Forum - View topicNEWS: Time Warner to Produce Anime
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Akukaze
 Posts: 185 Location: Stony Brook, NY |
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Hmm, not just one, but three shows? If I were to warrant a guess, I'd say they're going to try a different demographic with each show. Is there going to be some "Americanization" involved? Most likely. Is it nessescarily going to be a bad thing? Not at all. With such a high budget they'r enot going to risk alienating Japanese viewers. What're going to see will hopefully be a balance of East and West.
The thing that does scare me, though, is the merchandising. T-shirts and figures are all right, but if I start seeing bed sheets and soap dispensers, I'm not going to be very happy. 
Seriously, I've got hope for this project, but if it doesn't 'work', I'll still have my Spiral DVDs. 
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DrSlump
Posts: 17 |
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The amount of money thrown at it won't overcome the flaw that plagues most shows in the past few years: no good story. Nothing keeps the audience like a good compelling story.
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Dejiko
 Posts: 276 Location: Holland (between Great Britain and Germany) |
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At the height of DBZ's popularity in Japan, you could even buy DBZ themed tampons... I think bed sheets and soap dispensers are still pretty tame compared to that 
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Akukaze
Posts: 185 Location: Stony Brook, NY |
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 Yeah, I'd have to agree with you there. >_>;
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Nagisa
Moderator
 Posts: 6128 Location: Atlanta-ish, Jawjuh |
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As far as the "Americanisation" argument goes, the news report made no mention of how much creative input Time-Warner would put into the venture, just the financial end. To that regard, this could just be Big O II on a grand scale, with the Japanese producers having most of the creative license, ultimately resulting in the dreaded "Americanisation" being kept to a bare minimum. If anything, I get the feeling these shows will be closer to Cowboy Bebop, Big O, Ghost in the Shell, Fullmetal Alchemist, Samurai Champloo, Wolf's Rain, etc. in that they'll be the sort of "general appeal" series that work equally well in either Japan or the US without compromising whatever "cultural integrity" they may or may not have.
I'm going to side with your assumption and be happy about it. The Japanese market's destroying itself with this generic dreck anyway.
Because spelling things with a "ph" is clever and somehow validates what you have to say. Anyway, see what I said above regarding "Americanisation." These shows will most likely have little Western "interference," and will be made with a more universal appeal to begin with. I highly doubt they'd waste money making something that bends too much one way or the other, forcing them to squander extra funds to correct it for the neglected audience. If such is the case, calling these shows "lacking cultural integrity" would be no different than making the same accusations of Cowboy Bebop, Samurai Champloo, Last EXILE, Read or Die, Trigun, or Witch Hunter Robin.
Now you're just being delusional. Anyway, personally I'm very optimistic. Like I said, I get the feeling they'll be producing material that'll cater to both sides of the Pacific equally without losing any of the "anime feel," just like most of Adult Swim's anime already does. And the fact that they're actually setting more money aside for greater production values is a big plus, as most of Japan's offerings have been severely lacking in good animation these past few years. And hey, since they're American-Japanese co-productions, maybe Time-Warner'll be willing to hire some young, ambitious animation majours fresh out of college on this side of the world who'd be more than happy to help produce an anime out of a cozy local studio. Maybe they'd even be willing to accept a few pilot scripts and new show ideas... 
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Erufu
 Posts: 191 |
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I totally agree with you on the taking Japanese out of anime thing. One of the biggest appeals anime has, in my opinion, is how different it is from other shows because it has Japanese influence and cultural aspects. If anime is developed for markets besides Japan, I don't know if you could even classify it as anime. It's a great idea to give North America anime when Japan is getting it at the same time, but I don't want it to be directed towards me. Does that make sense? Another thing that bothers me is another change they could make to typical anime. One of my favorite parts of anime is the fact that the creators don't beat the series until it's dead (typically). Almost all my favorites have a beginning and an end (an end, by the way, that the whole series worked up to so you know it was planned and not put there because ratings were slipping). Most last 13-26 episodes and end it there as far as the anime part goes. I'm afraid that Time Warner will make sure the series is open-ended so it can go on as long as they can make a profit.
There is no corner of Adult Swim. When the whole things airs after 10 pm in most places, it can all be considered a corner. If the anime is going to be directed towards the older crowd, it won't be in prime time. I don't think America is ready for an animated series that is aimed at adults to show during prime time (ie, you won't see an anime that acts like Nip/Tuck showing during the same time). For all of our sakes, hope it is on after 10.
One of my favorite parts of anime is all the things the Japanese come up with to slap its name on. Toilet paper, chop sticks, pill cases... It's endless. If this means more of these things hitting the main stream market in America, I say yes (as long as it is an overall anime decision done by a lot of distribs). I don't think Americans can come up with any more ways to slap a logo on something. Nagisa, I'd have to disagree with you on the lack of good animation. I think most of Studio Gonzo's work has been amazing (Last Exile, Chrno Crusade, Samurai 7), along with other works including Fullmetal Alchemist, Samurai Champloo, and even smaller titles like Genshiken and Shingetsutan Tsukihime. There may have been a lot of shows that didn't show great quality, but I can name a lot of other shows from the past few years that blew me away. |
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Nagisa
Moderator
Posts: 6128 Location: Atlanta-ish, Jawjuh |
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What I've seen of Samurai Champloo, aside from the first episode, was rather choppy & muddy. Genshiken was glaringly average, and Samurai 7 & Tsukihime were spotty at best. Fullmetal Alchemist wasn't even consistently great. And if you look at the larger scope of things, at your more "average" anime particularly from 2004 & 2005, you'll definitely see that animation quality has sunk horribly (especially when you compare it to stuff from 10+ years ago; the average TV series then looked much better than the average TV series now...too much reliance on computers to cut financial corners, methinks). It's not all bad, but the truly well done titles are in the vast, vast minority. |
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larmesdesucre
 Posts: 11 Location: Ventura, CA, US |
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It makes more sense than anything else in this thread. I think anyone who actually believes any good and truly Japanese anime can come out of this is being delusional. With Time Warner invested, the Japanese animators' hands are firmly stuck down the pants of their American investors whom they have to keep satisfied. Sure, it probably will be more akin to Bebop than Bugs Bunny, I doubt their prime directive is to make an anime version of Space Jam. But any American influence, even if it's "only" financial obligations, is American influence. It's as simple as that.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=/ap/20050125/ap_on_fe_st/forehead_advertising Now what was that you were saying? |
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Erufu
Posts: 191 |
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Hmm.... that would pay for my college. OK, besides the forehead thing...
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Zeiram
 Posts: 317 |
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Alright, time to offer my opinion.
As I see it, this means more money and mor eman power so they can break out of someof the problems that other anime comes across. As far as lacking visual quality in current series <.<;;; i'm not picky about my animation, the only thing that rubbed me wrong was cool devices ep 2 or something anyways as I was ranting. I want pictures, I refuse to jump to conclusions on this matter. This is a revolutionary step for anime as a stronger influence in the world and as such I am thrilled and delighted, but to see if they will appeal to this or that, I want to see pictures a trailer and music. Heck, wouldn't you love a little godsmack and slipknot in your anime soundtracks? (gee i almost sound sarcastic) |
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littlegreenwolf
 Posts: 4796 Location: Seattle, WA |
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Again, I wonder where the heck this view that anything animated with an American contribution will automatically be crap, and can't be called anime. Some people need to get their Japanese only loving heads out of their buts, and open up to the bigger world. Lots of crap comes out of Japan, and lots of crap comes out of America. Together they'll either make collaberation crap, or something that may just be worth watching.
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TMBounty_Hunter
Posts: 235 |
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about f*&^ing time it got through to them. how long have i been posting away with this theory on various forum, i dont even remember, at least now there seems to be light at the end of teh tunnel
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saishokushugisha
Editor, Anime Insider
 Posts: 101 Location: USA |
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Are you psychic? No. Everything needs marketing. How do you think the Japanese hear about new stuff? Are they psychic as well? As cool as it might seem to hate big corporate workings, it's entirely possible that something awesome will come out of this. At a bare minimum, you're getting cooperation between two cultures. |
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Joe Mello
 Posts: 2305 Location: Online Terminal |
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Well, whatever it is, I hope it's good. Of course, 9 times out of 10, I'll watch it anyway. ^__^;
Larger budget is always good, but that doesn't mean it's not going to drown in a sea of CGI. |
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Twage
Posts: 363 Location: North Bergen, NJ |
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This is extremely exciting news, and to all the naysayers, I would point out-- what are the two anime Time Warner/CN has produced so far? The Big O II and The Animatrix. Both of which kicked massive amounts of ass. So let's give them a chance, eh?
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