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fighterholic
Joined: 28 Sep 2005
Posts: 9194
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 Posted: Sat Nov 29, 2008 2:30 am |
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| You have to remember also, that the way that Japanese gets translated into English may not be the 100% correct translation as well. Especially if it was somebody Japanese translating Gonzo's statement. Like Shokotan's translator at AX Idol. |
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configspace
Joined: 16 Aug 2008
Posts: 295
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| Posted: Sat Nov 29, 2008 3:42 am |
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| Quote: |
GDH cites the drop in DVD sales and the need to trim its anime production business for its most recent changes. GDH already announced on November 10 that it would reduce its annual output of anime from about eight projects to four in the next fiscal year and combine its four internal studios under one division.
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Let's hope they choose the right 4 projects. |
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teh*darkness
Joined: 16 Feb 2007
Posts: 588
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| Posted: Sat Nov 29, 2008 3:51 am |
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| walw6pK4Alo wrote: | | Man, I sure do hope GONZO dies. They've done nothing worthwhile since Gankutsuou, and Last Exile before than, and Blue Sub before that. 3 shows in over 8 years is a pretty bad record. |
And this is what we call subjective. I haven't even seen any of those shows, but I have a larger list than that which I find worthy of the company staying around. Try Full Metal Panic!, Basilisk, the Brave Story movie, Burst Angel, Chrono Crusade, Speed Grapher, SaiKano and Welcome to the NHK... and those are just the ones I like... then there are the other obviously popular ones like Afro Samurai and Witchblade, not to mention all the series and movies they work on but aren't the main production studio for...
I get so tired of people wishing Gonzo would die simply because they don't like the shows that are being made... hate to break it to you, but the animation production world doesn't revolve around you and your tastes. |
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Akuma381
Joined: 17 Aug 2005
Posts: 1
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| Posted: Sat Nov 29, 2008 5:36 am |
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I think what lots of people are forgetting is that GONZO is still a company like any other. Business is business, money is essential for there to be good anime. Downloading all of are anime for free of course is going to take a blow to the industry.
People are just so stupid, stealing their shows and then complaining when they stop making them. I'm really starting to lose faith in the north American fan base. No one really respects the production aspects of anime.
I think that new ideas are needed to fix this problem. For example Nintendo tried reaching out to a wider range of audiences, people who arn't "gamers" are able to play and enjoy the wii. Thats what needs to be done for the anime industry. It has to be reinvented and marketed towards not only the existing anime fans but ones to be. Like normal people... not creeps like us...  There are still plenty of people out there who don't know what anime is. |
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mufurc
Joined: 09 Jun 2003
Posts: 472
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| Posted: Sat Nov 29, 2008 6:34 am |
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Oh for goodness' sake. Yes, piracy is a problem but in case you haven't noticed, there's also a global economic crisis going on at the moment and yes, that affects even an anime company in many ways. There's also the fact that the anime market is quite oversaturated. What were Gonzo's biggest hits lately? Strike Witches and Rosario to Vampire. The rest simply didn't catch on, weren't popular enough neither there nor in the US. They may be okay shows but with so many shows out there "okay" doesn't guarantee good sales, especially when people's wallets are less full than they used to be. I wouldn't be surprised if the two other shows they're going to do next year are Strike Witches and/or Rosario sequels/spinoff.
Anyway, as much as I don't like most of the shows they work(ed) on, I like Gonzo as a company and I wish them luck. |
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houkoholic
Joined: 17 Oct 2006
Posts: 82
Location: Japan
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| Posted: Sat Nov 29, 2008 6:40 am |
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| Proman wrote: | "Voluntarily Retire" to help company?
What kind of idiotic phrasing is this? Why would any sane employee care about the company that doesn't care about it's employees? |
This is the Japanese way. Lots of companies here during massive downsizing asks if any employees wants to "voluntarily resign". Both Sega and Namco did something similiar just recently when both of them closed down a few hundred of their arcade shops around the country due to poor business in the arcade sector. Sega asked some 200 employees to resign IIRC.
Besides, this gives the employee more face instead of being fired. Traditionally in a Japanese company, you have to REALLY screw up to get fired and that is the last last resort as even the biggest screw-ups in history (I'm talking about stuff like huge accidents which caused human deaths) usually just involves the person resigning, and being fired is much more disgraceful than voluntary resignation and leaves a huge stain on your resume, which significantly lowers your chance of finding new work. Even in Western countries this somewhat applies - imagine having to explain to your potential employer why you were fired from your last job, not pleasant to say the least.
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This is simply unprofessional. If the company is doing bad enough that it has to cut down its work force than do it in a graceful way. There is a way to go about layoffs. Don't make it sound like the well being of the employees is nothing compared to that of the company they helped build. |
It is very much the professional way of doing things in Japanese culture, just because you don't understand it, don't assume it is wrong.
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Especially if I'm understanding this correctly and the people who "retire" would not be illegible for the unemployment benefits. |
I'm assuming you are actually talking about the few months of salary one gets from the company when you resign/laid-off as you can't just walk into the government employment office and recieve unemployment benefits straight after you are without work in the first place. Being laid off and resigning doesn't matter a bit as what matters is that you cannot find work after a certain period of time. |
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loka
Joined: 05 Nov 2006
Posts: 183
Location: Pittsburgh, PA
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| Posted: Sat Nov 29, 2008 8:03 am |
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i liked the first Tower of Druaga series... 
and Romeo x Juliet
and i would purchase them on dvd if they were released here (dub not necessary.)
their adaptation of NHK ni Yōkoso! was half-decent and turned me onto the greatness that is the novel and manga.
Gonzo tried pretty hard at adapting Saikano- possibly my favorite manga.
FMP probably expanded the anime fan base a bit. we should appreciate their work on that series.
i can count 7 other series that are worthwhile from them. |
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Tyrenol
Joined: 13 Sep 2005
Posts: 349
Location: Northern California
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| Posted: Sat Nov 29, 2008 12:03 pm |
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| Proman wrote: | What baseball? You barely swung the bat...
The more correct "term" is:
"Firing our faithful employees is the last thing we want to do. So we would like them to do that for us." |
"Barely swung the bat?" I hit the ball to the left field. Yet so-called fans rewrote the rules during a large amount of time; so now it's considered an out. (One of the reasons why "sports anime" CAN NOT be popular unless you put T&A in there.) 
My "term" still stands: Toss out the dead weight to stay afloat despite the dead weight being "gold" or "valuables."
| teh*darkness wrote: | | I get so tired of people wishing Gonzo would die simply because they don't like the shows that are being made... hate to break it to you, but the animation production world doesn't revolve around you and your tastes. |
Here's a trick I learned:
1) Stop becoming loyal to certain anime companies and assume that everyone makes crap.
2) When you get the list of anime for the season, weed out the ones with the buzz words. Then weed out the ones that appeal to a certain audience.
3) Pick the one less poisonous.
4) The company profits. They profit more when it's licensed. 
| Akuma381 wrote: | I think what lots of people are forgetting is that GONZO is still a company like any other. Business is business, money is essential for there to be good anime. Downloading all of are anime for free of course is going to take a blow to the industry.
People are just so stupid, stealing their shows and then complaining when they stop making them. I'm really starting to lose faith in the north American fan base. No one really respects the production aspects of anime. |
Yet the same so-called fans praise KyotoAnimu for their Godly Animation whilst they put money on DVD-bound anime titles that feature more nudity, fanservice, and nipples. Plus they'll put money on merchandising...
AND. As much as I wish for GONZO to remain healthy from this, the "baited and switched" part of me wants to see "Arthur Smith" eat tons of crow.
GONZO's PR said that they're doing what's "for the otaku and 'cool.'" Now they're saying that they're going to do what's for the "casual anime fanbase." The bullcrap is walking and the money is wearing leg-mecha whilst shooting at aliens.  |
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Tofusensei
Joined: 15 Feb 2008
Posts: 353
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| Posted: Sat Nov 29, 2008 1:33 pm |
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Can someone who is more familiar with the matter explain if 'voluntarily retire' was a poor translation for 'taking a severance package'?
-Tofu |
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rg4619
Joined: 30 Jun 2007
Posts: 160
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| Posted: Sat Nov 29, 2008 2:06 pm |
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"Voluntarily retire" has been used in English press releases before (Sega Sammy), so I'll assume that it's the intended wording.
A few years ago, Atlus also offered a similarly worded option to employees. |
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samuelp
Joined: 25 Nov 2007
Posts: 786
Location: Tokyo, Japan
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| Posted: Sat Nov 29, 2008 2:38 pm |
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| Tofusensei wrote: | Can someone who is more familiar with the matter explain if 'voluntarily retire' was a poor translation for 'taking a severance package'?
-Tofu |
It's a literal translation. I'd call it more "taking a buyout" that's just a really crappy buyout or 1 extra month's salary. |
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Tofusensei
Joined: 15 Feb 2008
Posts: 353
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| Posted: Sat Nov 29, 2008 4:09 pm |
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| rg4619 wrote: | "Voluntarily retire" has been used in English press releases before (Sega Sammy), so I'll assume that it's the intended wording.
A few years ago, Atlus also offered a similarly worded option to employees. |
'Retire' has severe connotations with it surrounding American HR law, that's the reason I ask.
Voluntarily retire != taking a severance != voluntarily resigning, so I'm assuming it's just a poor/overly literal translation by someone not familiar with HR laws in English-speaking countries.
-Tofu |
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nargun
Joined: 29 Mar 2006
Posts: 157
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| Posted: Sat Nov 29, 2008 5:22 pm |
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| Tofusensei wrote: | Voluntarily retire != taking a severance != voluntarily resigning, so I'm assuming it's just a poor/overly literal translation by someone not familiar with HR laws in English-speaking countries.
-Tofu |
This would be my guess.
But one month is a pretty miserable package; indicative of acute, not just chronic, problems. |
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Dardre
Joined: 16 Mar 2006
Posts: 78
Location: Virginia Beach, VA
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| Posted: Sun Nov 30, 2008 4:45 am |
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| nargun wrote: |
This would be my guess.
But one month is a pretty miserable package; indicative of acute, not just chronic, problems. |
It's still better than nothing. It also means that those that accept this won't have a black spot on their employment history.
Still, 25 percent of their workforce is a pretty hefty chunk; sounds like they're having to take some drastic measures to stay afloat. |
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Der Brenten
Joined: 08 Nov 2008
Posts: 4
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| Posted: Sun Nov 30, 2008 2:47 pm |
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| IIRC Ford & GM & some of the major US airlines did this early retirement to some of their employees in the past. Yeah it really sucks but would you rather have GONZO go under and not produce anything or cut 25% of it's staff and produce less? Currently I'm still hoping for an R2V DVD release in North America but I'm not holding my breath. |
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