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Answerman - Why Are Compilation Films Made?


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Topgunguy



Joined: 08 Dec 2015
Posts: 258
PostPosted: Fri Dec 02, 2016 1:12 pm Reply with quote
I don't like compilations. They always feel rushed and jump around from plot point to plot point. Death Note's compilation movies were didn't make sense and flowed rather poorly even for those who already know the full story.

Only short series like OVA episodes being merged into movies work fine as compilations since they're already short and nothing is really taken out, in fact, new scenes are added most of the time like Samurai X, Endless Waltz, and Afro Samurai.
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Parsifal24





PostPosted: Fri Dec 02, 2016 1:19 pm Reply with quote
I don't mind them if it's a long series I don't have the time for I've seen all the original Mobile Suit Gundam movies and I would not have watched Gundam otherwise if the movies had not been made.
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Shay Guy



Joined: 03 Jul 2009
Posts: 2093
PostPosted: Fri Dec 02, 2016 1:24 pm Reply with quote
Now the question becomes, why are reruns a thing in America, and not so much in Japan? (Is it related to Sazae-san airing year-round, while The Simpsons/Law & Order/etc. does annual chunks of ~22 episodes? Is it a function of production costs?)

Quote:
But more than anything, compilation films are just really, really cheap to make. Even if nobody goes to see them, the cost of producing them is a small fraction of the cost to make a single episode of anime. No new animation needs to be made (and if it does, it's usually only a couple of minutes' worth). Usually only a single voice actor is required to add new narration. No new music needs to be composed. Most of the sound design can be re-used. When an entirely new product from an existing franchise can be made for only the cost of hiring a few editors, making it becomes a question of "why not?"


Didn't the Gundam 0079 movies have a bunch of new footage? And the TTGL movies? And to a lesser extent (I think, not having seen them) a bunch of little changes for the first two Madoka movies?
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silentjay



Joined: 12 Dec 2003
Posts: 303
PostPosted: Fri Dec 02, 2016 1:27 pm Reply with quote
Parsifal24 wrote:
I don't mind them if it's a long series I don't have the time for I've seen all the original Mobile Suit Gundam movies and I would not have watched Gundam otherwise if the movies had not been made.


They're pretty much the exception. Most compilation movies are borderline incomprehensible if you're not intimately familiar with the series. Anime ones aren't even the worst, as the HK live-action TV compilations are incoherent most of the time. Squeezing 20+ hour-long episodes into a 2hr movie is insane.
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Angel M Cazares



Joined: 23 Sep 2010
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PostPosted: Fri Dec 02, 2016 1:53 pm Reply with quote
I personally have zero interest in watching compilation movies of anime series. I am perfectly alright if NA publishers do not license them. I heard that the Madoka Magica compilation movies have some new stuff not present in the series, but I don't need to watch them.
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bassgs435



Joined: 21 Mar 2015
Posts: 264
PostPosted: Fri Dec 02, 2016 1:58 pm Reply with quote
The worst compilation has to be Star Driver's film. They start after the TV show teasing you with a new cool story with new enemies and then we flashback to the show and never know anything else of that cool continuation content.
One that I watched recently that I love is Wixoss's (Selector Destructed Wixoss). It's done really neatly and adds really good new content and changes that really make the whole story better. That said, without watching Infected and Spread, Destructed makes very little sense.
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silentjay



Joined: 12 Dec 2003
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PostPosted: Fri Dec 02, 2016 2:03 pm Reply with quote
Shay Guy wrote:
Now the question becomes, why are reruns a thing in America, and not so much in Japan? (Is it related to Sazae-san airing year-round, while The Simpsons/Law & Order/etc. does annual chunks of ~22 episodes? Is it a function of production costs?)


It's... long and somewhat complicated for a forum post.

In a nutshell, it's a combination of what Justin already wrote, plus cultural, geographical, and historical reasons... and you could write a book on on it. You really have to look at the birth and growth of TV in North America to really grasp it, especially involving networks, the rise of cable, the explosion of channels, and syndication. Basically, with a lot of channels, you need a lot of content, and the cheaper the better. Geographically-speaking, American is big, really big, but Japan isn't, and the difference in population density is hard to fathom without experiencing both countries. America needed more stations to reach the population than Japan did, and those stations needed content. Reruns (and movies) were much of that content, as they were ready-made. Japan didn't need that many stations, and those stations produced more content that reached a wider audience than the US stations.

I'm sort of out of time, but I think you might be getting the gist of what I'm trying to explain. Like I said, it's long and complicated, plus there's a lot of over-simplification involved. (There's an entire book you could write on the cultural differences involved in the concept of 'space' (as in the space between two objects) between the US and Japan, but that's another long one.)
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Shaterri



Joined: 03 Jan 2008
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PostPosted: Fri Dec 02, 2016 2:12 pm Reply with quote
Shay Guy wrote:
Now the question becomes, why are reruns a thing in America, and not so much in Japan? (Is it related to Sazae-san airing year-round, while The Simpsons/Law & Order/etc. does annual chunks of ~22 episodes? Is it a function of production costs?


This is guesswork, but I suspect it's because of the revenue models. Keep in mind that the huge majority of the anime we're talking about are late-night broadcasts whose primary purpose is to drive disc sales (and now, to a fair extent, overseas licensing revenue). With very rare exceptions, most of a series' fans will have bought the discs the first time around and so a new airing won't do anything to really increase sales numbers; a publisher can get the same or better results by releasing a box set (which will hook the otaku a second time) and putting a new show in the slot to generate disc (and merch) sales for that series. The licensing revenues just tip the scales even further towards new content instead of reruns, because reruns won't bring in any new money there.

That said, it's certainly possible that the arms race is starting to shift these models some; it feels like we're seeing more rebroadcasts recently, particularly of broader-appeal series where things like merchandising revenue are a more perpetual money source.
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MarshalBanana



Joined: 31 Aug 2014
Posts: 5296
PostPosted: Fri Dec 02, 2016 2:39 pm Reply with quote
I assume the short answer would be Cash Grab, not to say that they are all bad. Macross Do You Remember Love is beloved by most Macross fans, I personally liked the Gurren Lagann films. It really depends on what new/alternative content is created, I didn't think the new scenes in Raxephon warranted the existences of the film, Ithere was only one or 2 scenes that added anything.

I think the best purpose they can serve is when you watched the show not long ago, and want to see it, but aren't interested in going through all the episodes again, and the new content is for you interesting and/or informative.
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CCTakato



Joined: 24 Jul 2015
Posts: 514
PostPosted: Fri Dec 02, 2016 3:10 pm Reply with quote
But I wouldn't count DYRL as a compilation film though as it's all entirely new original content and has a completely different story and character development. The only compilation films I've ever had any interest in were the Gundam and Madoka movies since they actually add in new stuff and do a pretty good job of condensing the story but still having it make sense. Having said that, I wish Toei would do a compilation film series of Sailor Moon Crystal. They could use it to redo the animation from the ground up a la the Madoka movies and cut out that pointless subplot of the Generals being the Inner's boyfriends.
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Shay Guy



Joined: 03 Jul 2009
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PostPosted: Fri Dec 02, 2016 3:56 pm Reply with quote
Shaterri wrote:
Shay Guy wrote:
Now the question becomes, why are reruns a thing in America, and not so much in Japan? (Is it related to Sazae-san airing year-round, while The Simpsons/Law & Order/etc. does annual chunks of ~22 episodes? Is it a function of production costs?


This is guesswork, but I suspect it's because of the revenue models. Keep in mind that the huge majority of the anime we're talking about are late-night broadcasts whose primary purpose is to drive disc sales (and now, to a fair extent, overseas licensing revenue). With very rare exceptions, most of a series' fans will have bought the discs the first time around and so a new airing won't do anything to really increase sales numbers; a publisher can get the same or better results by releasing a box set (which will hook the otaku a second time) and putting a new show in the slot to generate disc (and merch) sales for that series. The licensing revenues just tip the scales even further towards new content instead of reruns, because reruns won't bring in any new money there.

That said, it's certainly possible that the arms race is starting to shift these models some; it feels like we're seeing more rebroadcasts recently, particularly of broader-appeal series where things like merchandising revenue are a more perpetual money source.


It's a far, far broader issue than late-night anime. Justin was talking about Japanese TV in general, and the anime I gave as an example is the polar opposite of your typical buy-all-our-discs-and-figuriiiines! show, plus it had been airing year-round for 27 years before Those Who Hunt Elves sparked the current model.
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Lemonchest



Joined: 18 Mar 2015
Posts: 1771
PostPosted: Fri Dec 02, 2016 4:41 pm Reply with quote
I imagine, though don't know, that the lack of control over the series mean Japanese TV networks have comparatively little incentive to rerun anime series, or even permission to do so, compared to American or European networks - who often outright own the rights to its distribution. Most timeslots are also probably also better utilised by airing another cheap variety show or Jdrama with a FOTM celebrity lead.
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Wyvern



Joined: 01 Sep 2004
Posts: 1545
PostPosted: Fri Dec 02, 2016 5:04 pm Reply with quote
Parsifal24 wrote:
I don't mind them if it's a long series I don't have the time for I've seen all the original Mobile Suit Gundam movies and I would not have watched Gundam otherwise if the movies had not been made.


I think the Gundam movies are a special case; they were the first Gundam release ever in North America (way back when Bandai's US branch was called Anime Village, if I remember right) and basically Bandai's stab at introducing western fans to the franchise without the financial risk of releasing the entire 43 episode original series. Which was probably a smart move, given how poorly the original series did when they finally did release it years later.
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Lord Starfish



Joined: 25 Nov 2014
Posts: 154
PostPosted: Fri Dec 02, 2016 5:54 pm Reply with quote
angelmcazares wrote:
I heard that the Madoka Magica compilation movies have some new stuff not present in the series, but I don't need to watch them.

Well the animation has been heavily revised, there's plenty of new music, new transformation scenes (which at times feel a bit too elaborate) and a certain conversation is completely reanimated and set in a new location... To be specific, spoiler[Homura's conversation with Kyubey after Sayaka and Kyouko's death, the one where Kyubey is all "Nope, there was never any hope for her to save Sayaka but I needed her to think so because now you are the only Magical Girl left and Madoka will HAVE to make a contract with me," is relocated from Homura's freaky apartment to a graveyard.] But there's no new story-details or anything of the sort. Just two movies recapping the series, and the third movie is a direct sequel. It's probably the best example of a recap movie I've seen though, in that, while there are a few scenes here and there that I missed in the first movie, one can still easily follow the story and understand the characters just from seeing the movie. I'd argue there's really only two cut scenes that actually harm the story with their absence, those being the opening dream sequence from episode 1 and Mami's backstory. And the second movie cuts absolutely nothing. It's actually slightly longer than the four episodes it was made from put together due to the afforementioned revised animation, new transformations and such. I personally wouldn't recommend the movies to a newcomer due to those two cut scenes in the first movie, but they're an excellent means of rewatching the series while still having it feel somewhat fresh.
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MrFox123



Joined: 12 Oct 2016
Posts: 22
PostPosted: Fri Dec 02, 2016 6:05 pm Reply with quote
hmm I was wondering about this since Code Geass was announced to be coming out with 3 of these.

I guess the amount of work that goes into these varies though.
For Code Geass, the voices will be re-done and some new scenes as well. I dont recall if the entire thing would be re-animated although I doubt it. Definitely would check it out in theaters though Laughing
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