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ANNCast - Macek Training

ABetterTimeandPlace wrote:

Is there a non-biased reason to dismiss Funimation and Viz's hard-won success this way, when the same is no less true of Harmony Gold and Streamline Pictures?

Ad Hominem won't get you anywhere. I explained my valid reasoning but I shall explain it again in greater detail. I would hardly call either company's success 'hard won'. Funimation and Viz are reasonably competent companies. Viz is largely unremarkable though. They pick up only the biggest of big name properties that are guaranteed to turn a profit. They do a competent job releasing them. That's about it. There's really not much more to be said on the matter. Funimation is also reasonably competent but only the major player they are today because of the incompetence of the competition. By simply being half decent (and having access to the massive revenues from DBZ) they were able to pick up the pieces after ADV and Geneon went down in flames. Look, don't get me wrong here. I don't dislike these companies. I just don't feel like they really deserve to be congratulated as if they're so great. Despite their respective positions they haven't really done that much to improve the mainstream appeal of anime.
Although, I'll give them major credit for their recent moves toward streaming video.

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And yet, Funimation and Viz's sucess demonstrates that we don't have treat anime the way Macek did. The biggest irony? Macek has been working for Viz's contractor on Bleach. So arguably, Macek is one of many who had to adapt to the new market conditions.

Arguably their only show to achieve the same fame as Robotech or Akria is DBZ which did get the chop treatment. In any case, their success demonstrates nothing more than that times change. It's easy for Viz to pump out Bleach or Naruto now that there's a decent established fanbase for anime. You're mistaken if you think the same tactic would have worked in the past.

I don't think it's appropriate to characterize Funimation's track record as "hard won success."

Funimation was able to become a major player in today's anime market because they were bought out during the boom by a large corporation. That gave them a lot of capital with which to license titles and weather the then oncoming storm.

But don't forget that Navarre in total today is worth less than they paid for Funimation alone a few years ago. It takes a whole lot of red entries on a balance sheet for numbers like that to result. Funimation has survived the bust so, in that sense (and that sense alone), they're successful. But nobody is really going to call an enormous overall corporate contraction a success.

It's like being the sole survivor of a nuclear holocaust. Can you really say you rule the world just because you're king of the cinder?

I don't think it's appropriate to characterize Funimation's track record as "hard won success."

Funimation was able to become a major player in today's anime market because they were bought out during the boom by a large corporation. That gave them a lot of capital with which to license titles and weather the then oncoming storm.

But don't forget that Navarre in total today is worth less than they paid for Funimation alone a few years ago. It takes a whole lot of red entries on a balance sheet for numbers like that to result. Funimation has survived the bust so, in that sense (and that sense alone), they're successful. But nobody is really going to call an enormous overall corporate contraction a success.

It's like being the sole survivor of a nuclear holocaust. Can you really say you rule the world just because you're king of the cinder?

Remember, Viz predates Streamline Pictures, and Streamline Pictures tried to get a similar capital infusion by folding itself into Orion Pictures.

ABetterTimeandPlace wrote:

Remember, Viz predates Streamline Pictures, and Streamline Pictures tried to get a similar capital infusion by folding itself into Orion Pictures.

But that wasn't a merger to grow Macek's company, like FUNi becoming a part of Navarre. Quite the opposite, really: Macek wanted out of distributing other people's cartoons, and sold off Streamline's entire catalog to a film company that was in desperate need of content. Streamline never released a new product after that.

Now we know that you didn't watch the original Macross as you claimed. The daughter appeared in several episodes of the original Macross series. One of the episodes was named after the daughter.

Number of episodes in 1984: 125 episodes (40 more than Robotech, and one year earlier)

Television sequel with toy tie-in: 26 episodes in 1998 (Robotech never got another television series)

Live-action film deal: 2005 (two years before Robotech)

Comics in 1985, 2002, and 2008: Yes
Cartoon Network airing in 2006: Yes

Toys by Toynami now: Yes
DVDs now: Yes
Game, t-shirts, bookends, figures, cards now: Yes

So only third-rate licensors would have brought non-Robotech-related anime over?

The 2000 lawsuit mentioned nothing about "home video rights in association with DVD."

AnimEigo, U.S. Renditions, and Pioneer were releasing subtitled anime without the problems that Streamline's subs had.

Changing the motivation of the enemy is minor?
Changing the fate of characters of who lived or died is minor?
Changing the series finale from peaceful colonization to preemptive strike is minor?

Macek has been working for Viz's contractor on Bleach. So arguably, Macek is one of many who had to adapt to the new market conditions.

Is there a non-biased reason to dismiss Funimation and Viz's hard-won success this way, when the same is no less true of Harmony Gold and Streamline Pictures?

And, at least in my area, the screenings were at run-down off the beaten path movie houses. The release/tour only made money because virtually nothing was invested in it.