This will be a quick post as it’s a subject that got me thinking just moments ago. Some of you know that I’m not a fan of Crunchyroll, and never really was. While browsing YouTube today, I stumbled upon famous anime YouTuber Digibro talking about how crappy the Crunchyroll service is and how they’re barely contributing to anime, following the drama involving their original series announcement. I’m not a subscriber of his, but I was pleased to find out that a big voice in the anime community shared my views on the matter.
But recently, he released another video talking about how he was a bit wrong about Crunchyroll, and how they do indeed contribute to the anime community after a member of the old guard from ANN (Anime News Network) called him out on his falsehoods. He bowed his head and agreed he was wrong. In that very same video, he also sent an open letter to those still in the old guard; people who essentially built up the anime community in the 90s and 2000s.
Bridging the gap between old and new
One point he brought up, was that with so many new anime fans coming into the fandom nowadays, the old guard, even with their vast repertoire of anime knowledge haven’t really stepped up their game to attract these new folks. He also argues that their lack of presence on YouTube meant that many new anime fans today end up knowing nothing about the decades old anime industry. What this implies, at least from my own opinion, is that these fans will never graduate from the simple minded casual anime watcher to the overly passionate japanimation fan. (I like saying japanimation because that’s how anime used to be referred to in the past, and I guess it holds some nostalgic value).
He also made the case for anime videos, pointing out the fact that he ran an anime blog for 5 years, and didn’t get anywhere with it and that it was through YouTube that he managed to get a full time career out of talking about anime. Therefore, we have to ask the real questions ourselves.
He also talked about the importance of clickbait and how it’s no longer a shameful practice, hence this article’s title
Do anime writers have an audience, and a future?
I know it’s a hard pill to swallow, but he’s kind of right. Anime blogs really are a thing of the past. But what do you think are the true reasons of their demise? Digibro thinks that the anime video format is obviously the superior option and long text posts are too outdated for a new audience. While that may hold some truth, I tend to think it’s because internet traffic these days is more centralised towards a specific set of social media sites, leading to less and less people bothering visiting individual blogging sites to read about anime.
However, I have friends who release YouTube anime videos on a regular basis, and while they have decent numbers, I wouldn’t say they have a huge audience. Digibro is in the position to say that anime videos work best to grab the new audience of anime watchers, because he’s one of the more successful ones, but for many, their situations just aren’t as rosy.
But here comes Steemit!
I did receive quite a hefty on my last anime post, and I appreciate the Curie project a lot for that, but the lack of human comments on that very same post also has me wondering if I’m being heard or just glanced over. Given all the things I’ve heard now, should anime writers really consider the YouTube model? Honestly, I don’t have the answers, but hey, at least I gave you something to think about for the day.