As you all are well aware, the current Anime boom is a great phenomena here in America and not to mention many other parts of the world. Since the early 1990′s, we have had a steady increase in both Anime availability and fanbase due to the rise of the internet. Back in the day, it was pretty hard to find a lot of Anime titles let alone finding ones with subtitles for us Non-Japanese speaking individuals. However with the rise of the internet as well as various fansubbing groups, we managed to overcome this problem and thus began the rise of the Anime (Otaku Culture) Boom here in the US (worldwide actually). However, the internet may have helped increase the Anime fanbase, it may have also caused some problems as well. The American Anime industry isn’t exactly at its best, of course it also no where near that of the Japanese industry (Japanese Anime fans have been around since the early 70s). So what can we do to save the American Anime Industry?

An article over at Ningin, written by Louis Ponder discusses these issues:

Online communities, just like the one you are reading this article on right now are the answer to saving the anime industry. That may sound like a pretty big claim. However, I feel it’s the best solution for not only the anime industry, but also for the anime fans. When you think of an anime community, you may instantly think of anime forums. Yes, there are a lot of them out there. I think it’s important to note what makes a community different than a forum. It’s actually quite simple. Communities are made up of forums. I think it’s important for every community to have some form of a forum. They are great places to foster discussion. Communities should also be a place to meet new people, find others with similar interests, along with discussing ideas. With so many different anime forums, the only thing you end up with is a very splintered anime community.

Please head over to the Ningin article to find out more about this issue as well as read this very well thought out piece.