Forum - View topicAnswerman - Overindulgence
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darkchibi07
 Posts: 5466 |
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If you ask me, I think sport series that lends itself to "easy fanservice" like swimming is one of the keys to get the audience attention.
I still lament at the absolute dearth of all-girl sport series considering they could take the easy road like Free and make it about swimming as well or even do other ones like gymnastics, diving, or cheerleading (just don't follow that same icky path as that wrestling one a few seasons ago). |
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RestLessone
 Posts: 1426 Location: New York |
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I just finished Free! yesterday. What I would give for a nice BR release here...I've grown partial to those NISA premium editions.
Problem is, a lot of people who like these shows are not into buying. Hell, they might not have even watched the legal streams. (I'm talking people who aren't region blocked, by the way.) Loud voices on the Internet don't always mean a hit. I can't blame a company for not wanting to take a chance. In any case, I bought Big Windup and plan to buy Haikyuu. Maybe--just maybe--we'll get Kuroko and Free. |
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mdo7
 Posts: 6253 Location: Katy, Texas, USA |
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This week's Answerman was interesting to read. The second part about sport anime tend to not do well in USA, yeah I can understand why it doesn't do well, and I do watch sport anime, I'm sorry it doesn't do well in the US.
The fourth part about food portion in Japan was very interesting and informative, I'm not sure if NHK World Radio Japan (which I listen to on a daily basis) ever brought this up. |
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omiya
 Posts: 1825 Location: Adelaide, South Australia |
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Snack Attack on Titan...
speaking of smaller portion sizes, even the Tim-Tam chocolate biscuits from Australia sold in Japan are smaller than the Australian product. |
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Mikeski
Posts: 608 Location: Minneapolis, MN |
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I think another thing working against sports anime is how American it is.
I think many anime fans are anime fans because they like the different sorts of storytelling they get there. American entertainment really doesn't produce much in the way of harem comedy, or super robots powered by manliness, or iyashikei slice-of-life, or gentle yuri romances, or shinto-flavored youkai stories, or watch-the-guy-fix-all-the-girls'-problems moe stories, or... While sports anime, for the most part, all follow the very traditional chumps-to-champs storyline. We've got plenty of that here already, from The Bad News Bears to Rocky. We don't have to import it. |
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mdo7
Posts: 6253 Location: Katy, Texas, USA |
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This I agreed, also yeah you do point out most sport genre in movie are very much the same found in anime, so no need to import it. |
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Jedi Master
 Posts: 400 |
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But anime can moe-fy it or make up exotic sports. Girls und Panzer and Love Live are good examples of this. |
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Mister Ryan Andrews
 Posts: 219 |
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Actually a lot of sports anime have power ups and a bunch of crazy crap going on no different than your typical shonen anime which America loves. Just they use sports to fight each other than fists. All the really popular sports anime are in that vein and it's harder to actually find those more realistic ones. Free is unapologetically flamboyant and objectifying and I dunno anyone who'd call it realistic.
I don't like sports much but love sports anime because they're stuff like this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=piXjxfUAO0c That'd be right at home in One Piece or Naruto, man. |
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dtm42
Posts: 14084 Location: currently stalking my waifu |
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There are a few, though not many. Ro-Kyu-Bu!, Saki, Taisho Baseball Girls, Aim for the Ace!, Yawara! . . . um . . . crap. I knew there weren't many but that's pretty pathetic. Edit: added Saki.
That's one of the stupidest things I've ever seen. *makes a mental note to never watch such an awful show* Last edited by dtm42 on Fri Mar 28, 2014 5:42 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Shiroi Hane
Encyclopedia Editor
 Posts: 7580 Location: Wales |
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Is there a paragraph missing at the start? Seems odd to start an article with "Also".
My Japanese copy of Gonzo's Brave Story movie was distributed by WB. I've watched a Saki and Shion no Go, but the only sports anime I've even got halfway through was Bamboo Blade - and that was for the cute lead, not the sport itself. |
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Paiprince
 Posts: 593 |
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Seems to me to be the case of the Western fans being somewhat fickle as usual. Sports anime don't do well yet mystery detective series, which Americans really really love, tend to do okay-ish with Detective Conan (Case Closed) being the biggest success story, having given the chance to be shown in American Airwaves via Cartoon Network. In Japan, sports anime has made its place among female otaku or the fujoshi partly for their abundance of handsome guys, moreso with Free!. A possible form of promoting these shows is to highlight the dudes more than the sport to get the middle/high school girls to wanna check them out. Not exactly the most dignified way of doing things, but hey it worked for Free!
As for portions in Japan, I think they're just about right and it's the West who has it crazy when it comes to food intake. Might be because I grew up eating in "Asian sizes," but downing all that fat and grease and still asking for seconds or thirds in America and elsewhere just doesn't sit well with me. I do know the attitude is changing now with more and more engaging in physical activities and a balanced diet, but man do some people still eat enough to feed a small village in Africa. |
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mdo7
Posts: 6253 Location: Katy, Texas, USA |
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Except those aren't part of the sport genre, I don't think moe-fy or making a exotic sports in anime would make sport anime sell in the US, sport anime will not sell no matter what. |
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Utsuro no Hako
Posts: 1034 |
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They may not be as popular as KuroBas or Free (though that wasn't always true -- Touch is one of the most watched anime of all time) but they're hardly uncommon. Major, Cross Game, Big Windup, Ace of the Diamond, Hajime no Ippo, Giant Killing, Knight in the Area and the upcoming Baby Steps are all realistic series from the last few years, and Yowamushi Pedal, despite being over the top in many respects, remains within the realm of the possible. |
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agila61
 Posts: 3213 Location: NE Ohio |
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In the current cycling series Yowapeda, on Crunchyroll, three sprinters trading of long monologues about their special sprinting capabilities and how they developed them in the midst of the last kilometer of a spring to lead out comes to mind as something that is very much like a shonen fighting series sequence, while being quite insane if one keeps in mind how fast the last kilometer sprint to a sprint point in the middle of a road race actually goes. The dueling monologues go on for a whole show, when in reality the sprint would be over before the anime OP was done.
Giant Killing, to be sure, but I'd put Knight in the Area alongside Yowapeda as shonen fight anime set in a fantasy version of a sport. |
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RestLessone
Posts: 1426 Location: New York |
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I'd say Free could be considered realistic; it's cheesy, of course, but it's not like Inazuma. Meanwhile, KuroBas has many over the top elements, but it's not on the cusp of fantasy. I think Yowamushi Pedal is a bit closer to Eyeshield 21, which I also love. Sports series that succeed tend to have other factors drawing people in. If we consider Girls und Panzer a sports series, it has cute girls and tanks. Martial arts and sword series also occupy a different place in peoples' minds compared to "commonplace" sports like basketball, soccer/football, baseball, and others. Series like Free, KuroBas, and Big Windup will attract female viewers, by accident, incidence, or design. However, while this audience has a loud Internet presence, I'm not sure they have enough people willing or able to pay. Not even sure what the Western male audience is like for these. It didn't work out for BW, at least. Then there are the series like Rookies (realistic baseball; not an anime but I'm randomly drawing a blank here) and Eyeshield 21 (fantasy American football). Sales and interest-wise, they don't seem to do that well. VIZ did push out all of the E21 manga, though. Personally, I watch sports series because they are usually character-driven. I like watching friendships grow and strengthen between characters, and wonky or realistic aspects don't turn my off. Thus, sports series of all sorts appeal to me. Last edited by RestLessone on Fri Mar 28, 2014 5:09 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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