2012-02-25, 18:41 | Link #41 |
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The problem isn't the content, in the sense of what's already there.
The problem is the content, in the sense of what's not there. Put another way, it's not that anime needs to completely get rid of anything (for example, stop doing eroge adaptations), but rather that there's a certain type of anime show that the anime world probably needs more of if anime is to ever fully rebound in the North American/Anglosphere marketplace. Shows like Cowboy Bebop, Trigun, Outlaw Star, FMA, Ghost in the Shell, etc... In other words: 1) Gritty Action/Sci-Fi 2) Cool badass leads, by they male or female. 3) More adult characters and characters that look like adults 4) More major female characters like Major Motoko, Faye Valentine, and FMA's Lust (I think most of us here know how these types of female characters are very different from your modern moe archetype girls). Now, the problem is that this type of anime doesn't sell that well in Japan, at least not any more. Even so, it's exactly what the North American anime marketplace could use right now, much in line with what 0utf0xZer0 argued on this thread many posts back. If you had three or more of this type of anime show per year, potential North American anime fans wouldn't care if there were dozens of new, crappy (as they may see it) eroge adaptations out there. They'd simply ignore them, and talk about the new anime shows that they did like. It really would re-energize the North American anime marketplace, I think. These sorts of shows that 0utf0xZer0 and I have referred to are the ones that enabled a lot of western anime fans to dig below the surface of the big shonen and kids shows (Naruto, One Piece, Yu-Gi-Oh, Pokemon, etc...). This type of anime show is likely essential to growing (and likely even just sustaining) the anime marketplace in North America. But I can't think of many, if any, really recent (within the last two years) anime shows like them. I have a really hard time imagining the North American marketplace being anything more than a shell of its former self without more of this type of anime show. A lot of North American fans became anime fans due to seeing this type of anime show on TV. Of really recent anime productions, the one that comes the closest to this is Redline. But Redline totally bombed in Japan. I can only hope that it might bounce back a bit due to the western fandom. If it doesn't, it's hard to see why Japanese anime companies would even try to appeal directly/primarily to western fans. They get burned domestically almost every time they do that. If western fans don't reward them for the risk and effort, then you'll never again see something like Cowboy Bebop. That's putting it a bit harshly, perhaps, but I'm pretty confident of it all the same. Now, maybe most anime fans here on AS don't care about this sort of show. They're not my personal favorite type of anime show either. But I honestly wouldn't be surprised to see English dubbed anime disappear within 10 years without some new, more modern equivalent to Cowboy Bebop sometime in the near future. And if English dubbed anime disappears entirely, then the North American marketplace for anime will have a very low ceiling to it. Oh, it may still exist, but it will indeed be a ghost in the shell of a marketplace.
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2012-02-25, 19:15 | Link #43 | ||||
Also a Lolicon
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Stereotypical Shounen Action -> Americanized Anime instead of Stereotypical Shounen Action -> VN adaptations, Moe, etc. how will more American pandering anime lead to more fans of non-American pandering anime, especially when, as you mentioned, fans of American pandering anime seem to think that non American pandering anime is crap? Quote:
I fail to see why it is important to have anime directly aimed at Americans. |
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2012-02-25, 20:35 | Link #44 | ||||
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That was intentional.
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The video game industry produces a lot of FPS games and a lot of RPGs. Loads of people who love one of those two types of video games have no interest whatsoever in the other one. There's nothing wrong with that. It doesn't negatively affect the gamer community. Rather, having different types of games to satisfy different audiences with different tastes helps to ensure a relatively vibrant gamer community. Quote:
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2012-02-25, 22:03 | Link #45 | |
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2012-02-25, 22:25 | Link #46 | |
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Another thing these anime producers should consider is I imagine, judging by the age of the various protagonists in anime series, is that the target audience of anime appears to centre around the teenage years to early twenties. Considering Japan is ageing then their market for younger viewers will diminish in the coming years so either they look to other markets (such as the US) to fill that gap or adapt their anime series as their audience grows older. I suppose the other alternative is just to accept their overall market will decline but most companies do not consider that an acceptable solution. |
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2012-02-25, 22:40 | Link #47 |
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I doubt the R1 industry will die anytime soon. We might get new companies into the game like when NIS America decided to expand to anime.
Now when the R2 companies decides to start subbing everything on both DVD and BR releases they will most likely cut ties with the R1 market and force us to import their stuff. That will be the day I will only buy series I truly enjoyed that were top notch for me. Cause I doubt most people outside of Japan can shell out $400~$800 for a complete series.
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2012-02-25, 22:55 | Link #48 |
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Just want to point out that Madhouse is pretty much the only studio that has concidered the american market recently with stuff like Marvel colaborations or a Supernatural anime,there's also the Trigun movie and the fact that the credits of Rideback are in english tells me this was made with a US audience in mind.
They even handled the animation production of the second season of the american cartoon the Boondocks. I know there's a new direction so I don't know if that's going to continue but they have worked on Snoopy anime as well
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2012-02-26, 00:00 | Link #49 | |
Boo, you whore
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And I don't consider My Little Pony a total roaring success like many claim. A lot of the "awareness" came from Meme-R-Us...err 4chan, it's more of a niche audience that only looks big online than anything (just like anime), and you have to consider how shitty the American animation industry is for part of its popularity.
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2012-02-26, 00:13 | Link #50 | |||
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There's several dozen anime shows made every year. From a current fan's perspective, what would be wrong with a few of them being like the Cowboy Bebop and Ghost in the Shell shows of the past? Quote:
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DVD/Blu-Ray sales are up, yes, but that could be due to the existing fandom having more disposable income rather than the total size of the fandom increasing.
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2012-02-26, 00:58 | Link #51 | ||||
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I'm well past my highschool years and still watch anime featuring highschoolers. You don't have to be the same to relate to. Backing this is up is the fact that the the primary target audience of most anime is guys in their late 30's and early 40's, at the vast amount of anime featuring people younger than that, of the opposite sex, and most often both, there is little evidence to suggest that the anime industry has to change their characters to respond to the aging otaku population. There is no reason it shouldn't, but there is also little reason it should. The only reason is that if there was money in doing it, which apparently there is not at least according to the video. Quote:
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I'm pretty sure Avatar Last Airbender was popular among the Naruto demographic. Don't see why an equivalent won't be a success among the Bebop lovers. I don't think anyone has tried yet, and there is no evidence to suggest its impossible. I'm not particularly in to this stuff, so feel free to point out a show I missed. |
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2012-02-26, 00:58 | Link #52 | |||
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But *since* sci-fi and action anime tend to have a larger ratio of fans in the west, that just might be a good market for western animation to tap into as well. Quote:
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2012-02-26, 01:32 | Link #53 |
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What's "directly aimed at Americans"? Afro Samurai, Supernatural, Highlander, and the Marvel adaptations qualify as such products.
However, titles such as Cowboy Bebop and Ghost in the Shell were made for the Japanese and were even successful within that market. Let's not forget that it's the Japanese market that has narrowed (shoving most shows into late night slots doesn't help) and that the issue of taste isn't as clearcut (i.e. show appealing to Japanese tastes vs show appealing to western tastes) as some make it out to be. In the long run, focusing too much on a handful of niches is a good way of driving the industry into irrelevancy. It's risky for producers to try different genres when the customer base is uncertain. However, if success in overseas markets (somehow, someway.....) can help sustain such productions, the home market only benefits. Given enough time, the market could even broaden again, which is what creators and producers both want. |
2012-02-26, 01:41 | Link #54 | |
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2012-02-26, 01:45 | Link #55 | |
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If the minority are otakus then over time the anime producers will need to adapt because as their primary audiences becomes smaller then they must change their content to keep that audience as the otakus by themselves will not fill the gap. However if otakus are the majority like you say then yes, no adaptation is necessary. But I think, for right or wrong, that otakus form a minority of the overall anime community. I do think most anime viewers (at least in Japan) are people in their teens or perhaps early 20s and as that age group will decline the anime producers will need to adapt to this change. |
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2012-02-26, 01:51 | Link #56 |
Boo, you whore
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The otakus are the large majority...the teens/20-somethings are the people that watch some of the most popular titles and...that's about it. As for "relating to the character", most people don't really relate to Caribbean sea pirates or aliens, either...so...
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2012-02-26, 02:05 | Link #58 | |
Obey the Darkly Cute ...
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2012-02-26, 02:11 | Link #59 |
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If you're going to insult someone for their intelligence, at least use proper capitalization and punctuation, and don't throw Japanese words pointlessly into English sentences where they don't belong.
Also, I fail to see how disliking anime alone makes one an idiot. |
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