SUNRISE: Studio discussion, speculation, and whatnot.

[Westlo]

Unicorn is selling fantastic... they sell just as much as the big movies they have came out... Gintama, Macross Frontier, Haruhi etc...

But Taniguchi should get the next Gundam series... assuming he wants to do one... he deserves it period but Sunrise kept going outside because they want something to rate as well as FMA did or to sell merchandise to kids as well as Inazuma Eleven...

Originally Posted by Archon_Wing

On Gundam Age, it was never meant to sell dvds/blurays, so how are sales of the merchandise?

From most accounts, as good as it's ratings in the kids demographics.

[C.A.]

Since its a Sunrise thread, I guess talking about Yoshiyuki Tomino is completely relevant. I did a bunch of research on him for a animation director presentation in class last time, so he's one of the prominent figures I know most about in the anime industry.

Tomino started out in the industry working on the story boards of Osamu Tezuka's Tetsuwan Atom(Astro Boy). Like Osamu, he was fascinated and inspired by Walt Disney's animation but was very disappointed by the animation of Tetsuwan Atom, which is almost like a voiced manga with hardly any real animation.

His disappointment with anime kept on even when he became a director with successful works like Reideen and Daitarn 3. Together with the demands of producers and sponsors to make his mecha anime look like ads to sell toys, he became frustrated and depressed, reflecting in works with many deaths like Zambot 3 and Ideon earning him his 'kill em' all' title.

Over time he gave in to the fact that low budget anime can never be animation masterpieces like Disney's animation that pushes the visual aspect of the art. And at the same time he felt that animation lacks realism and it is something that he could push for, more realistic stories.

This is when he came up with Gundam, a realistic miltary mecha story telling about the conflicts of humanity, politics and gruesomeness of war. But again in the end, he was tied down by the sponsors who wanted kids to buy mecha toys.

Originally the Gundam wasn't supposed to be colourful, but military metallic grey and there wasn't supposed to be 'mecha of the week' enemies. He wasn't happy with what the show became and the ratings flopped. But then the toy sales were outstanding and the sponsors decided to fund him and allow him to complete the series.

By the end of the series, the show became a huge hit because of the toy sales. Using the money he earned, he was finally able to create what he wanted, a revolution in anime. He brought Gundam to the cinema, fully animated, as realistic in story telling as he could bring, to try and match Disney's accomplishments. He declared in a speech at the opening of the 1st movie that this is the start of a new era in Japanese anime.

He created the real robot genre and spread realism through the anime industry, he is one of the most influential people in anime and still is. He is mostly over with his depression now, but still bitter over how anime works as ads to sell toys, merchandise and manga. He views animation the same as a life action film, just that everything is animated in animation, which is a bit different from the views of most animators. He is very interested in making animation tell something realistic, but animation is normally used to do the opposite.

[Roloko vi Britannia]

I love Sunrise they produced some amazing stuff and still do like their recent Nichibros and Gundam AGE. <3

Kinda sad about AGE its a great Gundam series one of my top favorites I love the characters and story. I hope the merchandise is selling more than the actual DVDs/BRs.

I just hope the next new Gundam series (excluding Origins since it isn't new and just an re-telling of 0079) won't be so badly received way before it even airs. -___-

Wonder if they are going to allow R1 companies to still license Gundam and Code Geass? I see we are still getting some of their titles here despite Bandai being gone like Nichibros and Tiger and Bunny.

[Lost Cause]

Originally Posted by Roloko vi Britannia

I love Sunrise they produced some amazing stuff and still do like their recent Nichibros and Gundam AGE. <3

Kinda sad about AGE its a great Gundam series one of my top favorites I love the characters and story. I hope the merchandise is selling more than the actual DVDs/BRs.

I just hope the next new Gundam series (excluding Origins since it isn't new and just an re-telling of 0079) won't be so badly received way before it even airs. -___-

Wonder if they are going to allow R1 companies to still license Gundam and Code Geass? I see we are still getting some of their titles here despite Bandai being gone like Nichibros and Tiger and Bunny.

Taking that into consideration, Funi usually gets first crack at most anime coming over, due to the fact that they're still a "big gun" among dub studios.
And given the popularity of those series alone, I would expect them to find a distributer over here but personally I hope it's somebody other that Funi.

[NoemiChan]

Sunrise is one of favorite I often link them to Gundams.... The animations are good. They can't fail to amazed the viewers young or young at heart.

[Roloko vi Britannia]

Originally Posted by Lost Cause

Taking that into consideration, Funi usually gets first crack at most anime coming over, due to the fact that they're still a "big gun" among dub studios.
And given the popularity of those series alone, I would expect them to find a distributer over here but personally I hope it's somebody other that Funi.

Diskotek could release the classic Gundam titles while Sentai or NIS takes on the newer ones. Since AGE didn't do so well if Sentai can strike a deal with Sunrise they could get the DVD rights.

I mean if Funi is trying to get rights to Geneon titles after their US branch left I don't see why Sentai or NIS can't do the same with Sunrise.

I just hope Code Geass or Gundam doesn't fall into VIZ's or S'more Entertainment (company releasing bobobobobo and screwed up the release.) hands. Cause VIZ will drop it at the tip of the hat if it is not selling well and S'more fucks up all its releases plus you can find all their DVDs in bargain bins which tells you much about their quality.

[Westlo]

Can we add this blog post to the OP?

http://vanishingtrooper.wordpress.co...os-at-sunrise/

Pretty enlightening view on all the studios Sunrise have as well as their history....

[Patriot's Blade]

i wish they've revive the Yuusha Brave series francise...... i know there's a bit of a problem with their contract with TakaraTomy now, so i guess its only an eternal dream for the diehard fans......

hey why didn't they choose another company to make a deal with? like Bandai for example? & make a some sort of spiritual sucessor/homage to the francise series?

oh wait...... *see's Bandai's current Machine Robo line*

[Kaioshin Sama]

Originally Posted by DRAGUN H.E.X.

i wish they've revive the Yuusha Brave series francise...... i know there's a bit of a problem with their contract with TakaraTomy now, so i guess its only an eternal dream for the diehard fans......

hey why didn't they choose another company to make a deal with? like Bandai for example? & make a some sort of spiritual sucessor/homage to the francise series?

oh wait...... *see's Bandai's current Machine Robo line*

They promised man, they promised that one day the heroes would return together through the oath sworn through courage.

Though is this decade really prepared for a character as manly as Guy? He'd probably throw peoples perception of gar into chaos in like the first five minutes of whatever they produced with one of his courage speeches.

Too much man?

[RRW]

Originally Posted by Westlo

Can we add this blog post to the OP?

http://vanishingtrooper.wordpress.co...os-at-sunrise/

Pretty enlightening view on all the studios Sunrise have as well as their history....

ah thanks. i always confuse the structure of sunrise studio

[Kraker2k]

Originally Posted by DRAGUN H.E.X.

i wish they've revive the Yuusha Brave series francise...... i know there's a bit of a problem with their contract with TakaraTomy now, so i guess its only an eternal dream for the diehard fans......

hey why didn't they choose another company to make a deal with? like Bandai for example? & make a some sort of spiritual sucessor/homage to the francise series?

oh wait...... *see's Bandai's current Machine Robo line*

Well, I've been reading about and if I've connected the lines properly: Gear Fighter Dendoh was somewhat the Yuusha show created by Sunrise and Bandai themselves.

What happened was the 9th Yuusha show that was being planned, Baan Gaan, was apparently going to be directed by Mitsuo Fukuda. When that didn't work out, Sunrise hired him to make a slightly different super robot-tyle show and that became Dendoh.

[Kaioshin Sama]

Gotta say I'm pleasantly surprised to see Sunrise and their shows getting at least some of the respect they damn well deserve around here these days. I know a lot of people around here might not like action or some of the unpleasant (on the surface) character types they frequently like to work with or even really mecha, but even an attempt to...I don't know not outright crap on everything they produce right out of the gate pay them a compliment or acknowledge the effort put into shows like say Horizon or Accel World on the animation front or Binbogami on the comedy front....or to anticipate something like Nerawata Gakuen...even though they are not one of the 2.5 designate studios that are allowed to have their production efforts frequently acknowledged on this forum...brave new world here.

[solomon]

Sunrise was always one of my favorites.

For a big ass cartoon house, they always made some good looking stuff for TV. Even some of their 80s stuff has pretty good animation in it. They also always had an interesting catalogue of mainly original shows.

Particularly in the 90s and early 2000s. They always had a Gundam production along with a very good 2 cur original work on average every year.

Escaflowne, Big O, Cowboy Bebop, Outlaw Star, Infinity Ryvius, Scryed, Witch Hunter Robin to name a few.

Back further in history, they probably are best known for their classic 80s mecha shows. Gundam, Ideon, Xabungle, Votoms, Layzner, Dunbine, L-Gaim, etc.

Admittedly I don't keep up with them as often as I used to. Especially since Masahiko Minami and his Bebop crew split off to create BONES. But they are still an all around decent studio from what I hear.

[Westlo]

^ Pretty much how I feel/felt about Sunrise solomon, except these days I'm starting to pay less attention to Bones and more to Sunrise again. Hopefully the next Studio B series from Bones brings back the glory...

Originally Posted by Kaioshin Sama

Gotta say I'm pleasantly surprised to see Sunrise and their shows getting at least some of the respect they damn well deserve around here these days. I know a lot of people around here might not like action or some of the unpleasant (on the surface) character types they frequently like to work with or even really mecha, but even an attempt to...I don't know not outright crap on everything they produce right out of the gate pay them a compliment or acknowledge the effort put into shows like say Horizon or Accel World on the animation front or Binbogami on the comedy front....or to anticipate something like Nerawata Gakuen...even though they are not one of the 2.5 designate studios that are allowed to have their production efforts frequently acknowledged on this forum...brave new world here.

Well Studio 8 which handles 3 of the 4 shows you mentioned is much more in line with Otaku taste than the majority of Sunrise you have to admit ;p Same applies to Studio 8's next project in Love Live! (uh just wished they were able to animate the dance sequences without resorting to CGI, A-1 did that with Idolmaster...)

I'm awaiting the forthcoming smash LN series, "My Sunrise Studio can't be this moe!" staring the president of Sunrise.

Also Sunrise have been pretty popular over the years anyway.... Geass, SEED, Mai-Hime etc, it's just the sequels rarely live up to the originals and will always get a harsh reaction, people are genuinely disappointed, not hating on them because it's "Sunrise". Don't confuse a small vocal minority against people who actually feel let down.

[Kaioshin Sama]

Originally Posted by Westlo

^ Pretty much how I feel/felt about Sunrise solomon, except these days I'm starting to pay less attention to Bones and more to Sunrise again. Hopefully the next Studio B series from Bones brings back the glory...



Well Studio 8 which handles 3 of the 4 shows you mentioned is much more in line with Otaku taste than the majority of Sunrise you have to admit ;p Same applies to Studio 8's next project in Love Live! (uh just wished they were able to animate th

e dance sequences without resorting to CGI, A-1 did that with Idolmaster...)

I'm awaiting the forthcoming smash LN series, "My Sunrise Studio can't be this moe!" staring the president of Sunrise.

Also Sunrise have been pretty popular over the years anyway.... Geass, SEED, Mai-Hime etc, it's just the sequels rarely live up to the originals and will always get a harsh reaction, people are genuinely disappointed, not hating on them because it's "Sunrise". Don't confuse a small vocal minority against people who actually feel let down.

They do seem pretty determined to figure this whole moe thing out but are coming across as a bunch of try hards in doing so. Characters are still exhibiting way to much actual personality and aren't supposed to be that independent or even more competent than their male counterparts. Yeah I'm looking at you ms Snow Black and miss Sakura Ichiko. How can the otaku get moe off of you if you're out there leading the charge and already have love interests.

Doing it wrong...all wrong sunrise. You can do so much less with your characters for so much more. Have those girls ditch those swords and confident personalities and grab a mic (looks at Lovely Idol Project)....by god they've figured it out maybe.

[Westlo]

Originally Posted by Kaioshin Sama

They do seem pretty determined to figure this whole moe thing out but are coming across as a bunch of try hards in doing so. Characters are still exhibiting way to much actual personality and aren't supposed to be that independent or even more competent than their male counterparts. Yeah I'm looking at you ms Snow Black and miss Sakura Ichiko. How can the otaku get moe off of you if you're out there leading the charge and already have love interests.

Doing it wrong...all wrong sunrise. You can do so much less with your characters for so much more. Have those girls ditch those swords and confident personalities and grab a mic (looks at Lovely Idol Project)....by god they've figured it out maybe.

The conception of those 2 characters have nothing to do with Sunrise though.. if you want to praise anybody for them than start with their creators/writers in Kawahara Reki and Yoshiaki Sukeno respectively. They are faithful adaptations after all... like Shinbo said in regards to Bakemonogatari... "I can't take much credit". Love Live is an original though ;p

[Kaioshin Sama]

Originally Posted by Westlo

The conception of those 2 characters have nothing to do with Sunrise though.. if you want to praise anybody for them than start with their creators/writers in Kawahara Reki and Yoshiaki Sukeno respectively. They are faithful adaptations after all... like Shinbo said in regards to Bakemonogatari... "I can't take much credit". Love Live is an original though ;p

I'm talking less conception and more usage and strategy in those two cases as I try to imply half-jokingly that Sunrise is incapable of having a moeish character without something decidedly not moe catch to them. You know me, I'm not the type to go around just praising a production company and giving them credit for creating something they didn't. God knows I speak out about that sort of thing enough anyway.

Really though the way I see it those two are pretty much in line with Sunrise's try hard theory of creating "moe" characters. I mean lets just look at a few examples Post Gundam 00 that they DID create and trademark in house to illustrate what I mean:

We'll just skip right over MS Igloo 2 cause...yeah

Gundam Unicorn - Mineva (created circa Zeta Gundam) is kind of lovey dovey with Banagher, otherwise spends the majority of her time talking about politics, war and jumping out of airplanes and getting caught by mobile suits. Too...political.

Puru Twelve (created circa ZZ Gundam) has that thing going on with Captain Zinnerman, but is way too menacing and built like a spec ops soldier otherwise. Plus she was forced into child prostitution, that's decidedly non-moe.

Sora Wo Kakeru Shoujo - Every single girl in this show could be construed as kind of moeish....but they sure loves them some fighting. Fight fight fight, blow stuff up with a giant colony laser, fight fight kick through a machine. Hop in that mech and fight some more. Too much fighting and saving the universe not enough being bad at cooking and searching for a boyfriend to solve their problems.

Sacred Seven - Ruri Aiba is pretty moe...except she spends most of her time actually trying to muster her way onto the battlefield and to be an active part of things AND has that same issue Mineva has with jumping out of planes. Too gutsy.

Tiger and Bunny - Blue Rose, Dragon Kid, Kaede Kaburagi, all kind of cute, all but Blue Rose would seemingly rather be practicing martial arts and being superheroes rather than be seen as feminine and cute....and even Blue Rose eventually gets over her wanting to be an idol and decides to stick it out as a costumed hero. Too....heroic.

Armored Trooper Votoms Alone Again - The two major female characters in this...both are super soldiers...one is kind of already dead, one serves as something of an antagonist. Too...warlike.

Code Geass - Akito The Exiled - Layla Malkal is a high noble woman who could be moe I guess, but would seemingly rather devote all her time to military service and strategizing than spending time at the beach and can't even get out of her military uniform long enough to attend a party. Favorite pass time seems to be reading and writing about the art of war. Too....militaristic.

- Ayano Kosaka is a 15 year old girl that could be moe, but spends most of her time practicing using her Katana and being anti-social as humanly possible.

I could go on, but I think I've illustrated what I mean a little. I guess these characters are somewhat popular, but I mean if you look at the types of "moe" that Japan seems to really go for it's more the characters like K-On's Yui Hirasawa...the ones you don't have to worry about having too much of a fierce independent streak, being high maintenance, and going off and getting into fights and/or dying. Even looking at Gundam 00, the character that has by far the most development and the most complete arc and could be construed as somewhat moeish Soma Peries (the super soldier) is nowhere near the most popular character in spite of it all. It's Feldt Grace seemingly by far that people in Japan gravitated too....the low maintenance quiet one with maybe a handful of lines in the shows entire continuity. The one that spends most of her time worrying about Setsuna and cowering on the ship in the midst of a fight and who goes shopping with her gal pal or hits the beach in a swimsuit when shit gets a little too real.

Love Live! seems set to side step this approach by presenting no strings attached moe idol characters. None of them look like they'll going to suddenly pull a sword or gun out and start talking about politics and warrior philosophies so much as pull a mic out and get up on the stage and start dancing to J-Pop. We'll see if it makes a difference I guess.

edit: It occurs to me that for the more sensitive people here's sake I should say I'm 80% joking around here. I'll leave it up to people to figure out which parts, it should be pretty obvious....I hope.

[Frontalspy_GBy]

Sorry for adding to this old thread, but it seemed all too relevant. I have written an article about the history of Sunrise. So far, I only covered the creation of the studio in 1972 till the success of the Mobile Suit Gundam films in 1981/82. This is only the first part of the series of articles covering the history of Sunrise.

This is pretty much a shameless plugin but people who want to know more about the studio and its past can read the article here:
http://www.goboiano.com/read-more-news.php?id=972


I have also produced a series of articles about the history of Production IG;
http://www.goboiano.com/read-more-news.php?id=868

[Folenfant]

Sunrise seems to be quietly (at least on places like this forum) experiencing a renaissance since the release of Gundam Unicorn.

-Since 2009 Gundam Unicorn has as far as I know become the best selling OVA series of all time to wide critical acclaim.
-Their short film with Katsuhiro Otomo was awarded thr Grand Prize at the Tokyo Media Arts Festival and was even short listed for an academy award nomination with more on the way in the form of a rare in these days omnibus compilation called short peace.
They've shown that shows about middle aged males are still viable TV series with the rare successful Western Fusion vibe series Tiger and Bunny.
-They continue to regularly push original content in an age where many series are based on light novels
-The rise of Studio 8 as a force in the whole light novel/moe/bishoujo market. Everything these guys do seems popular.
-In an era where DVDs are no longer really viable they still find ways to push them out the door
-Even stuff like Daily Lives of High School Boys and Binbogami Ga! which dont make a huge splash seem to have a strong cult following on forums
- Weird ass kid shows that get second seasons like Phi Brain and Aikatsu!
- This is just personal preference but in terms of eye candy their character design and overall art style is top tier and that goes for male and female. Also if its not Gundam AGE theres usually some strong male and female characters in there too. Deadly combination

Everything just seems to be going really well for them.

[creb]

Originally Posted by Arabesque

To start things off, just how does Gintama manage to keep on selling so much for a SHonen Jump series?

I'm going to be the cynic (surprise!) here and say the reason for Gintama's success is a willingness to adapt to the market. Gintama, in its early days, was a very different beast than the Gintama of today. There were far, faaaaaar, fewer overly dramatic story arcs and resoundingly corny speeches and fights by Gintama (the character). It was predominantly a gag show, and I loved it.

They've broken the fourth wall enough times to show they know exactly what they're doing by slowly transforming the show to fit with the audience, with their self-skewering humor as they incorporate more and more the shonen elements manga/anime like Naruto/Fairy Tale aka fighting manga etc use.

Personally, I prefer the Gintama of old, and find the Gintama (character) of today to be pretty much a 180 degree difference from the Gintama of the first 50-100 episodes, but the evolution of the series obviously works, if their sales are anything to go by. And, it does continue to have the occasional gag pieces, so I'd rather have crumbs than nothing, if the alternative of sticking to their predominant gag format of the early years would have resulted in loss of syndication. Plus, again, their self-deprecating humor, as well as being fully aware and willing to make fun of their selling out to stay afloat makes the selling out part much easier to stomach.

Also, I love Sunrise. I hope their size allows them to do what they do. Sure, some of their shows I down right hate (AGE; to be fair, there are lots of shows beyond that, but I thought they were driving Gundam in the right direction with parts of 00 and Unicorn, and then...AGE was just a wtf moment in the Gundam franchise), but they're also responsible for many shows I've loved over the years. If being diverse in their offerings allows them to plop out a show I enjoy every year or few years, then more power to them. I think it's far healthier than the studios who only plop out low-brow moe shows season after season to the point where just saying their studio name lets you know what their new show of the season is going to be down to the plot, character arch types, and personalities. Not that Sunrise doesn't do moe. They do moe. But, they do other stuff too.