Forum - View topicHey, Answerman! [2009-09-25]
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loka
 Posts: 373 Location: Pittsburgh, PA |
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I'll admit to owning the Hot Gimmick manga.
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pparker
 Posts: 1185 Location: Florida |
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Something occurred to me in relation to the power of dubs to broaden or popularize anime in the new economy. I haven't heard anyone mention the availability of digital fansubs having created a new generation of fans who grew up watching subtitled anime instead of dubbed. Older fans would more likely have discovered anime on TV, or even DVD, and thus started on dubs. It would make an interesting study, because one day we may look back and see that just prior to and concurrent with the DVD/TV bubble was a "dub" bubble, a relatively short period where dubbed anime ruled the market outside Japan in between two periods where subs were the only alternative or else the significant majority (the VHS fansub era, and the later digital fansub explosion--which combined with streaming probably indicates a permanent and growing sub majority).
My kids for instance spent far more time on their computers than in front of a TV, prefering the interactivity. That led to fansubs and watching anime on their PC. They don't dislike or avoid dubs, and aren't Japanophiles. They just don't express a preference for dubs over subs, since subbed versions comprised the majority of their experience. That experience must be fairly common, considering the statistics for fansubs. That also means that most of the digital generation have been exposed to anime already. The primary section of the market that might respond purely on the basis of dubs is older, the ones who didn't grow up on fansubs and thus are more likely to be averse to subtitled entertainment. That's a smaller and shrinking demographic, considering anime is targeted toward younger people anyway. This could be a factor in dubs losing their power to garner more broad appeal for anime, or even partially explain the collapse of the dub DVD market. Not that I think this is more of a factor in DVD sales than fansubs in general--a symptom of the culturalization of "free entertainment" by the Internet--or the natural market evolution toward online distribution of entertainment vs. physical media. Also, as that dub bubble group of fans grows older, they will likely reduce if not drop their involvement with anime, which also contributes to the lessening demand for new dubs. The fact that people are willing to pay for subtitled anime via Crunchyroll seems to support the concept of young digital generations that just don't care as much about dubs, even where it isn't free. And those generations, even as they age, are the primary target market for anime. |
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Mohawk52
 Posts: 8202 Location: England, UK |
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It could be the fact that dubs usually have to be bought, where fansubs usually don't. Lets not beat round the bush here, recession, or no, that has always been the sickness with the anime industry that has kept it too weak to overcome it all. The Japanese are as much to blame as the fansubbers as it has always been their complacency and indifference, or incapability to work in the overseas market due to inexperience. BTW No one's ever watched a fansub in my house, cause I'm a mean daddy with parental controls. They actually don't mind cause they don't miss what they never had, understand that such thing are illegal and unethical, and are quite content with that, at least no one's had the cobblers to speak up anyway.
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Veers
 Posts: 1197 Location: Texas |
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The most embarrassing anime I'll admit to watching? I'll fess up; I watched Strike Witches at a friend's suggestion. I want those 4 hours of my life back.
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Hardgear
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Ya know, I'm glad someone shares my opinion on Adult Swim in regards to anime. They keep giving it a chance, but it keeps failing. It's probably true that they only finished off Code Geass and Moribito because of contracts, but would you have blamed them for taking them off the air if they had the option? Seriously, they are a business, they need to produce $$ to stay in business, and if something is a ratings bomb and is costing them $$ as opposed to making it, then they should remove it. As was mentioned earlier, they are probably anime fans that show things they like, but if after the first 5 or so episodes those shows arent doing well, theres not much that can be done other than move em to the graveyard slot or stop showing them. In fact, you gotta give them props for still showing any anime at all, given that they cater mostly to the drunken fratboy crowd (based on their original shows, and this particular crowd of viewers are probably the most likely to be awake during Adult Swim's hours...).
Also, I agree 100% with Brian that they keep jabbing anime fans because they find it amusing. Hell, I do the same thing on other forums sometimes because it's so f'n funny watching the reactions some people have when you insult whatever it is they are fanatical about. The sad truth is that a lot of anime fans, especially those at the AS forums, take themselves way too seriously. And what do you do to people who take themselves too seriously? Why you jab them just to watch them explode of course!! |
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Splitter
 Posts: 1276 Location: Knockin' on Heaven's Door |
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The problem isn't that anime on Adult Swim doesn't get viewers, it's that it doesn't get the right viewers i.e. adults. Lots of kids and teenagers are watching Bleach as opposed to the college-age young adult demographic AS seeks. They missed a huge freakin' boat when they could have jumped for Black Lagoon.
As for Answerfans, Rednal nailed it. I could totally see anime being promoted on the silver screen before the coming attractions, and maybe then I won't have to watch that insufferable Kanye West "Holy Grail" parody commercial anymore. Most embarrassing anime? Kodomo no Jikan. Yeah, this is gonna open a can of worms, but I admit it because I liked it. Its controversy is not without merit and the way it analyzes and handles the character issues is stunning, painting with a very broad brush how children and adults are not so dissimilar in their wants and needs, even though neither side acknowledges the other. |
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Greed1914
 Posts: 4420 |
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Unless I'm totally mistaken, that is sort of what we have with SyFy's Ani-Monday block. It's not exactly the traditional infomercial style where the chunk of time is strictly about whoever bought the time since we still see commercials, but Manga, which is owned by Starz, has worked out a deal that is pretty similar. That's why as there aren't ads for Manga Ent, Bandai, or the Ani-Monday block outside of Ani-Monday itself. SyFy doesn't advertise it, at least not heavily, because it's not one of their shows. But if I'm totally wrong on this I hope someone corrects me.
Woot for parental controls! |
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Hardgear
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Bleach gets viewers PERIOD so it is in no danger of being taken off the air or put in the 5AM slot  As long as the # of viewers is high, companies will pay more to advertise during that show. At the moment I think Bleach is probably the ONLY anime on Adult Swim that is actually making them any decent amount of money, so I doubt it will go away.
On the topic of Bleach, I know AS will be going back down to 1 episode a week and likely skipping a few weeks at a time entirely due to the fact that they are catching up to where the dub is currently at, but I'm willing to bet some insane $$ that their boards will be filled with people whining that this is yet another sign that AS is the devil and that they hate anime and WHY DO THEY KEEP TORMENTING US and that anime on TV is dying, etc. Hell, it happened both times with Code Geass, I am sure it will happen with Bleach. Code Geass, Moribito, and the like simply didn't (dont) get much viewers at all, so they were most likely pushed back to the dead slots to finish airing due to contractual obligations, otherwise they likely would have been taken off entirely. I do agree about Black Lagoon though, that's probably just the kind of show that Adult Swim's viewer base would go for. |
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RogueJedi86
 Posts: 501 |
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I believe the Bleach dub is still over 100 episodes behind the Japanese broadcast, which allows at least a year of 2 episodes a week. And by that time, Japan will still be 50 episodes ahead. We have at least a year and a half, maybe 2 years before we catch up. I do wonder what will happen after that. I can't see a simultaneous premiere of Bleach in Japan in Japanese and on AS in English the same night like Kurokami, though it would be something sweet to try, especially a network like AS that most people have(no one has that ImaginAsian channel that Kurokami airs on).
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The_Libertarian_Otaku
 Posts: 189 |
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If [AS] blames a lack of promotion for low anime ratings, why the hell don't they just PROMOTE THE GODDAMN ANIME? What do they think is going to happen? Are they that scared that people will actually WATCH it?
I've been watching [AS] since 2003, and back then, they promoted their anime and did it well. What the fudge happened? Why did they have to go and turn their backs on us? |
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RogueJedi86
Posts: 501 |
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To be quite fair, AS has been advertising Bleach all the time recently, with Arc-relevant promos for Bleach during Family Guy commercial breaks. They had one hyping the fight between Ichigo and Grimmjow, and I think recently they started airing a Hueco Mundo one. |
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Hardgear
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Well, we are at the 150 range, and Japan is in the 240 range, so we about 90 episodes behind them right now based on air time. I know the dub was quite a bit ahead when AS started showing 2 episodes a week a few months back, but they gotta be catching up sometime soon. I doubt Viz has been dubing 2 episodes a week since then. |
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Mohawk52
Posts: 8202 Location: England, UK |
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BunnyCupCakes
 Posts: 224 Location: The Sunshine State |
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But that's just Bleach. What about the other shows? Code Geass, Morbito...etc? I don't think I ever saw a promotion/commercial about those series. I remember back in the old days, they had one for every show. They promoted Inuyasha quite alot too. But now, it's just Bleach. It's basically the only anime-related show they live off from. You can't just blame the ratings & viewers for being so low when you don't even try to advertise it at all yourself. That's laziness. Yeah, money is hard to come by but you can't just expect to sit on your ass all day and wait for the money to come in. That and AS changes their schedules quite alot. That was another reason why I went "screw it" & stopped watching their stuff. |
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rinmackie
 Posts: 1040 Location: in a van! down by the river! |
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Nice to hear from you again, Libertarian! Yes, I too, remember when AS promoted anime and was more respectful towards it. How are people supposed to know about it if it's not promoted? Not to mention, the godawful time slots don't help, either.
But it seems to me that most people are scared to promote anime outside the fandom. But then they wonder why the industry is in a slump. Hmm, maybe it's because the average otaku is a net-savvy teenager with no way or inclination to pay, and wants to keep this special interest to themselves. I'm sure if I were to mention the obvious non-promotion oversight to those in the industry they'd probably say that mainstreamers aren't interested in something like anime. Of course, there is the fear (probably not entirely unfounded) that if mainstream America encountered anime, they'd try to ban it. Which of course, would make it popular. 
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