Forum - View topicNEWS: Gonzo to Restructure, Reduce Staff Count from 130 to 30
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Jarmel
Posts: 280 Location: NYC |
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@Zaeris
Not completely up to date but here http://myanimelist.net/forum/?topicid=58963 Gonzo is obviously not doing well. Lecturing me about personal opinion when you obviously have a bias against Clannad or Kanon? Rosario has obviously not been selling like hotcakes. Druaga is high 2k range and Blassreiter didn't even make the 2k range. The fact that we are even commenting on this article means that they pretty much failed in sales. Fanservice or moe is fine in moderation but IMO Gonzo kinda forgets about things like plot and character (looking dead-on at R+V 2). I have liked some of Gonzo's works in the past but as I said I'm not going to be crying any tears if they go under (unlike say Bones or Sunrise, although Kurokami is pushing my patience). Edit: Ugh there was a full list at [nope], albeit a bit outdated but still pretty good, but stupid filters. [Mod Edit: The filters are there for a reason and trying to circumvent them could bring you to the business end of the ban stick (no, it's not a deodorant even if it kinda sounds like one). If it's a list you have to share, then find a source that isn't on the black list. - Keonyn] replace @=a Last edited by Jarmel on Thu Feb 12, 2009 11:47 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Unit 03.5-ish
Posts: 1540 Location: This space for rent |
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Wow, so you think an anime company ought to go under because you don't agree with what they've done? And you think the ones who do all this stuff you think is so great should be the only ones in business? That's like, so ignorant and spiteful...I'm sounding like a broken record, but people don't deserve to lose their jobs, especially with the economy waffling the way it is now. Seriously, people, stop saying Gonzo deserves it or that people's jobs don't matter. Oh, wait, I guess "true fans" need not worry about things like whether the people who make the stuff they claim to love keep their jobs.
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Lemoncookies23
Posts: 355 |
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This is terrible news. I own a lot of Gonzo anime and will have owned more by the end of this year.
Why should it matter that the studio produced a lot of less-than-average shows? When the next studio is about to go under like Gonzo, will you be assessing their shows in a more critical light? "Oh, well, they produced this and that, which I didn't like. Maybe they should go." All anime studios will produce shows that you won't like, that many won't like, some studios more than others (in the case of Gonzo), but for heaven's sake, this is a well established Japanese anime studio that has produced stellar works essentially gone now. Talk about throwing the baby out with the bathwater.... |
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fighterholic
Posts: 9193 |
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130 to 30!? Talk about staff reduction, that's a 60% reduction. I think I'm seeing shutdown coming up possibly if they don't improve from this reduction. Or maybe they need a bailout.
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zaeris
Posts: 102 |
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Merely stating how quality is subjective, while I don't like moe I can recognized potential if sales is the main determinate of quality. I simple recognized that a high sale volume does not equate to quality as you believed. And for a fact Rosario doesn’t have epic sales but it does rival vandread in sales. I have to say the list is rather skewed “Here is Japan's Oricon Anime DVD Sales Ranking TOP 112 for Dec 24th, 2007 - Dec 21st, 2008. The numbers are the sales of the first volume in the first week after the release.” Hence it only gathers data as such from initial release of volume and only record for that one week period not the total count of each volume. The only thing I can gather from the data is Blassreiter was as not popular when it was release but sales do pick up as I’ve seen it reach 4k of the latter volume but I could be imagining it. Sales data does not represent quality as apparent shows that don’t reach even 1k in the initial first week I would say are better than most shows out there. If we take a look at the too low to count list J.C and production I.G titles are listed in there, does it have any significant meaning? Perhaps no but if you rate Gonzo as a studio below other studio than shouldn’t other studio produce better results. Let me first emphasis that sales is irrelevant to a degree if you’re discussing quality and let me further reharsh the better option is to simply not care rather cheering for the loses of jobs if you feel so strongly against the studio. |
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Jarmel
Posts: 280 Location: NYC |
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God no, I never said that sales=quality. There have been plenty of shows that have been successful but are horrid. Take a look at ANN top anime, myanimelist, anidb, and tell me how many Gonzo animes are in their top 50.
How about instead of you just shooting down my sources, you find your own instead of just stating random numbers. As I mentioned there isn't a really good list with this data but from what I CAN find, their sales have not been anywhere near good for the most part. Sales can be an indicator of quality but are not the end all be all. You make it seem as if Gonzo is some horribly underappreciated studio when really people for the most part don't like their anime. That's why I said to read. I'm apathetic, I really could care less either way. |
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Unit 03.5-ish
Posts: 1540 Location: This space for rent |
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Boy, I can't wait to see what people will have to say when Bones or I.G. announces layoffs.
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grgspunk
Posts: 136 |
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Wow. The economy's hitting pretty hard, isn't it? Considering the fact that many Japanese companies rely heavily on the value of the American dollar, if we get hit hard, they'll get hit hard too.
lawl, if the pedos have lots of cash to burn, they'd be stupid not to cater to them. Last edited by grgspunk on Fri Feb 13, 2009 12:54 am; edited 1 time in total |
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Jarmel
Posts: 280 Location: NYC |
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@Unit 03.5-ish
Why do you think Bones is doing another FMA? 
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Ian K
 Posts: 250 |
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@ 03.5
I understand your frustration, the people who are rejoicing at GONZO's trouble are acting cruel and childish. But in a freemarket capitalist society, you have to provide a service people are willing to pay for. GONZO has done a lot of fun shows in the past, and some were even great, but a lot of fans haven't been blown away by their recent stuff. The bottom line is, if no one wants what you're selling, you don't deserve to keep your job. Of course it isn't fair - the animators and such don't have a say in the shows their bosses decide to make, and even if it's something good, as was been pointed out earlier Japanese otaku collectively have pretty bad taste (not that there is anything wrong with shonen or mecha or moe, but good luck trying to get them to buy anything else) while the Western market isn't large enough to support a studio by itself. I feel sorry for the people who are getting laid off, and hope they can all find decent jobs. I also hope that they can make Shangri-La into something special and go out with a bang. |
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Unit 03.5-ish
Posts: 1540 Location: This space for rent |
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In this case, I think the "people who didn't want what they were selling" were the Japanese. And Japan is still the primary market for anime. It's a shame that by trying to appeal to a Western audience, and going against the grain, they may have damned themselves big time. Romeo x Juliet probably has far more appeal to the Western world that is familiar with the tale, for example. Also, if no one wants what someone is selling and they ought not keep their jobs...I wish this were true of infomercials
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dragonrider_cody
Posts: 2541 |
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Actually, I believe it was 20k for the entire release. It was intentionally mentioned in contrast to DBZ, which sells around 200K per volume. I can't say cutbacks at Gonzo are surprising. While many of their shows do well in the US, they are often fairly unpopular in Japan. Not to mention they're shows were some of the biggest failures of the past year, i.e. NHK, Red Garden, Magikano, etc. It's a bit sad though, as Gonzo produced two of my favorite anime of all time, Chrono Crusade and FMP. They've also had plenty of other great shows, like Samurai 7, Kaleido Star, and Last Exile. I was really expecting them to become insolvent and close sometime this year, but I hope this will give them enough time to get back on their feet. But in the poor economy, it might be too little, too late for Gonzo. What I find interesting about the whole thing, is that Gonzo is less dependent on international licensing, than other studios like TMS or Toei. It only receives about 15-20% of it's revenue from markets outside of Japan, as opposed to close to 40% for some other studios. Perhaps all their attempts to appeal to western audiences should have been better focused on their home market. Last edited by dragonrider_cody on Fri Feb 13, 2009 1:08 am; edited 1 time in total |
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grgspunk
Posts: 136 |
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I think Gonzo may have picked the wrong time. From what I can recall, they started releasing titles that catered to western audiences after the R1 anime boom, when DVD sales started to decline. |
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zaeris
Posts: 102 |
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lol, than can I expect less post about Gonzo going insolvent or fans cheering on the lost of an anime company? While I don't like to dwell on the concept of preference it is more correct to say their shows don't interest some people rather than say they don't like them. It’s rather puzzling when people have something against strike witches for being what it is, the studio doesn't hide nor shy away from the concept and it is certainly good as it is catering for such fans. Clearly the winning formula is mecha moe /sarcasm, I find it illogical that someone will bash ecchi fanservice anime for being ecchi which they should have just avoided the genre altogether. Crowd pleasing is something Gonzo doesn't do, their fanbase isn't moe/mecha/fanservice loving or something else. I still feel they’re trying to find a market for themselves. Other companies are easily recognised for the anime genre they produce but gonzo doesn't exactly have a model as such. So in honestly it’s easy to see fan's of xx series not like their other series because it’s not exactly similar in any instance. I’m trying to elude the point that people believe they should find most show produced by a single studio to be good to gain recognition but when every series they produced has been different from each other it isn't surprise people only enjoy 1 or 2 series from the studio. It also re-establishes the point how everyone’s anime list has a piece of gonzo there is always something people will find interest in. If Gonzo keep a trend producing anime of similar genre I wouldn’t be surprised if they did better. |
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rg4619
Posts: 163 |
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Yeah, it's worth noting that the results of a business decision aren't strongly felt until after 1-2 years. If Gonzo chose to aggressively target the west during the market's peak (TBH, I'm not overly familiar with the timing of their past releases), then those shows would've been released just as the decline began. Likewise, Gonzo announced plans to target otaku in early 2007. However, it's only now that they're seeing commercial success in that area (Strike Witches, Linebarrels of Iron, Rosario to Vampire). |
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