Astro Boy-Marketing Japanese Anime to Term Paper

4. Do you think that Astro Boy will be successful? Why?

This is a difficult question to answer simply and unequivocally. On the one hand, it is relatively certain that the character of Astro Boy will be a success in a financial and commercial sense. Part of the reason for this is that the impetus and popularity of global youth culture is behind anime and characters like Astro Boy. The large companies like Sony have taken cognizance of this global enthusiasm and popularity and they are fully prepared to exploit it and to raise the character to the level of cult status through marketing, advertising and film.

However, there is a certain degree of danger in this commercialization. It may have the effect of alienating the hardcore fans and fan base. Anime as a global youth culture has been firmly rooted in the unconventional aspects of the medium and in the progressive style of the content and characterization. The danger is that an overly commercialized version of anime may not receive the positive acceptance among true anime fans and this may lead to a reduction in its acceptance among the youth.

However, having said this, the answer to this question is that in the short-term at least, the production of Astro Boy is sure to be a success due to the advertising and marketing forces that are promoting the character. What is of concern however is the extent to which the impetus of this popularity can be maintained. The advertising and marketing companies have to ensure that the mystique and the aura of the anime medium do not become too diluted by the commercial aspects.Experts have commented on this important distinction. From one perspective, there is the criticism from within the youth culture of marketing Astro Boy as the attempt by capitalists and "imperialism" to undermine the unique and individualistic nature of anime. On the other hand, there is the view that global youth culture cannot exist or develop unless it becomes part of the global economy. This point-of-view is express as follows:

Others see global popular culture as promoting a progressive postmodern diversity, hybridized cosmopolitanism, and proliferation of voices, cultural forms, and styles. In this view, youth are being empowered by new cultural opportunities to question reactionary and regressive cultural and political attitudes in their respective societies.

Kahn and Kellner)

An imprecise and delicate balance exists between these two points-of-view.

There is therefore a fine line between maintaining this creative mystique and advertising and marketing, that has to be observed. The very aspects that have made amine such as a global success, such the Internet and networked sharing could also be the force that reacts against on overly merchandized and commercialized product.

References

Kahn R. And Kellner D. Global Youth Culture. November 12, 2007. http://64.233.169.104/search?q=cache:Q5IwlKLQ-4UJ:www.gseis.ucla.edu/faculty/kellner/essays/globyouthcult.pdf+Japanese+indicative+of+the+emergence+of+a+global+youth+culture%3F&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=5&gl=uk.....