Quote:
Originally Posted by Ishamael  The fact that companies are selling to a foreign market means they are getting money from the transaction, otherwise they wouldn't be bothering with us in the first place. That by definition is not parasitic. |
I was referring the the relationship between fandoms. It's a given that the companies on both sides are just out to make a buck. But as a result of the growth of anime in the United States, the situation for Japanese fans has actually worsened... while US fans benefit almost exclusively.
Yes, Western money keeps the industry afloat, but that money is being cycled back into products for export: not to provide anything exceptional or new for the domestic fandom.
Take the companies out of the relationship and all that's left is the US fandom: taking animation, goods, photos, fanart and doujinshi without paying for it, commenting on it, or thanking anyone for it. Meanwhile Japanese fans find less goods to purchase, higher prices, less creativity aimed at the domestic market, and their own efforts in creating original material thwarted by international theft :/
I think that's pretty parasitic.
What will be interesting is when the current Japanese "fandom" graduates to the industry itself and remembers how we've screwed them in the past ^^; 90% of professional mangaka begin with doujinshi after all.
(by the way, I'm being incredibly black and white about this for the sake of argument, but I've taken the other side on a Japanese messageboard before :P )