http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20090304f1.html

You see the same kind of things happening in the car industry today. You won’t be surprised anymore if you test drive a car, and then you go to another showroom to test drive another car of different brand and discover they share the same parts, the same engine, gearbox, dashboard etc. Cars today are no longer a display of man’s pride in building the greatest machine an average Joe like us can afford anymore. It has become a white good, like fridges, washing machines, microwave ovens and toasters. There’s no soul, no passion in making them because you want to make them great, but because you want to make money with it. And if any carmakers out there who don’t follow the rules, they’re pretty much as good as dead (think British cars, is MINI, Rolls Royce, Bentley, Land Rover, Rover still a British?) or in critical mode (think Alfa Romeo, they make beautiful bt unreliable cars), just waiting for them to declare themselves bankrupt.

Now Toyota has just overtake General Motors (US carmaker currently suffering billions of loss) for the no.1 title of the best selling car in the world, bt just look at their cars. There’s hardly any trace of humanity in it, in stark contrast if you just take any random European car, particularly the Italians. I guess the saying “Too Much Pride Kills a Man” applies today.

I Like your illustrations,Egypt Urnash.

Given that the Eastern animators sucked all the entry jobs out of American animation when the bottom line gained control of the medium, I can’t say I’ll shed that many tears for the same thing happening to them. Good luck, Young Japanese Animator Hopefuls of the world. Welcome to the same hell an American cartoonist like me grew up in.

So will the Japanese animation industry follow the same path the American one did, twenty years ago? We’ll see. Maybe they’ll follow the path Canada has, of tax subsidies to domestic productions, enabling the continued creation of uniquely Japanese animation, by Japanese hands.

Personally, I don’t want to see any companies go out of business. This may unfortunately happen if the industry does indeed suffer hard times, but in terms of shaking things up, I don’t think that’s the way. I know that there haven’t been a lot of ‘Nadia’ level shows lately, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that companies have to go belly up for some more to appear (although, ‘Nadia’ may not have been nearly as good had NHK not been riding Gainax into the ground during the worst days of the most recent Japanese recesssion…).

Anyway though, while Ghibli may be doing what they should, most of the other companies are not. And, Ghibli is not enough to sustain the whole industry. Once you get trained at Ghibli, you’re not likely to leave (unlike most other companies, where people bounce around). So, it’ll be up to companies like Sunrise, Bones, Gainax, Madhouse, and Gonzo to do that as well. A few of them (Bones, Madhouse) have done a good job. Others have not. It isn’t so much that we’ve found our crisis mode now… it’s more like that the crisis is on the horizon, but is visible for those who are looking closely (maybe too closely, I’m sure you would say).

Innovative product, as you call it, comes from new ideas running up against old techniques. Gainax proved that one again and again when the ‘otaku wave’ penetrated and somehow remade the market. Some say that Shinkai is doing that now, although I think it’s still too soon to say. Personally, I would like to hope that the next innovative shows will come from me… or people like me, at any rate, who’ve come to Japan because that is the only country in the world that will make ideas like mine. And actually, based on what I’ve heard from Madhouse, it seems that making shows based on more original ideas, not spawned from manga, and developed with an international audience in mind (and perhaps an international production staff) is what the future holds. So, I think if you keep watching, you might be surprised. You might even be pleasantly surprised. I do sincerely think that the anime business can be improved, even saved, by an influx of foreign talents who are firmly integrated (not segregated, mind you) from the production process and in particular the sphere of influence at the studio. And, I also think that seeing people who are currently involved in other types of creative experiment (graphic artists, doujinshi-ka, novel authors) cross over into the anime world will bring a lot of new ideas and excitement. Even with my worries about outsourcing, I’m expecting great things in that regard at least.

As far as what kinds of shows I would like to make… I think you would be surprised (pleasantly, even) by the kinds of shakeups I would like to provide. Although, I hadn’t yet considered doing a show about the animators… that might be a good direction to take my writing next. If everything for me works out, please do look for my credit!