Quote:
Originally Posted by Guernsey
Does anyone know of any other instances of Executive meddling in anime? I had been on TVTropes and read how Executive Meddling has either helped some anime (tokyo mew mew, sailor moon and arguably DBZ) or hurt some anime (Code Geass or YuGioh GX) but are there times wher eXecutive meddling in anime can be a good thing? Nobody really knows why certain anime like Evangelion or Saint Seiya are tremendous hits like they are but we do know that something might have been done "right" to make that happen. Executive Meddling is one of those reasons that can Executives can help or hurt an anime for something that the network wants changes in. Although some anime like Code Geass could have been better, I am glad that it was the way it is but are there any more instances where Executive Meddling has helped anime any?
|
Like it or not, executives have always played a big role in the creative process; from funding works to pushing creators in certain directions, and so forth. For the general public, these decisions tend to invisible, and so we attribute most things to the director whether it's deserved or not. And so a lot of "make this character more interesting", "this ending doesn't work", and other useful directives/pieces of advices go unheralded.
Tangentially, a lot of the classic science fiction short stories (and some novels) should be attributed to John W. Campbell, the editor of Astounding Science Fiction rather than the authors that are given credit for them.
Of the meddling that's widely known, the decisions to lengthen SDF Macross from 27 to 39 episodes, and to shorten Escaflowne to 26 episodes made a lot of difference in the final products, and both shows are better for it. The decision to get rid of Ikuhara before he could inject more of his crazy ideas into Sailor Moon was also very beneficial - both for Sailor Moon, and for allowing those ideas to germinate into Utena.
Quote:
Originally Posted by NoLongerSane
P.S. could someone please explain to me how DBZ and Sailor Moon was alter via executive discissions. PM me or post on this thread if you want.
|
Toriyama Akira wanted to end his manga quite early, but his editors convinced/forced him to continue it. End result: a couple of story arcs were added to Dragonball Z.
For Sailor Moon, there are a few different instances of Executive Meddling on the anime. There's the decision to make drastic changes to the SuperS season, the aforementioned removal of Ikuhara Kunihiko, the refusal to license the Stars season, and so on.