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Japanese Producers & Directors Panel




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Salaryman Matt



Joined: 01 Aug 2010
Posts: 2
PostPosted: Sun Aug 01, 2010 7:08 pm Reply with quote
I first showed up in panel 6 about 15 minutes before it started, where I started wondering if the panel was still going on. It looked like someone had drawn a little arrow from the previous panel pointing to this panel time slot on the board out front, so it seemed like maybe the previous one had taken over the time slot. It didn't have a line through it though so this was obviously not the case, just a tad confusing.

Thankfully that was not the case, but it sure seemed deserted when I was the third person to show up to the panel so close to its start. We did end up picking up some more attendees as we went, but there were so few like the article reported that we just ended up forming a circle of chairs, and forgoing the microphone.

This was quite the unique experience though, considering other panels like these normally have some distance between you and the guests. It was a nice change of pace, and very enjoyable. I just hope that the turnout wasn't too much of a disappointment to the guests.

I suppose the Japanese Anime industry still isn't too well known even amongst the Otakon convention goers yet.
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PetrifiedJello



Joined: 11 Mar 2009
Posts: 3782
PostPosted: Sun Aug 01, 2010 7:56 pm Reply with quote
Quote:
A fan asked about the TV anime Kamichu!'s many key animators, and Masunari explained that it was actually somewhat embarrassing to have so many but that he would try to put a positive spin on it.

I don't get this response. I loved Kamichu and if this is the result of too many key animators on it, then I'll disagree over the need to be embarrassed and state more series should follow by example.

I want a kotatsu.

Quote:
...so it's difficult to release them at the same time because so many Japanese fans would reverse-import the Blu-Ray releases from the U.S., where they would be cheaper.

If re-importation is an issue, shouldn't this be a sign customers are getting tired of paying the high cost of anime in Japan to the point they're willing to import it?

Simply unbelievable. But hey, not my market so why do I even care. It's not like it's affec....

Anime cry
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reanimator





PostPosted: Sun Aug 01, 2010 9:27 pm Reply with quote
Salaryman Matt wrote:

Thankfully that was not the case, but it sure seemed deserted when I was the third person to show up to the panel so close to its start. We did end up picking up some more attendees as we went, but there were so few like the article reported that we just ended up forming a circle of chairs, and forgoing the microphone.

This was quite the unique experience though, considering other panels like these normally have some distance between you and the guests. It was a nice change of pace, and very enjoyable. I just hope that the turnout wasn't too much of a disappointment to the guests.

I suppose the Japanese Anime industry still isn't too well known even amongst the Otakon convention goers yet.


You guys are so lucky. When I was at the Anime Expo several years ago, those Japanese guest panels get packed. I had to pay extra $10 to see them face to face.

At least Otakon is trying to more educational. As I get older, I started to dislike party-like atmosphere of the West Coast conventions.

Thing about western anime fandom is that Japanese production guests are mysterious figures that we mortals cannot comprehend. Okay...I'm exaggerating. Anyway, there is barely anything written about these people in English except their film lists.

Luckily there is a Japanese book called, "I want to hear this person's story", which is a collection of 5,000 words interviews of 30 industry peoples ranging from directors to animators. Currently, the interviewer is on his 134th interview or 12 years on Animage magazine.
If Hayao Miyazaki has his "Starting Point" translated by Viz media. It would be nice to have the other book get translated as well.
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omoikane



Joined: 03 Oct 2005
Posts: 494
PostPosted: Tue Aug 03, 2010 8:44 am Reply with quote
Sunday morning (actually this started at noon, huh) production panels at Otakon is always deserted. Kind of a poorly-kept secret, if you are interested in a more intimate panel with some creator types.
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configspace



Joined: 16 Aug 2008
Posts: 3717
PostPosted: Tue Aug 03, 2010 1:03 pm Reply with quote
reanimator wrote:
Luckily there is a Japanese book called, "I want to hear this person's story", which is a collection of 5,000 words interviews of 30 industry peoples ranging from directors to animators. Currently, the interviewer is on his 134th interview or 12 years on Animage magazine.
If Hayao Miyazaki has his "Starting Point" translated by Viz media. It would be nice to have the other book get translated as well.

I would like to see that as well. Some Japanese DVD/BDs come with behind-the-scenes production footage that don't make it into the US releases as extras but would also be nice to have.

PetrifiedJello wrote:
Quote:
A fan asked about the TV anime Kamichu!'s many key animators, and Masunari explained that it was actually somewhat embarrassing to have so many but that he would try to put a positive spin on it.

I don't get this response. I loved Kamichu and if this is the result of too many key animators on it, then I'll disagree over the need to be embarrassed and state more series should follow by example.

yeah, I also didn't see the big deal about that. I noticed that some do have large # of key animators and animation companies involved/helping out, along with the in-betweens. I figure that it's just the result of a ton of work + crunch time + parallelization.

Quote:
Quote:
...so it's difficult to release them at the same time because so many Japanese fans would reverse-import the Blu-Ray releases from the U.S., where they would be cheaper.

If re-importation is an issue, shouldn't this be a sign customers are getting tired of paying the high cost of anime in Japan to the point they're willing to import it?

I brought up something similar wrt Sengoku Basara in the other thread, which will be released in BD here soon while there is no BD release Japan (or just not yet?). I bet a ton of Funi's boxsets will be going to Japan come October Very Happy


Quote:
A fan followed up on declining DVD sales and asked if sales of a few really big titles were subsidizing the release of smaller titles. Ochikoshi admitted that the discrepancy between titles that sell and titles that don't is getting bigger, but an increase is expected to come thanks to Blu-Ray sales. The industry has to keep up with changes, and can use them as an opportunity to catch up and break even.

As I mentioned here before, I think this large discrepancy between titles that sell and titles that don't in Japan--video-wise, discounting character goods/merchandise, which is different matter (and can actually compensate)--is highly related to the above issue of pricing. I think Bluray can help a bit from boxsets of older releases, but definitely not make up for it, else we would be seeing the gap close by now rather than increase.


Quote:
There's always some connection between industry members, and Ochikoshi added that if the industry lost its lateral communication they would all fail, except Kyoto Animation.

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TJR



Joined: 13 Jul 2009
Posts: 223
PostPosted: Tue Aug 03, 2010 1:35 pm Reply with quote
configspace wrote:

Quote:
There's always some connection between industry members, and Ochikoshi added that if the industry lost its lateral communication they would all fail, except Kyoto Animation.

Shocked Laughing Sad


I don't think there's any special meaning here. Kyoto Animation is different from the norm in that they're a closed society, much like a traditional Japanese company. They hire staff as employees and not contractors on a per project basis, so there's some semblance of job security (it also means that they're generally less open to working with people from outside). As long as they remain employed, they can get by without necessarily worrying about what's happening outside.

Anyone else must maintain strong connections (particularly with directors and producers, or people close to them) across the industry since there's never any guarantee that they'll have another project to work on. They might be contracted by one studio on a couple shows, and then find themselves out of work during a slow period.
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Annf



Joined: 20 Feb 2009
Posts: 578
PostPosted: Tue Aug 03, 2010 1:54 pm Reply with quote
PetrifiedJello wrote:
If re-importation is an issue, shouldn't this be a sign customers are getting tired of paying the high cost of anime in Japan

Customers always want things to be cheaper. You don't really need a sign for that.

PetrifiedJello wrote:
to the point they're willing to import it?

Placing an order at amazon.com isn't any harder than placing it at amazon.co.jp.

But I think we've been over all this before.
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