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Originally Posted by RobinMask
I disagree that it isn't a huge thing, because I think it is. . . Here everyone I know pretty much is into Japanese culture, anime and manga, and those who aren't at least know what it is. When the students in my classes at college went into town during their dinner hour they would always come back with manga and anime, and even the teachers sometimes commented on certain shows or talkd about it.
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Just out of curiosity, which part of the UK do you live in? If you were a Londoner or there abouts then I'd understand because there's a ton of Japanese shops etc there so the culture could easily rub off on lots of people. Here in Wales (I don't mean to go against other Welsh people when I say this) people are more interested in buying beer and cigarettes than indulging in any type of culture. And there's not really much Japanese culture in Wales anyway apart from a few Japanese restaurants near Cardiff.
Quote:
Originally Posted by RobinMask
The manga rack in Waterstones and the DVD rack in HMV is always full too and always has people milling about.
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I know this may sound way too analytical of me, but I always think that if the racks are always full, then it's not really a good thing because it means no one's buying them. XD
And the anime rack in Cardiff HMV isn't the biggest thing in the world... its only like... one block of shelves! XD So there's not really many people browsing it.
And Waterstones annoys me! I have one that's in a city closer to me than Cardiff, but it's a city none the less. Yet, all they have for their manga is two spinner things! I think Waterstones in Cardiff has more, but still only one block of shelves.
Quote:
Originally Posted by RobinMask
That said, I do agree it's in decline, but not because people don't want it. The manga is only sold in Waterstones, and it's never up to date, so eventually people stop buying because there's nothing new to buy, and HMV only stocks the most popular anime, so if you're not into Naruto or Bleach you again can't really get a hold on anything. Amazon is great, but it only does manga or anime, so if you want any other merchandise you're stuck! And I agree it's never on television, which drives me mad! We used to have Fox Kids and Toonami and an Anime channel too, but now literally the only show on television is Pokemon. . .
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But then there's got to be a reason why more places don't stock anime and manga. As big as it's gotten, I believe companies here still consider it a niche market so they're scared to take the risk.
Yeah! When I went to America last year I was literally gobsmacked when Bleach was playing on TV!
Oh! I admit I forgot about Pokemon, so that's the only exception. XD
Quote:
Originally Posted by RobinMask
So yeah, I agree it's in decline, but I also think there's a huge demand for it here. . . if only someone would tap into the market they would make a fortune!
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Yeah, it'd be interesting to see how well (or not) the companies would do if more of them stocked anime and manga. We can't forget how easy it is to get things illegally on the internet these days though, so I guess we'd have to factor that in too. XD