Studio Bones and related discussion (was: Upcoming BONES sequels)

[Vegard Aune]

Originally Posted by wao

Maybe FMA 2 (if it is produced) will be like the new Haruhi thing coming out, a re-interpretation....

Disregarding the fact that Haruhi 2 being a re-interpretation is only half true, I sure hope this new FMA-series will be. The anime already had an undeniably conclusive ending, and continuing off that would just ruin it. If they restart it and make a new version that actually follows the manga from start to end however, that would be completely awesome.

[Katapan]

Originally Posted by wao

I'm not so sure whether it'll boost ratings though, people might get all disgusted with Bones now and most importantly they (or the marketing companies) can't handle pre-show hype entirely their way - now the cat's let out of the bag, when and if they eventually announce it really being produced the impact would be drastically lessened.
Then again maybe by the time that happens people would've forgotten about it by then...

Sorry if I misunderstand, but you mean that the leak's not going to help the ratings, right?
I definitely agree. I mean, we've seen what might be desperate attempts of trying to bring back viewers with "leaks" (hey there, Sunrise!), and these didn't exactly work.

I was only trying to figure out the producers' schemes regarding the future successor to Gundam 00 on Nichigo (without really taking the impact of the leak into account). I couldn't see them going with an original work (original in the sense that the series had never been successfully adapted on TV) - this has already been tested in various flavors on Doroku, and we know the (sadly disappointing) results.

Now there are very few options to make sure Nichigo doesn't end up being a complete failure after Gundam 00. The most logical one would be to bring back old franchises that worked so well, but Gundam has already been used. And after Gundam Seed, FMA immediately comes to mind - which is why I thought producers could have placed their hopes on the series, and easily allowed an appropriate budget to BONES for a new season.

Of course my understanding of the whole budget-allocating system is still feeble at best, and I'm just throwing wild guesses here. Please don't mind me if this made little sense!

[qtipbrit]

Wow, so if this is really true, Full Metal Alchemist is well on its way to becoming the next Evangelion or Gundam.
The fanboys are there, the money is there, and now an unforeseeable, completely out of the blue new series.

[wao]

No, it looks like I'm theo ne who has to apologize for misunderstanding you. Sorry, I can't believe I was daft enough not to realise you meant the creation of the FMA sequel, not the leak. Yeah, of cousre the leak wouldn't help at all, I don't know what I was thinking pointing out such an obvious thing...

I agree with you very much in that case though. It makes a lot of sense for them to try inject popularity into the slot by using an old property. When I see people talk about the former success of doroku it's always SEED (which they can't quite redo with the same staff now, and other Gundams have already been used like you said) and FMA, so if they want to snag back viewers... Meh, it's not a tactic I like in particular but I guess the producers need something, and Bones needs money to fund all its wonderful original projects that are not quite cash-cows shall we say.

EDIT: Also I have some hunch that FMA is not going to be on an epoch-defining level like Eva or Gundam. I mean okay, there's the money and fans, but there's nothing that's made it really... stick out so far (I don't mean it as an insult, it's just not something incredibly new compared to the other shows around its time) And I think one big difference that matters is that it has an original work (manga). It isn't a total studio original like Eva and Gundam, which allowed the studios to milk them to their hearts' extent without really worrying too much about other producers... For FMA I get the impression they are still doing it as they were asked to (the fact that there's original events doesn't have so much to do with Bones as it does have to do with the producers' decisions and the writers, I have a feeling)

Of course I'm largely talking out of my ass again... if anyone here with more experience in such matters has any insights to offer please do.

[kujoe]

Originally Posted by wao

The real news here that 2ch is making a fuss about isn't so much the possibility of sequels than the actual "leak" though, as far as I can see. Because you have to realise that although it's written here, it could very well still be in the planning stage and go poof (and with this little uproar, maybe it just might) Of course, it's still news to know that they're planning it, but for some time it's seemed like people were clamouring more about the fact that it got posted in the first place.

So, I assume that 2ch folks aren't too keen on the prospect of an FMA sequel then? Frankly, even though FMA is fine as it is, I still can't help being curious about what a possible second season would be like. With the original manga still going through its own run (I think), I guess there's still some opportunity for BONES to milk its popularity. I feel somewhat ambivalent towards this idea.

And yeah, I don't think FMA is on a similar epoch-defining level as Gundam or Evangelion whose stories are comparable to epics in their own right. (Yamato is considered as one of the first, if I'm not mistaken.) Such titles are renowned as milestones in anime, and for defining a certain aspect of the respective eras of when they were first put to air.

But wait, the second season of Haruhi is going to reinterpretation? (half true or otherwise) That's news to me.

[cicido]

Originally Posted by kujoe

But wait, the second season of Haruhi is going to reinterpretation? (half true or otherwise) That's news to me.

From the magazine scans of long-haired Haruhi, i'm guessing it'll be an adaption of "The Vanishment of Haruhi Suzumiya".

I would like to see DtB2 and all, but there is no point with out amber. T_T

[Mizuno]

Maybe a re-telling of the story in an alternate universe. Similar structure with different roles for the characters.

[wao]

Originally Posted by kujoe

So, I assume that 2ch folks aren't too keen on the prospect of an FMA sequel then? Frankly, even though FMA is fine as it is, I still can't help being curious about what a possible second season would be like. With the original manga still going through its own run (I think), I guess there's still some opportunity for BONES to milk its popularity. I feel somewhat ambivalent towards this idea.

Well, I dunno - some people seem to be really excited about it but it's gotten drowned out by all the other details in the uploaded document. The fact that 300+ people's numbers were exposed and some addresses too etc. People want to see what happens and if Bones makes an apology or sends letters to the individual people and whether some animators will be dropping out from Bones from now on and who the person who uploaded this was etc. etc. Among all these (negative?) thoughts about Bones it's a bit out of place (I suppose?) to jump up and down about the possibility of sequels.

If it was just info on FMA 2 coming out then people would've talked more about that I think.
I'm not an FMA fan but I'm kinda ambivalent towards it too. I guess if it's necessary to bring in the bux for Bones then I can sit with it - I think Soul Eater's as boring as hell but if it funds whatever original projects they have then excellent.

[Zu Ra]

I dont know if this is true or false I will play the waiting game

Plot wise both the series can have sequels

FMA : Where the anime and manga go different paths . There is lot of potential if they go in the manga direction in respect to the sequel

DTB : A prequel to the the storyline .

But I do hope this rumor is true as I enjoyed both this series . And here is hoping Seiji Mizushima is retained I liked most of his works from Shaman King to Edo Rocket

[yezhanquan]

An alternate FMA series is not impossible. Look at Hellsing and Hellsing Ultimate. If BONES feels up to it, and Arakawa-sensei feels like it, why not?

[Vegard Aune]

Originally Posted by kujoe

But wait, the second season of Haruhi is going to reinterpretation? (half true or otherwise) That's news to me.

Well, it's gonna be a continuation of the first series, based mainly off the fourth light-novel, but from a certain point of view, that could be considered a re-interpretation because

Spoiler for The plot of light-novel 4:

the entire world changes completely, and nobody but Kyon actually notices. Basically, Haruhi is nowhere to be found, Ryoko Asakura is still there, Nagato, Mikuru and Koizumi are all normal human beings and so on. At least the promotional material makes it quite clear that they're doing that particular novel.

[wao]

Well now Bones has an official statement saying this document wasn't from their office and they didn't leak it, basically. And that the comments in it were a deliberate action of libel from a 3rd party (and they will look into it).

But as Canned Dogs reports there has been an animator mentioning getting a certain letter of apology from an "unnamed company" and I've read similar reports albeit anonymous... and some of the new information in it fits existing rumours (it turns out there have been rumours about those Code Geass animators for a while)

I'm not contesting that it wasn't made with the purpose of hurting others though, I could imagine someone in the industry - whether they were at Bones or not (or perhaps they were in Bones until now, and the file has been deleted so now the document is nowhere in Bones' offices) - had a list for assessing animators and decided to throw in a few barbs and start up something nasty on the interwebs.

I'd like to know whether the DtB and FMA sequels bit is still true or not though. Bones won't (can't?) confirm this until it actually comes out I guess.

[tigerwoods]

As expected BONES denied the leak, not doing so would've resulted in a huge uproar and lots of people would've been fired. In fact the leak was massive not just your average leak.

But! This doesn't mean that the sequels are not in work, what we know for sure is that they can't say anything yet.

[duckroll]

The BONES official site has a news update on this incident. It's pretty serious so Minami has made a public response to the incident: http://www.bones.co.jp/news/archives/000529.html

It basically recaps the incident of the excel file being uploaded to an uploader site by some anonymous person and the file containing both personal and company information affecting many of their staff. They then go on to say that they have conducted an internal investigation and are confident that the format and contents of the file in no way matches with any document used within the studio. They are also certain that the leak did not originate internally and is very likely a third person who had access to certain information that leaked it. The incident has caused distress and hurt the morale of the staff members within BONES and they are very serious in investigating this further.

Minami is probably really pissed off at the moment. Just as he and Ando fly off to LA for Anime Expo, this crap happens.

Edit: Damn I should have read the rest of the thread. I'm really late. ^^;;

[aardvark]

From ANN. They basically repeat what Minami posted on the official site, but seems they also interviewed him and will post that full interview a bit later.

In an interview after the official statement was published, ANN asked Minami about the possibility of a sequel to Fullmetal Alchemist or Darker than BLACK. Minami told ANN, "It hasn't been decided yet. We are interested in doing them. As original science-fiction works, they were extremely fascinating. With these kinds of dramatic story lines, I feel that there's a lot we could do potentially." The rest of the interview will be released on the ANN website after Anime Expo.

http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news...eaked-document

[wao]

Just going to do an iffy translation of a post on animator Tadashi Hiramatsu's blog relating to this incident:

Originally Posted by Hiramatsu

Regarding that leak of personal information, putting aside the responsibility borne by the individual who allowed the leak to happen, if it was data used for work purposes then the company that individual belonged to should definitely have its own responsibility as managers to be taken into consideration.

Since taking responsibility for the issue is exactly what makes compensation for the victims possible, saying we're not to blame because the offender's data is different from the company's and it was a third party (someone who left the company?) would be the same as thinking "We have absolutely no intentions of providing compensation".

Can you do business with such a company?

That concludes my personal thoughts.

This really is shaking up quite a few things... now to hurry up and catch up on all the damn logs!
People have definitely received letters of apology. But this seems to contradict with Bones' official outward stance that they are not responsible (why would a company that denies having anything to do with the information send an apology?)
Before the announcement some people were guessing Bones would be rather stuck cos they usually like to give no comment answers, but now... hm.

Definitely suspicious how the document was uploaded in June but only became a big matter over the weekend and the weekend where Minami and Hidaka were at Anime Expo, too...

EDIT: I wonder if it's possible for this thread's title to be changed, it's more than just the possibility of sequels now...

[Dingo]

Originally Posted by duckroll

The BONES official site has a news update on this incident. It's pretty serious so Minami has made a public response to the incident: http://www.bones.co.jp/news/archives/000529.html

It basically recaps the incident of the excel file being uploaded to an uploader site by some anonymous person and the file containing both personal and company information affecting many of their staff. They then go on to say that they have conducted an internal investigation and are confident that the format and contents of the file in no way matches with any document used within the studio. They are also certain that the leak did not originate internally and is very likely a third person who had access to certain information that leaked it. The incident has caused distress and hurt the morale of the staff members within BONES and they are very serious in investigating this further.

Minami is probably really pissed off at the moment. Just as he and Ando fly off to LA for Anime Expo, this crap happens.

Aye thanks for telling us what is going on again, not like we got it the first time right?

Anyway this is being blown out of proportion, leaks happen, someone was unhappy with BONES and wala.

[7Th]

Was Hiramatsu on the published list? He only worked with Bones once on that Eureka Seven 10 scene...

[Eclipze]

I wonder if this is related to the DtB "staff-stole-script" incident from last year. I mean, that was the first time I've actually heard of someone's action causing the company to redo the episode (or so I remember)...

[wao]

Originally Posted by 7Th

Was Hiramatsu on the published list? He only worked with Bones once on that Eureka Seven 10 scene...

No he wasn't, there's no Hiramatsu, only a Hirasawa Yuko or something like that. But that doesn't stop him from commenting on it.

The list doesn't necessarily include people who've worked often with Bones I think, like why is Toshiyuki Inoue there? I can only remember him working on Iso's episode of RahXephon... or maybe there was more.


I don't think the staff-stole-script incident really made the company redo the episode though. And as far as I remember it wasn't even the script, it was just some key animation (unless you're talking about something else in which case I'll just shut up) And I'm pretty sure this doesn't have that much to do with it, unless there has been some kind of bubbling resentment building up in the prodution staff for some time..