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Hey, Answerman! [2006-09-15]


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Kamon



Joined: 24 May 2004
Posts: 70
Location: Procrastinating
PostPosted: Fri Sep 15, 2006 11:00 am Reply with quote
Since when is Witch Hunter Robin a ''big classic' series that we all know and love'?

That question in general was very thick with opinion, and rather low on actual, tangible evidence. Then again, it's foolish to expect objectivity from 'fans'.

This is just another case of YOUR FAVORITE ANIME SUCKS, and I think Zac's answer was right on the mark.


Last edited by Kamon on Fri Sep 15, 2006 11:47 am; edited 1 time in total
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Kaiterra



Joined: 10 Jul 2006
Posts: 8
PostPosted: Fri Sep 15, 2006 11:09 am Reply with quote
I don't really think it's that these companies are totally unwilling to take chances with the material aired. I mean, G4/TechTV had a lot of variety and sophistication in their lineup with Lain, RahXephon, Cromartie High School and the like, and [as] has taken some wild swings in the dark from time to time like with Wolf's Rain, Case Closed and Shin-Chan.

But the main falling-out point to me seems to be the inability to realize that there is a thriving market of teenage fans, and the continued line in the sand that continues to stand separating shows in to either Kids or Adult categories and timeslotting/editing them accordingly.

Many people can't stay up until 11-12 at night or wouldn't want to to catch these shows unless they were already a fan. Drawing in new viewers becomes much more difficult because of this. It'd be nice if some shows were given more appropriate timeslots anywhere from 3 PM - 10 PM instead, and not just on the weekend. As well, I'd appreciate seeing anime mixed in more regularly with Western shows. Do they really need to be segregated? If the material is as good, give it a fair shake and offer it up to the real target demographics, not narrowcasted at existing anime fandom.
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Kamon



Joined: 24 May 2004
Posts: 70
Location: Procrastinating
PostPosted: Fri Sep 15, 2006 11:40 am Reply with quote
Swissman wrote:
Answerman wrote:
There was never a golden age where the majority of anime being produced was instant-classic material;

Well, the japanese themselves call the Eighties as a "golden age" of animation, and when you consider what has been released in this decade, it's hardly surprising.


I always have a chuckle at that. Golden Age my ass. A Golden Age for Splatter n' Tits OVAs with stories that never actually end, maybe...but beyond that, the 80's had the same ratio of crap to good as any other point in time.
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Ataru



Joined: 04 Jan 2002
Posts: 2305
Location: Missouri (Strikeman)
PostPosted: Fri Sep 15, 2006 12:09 pm Reply with quote
Kilgamayan wrote:
Zac wrote:
There's been a big debate regarding YouTube and the many problems therein lately; I won't get into it all here, but suffice to say, expect to see either a major lawsuit or some pretty gigantic changes happening at that site in the near future.


Seriously? Haha, sweet.
Well, speak of the devil more or less. MPAA I would had thought, but UMG. I guess it might be due to music vidoes and others might have caused it.
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Zalis116
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Joined: 31 Mar 2005
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Location: Kazune City
PostPosted: Fri Sep 15, 2006 12:36 pm Reply with quote
Kamon wrote:
Since when is Witch Hunter Robin a ''big classic' series that we all know and love'?

That question in general was very thick with opinion, and rather low on actual, tangible evidence. Then again, it's foolish to expect objectivity from 'fans'.

This is just another case of YOUR FAVORITE ANIME SUCKS, and I think Zac's answer was right on the mark.
I agree on WHR -- I've seen and liked most of those "classics" from the late 1990s, but WHR has never interested me. And as Keonyn said, there's still a lot of filtering; even at the fansub level, there are still series every season that don't get translated, probably because the fansub world requires at least 3 different versions of Chrno Crusade, REC, Shuffle! etc. Rolling Eyes
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MorwenLaicoriel



Joined: 26 Feb 2006
Posts: 1617
Location: Colorado
PostPosted: Fri Sep 15, 2006 12:53 pm Reply with quote
Jadress wrote:


I hope that one day, the mainstream will be able to accept animation as a totally normal, valid form of entertainment, but it's a looong long ways off. The only way I can imagine that some mainstream female audiences would be interested in an animated drama is if older women began reading manga, and realized that 2d characters are just as compelling as actors.


Actually, I don't know if it's going to be as long of a wait as you might think. It seems a lot of people I know my age or younger watch anime, and I also know some non-anime fans that still seem to not jump to conclusions when I mention watching animation.

Plus, american animation isn't just copying an anime drawing style--in some cases, they're actually starting to have a bit more character development and a feeling of continuity as well. Teen Titans, for example--while still definately a 'shonen' type show--doesn't just copy the anime 'look', it also has the characters grow throughout the show. The Raven you saw in the first season isn't quite the same as the Raven at the end of the series.

I have a feeling that the slow trend in our children's animation to have more plot and character development and the growing number of anime fans will lead to animation being an accepted medium sometime in the near future. If not by the time I'm married and have children (which I doubt, that's not so long off anymore), then by the time my children are adults, I think.[/i]
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sabriyahm



Joined: 24 May 2005
Posts: 291
Location: Georgia
PostPosted: Fri Sep 15, 2006 1:25 pm Reply with quote
shirokiryuu wrote:


With shounen, and other social stuff, it seems okay for girls to watch boy's shows, but not vice-versa, also many guys don't like strong shoujo themes, and other don't want to admit they do. (Guy who do are awesome)


This is actually true of most US animation shows as well. I read an interesting article in Newsweek a while back about the us animation market. A feminist group was complaining about the lack of female oriented shows for young girls. But the network and TV execs defended their actions with the numbers. Girls will watch shows with boy leads but young boys will not watch shows with girl leads. So most animation in us is action oriented with a boy lead and an occasional girl thrown in for balance (think Avatar the air bender). It is not surprising that TV execs would apply the same dynamic to anime. It kinda sucks but I don't think it is neccessarily invalid. I am more inclined to watch an action series then a shojo series and I'm a woman. I did whole heartly agree with the rant. I would love to see more variety.
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Swissman



Joined: 11 May 2006
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PostPosted: Fri Sep 15, 2006 1:29 pm Reply with quote
Kamon wrote:
Swissman wrote:
Answerman wrote:
There was never a golden age where the majority of anime being produced was instant-classic material;

Well, the japanese themselves call the Eighties as a "golden age" of animation, and when you consider what has been released in this decade, it's hardly surprising.


I always have a chuckle at that. Golden Age my ass. A Golden Age for Splatter n' Tits OVAs with stories that never actually end, maybe...

You seem to ignore WMP shows, all shows and movies which had an extremely popular manga as base in differents genres (Dr.Slump, Lupin 2th Series, Maison Ikkoku, City Hunter, Touch, Highschool Kimengumi... lots are still considered as classics), Majokko-Shows by studio Pierrot, the rise of young and innovative animators (for instance in Urusei Yatsura, Birth, Projekt A-ko...) and high quality theatrical movies (Macross, Nausicaä, Laputa, Wings of Honneamise, Akira). By comparison the first half of the nineties was a rather drought season - things got more interesting in the later half of the decade with quality series such as Bebop, Now and then or Lain.


Last edited by Swissman on Fri Sep 15, 2006 1:32 pm; edited 1 time in total
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RJ



Joined: 13 Mar 2006
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Location: Canada
PostPosted: Fri Sep 15, 2006 1:31 pm Reply with quote
Kamon wrote:
Since when is Witch Hunter Robin a ''big classic' series that we all know and love'?
That question in general was very thick with opinion, and rather low on actual, tangible evidence. Then again, it's foolish to expect objectivity from 'fans'.


You took the words right out of my mouth. Witch hunter robin bored me to death. Then again, liking certain animes all comes down to a matter of opinion. Objectivity can only go so far. Zac mentioned 'classics' like Fushigi Yugi, which gained enormous success but lacks plot and isn't anything more than an overblown shoujo fest of love and bishounen. What makes a classic? an actual story line or popularity and sales?

Kamon wrote:
I think Zac's answer was right on the mark.


Indeed, but I think anime fans should always remember than even though this is Zac's line of work, he's a fan just like the rest of us.
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Jadress



Joined: 08 Oct 2003
Posts: 807
Location: Seattle. It purdy and nerdy!
PostPosted: Fri Sep 15, 2006 1:51 pm Reply with quote
MorwenLaicoriel wrote:
Jadress wrote:


I hope that one day, the mainstream will be able to accept animation as a totally normal, valid form of entertainment, but it's a looong long ways off. The only way I can imagine that some mainstream female audiences would be interested in an animated drama is if older women began reading manga, and realized that 2d characters are just as compelling as actors.


Actually, I don't know if it's going to be as long of a wait as you might think. It seems a lot of people I know my age or younger watch anime, and I also know some non-anime fans that still seem to not jump to conclusions when I mention watching animation.

Plus, american animation isn't just copying an anime drawing style--in some cases, they're actually starting to have a bit more character development and a feeling of continuity as well. Teen Titans, for example--while still definately a 'shonen' type show--doesn't just copy the anime 'look', it also has the characters grow throughout the show. The Raven you saw in the first season isn't quite the same as the Raven at the end of the series.

I have a feeling that the slow trend in our children's animation to have more plot and character development and the growing number of anime fans will lead to animation being an accepted medium sometime in the near future. If not by the time I'm married and have children (which I doubt, that's not so long off anymore), then by the time my children are adults, I think.[/i]


I can only hope you'll be right. That is true, that younger generations are growing up on anime and other cartoons, and that leads to hope that they'll still appreciate animation when they're older. However, there have always been US cartoons that had depth before the influence of anime- when I was growing up, I was amazed by Disney's "Gargoyles," and also by "Might Max" (ironically, a show developed to sell toys, but it was way more than that). If you go even further back, as cheesy as it was, the writers of "Jem" put a lot of serious issues and adult themes into the show before it was cancelled due to poor toy sales. So, these shows with some amount of depth have existed, but did not really effect the mainstream's view of animation.

I suppose when older, stubborn generations die off, the younger crowd who possibly watched more animation past their childhood (than previous generations) may open up a new, wider appreciation for animation as a medium. Unfortunately, for reasons that I don't follow, most people tend to grow out of what they liked when they were younger, and thus, that former interest becomes "childish."
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Mohawk52



Joined: 16 Oct 2003
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Location: England, UK
PostPosted: Fri Sep 15, 2006 2:55 pm Reply with quote
I'm a bit confused with the point of the rant. The way I'm reading it is that he is daring the broadcasters to show yaoi, is that it? Because if it is he's got no chance, not before the watershed anyway. Confused
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Zac
ANN Executive Editor


Joined: 05 Jan 2002
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PostPosted: Fri Sep 15, 2006 3:01 pm Reply with quote
RJ wrote:

Indeed, but I think anime fans should always remember than even though this is Zac's line of work, he's a fan just like the rest of us.


Er... wait, I'm not sure what you mean by this?
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Joe Mello



Joined: 31 May 2004
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PostPosted: Fri Sep 15, 2006 3:15 pm Reply with quote
If there's one thing, in my opinion, that's declined in terms of anime, it's the visual appearance of shows, but I think prefering the mid-90's art styles is more of an aesthic thing than anything else.

My evidence for this is the first and second halves of Inuyasha. The first half looked nice and fluffy. The second, not so much.
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Keonyn
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Joined: 25 May 2005
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PostPosted: Fri Sep 15, 2006 3:21 pm Reply with quote
Kamon wrote:
Swissman wrote:
Answerman wrote:
There was never a golden age where the majority of anime being produced was instant-classic material;

Well, the japanese themselves call the Eighties as a "golden age" of animation, and when you consider what has been released in this decade, it's hardly surprising.


I always have a chuckle at that. Golden Age my ass. A Golden Age for Splatter n' Tits OVAs with stories that never actually end, maybe...but beyond that, the 80's had the same ratio of crap to good as any other point in time.


Couldn't agree more. Sure, they can respond with, but what about this and this title or such and such. That's fine, you can still point out quality titles from any time frame as they'll still exist regardless, but the fact they exist doesn't counter the fact that a lot of crap existed right along with them. We just simply didn't see as much of it then.

And for record, just about every medium see's the decades before as the golden years, it's pretty much a standard in art. No one looks back fondly at yesterday, only at ages past.
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PantsGoblin
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Joined: 27 Jun 2005
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PostPosted: Fri Sep 15, 2006 3:26 pm Reply with quote
Joe Mello wrote:
My evidence for this is the first and second halves of Inuyasha. The first half looked nice and fluffy. The second, not so much.


Not arguing that you're wrong or right, but that's not very good "evidence". Series often become lower in quality as they go on. Often times just because of the lazyiness of artists as well as other reasons (such as a series already being popular, so why put in the effort if people are going to like it either way).
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