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Crunchyroll Originals Have Been A Disaster

Hollywood, and by default, American culture, had a very low tolerance to failure. If your movie fail to make any money, or in the worse case, cause the company to lose money, you're blacklisted. Period

Based on how they cheapen and ruin everything else they get their hands on by cutting costs, putting production over quality, and appealing to the lowest common denominator, one thinks not.

Circling back to the subject article, I find the dripping disdain towards Crunchyroll, and other large companies in the anime industry, both sensationalist and immensely unproductive. Even if I admire the legwork put in to writing this piece, if Crunchyroll were hard to reach for comment before then is writing an exposé about how their originals all suck and are bombing supposed to make them more transparent about their business methods? And while I agree that the current work-environment / pay of animators is downright criminal and an existential threat to anime as an art form, that is due to larger economic currents. Specifically, anime studios are locked in contract bidding wars with each other, so it's a race to the bottom. And to get to the bottom, the passion of bright-eyed anime fans are exploited to the breaking point. And it doesn't matter, because when they burn out legions more are willing to take their place. Japan's business culture is owed a strong share of the blame. Crunchyroll's entry into the anime market was never going to change that. Heck, doing so might be financial suicide. The only way out of this miserable cycle is for the anime studios to actually own the rights to the content they produce so they can share in the profits, but since most anime are NOT mega-hits, there is a very good chance that venturing off and funding an anime-original project will bring ruin to the studio. And since those people leading the studios might have genuine passion for their craft, the thought of tying the entire studio's fate to one or maybe a couple titles carries existential dread. And so they play it safe, and the cycle continues.

Actually, the REAL way out of that miserable cycle is for animators to realize that their wages are pathetic for the skill and time investment involved, and make a jump to saner careers. As long as young passionate people are willing to work for cheap so they can work in the anime industry, the exploitative conditions will never change.

Do any of the corporate suits actually understand why many watch anime in the first place, and what they are NOT looking for is just another mediocre at best American children's cartoon with some Japanese trappings? Based on how they cheapen and ruin everything else they get their hands on by cutting costs, putting production over quality, and appealing to the lowest common denominator, one thinks not. I will take 5 cours of Fruits Basket over the entire animated output of Hollywood from the last half century.

Do any of the corporate suits actually understand why many watch anime in the first place, and what they are NOT looking for is just another mediocre at best American children's cartoon with some Japanese trappings? Based on how they cheapen and ruin everything else they get their hands on by cutting costs, putting production over quality, and appealing to the lowest common denominator, one thinks not. I will take 5 cours of Fruits Basket over the entire animated output of Hollywood from the last half century.

Their handling of the whole High Guardian Spice (lack of) release however, really put a sour taste in my mouth as more time has gone on. While the show may have ended up not being for me, no one deserves to have their project treated like that. To have the people who are supposed to be the most directly invested in a project's success not only never bother to defend it, but just sweep it under the rug because of dumb controversy they helped perpetuate in the first place with their one track mind, short-sighted advertising... has got to be really disheartening for the people who actually made the show.

So basically Fruit Baskets (whichever version of the show you're referring to) is better than Samurai Jack, Batman The Animated Series, Dexter's Laboratory, X-Men The Animated Series, Avatar, Static Shock, Gargoyles, Danny Phantom, My Life As A Teenage Robot, Rugrats, Fillmore, Animaniacs, Pinky & The Brain, Angry Beavers, The earlier seasons of Spongebob & Oddparents, TMNT 2003, Calamity Jane, Men In Black The Animated Series, Waynehead, Powerpuff Girls, King Of The Hill, Family Guy, Total Drama, Marvel's Spider-Man, Spectacular Spider-Man, Avenger's Earth's Mightiest Heroes, Kids Next Door, Ben 10 Alien Force, The Zeta Project, X-Men Evolution, Teen Titans, Superman The Animated Series, Justice League, Batman The Brave & The Bold, Beware The Batman, The Real Adventures Of Johnny Quest, Megas XLR.

I just wanna say, this was a great article to wake up to and read like the morning news. That headline alone jolted me more than any coffee could because I was so excited to read it.

I do want to say for the phrasing about HGS, "but others were outraged by the focus on diversity and LGBTQ+ creators." -- most of the outrage I saw wasn't BECAUSE of those topics, but because the trailer was doing "show, don't tell" so horribly and just boasted how diverse its staff was without showing us anything from the show and letting the character designs/characters themselves actually show us the diversity and themes they promised. it was very... I don't think patronizing is the right word, I'm still half asleep, but it was all talk and no product. It was very self-aggrandizing.

What a good article though, holy crap. I had no idea they were being so secretive about so many things.

So basically Fruit Baskets (whichever version of the show you're referring to) is better than [...].

Come on now.

If I had to take a stab in the dark, I think it's more that these people feel that these are the kinds of shows that should be the ones selling. Y'know? Like, these are show that needed to be made because if Japan ain't gonna do it then American creators have to to diversify anime themselves. It's not about what fans actually want, but what the people in charge think people should be liking. Like a kid being forced to eat their veggies when they want candy. Happens a lot in a lot of fandoms and industries.

To be fair you're listing shows that are decades old. Most peoples gripes with American animation are about the modern stuff. We'll probably never going to see shows on those levels of quality ever again due to societal and production limitations. I doubt anything like the Birds of Prey song from Batman: The Brave and the Bold would be made today or half the stuff the DCAU got away with.