Japan’s Animators Say Anime is Dying

[Truth Seeker IV]

ANNB:The Asahi newspaper reports that Yasuo Yamaguchi, managing director of The Association of Japanese Animations (AJA), recently described Japan’s anime industry as a “bubble that burst several years ago. The marketplace is on a falling curve due to declining birth rates and the recession.” The AJA reports that the number of annual new television anime productions rose from 124 in 2000 to a record high 306 in 2006 before declining to 288 in 2008. A record setting 60 new TV anime premiered in April 2006 while April 2008 saw only 36 new TV series premieres.