some
great services that make it fairly easy. Ordering directly from the site
yourself is usually more of a pain then it's worth, having to find a
proxy shipping service, dealing with issues in paying using a foreign
credit card, etc. For people just starting out I would reccomend
something like White Rabbit Express. For use there you simply paste in a
url from a Japanese store front page, and they take care of the rest.
There of of course a bit of a mark up for the ease of something like this
but in my experience it is more then worth it.
Otaku, regardless of their location, have an obligation to participate
in the consumerism. It is a satisfying purchase when you know that you
are participating and putting something on the table in support of things
you like. I encourage other international fans like myself to give it a try.