Jujutsu Kaisen 0 India: It was a pleasant Sunday and surprisingly, JJK0 was already in it’s 3rd week of theatrical run here in India. Although I’m not a big fan of the franchise, I decided to watch it anyways being the weeb I am. The best seats for the show were filling up fast, so we booked right before heading towards our destination.
“Huh, we could have booked directly at the box office and still bagged the best seats. After all it’s been 3 weeks and we can expect an empty show now”, I thought to myself.
But boy was I wrong!
To my surprise: the film was still going strong, with 70% of the screen booked and all the best seats now being unavailable! Earning 5.4 Crore on the opening weekend itself, Jujutsu Kaisen 0 has given a tough competition to most Bollywood releases, even in their homeland. It wouldn’t take a statistician to understand why more movie theater chains bought the rights to Jujutsu Kaisen 0 soon after PVR did. Moreover, the success of Makato Shinkai’s Weathering With You (Tenki no Ko) and Demon Slayer: Mugen Train had already proved how financially successful anime films can be in India.
It’s NOT Just About The Numbers…
The iconic Toho logo pops up and the entire theater is filled with applause and ‘yowai mo‘; meanwhile there I was, resisting my primal urge to shout ‘Eren Yeager‘ during the screening of a film from a totally irrelevant franchise. Films catering to a niche audience carry a different atmosphere and vibes as compared to the usual blockbuster releases.
The Jujutsu Kaisen 0 Hype: It’s also about the craze of Indian Otakus!
You know the thing about niche audience? They can be crazy and overly enthusiastic (generally in a good way, of course). Like, one of my friends travelled more than 250km, from Akola to Nagpur, only to watch JJK0!
Not only does this shed light on the fact that Indian Otakus can be crazy and dedicated, but also shows that if anime is legally available, we can go any lengths (both: literally and figuratively) to pay and experience it!
Now the question is, how will the anime industry’s business be scaled up here in India?
Yes, we have YouTube channels like Muse Asia and Ani-One offering some anime shows for free, but let’s not overlook the fact that most popular series still aren’t available there.
Crunchyroll’s Pro Move…
Ask yourself, what is the easiest way to make a hit film break it’s own barriers? Make it more accessible by dubbing it into different languages! And Crunchyroll‘s using the same formula by offering the Hindi dubbed version of two of it ‘s most popular selections: Ranking of Kings and My Dressup Darling! The Hindi catalog will gradually increase.
Now, before we move further, yes I strongly agree that it’s better to watch stuff in it’s original language and read the subtitles, but dubbing it is a sure shot way to increase it’s reach. And hey, isn’t it fun to re-watch stuff in our mother tongue too? 😂
Also, for all those who aren’t familiar, Crunchyroll is a subscription based streaming service like Netflix but exclusively for anime (they offer an online library of manga too).
What’s more? They have even drastically lowered their subscription fees (by 90%) for us Indian users starting from only ₹79 per month, compared to the previous price of $7.99 (₹640 approx).
There has never been a better time to be a Desi-Otaku!
But There’s One BIG Bottleneck…
Before we get all fired up about these new announcements, allow me introduce you to one MAJOR problem, that can wash away all the sincere efforts by these big firms: LICENSING!
You decide to get a new Crunchyroll all looks good. BUT, then you discover that popular anime like Attack on Titan isn’t even available to watch in India (it’s manga is probably the only official thing that’s legally available here). The only reason it’s popular here is word of mouth and uhmmm… ℗i®@cy! (Even the show’s manga must have seen a boost in sales here due to the illegal streaming of the show itself.)
And for SOME popular selections that are available (note that I lay emphasis on ‘some’): like say Kaguya Sama: Love is War, the first season or some episodes mid-way would be missing!
Are you telling me that someone who hasn’t watched the show should directly begin with Season 2!? 🤨
Or maybe they should get a Netflix subscription only to watch the first season of Kaguya Sama and then watch the rest of the seasons on Crunchyroll (Here in India, Netflix has Kaguya Sama’s first season only)!
Yup, that’s the problem with licensing! It leads to limited catalog for some countries and also prevents an already available shows from being available in their entirety.
No wonder why people resort to piracy.
Licensing in Merchandise
Fans love to own a piece of their favorite shows in real life, and hence they turn towards merchandise. But for merch that isn’t available, people would for the alternative: unlicensed merch, the most common being printed T-shirts. Or the ones who can afford it, would ship it unofficially from random e-commerce sites. Indirectly, merchandising would boost popularities of a franchise by encouraging more discussion in the community.
Ans as mentioned already, for a show like Attack on Titan which isn’t licensed in India, has ironically seen a boost in the sales of it’s manga (which is legally available here) due to pirated streaming of the show. Heck, I ordered a set of AoT action figures and the fact that they sent another Hange in place of Levi proves that they aren’t official merch of the show! 🙄
Once these licensing issues are sorted, there’s nothing stopping the growth of Otaku culture in India!
It’s high time for production houses to accept the fact that: India will welcome popular anime franchises with open arms!
And regarding the sale of unlicensed merch, let’s encourage more licensing opportunities to make them official and promote a relationship of mutual benefit between the production teams and the sellers.
Thank you!
You can read more from Utopian Corps here.
