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Eric P. Sherman, President of Bang Zoom! Entertainment

calawain wrote:

Quote:

I would have rephrased and asked something along the lines of "Speaking of the health of the industry, we have more and more fans, but DVD sales are going down. A couple of the major concerns that arise from this fact are how the industry can adapt to the digital age as well as combat rampant bootlegging. For the industry in general, and specifically for studios such as your own, what are some measures you believe should be taken to ensure the future health and survival of the anime industry?"

Just from a quick neutral reading, and saying the question you posed and the original question both seem fairly innocuous, one could point out your question 'leads-by-intent' as much as you were accusing of in the original question.

While I can't say one way or another if the industry is in dire straights, to say 'we have more and more fans, but DVD sales are going down' seems a high degree of an intentional 'soft pedal'. And to address fansubbing with the only the very passive 'how the industry can adapt to the digital age' is very much placing the issue by way of inference in the 'well, it's your own fault anime companies' camp.

Again, thats not to say your proposed question was bad, it just clearly inferred a point of view as much as (supposedly; I thought the interview question was fairly straight-forward/neutral) the question you were attacking.

The "pro-moe" promote shows that are mean-spirited, and not much else but the eye-candy.

I view "combating bootlegs" and "adapting to the digital age" as the major concerns of the industry, they need to do some form of both to really prosper. I didn't lead the answer anywhere aside from discussing solutions rather than merely the existence of a problem.

Good interview.

Richard J. wrote:

I'm extremely happy to hear that BangZoom's continuing their work on Rozen Maiden and When They Cry. RM's one of my personal favorites and I desperately want to hear more, like Megu's voice, Kanaria's fight scenes, and the last battle in the Alice Game.

Quoted for truth. Me too!

With a completed dub hopefully that would mean it would be more attractive to be released. Which hopefully will be sooner rather than later.

You came out of the box pretty strong against the fansub question, generally expressing the sentiment that anyone with common sense could realize the current situation is a problem and it didn't need to be asked, the interviewer just wanted a pro-bias 'soapbox' point, and that it was unprofessional. However, from just a precursory review of the many fansub back-and-forths on here (as well as around the net), you'll often see many people disputing the general question of fansubs having a negative impact, or that industry insiders ever really point it out. So having an industry rep reiterate/elaborate the point would seem to suit a reasonable purpose, and though it may seem self-evident as to the overall point/question, the world doesn't run on common sense and some things need to be put out in plain view. Your generally hostility (I believe you called it 'a joke') made it seem you were defensive about the whole fansub issue, and I think it was in that vein the interviewer looked at/questioned your reply.

If we go from the perceived defensive towards fansubs, just as you made remarks inferring what you considered the interviewers perceived 'anti-fansub' bias', we can see a 'shading' in how you address the issue. On the first I think there was some 'soft-pedaling' in pegging a problem as 'DVD sales are down' which seems to have an air of understatement, but one can reasonably parse hairs there. The real meat start when you address bootlegs in the very straightforward, active tense of 'combating bootlegs'. You call the issue by name directly, and use the term 'combat', which directly implies a situation outside the scope of what should be, and is best actively engaged in a punitive manner by licensor's.

When we get to fansubs however, you don't address the issue by name, and employ the very passive 'adapt to the digital age', implying that any problem in this area is caused by licensor's 'behind the time ways', and is certainly not at all to be looked at in a fansub/downloader punitive manner. It's like if you and I shared an apartment and one day I ate your pizza out of the fridge, and when questioned by you responded 'I think you need to adapt to changing circumstances'. It's a turn of phrase to lay the blame at your feet, and with your earlier testiness on bringing up fansubs, when applied to your question it seems a rhetoric device to lay any blame/responsibility for the fansub situation at the feet of licensor's themselves. So in the same vein as you accused the interviewer of letting a perceived bias air out, one can read into the tea- leaves of your phrase choices and make the case your question did the same thing. You can state the case I'm reading into what you wrote, but the interviewer can say the same thing about your statements to him.

He said that the fanbase was increasing, yet sales were decreasing. Yes, fansubs promote a show, but popularity alone doesn't make a company money. It strokes egos for the creators and producers, but doesn't put food on the table. Sales do.

Mean-spirited shows? What shows would you describe as mean-spirited? I would suppose something like School Days qualifies, but I wouldn't think of it as moe (except via the association the category of its source material sometimes has with the concept).

Maybe it's because too much attention is paid to the cute girls to notice that these shows are mean-spirited. Or; when they see some poor guy get his butt kicked repeatedly, or too much bad luck falls upon said guy, that it's considered slapstick comedy rather than a painful sight.

I have the list:

Clannad, Lucky*Star, Girls Bravo, Haruhi's Melancholy, Combat Butler Hayate, Mahoraba, Maburaho, Black Lagoon, Night Wizard, Shakugan No Shana, Dokuro-chan, to a certain extent Gundam SEED Destiny and Mai-ZHime, Magikano, xxxHOLiC, Inukami, Zero no Tsukaima, Nagasarete Airantou... All the way on down to Urusei Yatsura and Ranma 1/2. And I'm sure there's more.

I'm not sure exactly what you're saying here; are you saying that these shows seem to promote some sort of misandry?

Since when is it okay for a guy in anime to be either weak or nonexistant? Even thought shows like that are geared toward them? Sure, they're popular. But what about the consequences down the road? Isn't anybody not concerned enough to do something about it?

Isn't one of the common complaints about moe series that they're mysogynistic and full of women who are men's fantasy girls? These series can't be be full of both misandry and mysogyny.

I won't deny there are the few odd series that seem to carry some peculiar undertones, however I was more under the impression the classic 'wet blanket' male lead design, from Tenchi Muyo to Love Hina to...ad infinitum, was simply a narrative device.

This may sound somewhat silly, but when writers are crafting these 'harem' (used loosely) type shows, they understand the big draw will be the girls (and the feelings they elicit in the audience), so they have to avoid having their audience 'put off/feel jealous' by the romance/lead. If the lead is a strong-willed, macho character who has lots of 'success' with multiple hot ladies, it's most likely good parts of the audience will see the lead as a jerk and simply not get invested in the story/show. However, if the lead is something of a hapless squish with an empty slate personality, the character is easy to feel sorry for, to conversely 'root for', and a viewer can project their own feelings onto the action/lead without ever feeling 'shown up' or even 'jealous' of a leads eventual romantic success.

A lot of time this 'Zero-cum-Hero' approach by nature has the male lead taking innumerable poundings from the female characters, but again I think it's less about 'misanthropy' and more about making the viewer sympathize/feel superior with the lead rather then being put off by romantic success with the girls the creators want the viewer to be interested in for XX episodes.

Dorcas_Aurelia wrote:

Mean-spirited shows? What shows would you describe as mean-spirited? I would suppose something like School Days qualifies, but I wouldn't think of it as moe (except via the association the category of its source material sometimes has with the concept).

Maybe it's because too much attention is paid to the cute girls to notice that these shows are mean-spirited. Or; when they see some poor guy get his butt kicked repeatedly, or too much bad luck falls upon said guy, that it's considered slapstick comedy rather than a painful sight.

I have the list:

Clannad, Lucky*Star, Girls Bravo, Haruhi's Melancholy, Combat Butler Hayate, Mahoraba, Maburaho, Black Lagoon, Night Wizard, Shakugan No Shana, Dokuro-chan, to a certain extent Gundam SEED Destiny and Mai-ZHime, Magikano, xxxHOLiC, Inukami, Zero no Tsukaima, Nagasarete Airantou... All the way on down to Urusei Yatsura and Ranma 1/2. And I'm sure there's more.

There were times when I nearly wrote the whole Japanese anime industry, and their fanbase, as failed experiments; standing far and away from those who readily defend these shows. Because I was once just like them when I was in my 20s. I nearly became them.

If it weren't for companies like Gonzo... If it weren't for "that shounen s### that 4channelers hate so much..." If it weren't for hentai anime... Then I would've gone into an entirely different hobby.