Iulian Boldea (Coord.) Globalization and National Identity. Studies on the Strategies of Intercultural Dialogue SOCIAL SCIENCES SECTION

RESEARCH REGARDING THE PRESENCE OF THE ANIME CULTURE’S PRODUCTS ON THE ROMANIAN MARKET AND THEIR IMPACT UPON THE CONSUMER BEHAVIOR

Adrian Nicolae Cazacu PhD Student, Bucharest University of Economic Studies

Abstract: The anime products are the new trend on the international animation market, including Romania. These products are related with the anime culture, also a new cultural identity, coming from Japan, with a rapid spread all over the world.This study is a research on the Romanian consumer behavior regarding the following aspects of the new market of the anime‘s cultural products, such as: the target audience,the most watched animes,the importance of the correct subbing, the subbing preferences,the preference for anime related products . The results of this study lead us to some conclusions regarding the new challenges for the Romanian market, in the present time. Keywords: anime, market, Romania, behavior, consumer

1. Introduction Since 70s, the Japanese animation began to make its way into the top of the western consumer preferences, starting with the american ones. The Japanese animation is a style of animation, defined by its own artistic style and the richness of themes, being addressed to all age categories. This animation style is called ―anime‖ (Steiff, 2010). The import of animes and the acquiring of licenses by the entertainmentcompanies, from the anime producers in Japan, with the purpose of localization of the anime, by subtitling and dubbing, proved to be a very profitable business. The animes for youths and adults quickly made their way on the mass-media products market meant for the american entertainment, and those aimed for the children began to rival with the Disney productions and other western animations, which were and still are aimed, mostly, only for this age category (Denison, 2010). After 1989, along with the intensification of the intercultural exchanges between the European countries and America, anime also began to make its way into the top of the European consumer. A short while after 1989, the Romanian TV started to broadcast anime films such as: ―Windaria‖, ―Pheonix: Space Fire Bird‖, followed by anime series, such as: ―Macron One‖, ―Saber-Rider‖, ―Sailor Moon‖, ―Candy Candy‖, ―Sandy Bell‖. In the late 90, appear other series, some of them being well known also in the present, like: ―Pokemon‖, ―Dragon Ball Z‖, ―Inuyasha‖, 286 Arhipelag XXI Press, Tîrgu Mureș, ISBN: 978-606-8624-03-7

Iulian Boldea (Coord.) Globalization and National Identity. Studies on the Strategies of Intercultural Dialogue SOCIAL SCIENCES SECTION

―SamuraiX‖, ―Full Metal Alchemist‖. All these broadcasted animes were subtitled or dubbed in Romanian. In this period, not only the Romanian television broadcast anime series, but also many other TV channels, like ProTV. After 2000, also appears the TV channel specialized in animes broadcast, namely ―A+‖, which has resumed many of the anime series broadcasted by the other TV channels, adding some new ones, all of them being subtitled in Romanian. Afterwards, ―A+‖ TV channel becomes ―Animax‖, enriching its programes with J-Pop music, often being on the sound tracks of the broadcasted animes, as well as with other elements related to the cultural identity of the anime consumer. 2. The impact of the anime culture’s products upon the consumer behavior The research method was a survey conducted following the ESOMAR guidelines, upon a lot of 422 persons, and the conclusions on these results. The first question(Figure 1) was: ―How familiar is the fact that anime is an animation style?‖

KNOWLEDGE OF THE ANIME NOTION RESPONSES

Extremely familiar 343

Verry familiar 53

Moderate familiar 12

Little familiar 4 Table 1. I do not know what anime is! 4 Knowledge of the anime notion(416 responses)(Source: author‘s own survey)

400 343 KNOWLEDGE OF THE ANIME NOTION 350 300 250

200

150

100 53 50 12 1 1 4 4 0 Extremely Verry familiar Moderate Little familiar I do not know familar familiar what anime is!

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Iulian Boldea (Coord.) Globalization and National Identity. Studies on the Strategies of Intercultural Dialogue SOCIAL SCIENCES SECTION

Figure 1.Knowledge of the anime notion(Source: Table 1) The second question was: ―Which are the animes watched as a child or as a teenager?‖ (Figure 2) From the answers received to this question, we conclude that the most watched films were: Pokemon, Naruto, Death Note.

WACHTED ANIMES Fate Stay Night DevilMay Cry Clannad 26.20% Lamune 28.40% Captain Tsubasa 30.30% Soul Link 2.20% Cowboy Bebop 19.90% Hell Girl 3.90% The Melancholy o… 22.30% 32.50% Blood+ 16.50% .hack 31.60% Black Butler 4.10% Wolf's Rain 41.30% Tokyo Ghoul 11.70% Rozen Maiden 63.80% One Piece 10.40% 41.70% Kilari 17.50% Neon Genesis Ev… 14.10% Lunar Legend Ts… 4.10% Lupin 9.50% Chrono Chrusade 17.20% The Matrix 6.80% Pretty Cure 4.10% Macross 5.10% 39.60% Hellsing 30.30% Kaleido Star 13.80% Hello Kitty 73.50% Death Note 58.70% Bleach 45.10% Vampire Knight 18.70% 6.30% K-ON! 42% Mobile Suit Gund… 23.10% Code Geass 61.40% Ghost in the Shell 83.70% Inuyasha 56.10% Naruto 6.10% Fairy Tail 14.30% 4.40% Ranma ½ 2.90% Vampire Hunter D 8.50% Saber Rider 6.10% Macron 21.60% Sandy Bell 59.50% Candy Candy! 33.70% Runoni Kenshin/… 43% 58% Full Metal Alchemist 288 Arhipelag XXI Press,37.10% Tîrgu Mureș, ISBN: 978-606-8624-03-7 Digimon 82% Avatar: The Last… Dragonball Z 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%Sailor Moon Pokemon Iulian Boldea (Coord.) Globalization and National Identity. Studies on the Strategies of Intercultural Dialogue SOCIAL SCIENCES SECTION

Figure 2. The most watched animes(Source: author‘s own survey)

Next question, “Which adjective would you associate with anime?‖ had 413 responses, the most used being: interesting, artistic, surprising, special.(Figure 3)

ADJECTIVES

CULTURAL 60.80%

EDUCATIONAL 52.10%

INTELLIGENT 59.80%

MARVELOUS 55.90%

POOR 0.70%

DISTINCT 66.80%

SPECIAL 64.90%

INFERIOR 1.20% SUPERIOR 46% ARTISTIC 73.40% COLORFUL 45.30% DRAMATIC 61.30% INTERESTING 89.10% SURPRISING 70.50% 0.00% 10.00% 20.00% 30.00% 40.00% 50.00% 60.00% 70.00% 80.00% 90.00% 100.00 %

Figure 3. Adjective associated with anime(Source: author‘s own survey)

When they were asked about the importance of the correct subbing, they responded: from 412 people who answered this question, 277 found it to be very important, other 110 people answered

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Iulian Boldea (Coord.) Globalization and National Identity. Studies on the Strategies of Intercultural Dialogue SOCIAL SCIENCES SECTION that it is of some importance, 16 said it is important, the rest of them, that is only 9 people didn‘t considered it important at all.(Figure 4)

SUBBING PREFERENCES NUMBER PERCENTAGES

Table 2. The importance of the correct subbing(Source: author‘s own survey)

THE IMPORTANCE OF THE CORRECT SUBBING

277 300 250 Verry important 200 110 Enough important 150 Important 100 16 5 4 50 Less important 0 Not important

Figure 4. The THE IMPORTANCE OF THE importance of the NUMBER correct subbing CORRECT SUBBING (Source: Table 2) ―Do you usually watch animes Verry important 277 subtitled in Romanian or Enough important 110 English‖? (414 responses) From the Important 16 received answers, it results that although the number of Less important 5 respondents who watch animes Not important 4 subtitled in English is slightly larger of those who prefer the Romanian subbing, the percentages are close. Consequently, we conclude that about half of the respondents prefer the animes subtitled in Romanian, and because the anime subbing in Romania is done at the present time by fansubbing groups, it results a great interest for the localization of anime in our country.(Figure 5)

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Iulian Boldea (Coord.) Globalization and National Identity. Studies on the Strategies of Intercultural Dialogue SOCIAL SCIENCES SECTION

KNOWLEDGE OF THE FANSUBBING NUMBER PERCENTAGES Table 3. Romanian 192 46.4% Subbing English 222 53.6% preference s(Source: author‘s own survey)

SUBBING PREFERENCES 222 250 192 Romanian 200 English 150

100

50 46.40% 53.60%

0 NUMBER PERCENTAGES

Figure 5. Subbing preferences(Source: Table 3)

Concerning the above, at the question ‖Do you have knowledge of the existence of fansubbing groups in Romania?‖, the answer given by the majority of the respondents was affirmative. (Figure 6)

350 305 KNOWLEDGE OF THE FANSUBBING GROUPS 300 EXISTENCE IN ROMANIA

250

200 107 150 YES

100 NO

50 74% 26%

0 NUMBER PERCENTAGE

Figure 6.Fansubbing groups existence in Romania(Source: Table 4)

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Iulian Boldea (Coord.) Globalization and National Identity. Studies on the Strategies of Intercultural Dialogue SOCIAL SCIENCES SECTION

Table 4. GROUPS EXISTENCE IN ROMANIA Fansubbin YES 305 74% g groups NO 107 26% existence in Romania(Source: author‘s own survey) ―How often do you watch animes subtitled by the fansubbing groups from Romania?‖(413 responses) From the total number of persons who answered this question, about 70% are watching to some degree the animes subtitled by the fansubbing groups from Romania, percent which comes close to those who have knowledge of the funsubbing groups(73%). The three subcategories of those who prefer the subbing done by the fansubbing groups, have verry close percentages, due to the external factors such as: free time, geographical location, age, and so on (Figure 7)

THE FREQUENCY OF WATCHING ANIMES SUBTITLED NUMBER PERCENT BY THE ROMANIAN FANSUBBING GROUPS All the time 73 17.7% Often enough 122 29.5% Sometimes 93 22.5% Never 125 30.3% Table 5. The frequency of watching animes subtitled by the Romanian fansubbing groups(Source: author‘s own survey)

THE FREQUENCY OF WATCHING ANIMES SUBTITLED BY THE ROMANIAN FANSUBBING GROUPS All the time

140 122 Often enough 120 125 93 Sometimes 100 73 80 Never 60 40

20 0 NUMBER PERCENT

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Iulian Boldea (Coord.) Globalization and National Identity. Studies on the Strategies of Intercultural Dialogue SOCIAL SCIENCES SECTION

Figure 7. The frequency of watching animes subtitled by the Romanian fansubbing groups(Source: Table 5) ―Would you acquire anime Blu-ray/DVDs, officially subtitled by profesionals, from stores?‖ From the 410 responses to this question, nearly half of them were positive. This fact, corroborated with the significant interest for the Romanian fansubbing groups, also with the existence of a great interest for the correct subbing, leads us to the conclusion that in our country, an anime market has already formed, more specifically, a well defined demand for the anime DVDs and Blue-rays, subtitled in Romanian.(Figure 8)

PREFERENCE FOR ACQUIRING OF NUMBER PERCENT OFFICIALLY SUBTITLED ANIMES YES 200 48.8% NO 210 51.2%

Table 6.Preference for aquiring the officially subtitled animes (Source: author‘s own survey)

PREFERENCE FOR ACQUIRING THE OFFICIALLY SUBTITLED ANIMES

250 200 210

200 YES NO 150

100

50 48.80% 51.20%

0 NUMBER PERCENT

Figure 8. Preference for aquiring the officially subtitled animes (Source: Table 6)

As a consequence of the existence of the mentioned segment of market, there is also a demand for the anime related products. This confirms the assumption that, in most cases, the anime fan gains a cultural identity, fact which determines him to purchase these related products. The large majority of the respondents, namely 76.3% have acquired such products. Regarding the purpose of purchasing these derivatives, the majority stated that they have bought for them (308 of 410), which

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Iulian Boldea (Coord.) Globalization and National Identity. Studies on the Strategies of Intercultural Dialogue SOCIAL SCIENCES SECTION reinforces the previous findings. This comes to underline the ramification and development of the anime consumer‘s needs also for the anime related products, all of these being in the context of the affirmation of the new cultural identity of anime.

―Have you ever purchased a product having a relationship with anime (manga, posters, figurines, cards, dolls, clothes and other products bearing the trademark, logo or other distinguishing feature that puts you in connection with anime)?‖(414 responses)

PREFERENCE FOR ANIME NUMBER PERCENT RELATED PRODUCTS

YES 316 76.3% NO 98 23.7%

Table 7.Preference for anime related products(Source: author‘s own survey)

PREFERENCE FOR ANIME RELATED PRODUCTS 316 350

300

250 200 YES 150 98 NO 100 50 0

NUMBER PERCENT

Figure 9. Preference for anime related products(Source: Table 7)

b) ―For what purpose have you bought the goods mentioned in the previous?‖(410 responses)

THE PURPOSE FOR ACQUIRING ANIME RELATED PRODUCTS NUMBER

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Iulian Boldea (Coord.) Globalization and National Identity. Studies on the Strategies of Intercultural Dialogue SOCIAL SCIENCES SECTION

For me 308 To make a gift 12 Because a friend asked me to buy them for him 1 I did not buy 89 Table 8.The purpose for acquiring anime related products(Source: author‘s own survey)

350 308

300 For me 250 To make a gift 200

150 Because a friend asked me to buy 89 them for him 100 I did not buy

50 12 1 0 NUMBER

Figure 10. The purpose for acquiring anime related products(Source: Table 8)

The need for a more precise determination of the target group of consumers, led us also to the analyse of age and sex for the participants involved in this survey. To the age related question have responded 409 participants, of which the large majority are young people, with ages between 18 and 25 years.(Figure 11) Regarding the sex, this indicator is of no significance, because the men and women percentages are nearly equal.(Figure 12) ―In what age group do you belong?‖(409 responses)

AGE GROUPS OF THE RESPONDENTS NUMBER Between 18 and 25 years 365 Between 25 and 30 years 35 Over 30 years 9

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Iulian Boldea (Coord.) Globalization and National Identity. Studies on the Strategies of Intercultural Dialogue SOCIAL SCIENCES SECTION

Table 9.Age groups of the respondents(Source: author‘s own survey)

400

350 AGE GROUPS OF THE 300 RESPONDENTS 365 250 200 Between 18 and 25 150 years 100 35 Between 25 and 30 50 9 years

0 Over 30 years NUMBER

Figure 11. Age groups of the respondents(Source: Table 9)

SEX OF THE SURVEY PARTICIPANTS NUMBER PERCENT

FEMALE 204 49%

MALE 212 51%

Table 10.Sex of the survey participants(Source: author‘s own survey)

SEX OF THE SURVEY PARTICIPANTS

250 204 212 200 150 FEMALE 100 MALE 50 0 NUMBER PERCENT

Figure 12. Sex of the survey participants(Source: Table 10) 3. Conclusions

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Iulian Boldea (Coord.) Globalization and National Identity. Studies on the Strategies of Intercultural Dialogue SOCIAL SCIENCES SECTION

This study states the existence of a new market segment, reserved for the products of the anime culture in Romania. More exactly, we have demonstrated the demand for the anime Blu-ray discs and DVDs, subtitled in Romanian, in short, the demand for the localization of animes in Romania, with the purpose to legalize this localization so that these products to be presented on the shelves, in stores, among the other mass-media products, like the films or series subtitled in Romanian. As a result, it is necessary and beneficial for the Romanian consumer, that the companies in charge of subtitling or doubling the mass-media products, to acquire licenses from the Japanese producers of anime. It is well known that these licenses are not so expensive and the costs of their acquiring will be easly amortized by the sales prices of the Romanian market localizated products, a market which already exists, as we have demonstrated. In this regard, there is the example of other countries, in which this investment was very successful, such as America, where, even before this market segment was established and discovered, Japanese animation products made their own place in the top of the American consumer preferences. We have to remember that in 2005, over 60% of the world animation products were produced in Japan(JETRO), the anime being already known, since then, in many European countries, including Romania. New data show that (JETRO) on the anime products market in America, sales figure in 2009 was estimated at 2.741 trillion dollars, which demonstrates the profitability of the investment in such products. Bibliography DENISON, R.(2010), ―Transcultural creativity in anime: Hybrid identities in the production, distribution, texts and fandom of Japanese anime‖, Creative Industries Journal, 3(3), 221-235 LAMERICHS, N. (2013)―The cultural dynamic of doujinshi and cosplay: Local anime fandom in Japan, USA and Europe, Participations‖, Journal of Audience&Reception Studies,10,1, Maastricht University MACWILLIAMS & WHEELER, M.,( 2008), Japanese visual culture: explorations in the world of manga and anime, M.E. Sharpe STEIFF, J.(2010), Anime and Philosophy, Illinois: Open Court Publishing Company WINGE, T.(2006), ―Costuming the imagination: origins of anime and manga cosplay‖, Mechademia, 1 *** Japan External Trade Organization, (2005) Japan Animation Industry Trends, ww.jetro.go

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