There is an inextricable link between all three major forms of Japanese entertainment. They all influence each other, and often share the same customers. At present, France ranks second in the world as consumer of manga with 14 million copies sold in 2016. The word “manga” has become known to nearly every French person, young or old. The implications of this far-reaching awareness and soft power are dramatic.
My own personal experience also confirms this. I can clearly remember during my years in French kindergarten and school in Belgium, being bombarded with Japanese products left and right. Whether it was toys like Beyblade, Yu-Gi-Oh cards, Pokémon etc., or simply the fact that all the other kids around me were playing Japanese games on their Nintendo or Sony portable consoles.
So, how did this come about? Well, very simply because of an entire generation that was raised on Japanese manga, anime, and videogames. This generation consists of people that are now in their late 20’s to late 40’s bracket. Imports of Japanese anime into France, and the TV broadcasting of the shows began in the 1980’s. Therefore, much of the under-40 generation was raised with Japanese manga, anime, and Japanese videogames. When asked, everyone in French-speaking countries remembers the classics that were as Rurouni Kenshin, Dragon Ball, Sailormoon, Doraemon, Saint Seiya, Captain Tsubasa, Ghost in the Shell, etc.
Club Dorothée[1] was the main provider of Japanese anime on television in France at the time, with one of its very first hits being the broadcasting of Goldorak. Right when it began in 1987, Club Dorothée decided to make Japanese anime its strength and main revenue source. After noticing the success of Japanese animation on television, French producers of the show quickly purchased the rights of anime from many Japanese production companies such as Toei Animation Co., Ltd. Many of these shows overshadowed French-animated cartoons and quickly became the norm for French kids growing up at the time as well as their parents. Meanwhile, this same phenomenon was happening all over Europe but to a lesser extent than in French-speaking countries.
All of this continued until the early 2000’s, but today, younger gamers, especially those under the age of 18, have not grown up with as much Japanese entertainment. Because manga, anime, and videogames are all closely related, a decrease in visibility in one of the mediums directly equates to a decrease in visibility of the other. The kids of today regrettably only know about the games they grew up with, which are predominantly Western. This means Japanese companies need to win them over from scratch. This represents a gigantic cost which did not exist in the past because the two other mediums (manga and anime) were also present in people’s daily lives, and thus the three formed a unified front that would thrive off of its synergy in promoting one another.
[1] French TV show focused on youth and transmitted over TF1.