[Triple_R]

Originally Posted by all_flying

I think you're being biased.

How am I being biased? If you want me to elaborate, then you should elaborate on your points as well.

For starters, I don't really get what this 'comfort zone' was all about.

KyoAni's comfort zone has been discussed at length on various KyoAni threads, so I didn't think it would be a term that Anime Suki members would not get at this point. But, to be fair, I guess the fact that it's been discussed on various threads has resulted in the discussion being fragmented, so further elaboration might be helpful.

Guardian Enzo once wrote a post on the Kyokai no Kanata series thread that I think ties into a fairly common understanding of KyoAni's comfort zone. Here is his post. And now I will quote most of it...

"I equate it to a filter that every KyoAni show gets put through - like a special lens on the camera that tints everything in a certain way. Moe girls and cute, harmless boys, comedically sexy teacher types, falling leaves and cherry blossoms. It's certainly evident in a show like Free!, which despite the radical (for KyoAni) departure of five male leads, ends up looking and sounding exactly like the prototypical Kyoto Animation series with an extra piece of anatomy.

To what extent a Kyoto Animation show succeeds (artistically - commercial success is a near-certainty) probably depends on how well the material is suited to this treatment." - Guardian Enzo (bold emphasis mine)

I agree with this post. There is indeed a certain filter that just about every KyoAni show gets put through (FMP is an exception, but it's also quite old). This filter, by extension, determines KyoAni's comfort zone. The shows that fit this filter the best are the best shows for KyoAni to work with.

And not all shows fit that filter well. For example, Fate/Zero and Psycho-Pass would run almost entirely counter to it. So Fate/Zero and Psycho-Pass (and shows very much like them) do not fit well in KyoAni's comfort zone, and represent the types of content that KyoAni probably shouldn't bother dabbling in.

Also, you clearly doesn't know what you're talking about.

Wrong. I know well what I'm talking about. Half-assed is a very common term, and I'm using it correctly. Here is a link to an on-line definition of the term. Consistent with that definition, I am saying that when KyoAni ventures too far outside of their comfort zone, we start to see incompetency from them and their work. I used the term "half-assed" also because of the mental association that the term "half" can have. When watching Kyoukai no Kanata, I felt like KyoAni could only go half-way to being a truly dark, suspenseful, action-packed show. It couldn't go all the way to being a Shakugan no Shana or a Fate/Zero. And that's because it is very attached to its comfort zone; its filter as Guardian Enzo put it.

I had much the same experience with watching Tamako Market - That it was trying to appeal to two different sorts of potential viewers, and so it was only going half-way in trying to please either of them.

Instead of working with the type of content that KyoAni tends to go half-way with (due to their own stylistic tendencies that can run counter to certain types of content), I think that KyoAni should stick to what it's good at. I don't see anything unreasonable or overly harsh or "biased" about this position.

Originally Posted by Dextro

I agree with you... *snip*

Thank you for your eloquent reply. You did a great job of summing up the weaknesses in Kyoukai no Kanata and how they relate to what we're both agreeing on.

Originally Posted by ultimatemegax

I agree with what all_flying said: you need to expand upon your "comfort zone" statement. "KnK has dark and action-packed sections." Well, so does FMP, Haruhi, Munto, and Nichijou has the latter.

This only supports my point, as Munto and Nichijou did poorly commercially by KyoAni's standards, as did Tamako Market and likely Kyokai no Kanata (I'm not sure on this last one as I haven't seen sales figures for it, but I haven't seen it mentioned in the various sales rankings leader boards I check every now and then on the internet). As for fan reception, Munto barely made a blip by KyoAni's standards, and Nichijou was somewhat polarizing (many loved it, some didn't get it at all).

FMP was done ages ago, as I pointed out earlier. The KyoAni of today is considerably different from the KyoAni that made FMP 8 or more years ago. FMP also never sold that well.

So that leaves Haruhi. The thing with Haruhi is that the the LNs themselves are a blending. Its darker and action-packed sections are maybe half of the narrative, while the more conventional high school-focused slice of life-esque sections are at least half of the narrative (maybe putting aside the most recent novels). The latter is well within KyoAni's comfort zone, so that gives them enough to work with. KyoAni going half-way towards darker action-packed material is fine here since the Haruhi LNs themselves are like that.

I'd be fine with KyoAni doing another Haruhi, but well-blended multi-genre narratives like that are rare gems in my view. So it's not something I'm holding out a lot of hope for, though I'd certainly be happy if KyoAni came across another Haruhi (or made one themselves).


Now, of the shows that KyoAni have had the most success with - Haruhi, K-On, the Key trio, Chuuni, Free!, and maybe Hyouka - It's not hard to see how all go well with the KyoAni filter (as Guardian Enzo brought up).

I think you raised some excellent points on Kyokai no Kanata and Tamako Market. I don't really fault KyoAni for "going for it" with these two shows. Tamako Market, in particular, made perfect sense given the success of K-On! with demographics that KyoAni never expected it to be successful with.

But just speaking as an anime fan with some interest in the anime industry, I can't ignore the pattern I see with KyoAni's shows. The closer they stick to their comfort zone, the more likely I am to like it, and the more likely the show is to sell well.

There's nothing necessarily wrong with being the best at something, and sticking to that. I used to think differently, but looking over KyoAni's full resume of works (and particularly their last 4 works), it's hard to escape the idea that they should stick to the types of content that they're clearly most comfortable with.