Forum - View topicHey, Answerman! - In Search of Stability
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omiya
 Posts: 1827 Location: Adelaide, South Australia |
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I'm not sure if you mean the part of the industry that focuses on anime/videogame music, the rest of the Japanese music industry, or the Japanese music industry as a whole? I agree as far as Sony Music Entertainment's antics frustrating a fair amount of Kalafina fans (e.g. blocking the official youtube channel http://www.youtube.com/user/kalafinaSMEJ from other countries), but on the other hand, I love the professionalism, atmosphere and collaboration across record companies for shows like Animelo Summer Live, not to mention how kind the composers, artists and record company staff that I've met have been (including having my picture taken with the artist by the record company person on one occasion). PS, it's great when everything lines up and you get to see 7 live shows in 11 days and get to see 71 different acts, with all bar 2 of those acts performing music of anime or videogames or both. |
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king 47
 Posts: 264 |
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Certainly there are, just like how music has theories. There are many way to do things wrong, and things can be done within certain rules, or around them, in clever ways. Unfortunately, most anime don't do that. That's why lots of anime feels like the work of amateurs (among many other reasons). Insignia, Your profile pic works perfectly for that comment. That show was horrible. |
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thekingsdinner
 Posts: 1069 Location: Geertruidenberg, Netherlands |
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I buy both DVD's and Blu-rays. For me, it really depends whether I think the anime/movie or whatever on it, is worth the quality upgrade.
This mostly applies to live-action movies though as with those I simply cannot see the difference at times. There's also lots of shows which haven't even come out on Blu-ray at all (which was mentioned by Justin already) such as Slayers (except season 4 & 5) and almost all of Discotek's licensed titles. Overall, for me Blu-ray still seems like more of a special treat. DVD is still my standard and occasionally I pop in a good ol' VHS just for old times sake 
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GVman
 Posts: 729 |
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This exposition question reminds me of Beyond the Boundary. About five minutes into the episode the characters begin to casually talk about all the stuff that makes up the show's premise. It was so ham-fisted I stopped watching it at that moment.
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SnaphappyFMA
Posts: 216 Location: California |
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I'm a late adapter of every technology, and I got rid of my TV when the analog to digital change took place.
So if I bought a Blu-ray player, I'd have to hook it up to my laptop which seems like extra work and sort of unnecessary, especially when the difference in quality isn't that extreme. But as I understand it, if I had a Blu-ray player I could play import DVDs from Japan. That's really the only reason I would get one. As to the anime OPs and EDs - I wish they were more available as MP3s for purchase in the U.S. I would buy scads of them. |
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Paiprince
 Posts: 593 |
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One can argue that there have been many styles that came out by eschewing these hard line rules and theories as is. Info-dumping in itself is not a bane to a narrative's existence. Rather, the way how it's handled and presented is how it should be put up to scrutiny. Well loved series like JoJo is inundated with explanations from Stand powers to cultural morals and sensibilities but it's hardly ever boring because Araki complements it with exaggerated stylistic effects and gestures that comes from the art. Nisio's Monogatari series' adaptation also spices up the talking heads approach by mixing up minimalism and sardonic banter so it's not just one pan of the screen of their faces but several angles which is pretty cool. Anyways, from my opinion whenever anime tries the, "show don't tell" direction it usually comes off as pretentious and weird. Not as bad as stoner shows that you catch on AS, but still a bit off putting. That's my take on it. Of course, there are exceptions with Shinkai's 5 centimeter's being one of the best examples from the medium yet. |
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IZFSLE
 Posts: 62 Location: Greenland |
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I'm still a DVD user. Due to various circumstances, I watch anime on my laptop. Yes, I can install a blu-ray drive, but I would have to get a special media player, and my screen doesn't even support 1080p. When I upgrade my laptop, getting one that has a blu-ray player is a must for me. Too many blu-ray only releases that I can't buy nowadays. I do get my hands on combo packs as much as I can though because I will eventually be making the upgrade.
Anyways, tons of people have reasons like I do to still use DVD. DVD's are still popular and useful. Obviously, blu-rays are the superior product, you don't have to tell me. However, I'm sick of the blu-ray only people preaching that DVDs should go extinct. And saying that people who still use DVDs are inferior to people who use blu-ray. Everyone has a reason to still be using DVDs. We all know blu-ray is better, but we have our reasons and circumstances. edit: About the other topics, Thankfully I haven't seen too many anime that are bad with info dumps. However, a similar thing that really ticks me off, is when a character comes face to face with another character, and then that character just says the person's name slowly. Like in Fate/Zero, I forget who it was, but Kirei Kotomine approached someone, and that someone just stared and said " Kotomine. Kirei.". Or in Date A Live II when Mana showed up to fight Ellen, Ellen just stares and says "Takamiya. Mana." It's just really cheesy, especially when we already know who the characters are. As for OPs and EDs, I am also one who wishes they were available for legal download overseas. I'm guilty of converting YouTube videos and listening to them that way. Last edited by IZFSLE on Fri Jul 18, 2014 2:25 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Doodleboy
Posts: 296 |
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Info-dumping can work, sometimes you have to do it when pure "show don't tell" is confusing as hell.
Good writers hide the info-dumping to make it go down easy, like using comedy, or using said info-dumping to push character. For using comedy Kill la Kill is an obvious example. Tons of exposition in the first couple of episodes, you don't notice or care because the person doing the exposition is stripping and it's hilarious. The Evangelion movies did a more subtle example with Operation Yashima with Ritsuko doing the exposition but also telling Misato she's crazy and they're all going to die. For dramatic purposes, the one in most recent memory is Captain America: The Winter Soldier. There was a scene where Steve Rogers went to the Smithsonian museum to visit an exhibit of his own history. It's creative, gives you all the information you need to understand Captain America's history and foreshadowing the Winter Soldier. It also gives Steve Rogers an emotional moment, showing his man out of time situation. You can also use spectacle which is what Inception does with it's info-dumps. There are plenty of ways to parse information the problem with alot of anime is that it does it artlessly as a lecture rather then incorporating it organically into the story. |
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SpacemanHardy
Posts: 2509 |
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On the subject of info-dumps, my tolerance for them varies depending on the show in question. For instance, I enjoyed the non-stop psycho-babble from Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, but Fate/Zero's multiple instances of talking heads bored me to tears. I suppose as long it's well-directed and is about information that I'm interested in, then I don't mind it so much (having good voice actors spitting it out certainly doesn't hurt either).
With blurays and DVDs, I too have grown to prefer blurays when they are available, but I'm not against DVDs like some are. They're always nice to have if nothing else is available, and with some older shows, they probably wouldn't look any better even if they were on bluray. I do like how BDs are much more durable than DVDs are, though, but that still doesn't stop me from buying a show I want if it gets a DVD-only release. I agree with the poster who stated earlier that they were sick of the bluray-only purists. Such people come across as extremely arrogant and snobbish. Yes, bluray is technically a superior format, but different people have their own reasons why they still choose DVD over bluray. No need to talk down to such people and elevate yourself as somehow superior to them just because they're not as big of an audio/video geek as you are. As long as we can all get our own copy of a show and can watch and enjoy it any time we want, isn't that what really matters? |
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Kebble
 Posts: 70 |
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Well, I hate when anime 'tells' instead of 'shows' information, and I hate it even more when a series 'shows' but does not 'tell' the information. When I watch 4 to 5 shows a season, ranging from a war with an alien race on mars, to a digital world filled with gun carrying teenagers, I'd prefer the 'facts' be thoroughly explained by both showing and telling. Information dumps are lazy, but not a bad way to get a thick piece of useless fiction out of the way for a 24 minute program. Maybe I'd complain about screen writers more if I actually believed anybody from the non-marketing side of the anime industry made a decent salary.
As for DVDs... I wish there weren't so many DVD/Bluray bundles out there. I feel like I'm paying for two series but ultimately only receiving one. I have a bluray player, surround sound system, and a projector, so the quality of anime is very important to me. Some series only get released on DVD, and in that case, I have to take what I can get. |
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dtm42
Posts: 14084 Location: currently stalking my waifu |
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How could I forget? That was a show with exposition so godawful that two of the characters had to have their own powers explained to them. Madness. They had powers for how long, and they didn't even know where they got them from or that each power was linked to a tarot? In terms of screenwriting that show was beyond crap, it really was. |
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Kadmos1
 Posts: 13557 Location: In Phoenix but has an 85308 ZIP |
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I did like how INVADERS of the ROKUJYOMA!? #1 had the all main harem (so far) girls introduced in the same episode rather than have to wait for them to appear several episodes later. With this, more fan service.
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TG72
 Posts: 334 |
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Itunes did add some Ghibli songs this week. I've also found a few K-ON! covers there. But all those are definitely exceptions.
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HeeroTX
Posts: 2046 Location: Austin, TX |
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I think info-dumps really depend on the info. Log Horizon has an episode where they talk to the sage and he dumps out a bunch of complex mechanical information as well as extensive world history in a relatively short span of time. He is rendering this information like a teacher/professsor and the characters are learning the information for the first time same as the viewer. I think info dumps are fine when you're establishing certain things in a fictional world that a viewer/reader has no context/reason to know. Star Wars starting with a story crawl works because otherwise you're dropped into a battle in space with no idea what's going on or why and no real use in killing a bunch of time to start from zero.
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FLEABttn
 Posts: 106 Location: ABQ |
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Anime writers need to get in touch with their inner Leone and Kurosawa. Info-dumping is lazy, and sad frankly if it's being forced upon by the otaku in Japan.
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