Forum - View topicANNCast - Viewers Like You
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jenthehen
 Posts: 835 Location: Cincinnati, Ohio |
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I am a woman  ... but we are trying to draw two men to moe, and not necessarily women here. I loved He Is My Master - it was hilarious, and there was really hardly any fanservice compared to other shows (Rosario + Vampire, for example). I would personally hate a moeblob boy. Kannagi was pretty tame for moe, though.
I just love Kanon - I thought it was the best of the three (Kanon, Air, Clannad). The story came full circle and drew all the characters together. The stories were connected and never felt so much like "arcs" - also, the male lead had a good personality and it never felt too much like a harem - we are never left guessing "Who is he going to pick?" (because it's very clear - and there are really only 2 gifls interested in him romantically. And he isn't there to save the girls - he helps them, but it's really spoiler[Ayu's Selfless wish that saves everyone] |
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PetrifiedJello
Posts: 3782 |
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This podcast has been very enjoyable once again. I sure can relate to quite a bit of it.
I can definitely relate to Blood-'s apprehension of trying to say the Japanese title. I avoid it like the plague as well, especially given if I've never heard it said before. As for his voice, no surprises there. Matches the picture of him quite well, so sorry, ol' chap... no Vincent Price expectations here.[/end Darth Vader voice over] I was a bit perplexed on some of the discussion regarding trying to put anime more into mainstream. I had figured this topic was pretty much moot given anime's past history never did it. But more importantly, I'm very curious to know why any studio/license holder would balk at trying to open its advertising. This makes no sense to me, and it's even more confusing why they'd expect payment for an episode. Then again, this rather leads to the reasons why anime isn't as mainstream as it possibly could be. Though in truth, I doubt even this will expand its market. Cartoons are just that to most adults, regardless of the story. They may entertain a series or two, but they're sure not going to rush out and go from Clannad to Elfen Lied. Changing topic to streaming now, I'm curious to know who Zac's "insider" is to dispel the notion streaming doesn't lead to sales. Several on this site, including myself, have indicated an increase in purchases due to the availability of it online. I'm interested to know if the sales figures are "shifting", meaning that those who do buy from streaming are simply replacing those who just simply stopped buying. To the caller who noticed the new group of anime fans being nothing more than "teenagers", I can definitely relate to this as well. While I don't visit cons, I do see the current demographic has definitely changed. Change is inevitable, I guess, but I don't believe I can relate to today's fans who toss out terms like "moe", "fanservice", etc. It seems it's these terms today's fans seem to be adamant about, rather than focusing on what anime has become. Sure, it's changed, but did it really change so much to change the demographic conversation this much? It makes me curious to know what happened to those anime fans who grew up on shows older than what even Zac and Justin grew up with. 12 years is an eternity in the world of anime, so I shouldn't be surprised even those in their 30s approach it differently. I guess I'll just relinquish myself to the old geezer screaming "Get off my lawn!" while sitting on my porch (watching anime on my laptop) rotting away until the Grim Reaper comes calling. Here's to next week's podcast. *crosses fingers the guest Gen Fukunaga, but know that's just wishful thinking. |
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doctordoom85
 Posts: 2093 |
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Having received the boxset last week, Soul Eater did get much better in the second disc IMHO. Black Star got less annoying, Tsubaki was more developed, spoiler[Excalibur] was quite funny, and the group of witches introduced makes it look like the story will be getting better soon.
I think the anime DVDs will do fairly well here. The manga has only one volume out so far, but it made the top 10 best-selling manga list for several weeks, and like they said, FUNi has done a good job of advertising it. |
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TatsuGero23
 Posts: 1277 Location: Sniper Island, USA (It's in your heart!) |
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Ha... is it weird that the only thing I really want to say is that I liked how you guys used the reggae or tropical music as a closer? Honestly we as a community have to work on getting you a new intro but wow, it worked surprisingly well as a closer or send-off song. Ha.
But I'm glad Zac gave Soul Eater at least a chance and liked it to a degree. Maybe something you'll pick up again when you aren't glutted with other series. Sad Justin didn't like it though. And yeah, that "collecting X souls" thing pretty much takes a back seat after like ep. 2. Really I think it's only there to explain what those little shiny orbs are and after that the collecting part has little to do with the rest of the series outside of 3 or 4 episodes. Even then in those episodes it wasn't about the collecting. And who does this Blood- think he is!?! Freakin weirdo! I'm kidding. Your alright in my book. Good stuff all around. I did have to brace myself a bit when Corey from Wisconsin came on but he was sincere and brought up a good legit question. Ah One Piece. I have to side with Zac and pretty much everyone else here that the art style was probably a major turn off point for mainstream audiences. Yes, it's a very kiddy design and completely intended for kids. But that doesn't mean those kids want it to be fed to them that way. They want to think what they are watching is cool and awesome. One Piece had a fairly dynamic, contrasting setup with its cartoony design but fairly mature content of government, military, assassination, slavery, etc and violence. But even those mature themes where handled with a light hearted-ness but at the same time given immense focus and respect to their topics. So when 4kids dumbed it down (ha... dumbing down a kids show.) and removed that dynamic of seriousness, those kids didn't bite and fans just got pissed off. DBZ had a very unique design, but its feel went along the lines of the superhero build to with guys with muscles beating up each other so, although a kid's show, for the most part it didn't treat itself that way. Soul Eater benefits from the same thing. Yes, a kid's show, but it takes itself and its story seriously enough that you don't feel like your watching a kid's show and the dubs treat it the same. One Piece on the other hand got neutered when it came overseas. Oh, guess I had more to say then just something about the theme music. ha. |
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SXAniMedia
 Posts: 139 |
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Don't mind the haters and the snark Corey - good job going on the show and demonstrating a positive attitude that's sorely lacking in the anime scene.
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jgreen
 Posts: 1325 Location: St. Louis, MO |
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I cringed...does that count? 
Good podcast...I probably enjoyed Blood -'s segment the best. It was interesting, too, to hear how he got drawn in as a man in his 40's because I actually had similar success with my 60-something mother, of all people. She had seen and enjoyed all of the Miyazaki movies, but that was about it, until she got wind of Le Chevalier d'Eon. She's HUGE into period movies, and after seeing a few pictures, she loved the historical aspect and design sense of it, wanted to see it, and was shocked -- SHOCKED -- to discover that all this anime stuff was available on Netflix. After d'Eon, she got into Emma, saw the trailers for Aria, and is now rocketing her way through that. She's got just one more season's worth of episodes to watch before I have to dig up another show to feed her anime fix. Considering she had my anime collection living under her roof for about 8 years and is just discovering the stuff now, after I've been moved out for about 6 years, is kind of funny, but really cool just the same. |
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Megiddo
 Posts: 8360 Location: IL |
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Just wondering... how does Makoto connect with Shiori? My main beef with Kanon was that the arcs never seemed to connect, other than them meeting Yuuichi in the past and such. Whereas with Air, I could make an argument that every character was somehow affected by the curse of Kanna. In otherwords, it seemed like they were all disconnected stories, but they really weren't. Maybe I just missed such a connection in Kanon... which is why I asked my first queston. |
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Hunter Sopko
 Posts: 259 |
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I don't know, the problem I had with Soul Eater was that in the beginning it was TOO silly. They seemed absolutely intent on ruining any potentially awesome moment the show could have in the first 13 or so episodes with random slapstick. Random bad slapstick. It was incredibly painful, but there was the potential there that if they dropped it that it could be a good show, which is why I stuck with it (in addition to the stylishness. The whole "Shounen, Shibuya style!" worked.) Thats why I think moving into a more serious tone worked, since they managed to stop doing that. It certainly didn't redefine the genre, but it was a worthwhile outing and it did a lot of good things, even if they didn't really salvage the show as a whole. Medusa was pretty awesome as a villain, at least. In general, the whole horror aesthetic they used was enjoyable on many levels, from purely visual to the characters. You had almost every classic horror monster represented in the cast, from Frankenstein to Cyclops and beyond. The Aphex Twin reference in the one guy's power was also amusing. |
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jenthehen
Posts: 835 Location: Cincinnati, Ohio |
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Well, I didn't mean that every character connects with every other character - they don't have to. It was more of a thematic connection with the title - a Canon is a repeating melody that gets more complicated (this is simplified), but the story is like that. I felt like Ayu and Mai and Makoto all connected. Ayu connected with Nayuki who connected with Shiori's sister who obviously connected with Shiori. And they were all connected to Yuichi by being his friend, and so when spoiler[Ayu wished for him to be happy instead of for her own life, and his happiness was for all his friends to be healthy/safe ... she ended up touching every single one of them - even Makoto shows up in the end as a fox] I felt like the connection in Air was harder to understand - I liked it, but it felt way more choppy ... and the side characters dropped away after their arcs instead of sticking around to the end like in Kanon where evertyhing gets resolved. I think I just liked the flow of Kanon better - it never felt choppy or like you were being fed obvious "arcs" (unless you're really looking for them - I didn't even notice when I first watched it because I was new to the Visual Novel adaption as anime thing). |
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bemused Bohemian
Posts: 404 Location: central Mizzou (Moral Oralville) |
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Thanks for the tips about the fan demographics at the cons. I'll guess I'll stay way the heck away. I'm somewhat similar to the 44-yr old Canadian you interviewed though he is 18 years my junior. Likely I would be mistaken for some kid's grandad or a latent pedophile. I really enjoy your anime reviews and rollicking commentary. Your site helps determine whether I'll enrich Rightstuf (oh NO, not again) or a Malaysian distributor accessing anime for my future viewing enjoyment or closet fulfillment.
I have to chuckle when you mention sharing or assimilating others into this cult-like "hobby" (my description, not yours) watching and owning anime. My associates see me as that "interesting" "iconic" character that must have suffered a massive head trauma at a young age and likely will never, ever fully recover to a relative state of adult sanity. I try to nourish what I hope is their hesitant budding interest in anime (hah!!) periodically, but it's to no avail. They see me as an anamoly of nature, shake their heads in mystified bemusement, and walk away. Most of my friends are smart and willing to venture forth to try new things. Anime, sadly, is not 1 of them. |
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tuxedocat
 Posts: 2183 |
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Yep. I know that you are a woman (like me). I hope you don't feel that I meant any offense.  Though, just judging from the reactions I've personally witnessed, you are a bit atypical when it comes to moe. I can't say that I am the fan of the niche like you are, but I am more open to it than the people I've been introducing to anime. One of them is a guy and he won't even give it a try. It's a hard sell. He thinks it's "too cute" for his tastes, and the women think that it panders. So I usually have better luck sticking to things that don't have those types of character designs.
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Modandrocker
Posts: 10 |
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I finally listened to the podcast and wholly apologize for my voice. I had hopes to become a voice actor but I think that dream is dead...
Moving on, I just wanted to reply to this ANNCast. Anyways, Soul Eater - Haven't watched it yet. I ordered it from Rightstuf. So yeah. In response to Jon, I totally am a marathon watcher. My lifestyle (or non-lifestyle) is couch patato and watching serialized television. One of the reasons I've recently came back to anime is because of the serialized aspect. With dwindling serial shows on American television, anime fills my craving of this (i.e. I just spent about 5 new series with the Winter Olympics coming up). Another offshoot to this is that I think we as anime fans kind of take for granite is that satisfying or not, we get a full story. One of my pet peeves about American television is a series gets cancelled halfway through a story arc. I can't handle that. So marathoning to the end is just really satisfying for me. I guess this segways into my response to Kyle... I don't ever really see me getting into One Piece for the sole fact that it's so long of a show. My limit for anime in general is that general 51-52 episode format. Story arc after story arc with no end in sight does not excite me in the least. Again I guess my life long dream of being a voice actor has severely dimished after hearing myself again. Although I'm pretty sure I got a shot at voicing a pokemon of some sort... Brian and Scott both tangentially hit on something I was going for in my question, which make more mainstream essentially. I have a lot to say about this since I myself work in a marketing dept. In my opinion, the most direct way to get more money (and in effect more marketing and product) is hit Hollywood with something they cannot ignore. Summer Wars in my opinion has the best shot for a couple of reasons – 1.) It’s a great [expletive] movie. It was my favorite movie of last year despite everything that was working against it (I really dislike fansubs and hate watching stuff on my computer) and it succeeds on so many levels. I know Justin about the whole internet/real world thing may turn some people off, but I have to disagree. James Cameron’s Avatar had a very similar plot device. Instead of Pandora, Summer Wars really has OZ. I may be wrong but that’s just my opinion. 2.) I think it has a shot at Best Animated Oscar. Pixar’s Oscar dynasty looks like it will end with Toy Story 3 (that’s a little overdramatic…). That movie does not look good in the trailers at all and I am a Pixar fan. Other than that, there’s little that would conceivably stand in its way. Again, for this to happen, there must be a smart marketing push to really sell this movie to the American mainstream. Towards Scott and streaming, I totally agree with Zac on youtube and hulu. Nobody is really going to go to those sites and watch anime. It’s an insular marketing tool that does nothing to push anime further into the public. Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad streaming is out there, but that’s exactly what it is right now - out THERE. I think a smarter streaming technique would be to put more current anime on Netflix Instant Watch. Now that the key demographic has a Xbox360 or PS3 and both are Netflix integrated, I think this is a much more effiecient way of getting anime from OUT THERE to RIGHT HERE. Another advantage to this is that Netflix utilizes the “Marketing Basket” technique. For those unfamiliar, amazon.com uses this as “Customer who bought this also checked out…”. It’d be awesome if I went to go stream Blade 2 (a guilty pleasure of mine) and I was suggested to watch Hellsing Ultimate (another guilty pleasure). How successful would this be? I don’t know. Is this even possible? I don’t know. But I think it’s worth Funimation/Viz/Bandai/Crunchy Roll looking into if they already haven’t. I guess I should also note, I DON’T work for Netflix in any way. Alright, I really should get to working. Um, yeah end of rant. |
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tuxedocat
Posts: 2183 |
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If she hasn't seen them already, she might like Mushi-Shi, Gankutsuou, Twelve Kingdoms, Story of Saiunkoku, Moribito, or maybe even Baccano! If she likes Aria, she probably won't have any trouble with the pace of Mushi-Shi. Hope that helps...
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littlegreenwolf
 Posts: 4796 Location: Seattle, WA |
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Moe, One Piece, and targeting middle aged men. Bleah.
Still, it was fun to listen to the guests this time around versus other shows even if I wasn't interested in most of the subjects. My own fault for not submitting any questions. Hope to see more females submitting questions next time you do this. For the college question: College in Florida... FLORIDA IS A GIANT SINK HOLE! Get out while you can! I'm almost there... almost! I'm clinging to the boarder now and trying to pull myself out. Don't make the mistake in starting school here. Blood- sounds like my uncle. ... could be because most of my family are from Toronto. Either way, so not what I pictured Blood- sounding like, but I can't really recall what I ever imagined him sounding like either.... Blood, are you my uncle?  Joking, joking.
Question on the skype: I use it for chats, but never bothered to try it with my phone. Do you need a phone number, or would a mic work just as well for this? |
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The King of Harts
 Posts: 6712 Location: Mount Crawford, Virginia |
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I always listen to the ANNCast and love your usual format, but this was a lot more fun. This was a terrific idea. I'm sorely regretting not participating in this one. Also, I hope I'm not the only person here who knows the One Piece Rap by heart. As soon as it started playing, the words automatically started spewing from my mouth (the same happens for Pokemon songs, too. Maybe I have a problem).
Really? I thought he was a couple 'eh?'s from being a walking stereotype with is 'oots' and 'aboots'. I'm a little disappointed, though, because I was hoping you'd sound really creepy; you actually sound...normal  . So did you "accidentally" leave out your fascination of high school girls and pantyshots when Zac asked what types of shows you like? Who are you trying to fool, Blood-?
This is what I was thinking. Streaming works for people who are already buying DVDs. People who don't purchase anime are already accustomed to getting it for free and just because it's legal doesn't give them more incentive to purchase it. For example, I buy tons of DVDs and watch streams as well and I usually end up buying what I streamed anyways. If I was still really into fansubs and didn't buy anything, having Ouran streamed legally wouldn't suddenly light my bulb and drive me to Rightstuf. I have an idea: Why doesn't Funimation and the Animenetwork buy ads on other streaming videos? Like put the trailer for Soul Eater on a stream of FlashForward? It sounds cheap and like it would work. Last edited by The King of Harts on Fri Feb 12, 2010 6:02 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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