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Answerman - Impenetrable Markets

Pleinair92 wrote:

I find it odd how in the answer regarding drama CDs, Justin never even brings up the possibility of dubs. Is that physically impossible, or just unprofitable? He only talks about subs or publishing translated scripts, which strike me as a rather roundabout ways of doing it.

At least one other person in the thread has suggested dubbing as well. But part if not most of the appeal of drama CDs lies in the performances of the Japanese VAs, so cutting them out is kind of counterproductive. Though I've long thought that NA companies should sell Drama CD versions of anime with just the dub VAs reading their lines, since the "no dub, no buy" crowd doesn't care about anything else.

It depends on what you mean by "that camp".

If you are not going to be able to enjoy something, why should you be forced to buy it.

If someone says, no dub, no sale; there is nothing wrong with that at all.

I still can't help but to empathize with them, ...

That's funny, you're a funny guy, I like you. All this ethnocentrism some American fans display is absolutely hilarious to watch. Always fun to see a country that has zero stake in an foreign industry insist they're the only people who matter.

I find it odd how in the answer regarding drama CDs, Justin never even brings up the possibility of dubs. Is that physically impossible, or just unprofitable? He only talks about subs or publishing translated scripts, which strike me as a rather roundabout ways of doing it.

Is there anything explicitly stating Bebop, Trigun, and Redline were made for American audiences, or do they just happen to be what we fawn over: fetishized zany action with a little brooding?

Kendo is a relatively popular sport for those into anime overseas because it involves swords (bamboo or otherwise). Sure, it's not widely practiced but a lot of them enjoy the idea of seeing them hitting each other with sticks. Plus it's got cute girls and comedy. I can't say much the same about Bamboo Blade's own popularity, but shows like Rurouni Kenshin, Samurai Champloo and Afro Samurai have managed to carve out its own respectable fanbase because of the whole cool samurai theme.

This piece on Redline specifically states that Katsuhito Ishii took inspiration from "rural North Americans" and their love of cars.

When Golion premiered in the 80s, it had its fanbase, but no one remembers it nowadays, simply because it was one "five people pilot a giant robot" show among many and never really stood out. Then, it was brought over to America, forming the first half of Voltron. Kids fell in love with it, as there was simply no other show of its kind. Even today, it is widely known and beloved even by Americans who know absolutely nothing about anime.

What I'm trying to say is that, sometimes, an average show can become a smash hit simply by being in the right place at the right time.

I'm only saying that as a general rule, the shows that only succeed in Japan usually aren't that good (not that they're necessarily bad, though), whereas the shows that succeed outside of Japan usually are. Because truly good shows/movies cross cultural borders.

For a show to be really good, it has to have more than genre appeal, cultural appeal, or timeliness. A truly good anime is timeless and transcends borders, of both genre and culture

EyeOfPain wrote:

This piece on Redline specifically states that Katsuhito Ishii took inspiration from "rural North Americans" and their love of cars.

Yeah... um, "inspired by" doesn't mean "intended for". So the example you've provided doesn't really answer his request for something that explicitly states that any of those titles were made for American audiences.

http://oi59.tinypic.com/2dqsttu.jpg

Try to say with a straight face that year was better as a whole than 2013.

It's been mentioned only action shounen shows really do well in the US. That or toy shows like Beyblade. That means Doraemon isn't a good show, Detective Conan isn't a good show, Monster isn't a good show, Dennou Coil isn't a good show, Cardcaptor Sakura isn't a good show, Legend of the Galactic Heroes isn't a good show. Pretty much ANY sports anime. Let alone shows based around specific Japanese things like Chihayafuru which by this line of thinking shouldn't even be bothered to be made because the majority of Americans would never accept a show about a Japanese card game so it could never be fully accepted by the American public. It's folly to write off the absurd amount of anime out there just because it fails to catch on here or doesn't even bother to come out over here. Something failing doesn't make it 'bad', it also has to do with cultural norms and differences as well. The fact most people in this country view animation as a 'kids only' thing should instantly trigger warning flags on using what appeals to them as a benchmark of quality. I've never been one to subscribe to this 'appeal to the majority audience' mindset. That causes things to be homogenized and dull.

Could it be because rather than making a small collection of shows that were anywhere from 2, 4 or more cours they now mainly make a smattering of 1 cour shows and thus have more room to release more shows?