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@relyat08

I always assumed that Winchester got anime showings as it is close to the western communities that work in Washington and doesn't require you to drive back in to that traffic hell east of Manassas. On the other hand it may be something as simple as the manager of that specific location being an anime fan.

zrnzle500 wrote:

relyat08 wrote:

Yeah, it hasn't been too long since we've had this answered. You're not crazy.

Don't feel like the question was entirely answered either, which was more specifically asking why weird locations, like Windsor, or near me, in Winchester(literally the middle of nowhere, look it up on a map. It's two hours from DC, and that is the only population center nearby, which already has its own showings of pretty much everything), get theatrical showings while places like Indianapolis or Chicago don't.

I don't think that Windsor is that weird. "That city across from Detroit" seems like a good location in that you can get people from the Detroit area without actually having it be in Detroit itself. Actually after looking it up on a map, it becomes even more apparent. When one says it is across from Detroit, it is right across from Detroit. Like you would only need to cross one bridge from downtown Detroit, and you're there. To me it seems weird that they wouldn't have locations there.

Yeah, I've been there before. It's very close. And would be quite convenient, if it wasn't in another country. It took me over an hour to cross the border from Windsor to Detroit both times I've been in the area. Border patrol was quite intense! Maybe I just got unlucky, but if I am risking spending my entire day to see a movie, I'd rather travel somewhere a few hours away in the US, rather than make that trip across to Canada, to be honest.

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Can't really say the same about Winchester though. It is in Northern Virginia, which is the most populous region in the state, but Fairfax is closer to most parts of the region, which is where I've gone most of the time. It does have a theater from a chain that regularly gets anime movies (Alamo Drafthouse), but there is another theater in that chain that is closer to the heart of the region too. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Yeah, that Alamo Drafthouse seems to just get a lot of unusual content. Especially anime. But yeah, it's very much on the edge of NOVA and the area out there is a lot more like West Virginia, than the Nova that people think of(Fairfax, Ashburn, Annandale, Arlington etc)
@Alan45 I live pretty far west as far as NOVA goes, and it is still a solid hour drive to get out to Winchester, and with most movies being either Saturday at noon, or 7pm on weeknights, traffic doesn't usually pose much of a problem going into Fairfax, or even DC(rarely necessary, but will happen for Heaven's Feel, unfortunately).

I have been pretty lucky the last few years. After the Marcus Majestic opened just a few minutes from me, we've had a lot more anime films come through. Other theaters near by have had anime movies, too. I feel so lucky I got to see your name in the theater. That has been the only anime showing that had a lot of people in it, though. Most have been half full or less.

GanNingKino wrote:

I really do try not to be offended by silly things, but calling the Midwest WASP-y was pretty snarky and not that accurate, either.

Just because we're not on a coast doesn't mean you can insult us.

Yeah, the Midwest is so provincial I don't know how they get more than 5 people to show up to Ohayocon and Anime Central. Rolling Eyes

Rightstuf must be a fortress, hunkered down as they are amidst all those uncultured, xenophobic Iowans.

Sometimes, market choices just don't make sense though. Like how Seattle has missed out on the last several anime films, despite its large Asian community and a history of anime doing well here. Maybe the shift to Vancouver is trying to pull in a Portland audience, but they're losing everyone coming down I-5 from the north Sound, as well as people from Eastern WA. And Portland often gets its own releases. Either way, I'll drive an hour and a half to see a movie, but not four hours.

^The only reason I can imagine Seattle not getting an anime film is, as I mentioned earlier, if the theaters there are just asking for way too much. But yeah, Seattle is a massive hub for Japanese people and the interest in anime there is quite notable.

Gina Szanboti wrote:

GanNingKino wrote:

I really do try not to be offended by silly things, but calling the Midwest WASP-y was pretty snarky and not that accurate, either.

Just because we're not on a coast doesn't mean you can insult us.

Yeah, the Midwest is so provincial I don't know how they get more than 5 people to show up to Ohayocon and Anime Central. Rolling Eyes

Rightstuf must be a fortress, hunkered down as they are amidst all those uncultured, xenophobic Iowans.

I know you're making a joke, but seriously, Omaha is also about as multi-cultural and progressive(not necessarily in the political sense, more in the open-minded sense) as it gets. Loved that place when I was visiting a couple of years ago. Also some of the best Sushi and the best Middle Eastern food I've ever had was in the Old Market area there.

@relyat08

I probably have a distorted view of commuting and traffic in the DC area. We had a couple of people over the years transfer from Roanoke to the DC office. One commuted from Culpepper and the other from Harpers Ferry. Since I don't know the area, I'm stuck with using IS 66 to get into downtown DC. I've driven that on Sunday afternoon and found traffic horrible as soon as you pass Manassas, same thing coming out. I'm spoiled, here in Roanoke my usual commute was about 15 minutes. Anything more than 30 minutes meant you were living next door to cows. Of course, the area doesn't get anime movies, you pay your money and take your choice.

I have an AMC theater about 30 minutes away that seems to have a deal with Fathom Events, which recently have been supplying us with a good amount of anime. (Ghibli Fest, Castle of Cagliostro, Pokemon, Mary and the Witch's Flower, etc.)

@Alan45
That's true. There are a lot of people who commute ridiculous distances into DC, to be fair as well. I actually know a couple of people who commute from Front Royal to DC(this is literally a 2.5 hour commute, I have no idea how they survive...), so I guess Winchester showings are certainly to their benefit.
I wish I could get out of this area for the sake of my sanity, but there are a lot of benefits, as well. You certainly do pay your money and take your choice.

Living in the Boston area, I've gone to a fair number of (non-Ghibli) anime features over the years, both dubbed and subtitled. Screens have included local art houses as well as chains. I'd guess that the relatively high number of colleges in the area contributes to the small-but-steady stream of movies.

zrnzle500 wrote:

I don't think that Windsor is that weird. "That city across from Detroit" seems like a good location in that you can get people from the Detroit area without actually having it be in Detroit itself. Actually after looking it up on a map, it becomes even more apparent. When one says it is across from Detroit, it is right across from Detroit. Like you would only need to cross one bridge from downtown Detroit, and you're there. To me it seems weird that they wouldn't have locations there.

Downtown Detroit ain't that bad, in fact is probably one of the best areas of the city, even compared to some suburbs like that Hell on Earth known as Dearborn. Aren't there still some old theaters feasible to screen anime events which weren't demolished for nothing and are still in working order?

relyat08 wrote:

^The only reason I can imagine Seattle not getting an anime film is, as I mentioned earlier, if the theaters there are just asking for way too much. But yeah, Seattle is a massive hub for Japanese people and the interest in anime there is quite notable.

So you believe a major West Coast city with some descendants of Japanese settlers from years even before World War II are all diehard otaku because they're Japanese? Intriguing...

Quote:

I know you're making a joke, but seriously, Omaha is also about as multi-cultural and progressive(not necessarily in the political sense, more in the open-minded sense) as it gets. Loved that place when I was visiting a couple of years ago. Also some of the best Sushi and the best Middle Eastern food I've ever had was in the Old Market area there.

It's still a major city. Besides, ethnic food doesn't have anything to do with what you're talking about. You can find curry almost anywhere in Japan, but it's not demographically like London.

Compelled to Reply wrote:

relyat08 wrote:

^The only reason I can imagine Seattle not getting an anime film is, as I mentioned earlier, if the theaters there are just asking for way too much. But yeah, Seattle is a massive hub for Japanese people and the interest in anime there is quite notable.

So you believe a major West Coast city with some descendants of Japanese settlers from years even before World War II are all diehard otaku because they're Japanese? Intriguing...

I lived in Seattle for 13 years. I'm basing my knowledge of the city and its residents on my experience being surrounded by them on a daily basis.
Can you tone down the unwarranted condescension please?

Quote:

I know you're making a joke, but seriously, Omaha is also about as multi-cultural and progressive(not necessarily in the political sense, more in the open-minded sense) as it gets. Loved that place when I was visiting a couple of years ago. Also some of the best Sushi and the best Middle Eastern food I've ever had was in the Old Market area there.

It's still a major city. Besides, ethnic food doesn't have anything to do with what you're talking about. You can find curry almost anywhere in Japan, but it's not demographically like London.

You're trying way too hard to be disagreeable.... Sad

(Japanese curry isn't the same as the curry you will generally find in London. Just a note)

^American Chinese food isn't the same as Chinese you will generally find in China. Does anywhere with a Chinese restaurant look like a Chinatown? No. Does anywhere with Asians mean anime films should be screened there because of the fact? Absolutely not. As I said before, if a community can support foreign films, anime can likely fall into that category, regardless of demographics.

^I think you misinterpreted what I was saying. I was just attempting to be conversational, for starters. I like Omaha, and enjoyed the variety of food while I was there. I also had a chance to hang out with some anime fans and counter-culture types. Overall, in comparison to many cities I've traveled to(traveling is something of a hobby for me, so I've been to the majority of cities in the country with any notable population), the people there seem to be pretty receptive to foreign media, including anime. Like I said, this is just my impression, and I was not trying to state that Omaha is also a hub for anime fans, or should get every anime movie. I was just noting my impressions from when I was there, because I thought it would be interesting to some people here in the thread.
I actually have no idea what your point was, other than to pick a fight, like usual... Rolling Eyes

zrnzle500 wrote:

I don't think that Windsor is that weird. "That city across from Detroit" seems like a good location in that you can get people from the Detroit area without actually having it be in Detroit itself. Actually after looking it up on a map, it becomes even more apparent. When one says it is across from Detroit, it is right across from Detroit. Like you would only need to cross one bridge from downtown Detroit, and you're there. To me it seems weird that they wouldn't have locations there.

Wow, you're right. Looking at the street layout, Windsor also seems to be in the middle of a much larger metropolitan area, whereas I had the impression that it was a small town of 1,000 out in the middle of the countryside.

Certainly, as I live in a huge metropolitan area, I have no problem finding nearby theaters that will screen anime films. But when I lived up in Santa Cruz, CA? No way. There was an indie theater there, but they expressed zero interest in anime films because there's very little interest in anime there. Not sure if it's different now, but anime had a stigma of being a kids thing there that the kids won't watch, so whatever anime fans lived over there at the same time as me were still stuck in the keep-sharing-the-videotapes phase because none of the local retailers would sell the home video releases. You had to drive to Monterey to watch a theatrical release or to the Target in Watsonville to get the home video. They're only about 40 miles and 25 miles, respectively, but they feel a lot longer than that because of the terrible congestion on the Pacific Coast Highway and the slow drivers I'd keep encountering who will never go above 40 mph on it. I also spent a sizable amount of my time there without a car. Public transportation took me 3 hours to get to Watsonville (the bus system there is robust in the population centers, but when you transfer in the woods, the buses are a lot less frequent), and you have to resort to Greyhound or Amtrak to get to Monterey as, at the time, the BART did not have a regular route between Santa Cruz and Monterey.

It's pretty odd because Santa Cruz has a sizable number of foreign film fans, but I guess the Animation Age Ghetto was strong with that--they'd only watch a foreign animated film if it either won film festival awards (like Persepolis) or was done by someone already known for their live-action films (like Run Lola Run). So I guess they'd watch Ghibli, and possibly your name, but nothing else from Japan unless it's live-action. Certainly, said indie theater never showed any anime films besides My Neighbor Totoro, and even then it was a doubleheader with Little Shop of Horrors as part of their Classic Movie Night.

Of courtse, the big push for theatrical anime releases came AFTER I had left, so maybe things are different there. Can anyone who currently lives in the San Francisco Bay Area confirm this?

relyat08 wrote:

^The only reason I can imagine Seattle not getting an anime film is, as I mentioned earlier, if the theaters there are just asking for way too much. But yeah, Seattle is a massive hub for Japanese people and the interest in anime there is quite notable.

That actually makes a lot of sense. Might also explain why it took so long for movie theaters around here in southern California to start showing anime films. Then again, there are now so many of them here that I think it was more because the theater owners were skeptical of their success. Then, the Century Theaters in North Hollywood (which is culturally very different than regular Hollywood), a suburban low-profile theater that's hard to notice from the street, not close enough to a highway to get traffic from there, and in competition with a Regal Cinemas that IS right next to a highway, decided to take a chance and show Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods on a Thursday night to a sold-out crowd. By the time your name made its run, there were about 60 theaters showing it within a 50-mile radius of my home. Now they all want a piece of that pie, and it felt like a wide-release movie around here (except for Regal, which to my knowledge is still hesitant to show any limited release film).

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