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firecrouch
Joined: 11 Feb 2007
Posts: 125
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 Posted: Tue Jul 22, 2008 10:36 pm
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| GATSU wrote: | | firecrouch: OP does well in other countries, because it appeals to certain audiences there[I.E. Older anime fans] who are more niche here. Also, I wouldn't call dumping OP at a crappy time slot and giving it a rap song a "plan". As for Pokemon, it's a totally different show specifically meant to sell toys. |
The way you're putting it is that "One Piece" does well in other countries for the same reason other anime does well in other countries, it's just not as popular here in other countries. It still does better in other territories for more reasons than one, it's target audiences is young boys so I don't think it could be such a big success if it didn't attract that audience. And yes, 4Kids did have a plan and you're discrediting simply because you didn't like it. I didn't like it either but I wouldn't call their effort half-hearted, it just didn't work is all.
And it's obvious for I imagine everyone on this forum why that logic based on Pokemon's success didn't work, but that was just Toei Animation's thought at the time. They seem to have this unhealthy obsession about having a child-friendly image in the States, and when they try to focus on a different audience the effort in localizing it is kind of half-hearted. I remember talking to Sae from Toei Animation about why that "Pokemon" reasoning wasn't a good idea and he said, "Well from our perspective you have to think would we rather go with a big mainstream company or a niche company like FUNimation?" I explained it depends on the property itself like what you were saying and he basically agreed. So at least they're a little more understanding now.
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GATSU
Joined: 03 Jan 2002
Posts: 15307
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Posted: Tue Jul 22, 2008 11:00 pm
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firecrouch: OP's target audience is young boys, but it also manages to cater to older audiences, too. In the U.S., though, its target audience is teens and adults, while it's either too complicated and/or too cartoonish for young boys. And a plan would involve promoting your product, familiarizing your target audience with it, and making it clear why they should pick it over the competition. Part of Pokemon's success came from the fact that Nintendo was actively involved in its marketing, not just because 4Kids dumped it on a random network, and suddently reaped the rewards. Also, Toei's dumb, if they think FUNimation is niche, when the latter company's reaping millions on a franchise which ended in Japan over a decade ago. Hell, even if that live-action movie bombs, you just know that FUNimation will make some extra dough off people who want to see the source material, before it got ruined.
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firecrouch
Joined: 11 Feb 2007
Posts: 125
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Posted: Wed Jul 23, 2008 1:22 am
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| GATSU wrote: | | firecrouch: OP's target audience is young boys, but it also manages to cater to older audiences, too. In the U.S., though, its target audience is teens and adults, while it's either too complicated and/or too cartoonish for young boys. And a plan would involve promoting your product, familiarizing your target audience with it, and making it clear why they should pick it over the competition. Part of Pokemon's success came from the fact that Nintendo was actively involved in its marketing, not just because 4Kids dumped it on a random network, and suddently reaped the rewards. Also, Toei's dumb, if they think FUNimation is niche, when the latter company's reaping millions on a franchise which ended in Japan over a decade ago. Hell, even if that live-action movie bombs, you just know that FUNimation will make some extra dough off people who want to see the source material, before it got ruined. |
"One Piece" was doing just fine with young boys when it was on Cartoon Network, and as I and other American fans have seen plenty of teens and adults are into it too. "One Piece" is just the type of show where with American tastes it takes a while to catch on. 4Kids I think did fine with the marketing, considering their expectations. They thought the show would be a hit with the audience they were trying to target, 3-11 year-olds, and that they could just let the show sell itself. They did commercials for it leading up to the premiere and had an hour-long premiere at the 9:00 a.m. Unfortunately they had too much faith in a show that just had a bad localization and was targeted to the wrong audience on the wrong channel at the wrong time-slot. I and I imagine everyone else expected this show to be targeted at 9-14 year-old boys and placed on Toonami with a good dub and good promos, where even if it didn't become a hit it would do well right off the bat. You're right that Nintendo were the ones that originally the ones that made "Pokemon" such a big success and that 4Kids was merely a partner. I remember hearing that one of the problems with 4Kids is that at the height of "Pokemon"'s popularity they over-saturated the market with merchandise, one of the reasons Pokemon U.S.A. took it over. They pretty much a lot of their properties fads. And I think the guy just meant FUNimation is niche in what they do compared to 4Kids as companies, not what they produce. 4Kids is a big childrens' entertainment/licensing/merchandising company, FUNimation is an anime company that specializes in producing DVDs. "Dragonball Z" may not be, but the company that put it out is.
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