Quote:
Originally Posted by Skane
1) Lackluster sales, although this could be due to lack of marketing. KyoAni didn't really reach the status of "Global-Midas" till SHnY.
|
That definitely wasn't an issue. FMP was heavily marketed, and Kyoto Animation's "name" was already known (if less their "brand"). Consider that FMP:Fumoffu (KyoAni's big "debut") had average per-volume disc sales that were 70%+ higher than FMP:TSR. TSR also came right on the heels of the hugely-successful AIR adaptation. It's also worth noting that the FMP:TSR Tessa OVA sold over double the rest of the volumes. I would suggest that it's more that the serious "action-oriented" side of FMP in anime was more popular overseas, and the North American anime industry collapsed. The more light-hearted romantic-comedy side of FMP was more popular among disc-purchasers in Japan, but there are other franchises that can focus on that.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Skane
2) The people in KyoAni personally stated that they found it challenging to animate action mecha, but considering the resultant quality... you could argue that it wasn't wasted effort AT ALL. If re-released today, it would still beat the tar out of most current anime in technical merit.
|
"Found it challenging" is also code for "it takes us more time and costs more money". If you're really good at one style of animation (and a lot of the animators you pay are good at that style), doing a different style is more difficult and time-consuming (and you may not have the best people in-house to do it). So if they're going to spend that extra effort it has to be worth it, not just in terms of "does the final product look good" (which I'm sure they could manage -- that's just a matter of how much of a perfectionist you're going to be), but also will it be worth the financial investment. Again, given that they have the choice, it's more advantageous to them to choose projects that play to the strengths of their team. It's also more advantageous for publishers and production committee members to give the work to a studio that specializes in a style that matches the work.
In the end, there's no prize awaiting Kyoto Animation if they branch out and explore all sorts of other genres, even though some people might wish they would just to see what would happen. It's not like they need to prove themselves or are looking for more work. If you think of Kyoto Animation as a community of artists, perhaps they're on a journey to perfect and refine their craft, and they're specializing in certain styles. The more they stay in that style (while still challenging themselves) the better they get at it, both in terms of time spent and quality achieved. You might even say that this mentality of perfecting an idea through countless iterations and refinements is a rather "Japanese" way of approaching the situation (whereas "pioneering/innovation" is a stereotypically-"American" approach).