Hayao Miyazaki talking about "otakus"

[ellessarr]

hi guys theses days i was looking some otaku news and found this interesting thing:
http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/inte...-full-of-otaku
http://www.otakuusamagazine.com/Late...Full-5476.aspx

Revered Studio Ghibli director Hayao Miyazaki is known for speaking out in interviews, and that held true in a recent television talk in which Miyazaki let everyone know what he feels is one of the key problems holding the anime industry back.

While sketching, Miyazaki grumbled that many animators can't capture certain aspects of real life because they don't experience it enough. "If you don't spend time watching real people," he said, "you can't do this, because you've never seen it."

He went on to complain about the industry, saying one of its problems is it's "full of otaku."

"Almost all Japanese animation is produced with hardly any basis taken from observing real people, you know," He continued. "It's produced by humans who can't stand looking at other humans … and that's why the industry is full of otaku!"

What do you think? Is the recent retiree just being his usual grumpy self, or is the anime industry lacking talent with real world experience?

for peoples who dont know this guy he is like a "god of animation" in japan one of the most respected anime director's
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hayao_Miyazaki

i somehow agree with him, specially when come to animes like "harems" who aways ending being a "cut/paste" of the previous one, with a "average" guy who is dense/oblivion/chickening of girls and girls start to fall for him like just breath or is a big pervert and all the girls love this pervert guy

indeed i see a lot of too much "clichê animes" who i only watch because or of the girls who are "hot or cute" or because the anime/manga is funny as hell or the action is really awesome but the characters itself are so to much disgusting and unreal and impossible to accept them.

today anime/manga(japanese entertainment is too much "for otakus(the most hardcore ones specially in japan not all of then who i know we have some not all creep otakus) or Hikikomori, peoples who dont give nothing than "money" to the real life, peoples who dont know nothing about real life and just want a "hot/cute/big breast/flat chest fall from the skys to their hands or girls who their can grope their big boobs.

I'm not totally hypocritical to say that do not like it, once in a while is cool or funny however when it is used almost 100% of the time it becomes really irritating, at least for me and make me less believe in the characters and hate more the "otakus"(at last in japan) and their weird/creep Fetishes.

share your tought about this.

[Pocari_Sweat]

This is nothing new. Everyone knows Miyazaki is very critical of the industry.

[Last Sinner]

Originally Posted by Pocari_Sweat

This is nothing new. Everyone knows Miyazaki is very critical of the industry.

Amd of humans full stop unless they're children.

[Sheba]

The bigger question about Miyazaki is, did he retire for good this time?

[Tempester]

Miyazaki can harp on otaku and their unrealistic ideals all he likes, but it's a fact that pandering to otaku has helped develop and mature anime to the stage it's in now. Most of the anime that ASuki watches are aired at late hours and depend on BD/DVD sales for revenue, and it's mostly otaku who fund those. Without the buying power of otaku, we would not have shows like Neon Genesis Evangelion, Cowboy Bebop, Galaxy Angel, and Puella Magi Madoka Magica.

Hell, I bet that even a lot of "non-otaku-ish" anime such as Monster and Usagi Drop would not exist today if otaku weren't getting their way in the first place. They'd just be limited to live action and manga because anime would be seen as non-profitable and "for kids", just like (surprise, surprise) the majority of American animation.

Sure, anime may be flooded with crappy harem shows. I just don't watch most of those so it doesn't matter to me. In what other medium in the world can I get something as adorable and invigorating as Love Live, or as refreshing and calming as Tamayura? I thank otaku for making these anime a reality.

If I wanted a lot of realism, I'd read a book or step outside.

[Triple_R]

I get where he's coming from, but I think his criticism is a bit too sweeping.

There's actually plenty of anime shows produced in recent years that I think do a reasonably good job of portraying human interactions and human daily living. I'm thinking of shows like Usagi Drop, Tari Tari, Hyouka, and Tamayura.

Granted, there is certainly some idealization in these works, but rarely would I consider it excessive.


But in any event, yeah, this isn't nothing new. Miyazaki probably wants to get in a few parting opinions before he fades from the anime scene and the fandom's collective consciousness. This is presuming he really is retiring for good this time, of course.

[Flower]

Well, that is one man's opinion and it has some validity.

Simple as that.

Next thread....

[Pocari_Sweat]

Originally Posted by Flower

Well, that is one man's opinion and it has some validity.

Simple as that.

Next thread....

Probably better off locking this thread as we've had a fair few number of these which goes no where.

[Archon_Wing]

One can create good works and be very tunnel visioned at the same time. In this case I respect the person's works, but I don't necessarily have to take this very seriously.

I think the problem is when you impose a certain standard to be crucial to success in having artistic value while it is debatable.

[RRW]

He is right, at same time his way of thinking can be applied to any media. From movie to video game

And he already bitter about it since 1988
http://www.nausicaa.net/miyazaki/int...boutanime.html

Today, I can't talk about our business without some bitterness. Compared to several works in the 1950s which inspired me, we in the 1980s make animation as if it's an in-flight meal served on a Jumbo Jet. Mass production has changed the situation. The true emotion and feeling that should be carried through have been replaced by a bluff, neurosis, or teasing. The craft that we should put our love into has been worn down in the piecework production system. I hate the abbreviation anime because I can't help but think that the word symbolizes the desolation (of Japanese animation).

Basically he hated reality of how media business work

[Archon_Wing]

I think I should relink one of my previous posts. I just feel like if you generalize enough with a steamroller that anything can be simplified to idiocy.

Clearly, Evangelion is terrible otaku pandering garbage (spoilers, obviously): http://forums.animesuki.com/showthre...38#post3735138

Edit: This is no longer true, gotta write about Oreimo or something.

[Marcus H.]

The bigger question about Miyazaki is, did he retire for good this time?

NAH.

And that news is Hayao Miyazaki being Hayao Miyazaki.
That news also mentions Hayao comparing iPad gestures to jacking off.

gotta write about Oreimo or something.

I'll be reading that pronto.

[Flower]

Originally Posted by Pocari_Sweat

Probably better off locking this thread as we've had a fair few number of these which goes no where.

Am kinda keeping a watch on it for now. ^^

[Reckoner]

Let me chime in that while I don't think this necessarily applies to things in general, this couldn't be more true about the incestuous, creatively bankrupt LN industry. And guess what churns out adaption after adaption every season for the past 6-8 years or so? All those writers know how to do is take each others ideas because they don't expand horizons. I'm not so sure I'd go so far as to say they don't experience life so they can't capture it in animation, well they're not animators for one thing, but there is definitely a bit of a bubble feeling when it comes to LN based anime that tends to ring so false when compared with reality.

[aohige]

Welcome to 20 years ago.


I mean, really, dude's been saying this same rant since the dawn of Ghibli.
And frankly, he has a point.

Just to let you know, Tomino also shares this view.
He believes people who grew up watching nothing but Gundam, and not getting actual life-experience, will be in disadvantage on the creative field.

They're both making a sweeping generalization, which is never completely accurate, but do have hint of truth in them.

[Pocari_Sweat]

I wonder if his colleague Isao Takahata share the same view or people like Mamoru Hosoda, Makoto Shinkai and Shinichiro Watanabe. Or what the late Satoshi Kon would have thought.

Even better, what Miyazaki thinks of them minus Takahata which I already know that Miyazaki highly respects.

[aohige]

Originally Posted by Pocari_Sweat

I wonder if his colleague Isao Takahata share the same view or people like Mamoru Hosoda, Makoto Shinkai and Shinichiro Watanabe. Or what the late Satoshi Kon would have thought.

Even better, what Miyazaki thinks of them minus Takahata which I already know that Miyazaki highly respects.

We already have an idea of how he thinks of Hosoda.
Miyazaki is the one that rejected Hosoda's entry into Ghibli, telling him that with the amount of talent he has, having him work at Ghibli will be detrimental to his skill.
Meaning, Miyazaki already saw in Hosoda a great animation director to become his peer. And he was right.

[Pocari_Sweat]

Originally Posted by aohige

We already have an idea of how he thinks of Hosoda.
Miyazaki is the one that rejected Hosoda's entry into Ghibli, telling him that with the amount of talent he has, having him work at Ghibli will be detrimental to his skill.
Meaning, Miyazaki already saw in Hosoda a great animation director to become his peer. And he was right.

Wait are you sure?

I thought Hosoda was fired from Ghibli during the making of Howl's moving Castle.

[aohige]

Originally Posted by Pocari_Sweat

Wait are you sure?

I thought Hosoda was fired from Ghibli during the making of Howl's moving Castle.

Yes, it's from his own words, from Hosoda interview for Tokikake in Freestyle magazine.
He was rejected from Ghibli at the entrance exam by Miyazaki himself.

AFTER he became an animator, he was asked by Ghibli to head the Howl project.
This fell apart because Ghibli was busy with Spirited Away and could not spare any man-power for the project, and could not secure staff for the movie.
He was not fired as he was never hired in the first place, this was a free-lance offer. Hosoda was never a Ghibli staff himself.
The project was rebooted in later year by Miyazaki.

[Marcus H.]

Let me chime in that while I don't think this necessarily applies to things in general, this couldn't be more true about the incestuous, creatively bankrupt LN industry. And guess what churns out adaption after adaption every season for the past 6-8 years or so? All those writers know how to do is take each others ideas because they don't expand horizons.

As someone who is at least interested with the light novel medium, I think I agree with how LNs are incestuous (figuratively and literally). Most LNs nowadays are focused on high school settings, fantasy and the typical male protagonist with a special power on one hand, and entire harems of every decent fetish imaginable on the other. Very few dwell on more realistic and down to earth views of life.

But I wouldn't blame them. For one, the people responsible for the saturation of works like these are the publishers themselves, for they have the power to green-light, extend or abruptly end the run of a particular light novel series.

I'm not so sure I'd go so far as to say they don't experience life so they can't capture it in animation, well they're not animators for one thing, but there is definitely a bit of a bubble feeling when it comes to LN based anime that tends to ring so false when compared with reality.

Maybe Miyazaki hoped for more animators to learn more about the reality behind the stuff they do. For example, watching a baker whip up a croissant or a barista make a batch of brewed coffee in preparation for an anime series set in a coffee shop. That's what actors often do when a role requires them to be a particular occupation.

Unfortunately, that's not feasible in the world of anime. First off, that would require a lot of more money than just taking location shots of the setting and hiring and/or outsourcing animators. Second, more time would be spent in dealing with stuff like this instead of just going straight into the animation process.

Simply put, Miyazaki's talking like he knows about the anime industry.
However, by isolating himself to the rest of the industry, he's no better than the otaku he accuses of being socially awkward.