2012-03-18, 02:19 | Link #223 | |
Otaku Apprentice
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...He was talking about anime in general being out of mainstream entertainment (as opposed to saying "the anime," which would be refering directly to Madoka). Shinbo, Urobuchi, Iwakawa, and the lot of them were surprised when Madoka became a phenomenon that pulled in viewers outside of the usual anime fandom. It bypassed niche entertainment barriers and moved people who had little to no interest in anime outside the usual Ghibli stuff to tears. Shinbo has had the hope ever since then that Madoka could be a gateway into bringing anime in general back into the mainstream it was before it became "niche" and specialized. It was an unexpected development, but he has been inspired by it ever since.
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2012-03-18, 04:47 | Link #224 |
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Join Date: Oct 2007
Age: 35
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lol, indeed. I dunno where some people are coming from thinking that Madoka hasn't had mainstream appeal. It's precisely Madoka's mainstream appeal which made it the subject of all those awards, magazine articles, and critical accolades it recieved during/after its airing last year.
However, despite that, it is still true that Madoka might not be as mainstream as a franchise as, for example, K-on. And certainly neither compare with works by Studio Ghibli. As a matter of otaku appeal versus mainstream, I think we can set up a sort of scale where we've got: - K-on: massive mainstream success, strong otaku appeal - Madoka: very strong mainstream success, very strong otaku appeal - Bakemonogatari: decent mainstream success, incredible otaku appeal And this is reflected in the sales numbers. Out of the three franchises, Bakemonogatari has the most otaku appeal and that is why it stands on top as a matter of sales numbers. However, all three represent some widespread combination of both strong mainstream and otaku appeal, which explains why SHAFT and Kyoani were named as the two top candidates who might succeed Ghibli as leaders of the anime industry (in the unfortunate scenario where Ghibli's succession issues force it to step down). However, I think what the sales/otaku appeal correlation I showed with Bakemonogatari above is that Madoka's impressive critical awards and strong sales performance don't necessarily equate just yet to dominating presence in the mainstream. Although I don't want to focus on a direct comparison, with regards to K-on (which itself is a very popular otaku franchise) key landmarks of its mainstream popularity (like the fact that it's fanbase/audience is actually ~60% female (compared to I think ~30% for Madoka), or the fact that K-on is aired on the Disney Channel during daytime television) reinforce that Madoka is not really so mainstream a property as it could potentially be. I think that one factor which reflects interestingly on this situation is that despite being an Urobochi Gen work, Madoka famously overthrows some of the characteristics that Urobochi Gen is most famous for--the "bad ending" whereby a protagonist sinks into personal/subjective happiness at the expense of the greater good of the universe/community, for example. Urobochi Gen, as a writer coming from a background of ero/Visual Novel works in collaboration with Nitroplus or the Fate franchise, obviously, has/had a very firm background in otaku-oriented works and I think was certainly an enormous contributor to attracting the type of audience for Madoka which would propel it to such a success in terms of its BD sales ranking. However, what actually makes Madoka notable from a critical and mainstream perspective is precisely that Urobochi subverted and threw off that otaku-oriented stigma/expectation, and created story appropriate for non-otaku. Urobochi said from the beginning of Madoka "I am writing a heartwarming story", and although this was in part meant to camouflage the expectation that, true to his reputation, he would throw his characters into a grinder of despair and suffering, in the end he lived up to his word through an ending which celebrated hope, empathy, and self-sacrifice (as well as the foundations of the mahou shoujo genre itself). So that is to say, what Urobochi Gen has actually written is a mainstream story, but because what he is/was famous for was otaku appeal, the response to Madoka has been unusually characterized by a strong otaku (BD and merchandise sales) and critical (awards, etc. from anime industry watchers) reception, but untapped mainstream potential. Well, in the first place Madoka only airing during late night (i.e. after 12:00 am) timeslots and via NicoNico streaming is one of the contributors to this situation. This is why, Madoka being released as a box office production is one of the major things which can be done to expand Madoka's audience. Madoka is a mainstream show, but it has not been given a chance yet to reach a mainstream audience. Shinbo talking about pushing Madoka to expand the mainstream anime audience reflects exactly, I think, this untapped potential. I'm really excited that Shinbo/Gen recognize this and are developing the franchise in that direction. |
2012-03-31, 20:03 | Link #225 |
Nyahahahaha♥
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Today at ACE, it was announced that the two Madoka Magica recap movies will begin showing this autumn (likely simultaneously). The titles are The Story's Beginning/Eternal Story (Japanese:始まりの物語/永遠の物語)
Yaraon post There's a list of theatres in the blog post; I count 16 thus far and it'll likely grow by the time these run.
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2012-03-31, 23:46 | Link #226 |
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Location: Philippines
Age: 47
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Ditto here:
http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news...2-parts-titled Seems that it confirmed the predictions of some guys here, that parts of it will be recaps. Not surprisingly, I'm hearing grumbles.
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2012-04-01, 03:09 | Link #229 |
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Age: 32
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They should have go straight and produce the sequel movie without producing the recap movies. This would not only save money for an epic sequel but also not delaying the fans' desire for the sequel.
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2012-04-01, 10:09 | Link #234 |
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Well it's pretty certain that they will make a profit out of it anyway. You know just because you've watched it during the initial airing doesn't mean you're not gonna rewatch it on bluray and it's very own theatrical release. I'm sure as hell I will. Also it's not like everyone has already watched it and bringing Madoka to the big screen makes it even more accessible for everyone.
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2012-04-01, 11:03 | Link #235 | |
Twilight lander
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Many PMMM fans would have watched even a simple recap for the sake of it. And we're speaking new content here. Remember all those talks about "I wish Shaft would make unabridged ep 10 into an OVA or movie"? All the signs show that we're close to just that.
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2012-04-02, 01:14 | Link #239 | |
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You have to keep in mind that an anime movie released in Japan typically takes a long time to be subbed and available for English audiences in good visual quality (I have no intention of watching some low-grade camrip). The likelihood of me resisting the urge to spoil myself before I can watch the movie for myself is pretty low. If the changes I get spoiled on are significant, I'll probably watch the recap movies. Otherwise, I'll probably skip them, truth be told. The main thing to me is that the third movie is totally new content. If the three movies were all nothing but recap, I'd be pretty disappointed myself. But thankfully, it's more than that. So I don't think people should grumble much here. It's a better fate than what Nanoha fans have had with the Nanoha movies, imo.
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2012-04-03, 05:47 | Link #240 | |||
Twilight lander
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