Various anime series and animations of other styles are different primarily for two reasons. The first one is that anime is often defined as Japanese animation, as most of it made in Japan is called anime. The other reason is that anime is not only a style but also a genre of animation in some sense. The specifics of it lie in a distinct drawing style which is only seen in anime, and the characteristics of the genre in terms of how different things are depicted in scenes. For example, emotional expressions, dialogues, and battles have their tone in anime compared to other animation styles. Even though the difference between them is not defined by one factor, the characteristics mentioned are sufficient to identify the genre in most cases.
The perception of anime by non-Japanese consumers does not differ significantly from that of viewers from Japan. It seems that non-Japanese fans understand the cultural context of the animations they are watching because most anime viewers are interested in Japanese culture as well. Therefore, mostly, it is any kind of animation for both categories. Anime is divided into subgenres of all kinds, and certainly, some viewers prefer ones to others. Nevertheless, they are aware of the existence of other titles that may be very different from each other in terms of realism, the presence of violence, romanticism, and many other aspects that vary in genres.
The concept of communication presented in Stuart Hall’s theory seems the most appropriate to explain the distribution of popular culture. The model suggests three types of interpretation regarding the level of information being interpreted compared to what the initial source meant. The full understanding of initial meaning, particular rejection, and absolute rejection of intended interpretation are these levels of decoding. This measure may vary due to gender, education, ethics, cultural context, and many other social factors. When viewing anime from this perspective, it seems that the specifics of the genre make it understandable not only to Japanese viewers but to fans worldwide as well.
The strategy of the Japanese manga industry is very developed in terms of distributing content worldwide, yet it considers the local market as well. The presence of different magazines that publish manga is related to the existence of different groups of consumers. These groups are usually defined by gender and age, as they affect their interests. Nevertheless, the consumer groups cross not only for the reason of interest but for the reason of the cheapness of manga journals. Manga is usually printed in monochrome coloring, which makes the production costs even lower. Because of this, often manga journals are left in different waiting rooms, school classes, and public transport stations. This is the reason many consumers get engaged in exploring genres that are not initially intended to be distributed to them, yet it provides the genres with new fans. Manga journals are posted on the internet as well, which increases their accessibility.
The distribution of manga in other Asian countries is one of the goals of the industry. Despite this, there are cultural and social specifics that have to be considered when developing marketing strategies for these markets. For example, the Chinese government prohibited the distribution of some manga titles because of erotic content or social and political reasons. Besides, South Korea has its genre of comics called manhwa, and local consumers might be prejudiced towards manga because they claim that manhwa has no association with manga in terms of its development. In the United States, it seems that the main strategy that should be adopted is to avoid scanlations. The scanlations are the unofficial distribution of manga translated by fans themselves. This not only takes away earnings from distributors but negatively affects the interpretation of the material as well.
Reference
Lesson 14. Web.