No one has a larger stake in the future of anime and manga fandom that the companies which feed the fans' needs, the American companies that produce the stateside releases of Japanese programs. The industry insiders attend conventions to learn what fans want and to let the fans know what to expect. A panel on the final day of Katsucon 4 featured (from left to right) Mike Greenfield of AD Vision, Kayt Robarts of Studio Ironcat, subtitler Jeff Thompson, Toshifumi Yoshida from Viz Communications and John Sirabella of Media Blasters. The panel's consensus was that anime seems poised to grow in the U.S., but American companies are in for a roller-coaster ride as they track that growth. 

Among the industry leaders, Sirabella can be considered the newcomer. Media Blasters' Kitty label (no relation to the Kitty animation house in Japan) has been on the market for only a couple of years. Sirabella noted that the growth in the sales of anime in the U.S. has been outpaced by the growth of the number of companies offering programs. More material is being placed in stores, but more companies are chasing American customers. "The market is flooded," said Sirabella. "There are 15-20 videos a month - that's a lot for a niche market."

Much has been made of the Walt Disney Company's move into anime. Sirabella thinks that will not have a big impact on the market or the smaller companies such as his. More important is a development that may have avoided the typical anime fan, the economic crisis in Asia. The money problems in the Far East are leading to cutbacks in Japanese projects and causing anime producers to seek higher licensing fees from American companies. "They're actually looking to the American market to make more money." said Sirabella.

Yoshida brought a different perspective to the panel, since Viz Communications publishes both anime and manga. He uses the popular Ranma 1/2 series as a gauge of the industry's growth. "People come up to me and still say `We like A-kayne,'" Yoshida said in referring to new fans who don't know that the female Ranma character's name is pronounced Ah-kah-neh. Hearing those comments lets Yoshida know that new fans are being attracted to Ranma, a middle-aged series by the rapidly-changing standards of the anime industry. More importantly, people who start with Ranma are drawn to other anime series. "Most of the people in the hard-core market have passed on from Ranma, so there's room for growth," said Yoshida.

Greenfield said the key to growth is attracting more people to anime. "The casual fans are becoming hard-core fans," he said. The artform's higher profile means mixed coverage, such as the New York Times industry review that referred to anime as "risque and violent." Greenfield isn't worried about those mixed reviews.