Kyoto Animation: Studio discussion, speculation, and whatnot.

[thirdlc]

Originally Posted by thirdlc

Ikeda Shoko didn't work on Haruhi 2009 but worked on Disappearance, as General Animation Director. I think that's the reason.

She took a maternity leave for one year after Clannad AS, so her style is not much k-onised as we can see it with the character model sheets for Haruhi 2009 and Disappearance.

I just found a big mistake! It's not after Clannad AS, but before Clannad AS. To be more precise, it's at some point between after Clannad and before Clannad AS. It doesn't affect my point though.

Originally Posted by all_flying

So, KyoAni indeed managed getting their name carved in anime history for their remarkable performance in animation since FMP? Quite bit of ironic since KyoAni is not a big studio to begin with, compared to Sunrise or Toei.

Aside from those giants, maybe KyoAni animation department has been famous among the anime industry since its establishment.

As Inoue can't stop praising Kigami, Kigami apparently is one of legendary animators. One day he moved to Kyoto. There were no anime studios there in Kyoto. He had no choice but to retire from anime. Kyoto Animation, a cel-painting company at the time, thought it would be a huge loss for the anime industry, and it established its animation department for his sake. I believe the name of KyoAni spread as Kigami's studio across the industry.

A certain director told a back story of the time when KyoAni was performing subcontracting works before Fumoffu. An anime studio subcontracts to other studios to rearrange its own schedule. In contrast, since he wanted to subcontract to KyoAni, he rearranged the schedule of his project to suit KyoAni's schedule. That story shows how special KyoAni has been since their early days.

Originally Posted by kyouray

Thanks a lot ! That's very interesting, it's always a pleasure to read Inoue's interviews (I highly recommend his old interview with Kenji Horikawa : part 1, part 2)

They look interesting too. I'm more interested in animators than anime. I'll read them later.

Originally Posted by rulfo

Why?

In any case thanks for the read. It'd be great if you can post the continuations. It's an interesting read.

Translating a long interview was much harder work than I had thought.

[brocko]

Originally Posted by Chanbara

...
I still think that 5 years+ is too long for a proper sequel to capitalise on the original popularity of the series (only series I can think of that did such a thing is Gundam)
...

It's only been barely 2 years since Disappearance was first released in cinemas. It is now Jan 2012, Disappearance was released Feb 2010. The only way you can get 5+ years is by counting from the original 2006 airing and ignoring both the extended 2009 season along with the 2010 Disappearance film.

Originally Posted by thirdlc

I just found a big mistake! It's not after Clannad AS, but before Clannad AS. To be more precise, it's at some point between after Clannad and before Clannad AS. It doesn't affect my point though.

That makes a litle more sense, since AS is when their new style slowly started to creep in.

---------------
I think Shana III bombing can be attributed more to than just the 4 year break imo, like the jarring transition between s2 and s3 which must've alienated a lot of fans/potential customers I'm sure.

Haruhi as a franchise is also stupidly absurd at times too don't forget. I don't think any other franchise could've gotten away with that 2007-2009 PR debacle only to show E8 and still manage to come out in rather good shape afterwards. It's only been a little under two years since the last continuation so I still think it's a little too early to despair just yet. I know I'd rather wait in the dark and be told straight up when the next installment is as opposed to finding out earlier only to play their little hype game where they keep telling you it's coming but never actually when.

[Triple_R]

Haruhi and Shana certainly aren't a perfect comparison. Shana never enjoyed the level of sales success that Haruhi did.

Still, Shana at one time was a sales success, and it no longer is. I think that there's a valid cautionary tale there about how it's generally not wise to leave a popular anime on hiatus for a very long period of time: Say, 4 years or longer. 3 years alone is pushing it a bit, but 4 years is probably really risking an erosion of the fanbase/customerbase.


Anime, and its fandom, have always been predominantly new-focused. You see this in ISML, where older characters inevitably grow weaker over time, almost never stronger. To a significant extent, the anime industry is internet hype-driven. It's often harder to get that hype going anew after a long layoff than after a shorter and more standard 2 years or so layoff.


If a new Haruhi anime comes out sometime between now and Summer 2013, say, then that's probably not too long a layoff for most of the fanbase/customerbase. Anything beyond that, though, really is running a risk of growing disinterest.

[brocko]

The 2006 and 2009 series had a three year gap in between and things seemed to work out alright there. I dunno I still think it's gonna take a whole lot longer than 3-4 years to completely devastate Haruhi though.

I'm curious to see how much drop-off (or if any) Ippo had since it went through a six year break from 2003-2009.

[TJR]

Originally Posted by brocko

I think Shana III bombing can be attributed more to than just the 4 year break imo, like the jarring transition between s2 and s3 which must've alienated a lot of fans/potential customers I'm sure.

I don't know if the failure can necessarily be attributed to content. The light novels have been in a death spiral over the past couple years, so there wasn't much interest in S3 in the first place.

Somehow or another, they lost their fans. It's like a whole bunch of people collected 20 or so books, only to decide that they didn't care enough to finish (i.e. they moved onto newer series or quit reading light novels altogether). Maybe the novel content just wasn't strong enough to maintain popularity without frequent marketing pushes.

As for Haruhi, I'm pretty sure it's going to have more staying power than the typical hit.

[Ithekro]

Sales of Book 10 and 11 of the Haruhi Light Novels was rather high, but then sales for the first book in the series is extremely high.

[Bri]

Hard to determine the expiration date of a particular property. I don't see FMP get anymore adaptions. Code Geass pretty much redefined the mecha/high school blend and FMP just can't really fit in that mold.

Multi year gaps between anime don't really have to be an issue as long as the property itself remains popular. Fate/Stay night had a similar gap. Eureka 7 is getting a sequel after 7 years.

As for Haruhi, the 2009 version was pretty much a relaunch so new fans could jump on. Last time I checked the movie and the latest issues of the LN still did well in sales so there is a pretty good chance there will be more animated content in the future. The property also benefits from actually having a solid storyline by Tanigawa rather than being more of being a character promotion vehicle like Shana.

[Westlo]

Originally Posted by all_flying

My bet is, Hyouka will be a season anime, while Chu2 Byo will be OVA(s) release. That will leave them with one more empty slot on 2012. Lets expect it to be a surprise (even though, there is Nichijou re-air in winter)

I really don't think Chu2 will be an OVA, I'm thinking Fall, like I said earlier I think it got announced so early because the second LN was coming out, it's promotion 101. They'll probably be another LN out by the middle of the year so you'll have 3 LNs to fit into a one cour series.

Originally Posted by Triple_R

Well, if that's correct, then Haruhi could very well get caught in limbo, as Archon aptly puts it. It could be caught in a place where, in spite of its popularity, no more of it is ever adapted into anime format.

Oh god this is hilarious if people actually believe this deep down inside themselves instead of actually saying it because their butthurt. Than later on you go to compare this to Shana 3?

Let me show you why this example is so damn silly.

Shana's LN novels had already peaked in sales well before the Final Novel + 3rd Season.
Haruhi's latest novels after a 4 year absence are the highest selling novels in the series.

So not only did Haruhi manage to survive for 4 years (Bu-bu-but THE ANIME CAN'T!!!!) without new content it also managed to sell the best it has ever done. While Shana which was continuously releasing novels went into a downwards spiral.

To compare Haruhi to Shana is an absolute joke as well in terms of franchise power, would be like comparing Vandread to Gundam or Macross. If you want to compare something to Haruhi than make it the Monogatari series since that's the only LN/Anime that compares. The LN for that sales about half of Haruhi (but they also cost twice as much so the same gross) but the anime is far more popular, nearly doubling Haruhi's sales.

Poor SHAFT, is their thread going to be filled with endless bitching and whining everytime they adapt/do something new instead of working on future Monogatari adaptions (looking @ 5 more series lol) and Madoka movies and spinoffs?

I actually wouldn't mind if Kadokawa tried a 3 year cycle with Haruhi.

Haruhi Film 2010
Nichijou 2011
Hyou-Ka 2012
Haruhi 3 2013
<New Property> 2014 (Maybe do Full Metal Panic Again)
<New Property> 2015
Haruhi 4 2016

You know the guys @ KyoAni might not want to work on the same thing over and over again, why do you think Bungie left Microsoft? So they can do something different from Halo all the damn time.

[Triple_R]

Westlo, I'm simply taking your arguments to their logical conclusions. If you're confident that KyoAni is going to eventually make more Haruhi anime, then please explain to the rest of us exactly why you hold such confidence, because going by your arguments, it's easy to see how the Haruhi anime franchise can get stuck in limbo, with no more of it being produced.

If Kadokawa would rather promote their lesser-known properties than get more Haruhi adapted into anime (your argument), and if KyoAni can't do or say anything against that out of fear of losing Kadokawa as a business partner/client (again, your argument), then that logically leads us into a situation in which Haruhi may never get more anime adaptation work done for it again.

If this is not the case, then please explain to me why, because I'm only going by your arguments here.

Originally Posted by Westlo

Than later on you go to compare this to Shana 3?

I raised Shana 3 simply to show an example of how a popular anime can lose fans and/or sales by going on hiatus for too long.

Let me show you why this example is so damn silly.

It's not a silly example at all. Shana was a 10K seller at one time. Now it seemingly can't even break 5K, going by current sales data.

Shana's LN novels had already peaked in sales well before the Final Novel + 3rd Season.
Haruhi's latest novels after a 4 year absence are the highest selling novels in the series.

Yes, and you yourself went on to state how with Haruhi vs. the Monogatari series, the one that sells more as an anime is not the one that sells more (in number of sales) as a LN. LN success doesn't necessarily bring with it perfectly equivalent anime success. For example, Moshidora sold very well as a LN, but it sold quite poorly as an anime.

So not only did Haruhi manage to survive for 4 years

The Haruhi novels having a four year absence is less consequential because the anime was there to help maintain fan interest in the Haruhi property as a whole. Having the Disappearance movie come out not that long before the latest Haruhi novels came out no doubt helped Haruhi novel sales.

However, will we have more Haruhi novels coming out at a steady rate to similarly keep momentum going if the Haruhi anime is on a lengthy hiatus? Who knows? With Tanigawa's recent writing pace, I doubt it.

Poor SHAFT, is their thread going to be filled with endless bitching and whining everytime they adapt/do something new instead of working on future Monogatari adaptions (looking @ 5 more series lol) and Madoka movies and spinoffs?

There's a rather huge difference between SHAFT and KyoAni which renders your comparison here a poor one. That difference is the sheer quantity of anime projects the two respective studios put out on an annual basis. From Winter 2011 to Fall 2011, KyoAni had precisely one project: Nichijou.

The main reason people ask "What about Haruhi?" or "What about Little Busters?" or "What about FMP?" when KyoAni announces that it's doing/adapting something new is because all of us here know that KyoAni only does one or two projects a year. This is most definitely not the case with SHAFT, which is why no Madoka or Monogatari fan would fear for their favorite anime shows just because SHAFT announces a project for a new IP.

As long as KyoAni only does one or two projects a year, each project they choose to do will obviously come under intense scrutiny. That's part of the inherent price that comes along with a very prominent anime studio doing only a project or two a year.

I actually wouldn't mind if Kadokawa tried a 3 year cycle with Haruhi.

Haruhi Film 2010
Nichijou 2011
Hyou-Ka 2012
Haruhi 3 2013
<New Property> 2014 (Maybe do Full Metal Panic Again)
<New Property> 2015
Haruhi 4 2016

This isn't far off from what I'd like either. But I'm honestly skeptical that we're going to get it.

You know the guys @ KyoAni might not want to work on the same thing over and over again, why do you think Bungie left Microsoft? So they can do something different from Halo all the damn time.

In almost any commercial enterprise, the customer is always right.

If the customer wants more Halo, then they should get more Halo.

If the customer wants more Haruhi, then they should get more Haruhi.

The customer parts with his or her hard-earned money for Halo/Haruhi, while game developers/animators are paid to perform a creative task, and that task is to make the games/anime that customers will hopefully want to have. Yes, game developers and anime makers should certainly be allowed to express their artistic creativity and get refreshing changes from time-to-time in various side-projects, but at the end of the day, the main goal should be satisfying customers and fans as best as is reasonably possible. That means that as long as demand for Halo and Haruhi is there, you service that demand.


I simply think that the anime industry, and its companies, should put their customers and fans first. Which obviously means that you don't leave a large fanbase/customer-base out in the cold for very long.

[cyth]

Originally Posted by Triple_R

In almost any commercial enterprise, the customer is always right.

If the customer wants more Halo, then they should get more Halo.

If the customer wants more Haruhi, then they should get more Haruhi.

You are obviously not an animator for saying such things. Having sat through live discussions with them I can confirm that project fatigue definitely is a factor, and it's hard for an animator, a creative person, to sit on one idea year after year after year.

Besides, if KyoAni really wants more customers, they can just make more K-ON!

Also, the Moshidora franchise can't really compare to either Shana or Haruhi as both the books and the broadcasts aimed at different demographics with a distinctly different release and sales strategies.

[fertygo]

Are we gonna act Kyoani can't easily make 2 cour + 1 movie next time they continue the project n have material for that?

And that gonna easily cover 6-8 novel material.

[Westlo]

Of course not fertygo, HARUHI IS IN LIMBO after all.

Originally Posted by Triple_R

Westlo, I'm simply taking your arguments to their logical conclusions. If you're confident that KyoAni is going to eventually make more Haruhi anime, then please explain to the rest of us exactly why you hold such confidence, because going by your arguments, it's easy to see how the Haruhi anime franchise can get stuck in limbo, with no more of it being produced.

If Kadokawa would rather promote their lesser-known properties than get more Haruhi adapted into anime (your argument), and if KyoAni can't do or say anything against that out of fear of losing Kadokawa as a business partner/client (again, your argument), then that logically leads us into a situation in which Haruhi may never get more anime adaptation work done for it again.

If this is not the case, then please explain to me why, because I'm only going by your arguments here.

I never said Kadokawa wouldn't do another Haruhi. Because that's just flat out stupid and so is anyone who thinks that. I said Kadokawa can sit on Haruhi because they know they have a guaranteed seller on their hands and in the meantime use KyoAni to push their new franchises.

Instead of being butthurt and obtuse use some common sense please.

I raised Shana 3 simply to show an example of how a popular anime can lose fans and/or sales by going on hiatus for too long.

The novel itself was losing fans with constant releases, do you not think that two shitty tv series as well as potential plot twists fans might not have liked didn't play a part?

Are we also going to act like Shana like series aren't a dime a dozen these days or that Shana was even that "good" in the first place?

It's not a silly example at all. Shana was a 10K seller at one time. Now it seemingly can't even break 5K, going by current sales data.

In the last 18 months Haruhi has had a Movie that has sold over 100,000 copies on Bluray, has had a bluray boxset sell over 34,000 copies which is the highest ever and than released two new Light novels that went on to crush all opposition.

Shana otoh had an OVA series that had sales fall drastically after the first two and had dropping sales for its Light novels which were finishing up.

Exactly the same! How can I have not seen it! Thanks for showing me the error of my ways Triple_R-Sama!

Yes, and you yourself went on to state how with Haruhi vs. the Monogatari series, the one that sells more as an anime is not the one that sells more (in number of sales) as a LN. LN success doesn't necessarily bring with it perfectly equivalent anime success. For example, Moshidora sold very well as a LN, but it sold quite poorly as an anime.

It takes 2 minutes of reading and googling online to find why Moshidora sold as it did, and considering that group is not people who watch anime and the outrageous price of anime in japan... No shit it didn't sell.

The Haruhi novels having a four year absence is less consequential because the anime was there to help maintain fan interest in the Haruhi property as a whole. Having the Disappearance movie come out not that long before the latest Haruhi novels came out no doubt helped Haruhi novel sales.

Oh so that's alright but more light novels doesn't maintain the fan interest in the Anime Haruhi property? Bullshit.

There's a rather huge difference between SHAFT and KyoAni which renders your comparison here a poor one. That difference is the sheer quantity of anime projects the two respective studios put out on an annual basis. From Winter 2011 to Fall 2011, KyoAni had precisely one project: Nichijou.

It seems you haven't been paying attention to SHAFT at all lately.

Winter - Madoka
Spring - Denpa Onna to Seishun Otoko + Maria Holic Alive, Katte ni Kaizou OVAs
Summer - A 50 minute Negima Movie which was an embarrassment and is getting extended by 40 minutes on Bluray.
Fall - Hidamari Sketch x SP OVA

If you knew SHAFT you'll know that this is the least amount of anime they've produced in a year for a long time. It's not like it's so much more output compared to 2-cour Nichijou and the K-ON Movie (which would take more manpower than a mere tv series) which you left out by accident I'm sure.

Also lets look @ what SHAFT are doing this year...

Winter - Nise
TBA - Hidamari Sketch 4, Kizu, Madoka Film Trilogy

All existing IPs.

In almost any commercial enterprise, the customer is always right.

If the customer wants more Halo, then they should get more Halo.

If the customer wants more Haruhi, then they should get more Haruhi.

The customer parts with his or her hard-earned money for Halo/Haruhi, while game developers/animators are paid to perform a creative task, and that task is to make the games/anime that customers will hopefully want to have. Yes, game developers and anime makers should certainly be allowed to express their artistic creativity and get refreshing changes from time-to-time in various side-projects, but at the end of the day, the main goal should be satisfying customers and fans as best as is reasonably possible. That means that as long as demand for Halo and Haruhi is there, you service that demand.


I simply think that the anime industry, and its companies, should put their customers and fans first. Which obviously means that you don't leave a large fanbase/customer-base out in the cold for very long.

lol.

Originally Posted by cyth

Besides, if KyoAni really wants more customers, they can just make more K-ON!

True that, I mean the customer is always right!

07)　　*43,883　　¥2,309m　　14 ep　　2009　　Kyoto Animation　　Pony Canyon__　　K-ON!
09)　　*41,037　　¥2,091m　　14 ep　　2006　　Kyoto Animation　　Kadokawa_____　　Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuuutsu
10)　　*39,385　　¥2,888m　　27 ep　　2010　　Kyoto Animation　　Pony Canyon__　　K-ON!!
36)　　*19,064　　¥*,940m　　14 ep　　2009　　Kyoto Animation　　Kadokawa_____　　Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuuutsu (2009)

K-ON! Movie - ¥1,139,230,000 (and growing)
Haruhi Movie - ¥830,000,000

K-ON! wins in S1, S2 and Movie. KyoAni should listen to their customers and stop wasting time with Haruhi and work strictly on K-ON!, it's what the customer wants after all.

[Triple_R]

Originally Posted by cyth

You are obviously not an animator for saying such things.

So there's not a single animator that would agree with the axiom of "The Customer is Always Right"?

That's a pretty commonly referenced axiom.

In any event, I specifically wrote that it's fine for animators to get a refreshing change from time-to-time by doing some side-projects, but that companies should regularly go back to the most popular properties that a lot of fans demand. The key is achieving balance here.

This, in my view, constitutes a perfectly reasonable compromise between fan/customer demands and creator freedom.

Having sat through live discussions with them I can confirm that project fatigue definitely is a factor, and it's hard for an animator, a creative person, to sit on one idea year after year after year.

So take a year off to do a side-project, that's fine. But after that year off, go back to the Halos and Haruhis.

Any good business or industry will want to satisfy its paying customers and meet their more reasonable requests. And requesting to have a hit LN and a hit anime adapted to completion, and not take forever for that completion to be made, is a perfectly reasonable request for customers to make.

Besides, if KyoAni really wants more customers, they can just make more K-ON!

It's not about simply making more customers, it's also about satisfying the ones you already have so you don't lose them. There are loads of Haruhi customers who want more Haruhi. Making more K-On! won't in and of itself satisfy them forever.

Just because you have MegaSuperHit A doesn't mean you leave fans of MegaHit B out in the cold forever. Blizzard has both Warcraft (WoW) and Starcraft to its name. It would be foolish to neglect one to focus only the fans of the other, as both are hugely popular properties with their own large, distinct fanbases.

Also, the Moshidora franchise can't really compare to either Shana or Haruhi as both the books and the broadcasts aimed at different demographics with a distinctly different release and sales strategies.

I never once compared Moshidora to Shana or Haruhi. I simply raised Moshidora to show how LN sales do not necessarily translate into anime adaptation sales.

Originally Posted by fertygo

Are we gonna act Kyoani can't easily make 2 cour + 1 movie next time they continue the project n have material for that?

There's already plenty of remaining Haruhi novel material to fill up a 2 cour season, with more left over. It's not like KyoAni has to wait for Tanigawa to write more. Not now they don't.

[Skane]

You sure you want to use Blizzard as an analogy? Blizzard-When It's Done-Entertainment who took ten years for a Starcraft sequel announcement? That's comparable to... hey, what do you know. Full Metal Panic!

Just because they're not doing it now, doesn't mean they won't do it at all.

Cheers.

[Westlo]

Originally Posted by Triple_R

So there's not a single animator that would agree with the axiom of "The Customer is Always Right"?

That's a pretty commonly referenced axiom.

lol, noone believes that crap, it's just customer service. Most of the time in a lot of industries the customers are fucking morons and don't know shit.

In any event, I specifically wrote that it's fine for animators to get a refreshing change from time-to-time by doing some side-projects, but that companies should regularly go back to the most popular properties that a lot of fans demand. The key is achieving balance here.

This, in my view, constitutes a perfectly reasonable compromise between fan/customer demands and creator freedom.

So...

Suzumiya Haruhi-chan no Yuuutsu
Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuuutsu (2009)
Suzumiya Haruhi no Shoushitsu

Isn't regularly going back to their popular properties? Good god the entitlement of Haruhi fans is obnoxious.

So take a year off to do a side-project, that's fine. But after that year off, go back to the Halos and Haruhis.

Microsoft wouldn't let them do any side projects, that's why they had to leave to stop doing Halo lol. Pity for you and other Haruhi tragics that Kadokawa doesn't own KyoAni and they aren't MS

Any good business or industry will want to satisfy its paying customers and meet their more reasonable requests. And requesting to have a hit LN and a hit anime adapted to completion, and not take forever for that completion to be made, is a perfectly reasonable request for customers to make.

It's not finished yet and you yourself said you don't know when the next one will come out, maybe this is why Kadokawa want to space it out? Naahhh couldn't be...

It's not about simply making more customers, it's also about satisfying the ones you already have so you don't lose them. There are loads of Haruhi customers who want more Haruhi. Making more K-On! won't in and of itself satisfy them forever.

But as shown K-ON! > Haruhi and K-ON! has 2 new mangas already started up.

Just because you have MegaSuperHit A doesn't mean you leave fans of MegaHit B out in the cold forever. Blizzard has both Warcraft (WoW) and Starcraft to its name. It would be foolish to neglect one to focus only the fans of the other, as both are hugely popular properties with their own large, distinct fanbases.

Blizzard? Blizzard? Blizzard? Wow what a horrible example.... lmao if Kadokawa/KyoAni looked after Haruhi like Blizzard you would be slitting your wrists... over 10 years for the next Diablo game, 12 years from SC to SC2, horrible periods of time without no new content in WoW.

I never once compared Moshidora to Shana or Haruhi. I simply raised Moshidora to show how LN sales do not necessarily translate into anime adaptation sales.

And he gave you an answer as to why it didn't sell, you're also ignoring that Haruhi is already a proven product and that it's trending up whereas Shana was going down.

There's already plenty of remaining Haruhi novel material to fill up a 2 cour season, with more left over. It's not like KyoAni has to wait for Tanigawa to write more. Not now they don't.

And if they had done 2 cours this year and he took another 4 years to make another novel because he's afraid of being exposed as a hack.. than what?

[Archon_Wing]

Nah, Blizzard is a fine example

Yes they are slow, but they take care to and maintain their properties to keep the customers happy.

Starcraft I and Diablo II are very old games, yet the online services are still supported for a 13 year old game. Hell, even fucking Diablo I is still supported via battle.net Blizzard has consistently patched these games years after their release and even bothered to provide new content for Diablo II even though they were under no obligation to do so. You didn't have to pay for it. Patch 1.10 was after the expansion yet the new patch had provided a ton of new features.

The last Starcraft I patch was 3 years ago to fix major issues. That's over 11 years past release!

Starcraft I would fuck up under Windows 7 at first. Most game makers would go "lol not supported" but Blizzard releases a workaround even though they never designed it to be compatible.

If anything, Blizzard is one of the companies that go far and out of their way to make sure each of their products is taken care of well.

So yes, they don't spam sequels out the wazoo, but they sure don't leave their customers of any of their 3 major franchises out in the cold.

And this is coming from the #1 Blizzard basher on these forums.

So they might be slow, but at least they're steady.

[Westlo]

It took them 7 years to pump out Starcraft 2 after the release of WoW, that which came out 5 years after Brood War. I also really don't see how maintaining servers has anything to do with releasing new content which is what people are bitching about in regards to Haruhi and KyoAni.

The WC and SC of Kyoani have both had 2 tv series and a movie in the last 6 years, if it's fine to wait for Blizzard games than learn to wait for KyoAni. It's a shame that a company as great as Blizzard will never be able to release a new IP, I'm sure that Titan MMO is just going to end up being a Starcraft MMO after all.

[Reckoner]

Akiyuki Shinbo has already basically said that anime is meant to make money. And guess what... Madoka sold like crazy, and what do you know, we got more Madoka on the way. Bake sold well and now we got a squel and a prequel all at once.

Haruhi sold really well and we got endless 8 and infinite delays. Yeah, sure Kadokawa might be managing to make money out of this from the customers who are frankly insane enough to spend money on an episode that was the same thing remade 8 times, but how does that change anything about what's being said? It's still asinine and annoying to the people who find this really disagreeable. I would've gladly bought more Haruhi, I own its first season, but because of their antics I refuse to give them another dime now.

FMP I'm not that big a fan of, but the treatment of that franchise is also disgustingly absurd.

[Archon_Wing]

Originally Posted by Westlo

It took them 7 years to pump out Starcraft 2 after the release of WoW, that which came out 5 years after Brood War. I also really don't see how maintaining servers has anything to do with releasing new content which is what people are bitching about in regards to Haruhi and KyoAni.

The WC and SC of Kyoani have both had 2 tv series and a movie in the last 6 years, if it's fine to wait for Blizzard games than learn to wait for KyoAni. It's a shame that a company as great as Blizzard will never be able to release a new IP, I'm sure that Titan MMO is just going to end up being a Starcraft MMO after all.

It is not just maintaining servers. It is the patching and adding of new content to satisfy customers over a long period of time-- far longer than reasonably expected. Oh and Blizzard doesn't hold back on showcasing their new content even if it's yet to be released do they? Before Starcraft II they were constantly parading new content to the public and well... keeping people interested.

Why is this important?

Triple_r's original quote said:

Just because you have MegaSuperHit A doesn't mean you leave fans of MegaHit B out in the cold forever. Blizzard has both Warcraft (WoW) and Starcraft to its name. It would be foolish to neglect one to focus only the fans of the other, as both are hugely popular properties with their own large, distinct fanbases.

And I would say Blizzard has done this. Games tend to take a longer time to make than anime, but Blizzard has taken this level of perfection to a fine art. And hey, they're raking in tons of money with a loyal fanbase so it's inevitable Triple would bring this up. It's just an analogy across 2 different mediums....

Do Diablo, Starcraft, or Warcraft fans really think one of the other series are getting preferential treatment? I'm more with the Starcraft side, and I don't feel this at all despite the long wait times because of all the continued and consistent care they put in Brood War.

But to return us back to Kyoani; I would say the marketing for the Haruhi/FMP/etc franchises could do much better.

[brocko]

Haruhi hasn't even gotten to the point of being neglected yet, so all this fan demand and what not just comes across as obnoxious self-entitlement.

It hasn't even been two years yet since the last animated work.
The lastest novels 10 and 11 were released back in May and June of last year. Barely 6 and 7 months have passed since then.

People need to wait longer before they even begin to complain about Haruhi being left out in the cold. They havn't even given KyoAni an opportunity to showcase another season yet, let alone a break from the franchise to avoid project fatigue.

They'll get around to it eventually. There's no need to make a fuss right now. If they want to sit on the franchise for a bit, that's that. Nothing we can do to change that and they can afford to do such a thing. Haruhi has already grown to a point and proven that it can take it.