Forum - View topic

Why are the scene and the industry in this state?

Well if that really does explain the smaller industry then what about the absence of a fandom over here? If people are watching and reading in some way or other here, how come the yanks have manga clubs in their schools whilst we have only two or three manga clubs in libraries across the entire country?

And do Australia and NZ have the same industry problems that ours does?

There were anime clubs in UK secondary schools and even the one my two went to had a club run by a teacher, and the college that they now both go to also has a club. ever head of NEO, a monthly UK magazine dedicated to anime, manga, and asian live action genres in each? I live in Basingstoke and its library has manga on it's shelves which are in use quite often, at least there's always someone reading it in there when ever I visit. Our local WH Smith's and Waterstones also sell manga too.

Then you come from a very different part of the UK than I do, lol.

The British are indeed narrow minded about entertainment, just think of how difficult it is to get Japanese games or even suitable gamepads and sticks here in the UK without importing them from PlayAsia. But the problems with your reasons why are that most British people seem to agree that our television is a rock of shit (hence the obsession with mostly gay US imports) and that your view of British patriotism is a stereotype based upon how Grauniad readers view the readers of the Daily Mail.

faintsmile1992 wrote:

The British are indeed narrow minded about entertainment, just think of how difficult it is to get Japanese games or even suitable gamepads and sticks here in the UK without importing them from PlayAsia. But the problems with your reasons why are that most British people seem to agree that our television is a crock of shit (hence the obsession with mostly gay US imports) and that your view of British patriotism is a stereotype based upon how Grauniad readers view the readers of the Daily Mail.

There is nothing wrong with being gay/homosexual. If you mean rubbish u.s. imports, then say that, don't use the word gay to mean bad/rubbish.

As someone who has lived in england my whole life and loves anime and is decidedly unpatriotic, I'm not really sure what the answer is. I mean, we do have huge swathes of insufferable people who think they're super alternative and culturally enlightened because they've seen a few Ghibli films while still believing that all other anime is either kids only, 18+ only, or something depraved and terrible that should be illegal

But yeah, it would be great if there was even more of an anime fandom in the u.k., I've thought for a while that it would be a good idea for BBC4 to show some really good anime, say Fullmetal Alchemist/The Tatami Galaxy/Last Exile/Kino's Journey/The Twelve Kingdoms/Cowboy Bebop or something, in it's original language with subtitles, as they already show quite a bit of "foreign" language, English subtitled programming.

UtenaAnthy wrote:

There is nothing wrong with being gay/homosexual. If you mean rubbish u.s. imports, then say that, don't use the word gay to mean bad/rubbish.

Its a free country and use of the word gay in such context isn't 'homophobic'. Are gays willing to tolerate my choice of words like I tolerate their sex lives, even though I might disagree with it, or is it just different? Tolerance, right?

it's would be prejudiced if you said "that's so asian" to mean "that's so rubbish".

faintsmile1992 wrote:

UtenaAnthy wrote: There is nothing wrong with being gay/homosexual. If you mean rubbish u.s. imports, then say that, don't use the word gay to mean bad/rubbish. Its a free country and use of the word gay in such context isn't 'homophobic'. Are gays willing to tolerate my choice of words like I tolerate their sex lives, even though I might disagree with it, or is it just different? Tolerance, right?

No, just like it's not ok to say you'll tolerate black people as long as you get to disapprove of them having sex lives, having kids and getting married/getting married to others of particular races and call them the n-word. I'm not calling for what you said to be illegal to say, I'm saying you shouldn't say it, saying you shouldn't say something and saying you can't say something are not the same thing. And yes what you said is homophobic. Just like it would be prejudiced if you said "that's so asian" to mean "that's so rubbish".

EDIT: Corrected grammar mistake.

Oh if its not illegal, and you don't think there's reason for it to be illegal, you've no actual grounds for "saying you shouldn't say it". And like you object to me saying shit things are 'gay', I objected to the lecture, how's that?

Nonsense, the fact that the government throwing you in jail for saying something is wrong does not mean that what you are saying is therefore right, me defending your right to freedom of speech does not mean I have to defend the supposed moral legitimacy of your bigotry or use of prejudiced language, considering you just referred to gay people as "fags" in another thread. I'm very opposed to censorship (because censorship is wrong), that does not mean that people who say things that are wrong magically become truthtellers or non-bigots.

This is where you'll actually start calling me a madman, we all know that anime fandom is bigger in the US, as everything in the US is bigger, they have anime conventions almost every week it seems, stores like Hot Topic sell tons of funky anime merchandise and companies churn out anime on DVD and print out manga like it never ends. Anime fandom in Australia is actually bigger than the UK too, despite the population of Australia being a 3rd of the UK. If you walk into any JB Hi-Fi (a chain that sells DVDs and CDs), anime DVDs get a very prominent placing, often taking up a large amount of the store, more than in a Virgin Megastore or HMV in the UK. Newtype USA acknowledges this too, dedicating two thirds of their overseas round up to Australia and the remaining third to the UK.

Anime disappeared from TV, and the only way of getting a fresh fanbase, illegal downloads, is being condemned and shut off.