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INTEREST: In Startling Post, Yamakan Again Hints He May Retire from Anime


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Romuska
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Joined: 02 Mar 2004
Posts: 799
PostPosted: Fri Jan 25, 2019 8:05 pm Reply with quote
Now if only he'd retire from social media so we can stop wasting our time, not to mention journalistic integrity, on him.
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Sakagami Tomoyo



Joined: 06 Dec 2008
Posts: 940
Location: Melbourne, VIC, Australia
PostPosted: Fri Jan 25, 2019 8:34 pm Reply with quote
To be fair to him, he does have a point about the fandom being terrible and getting worse, the industry being full of madmen, and various forums and social media being awful.

On the other hand, while he has done some good work he's done more disappointing work, and his ego is much larger than is justified by his achievements. His railing against critics brings to mind this Penny Arcade strip. If he wants to quit, he should just shut the hell up and quit, rather than making noises about wanting to quit.
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Romuska
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PostPosted: Fri Jan 25, 2019 8:57 pm Reply with quote
Sakagami Tomoyo wrote:
To be fair to him, he does have a point about the fandom being terrible and getting worse, the industry being full of madmen, and various forums and social media being awful.

On the other hand, while he has done some good work he's done more disappointing work, and his ego is much larger than is justified by his achievements. His railing against critics brings to mind this Penny Arcade strip. If he wants to quit, he should just shut the hell up and quit, rather than making noises about wanting to quit.


Exactly. He contributes to pretty much everything he speaks out against. He’s a troll who happens to work in the industry.
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H. Guderian



Joined: 29 Jan 2014
Posts: 1255
PostPosted: Fri Jan 25, 2019 9:04 pm Reply with quote
The perpetrator pretends to be the victim. Next he'll tell us to be nice to animals and while throwing trashbags full of kittens and puppies into a river.

When has the Industry -not- been this bad? Audiences haven't changed, the entertainment industry has been a stain of immorality across the globe since it started. The only new ingredient is some people can't lay off social media.
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zrnzle500



Joined: 04 Oct 2014
Posts: 3767
PostPosted: Fri Jan 25, 2019 9:17 pm Reply with quote
Sakagami Tomoyo wrote:
To be fair to him, he does have a point about the fandom being terrible and getting worse, the industry being full of madmen, and various forums and social media being awful.

On the other hand, while he has done some good work he's done more disappointing work, and his ego is much larger than is justified by his achievements. His railing against critics brings to mind this Penny Arcade strip. If he wants to quit, he should just shut the hell up and quit, rather than making noises about wanting to quit.


Personally, I take what he says about the fans or the industry with a grain of salt, as it mostly seems like bitterness towards the fans for criticizing him or otherwise not being nice to him in response to his provocations that seem to occupy his time more than making anime these days, and towards all but a few industry members for not wanting to work with him because he is insufferable or for criticizing him. Same with his threats towards critics. I think it will be best for everyone involved if he retires, both from anime and social media.
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Chrono1000





PostPosted: Fri Jan 25, 2019 9:22 pm Reply with quote
To mock the people that are the main audience for anime is a bad strategy and I don't think Yamakan understands how marketing works. Than again in 2019 a surprising number of people don't understand marketing and one of the basic rules of marketing is that you shouldn't insult your customers. I notice that the trailer for Twilight has more downvotes than upvotes which is rare for an anime film so I guess he won't have to worry about the otaku going to his next movie.

Sakagami Tomoyo wrote:
To be fair to him, he does have a point about the fandom being terrible and getting worse, the industry being full of madmen, and various forums and social media being awful.
Yamakan is a director and he can work on the anime projects that he wants but he went out of his way to insult the otaku because he doesn't like what is popular. He can have his own opinions on the anime industry but several of his rants look to me like a combination of arrogance and envy.
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Sakagami Tomoyo



Joined: 06 Dec 2008
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Location: Melbourne, VIC, Australia
PostPosted: Fri Jan 25, 2019 9:36 pm Reply with quote
Oh, I don't doubt for a moment that the only reason he rails against the fandom, the industry and forums/social media is that he's bitter they're not all stroking his ego. But in the same kind of way a stopped clock is right twice a day, there are massive problems with the fandom, industry and forums/social media.

As for marketing yeah, there are a lot of people who misunderstand it, and even actively hate it and think it's unnecessary.
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Koda89



Joined: 10 Jul 2006
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PostPosted: Fri Jan 25, 2019 9:57 pm Reply with quote
He gave us WUG!, for which I will forever be grateful for.

That being said, Yamakan, please kindly go screw off.
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zrnzle500



Joined: 04 Oct 2014
Posts: 3767
PostPosted: Fri Jan 25, 2019 10:04 pm Reply with quote
Sakagami Tomoyo wrote:
Oh, I don't doubt for a moment that the only reason he rails against the fandom, the industry and forums/social media is that he's bitter they're not all stroking his ego. But in the same kind of way a stopped clock is right twice a day, there are massive problems with the fandom, industry and forums/social media.


I can't speak to the Japanese fandom, and I don't deny there are problems with social media. But the problem with the industry isn't that there is only a few decent people and that it is filled with "madmen", it's that many are overworked and underpaid. It's just so off the mark that it gives insight into little else but his disdain for those who refuse to work with him anymore. There's a reason he was removed as a director at KyoAni and eventually left the studio over it, and it's not because KyoAni shares the industry's issues (quite the opposite actually).

Also, I'm not entirely sure what he means by saying the movie is not for otaku and that it's slogan is "Otaku Rejection". It's not like his previous work was incongruent with otaku interests or terribly unique, and I mean, you don't exactly ban a number of critics if you are making a movie that is not for otaku. It almost sounds like it's just going to be shitting on otaku and I don't know who the audience is supposed to be. It could just be a way for him to preemptively deflect blame for the movie failing in the box office, and try to claim a moral victory. I suspect even Miyazaki would roll his eyes at that.
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Tuor_of_Gondolin



Joined: 20 Apr 2009
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Location: Bellevue, WA
PostPosted: Fri Jan 25, 2019 10:43 pm Reply with quote
Dude has got some issues. Might be a good idea for him to take a break for a while and do something else with his time. Go hiking. Smell some flowers. Get away from things.
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TsukasaElkKite



Joined: 22 Nov 2005
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PostPosted: Fri Jan 25, 2019 11:56 pm Reply with quote
He needs mental health care, badly.
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Mad_Scientist
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PostPosted: Sat Jan 26, 2019 12:05 am Reply with quote
I have to admit, "if you watch my movie I'm going to sue you or take 'physical measures' to stop you" is something I haven't seen directed towards critics before. Yikes.

I think he definitely need to retire and do something else with his life. There was a period where you could kind of just laugh at his anger, oh that Yamakan ranting again, but this isn't funny, it's disturbing. I seriously worry he may end up hurting someone or himself if he keeps on going down this path. I mean he's already now pretty much threatening to assault critics, what with his "physical measures" mention.
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capt_bunny



Joined: 31 May 2015
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PostPosted: Sat Jan 26, 2019 12:29 am Reply with quote
Mad_Scientist wrote:
I think he definitely need to retire and do something else with his life. There was a period where you could kind of just laugh at his anger, oh that Yamakan ranting again, but this isn't funny, it's disturbing. I seriously worry he may end up hurting someone or himself if he keeps on going down this path. I mean he's already now pretty much threatening to assault critics, what with his "physical measures" mention.


I hope he doesn't.... As much as I know people are going to roll their eyes and say how stupid he is. Yamakan has a /lot/ of anger. Maybe he will find something to relax and soothe him. Yeah, he is a jerk but no one deserves to hurt themselves or someone else.
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RegSuzaku



Joined: 08 Jul 2018
Posts: 267
Location: Ikebukuro
PostPosted: Sat Jan 26, 2019 1:27 am Reply with quote
This article has no context.

What particular "otaku" behaviors is he referring to? How widespread are they in actuality, and how different are they actually from the people he claims to be in favor of (if there are any such people)? If not "otaku", what does he consider the people who will see his movie to be? And I'm not asking that in a "well, duh, of course those people are still otaku" way, I mean it. Is he saying, "Only people who like Love Live [for example] are otaku, and [he assumes] they all like it for this reason, which is a bad reason, and my audience is people who would never do something that stupid"?

Leaving what someone means by "otaku" up to fans to guess for themselves isn't really sound, and doubly so when you're putting up the words of someone in the industry in Japan, for fans outside of Japan.

I feel like every person who's read this article likely has come up with a different idea of what they think he must have meant by otaku.

That isn't to say he's right, it's just to say that his meaning isn't clear.

.... it's... not really an issue of whether he's right or wrong, though.

I do sort of get where he's coming from, like, from the "other side" of fandom (that is, the fujo side). Constantly seeing shallow, stereotyped, cliche things skyrocket to popularity, and then seeing actually really good things get made, but a) ~2/3s of the niche ignores them, b) when they do pick up on the good things, if doujin and fanart are anything to go by, they ignore the actual nuances of those characters and reduce them to the same cliches that are in the more popular series, and c) people outside of the niche can't take the works seriously, even though they are good enough to be taken seriously as music, or as literature, not just as pretty-boy fanservice. Because when people show up to the concert, and the entire audience is fujoshi with ita bags with 40 of the same button (and that's not even an exaggeration), and signs that say "[character], pet me!" and "[character], do a kitty pose for me!", people outside of this niche can't see past that to the fact that there's great music and choreography happening on the stage.

But that doesn't mean that just any at all alternative is necessarily good, (and his looks like it probably isn't), and it doesn't mean anyone should be attacked for it... so yeah, it's probably not the best idea to give him play in the first place. (though I realize I'm doing that by commenting).
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Sakagami Tomoyo



Joined: 06 Dec 2008
Posts: 940
Location: Melbourne, VIC, Australia
PostPosted: Sat Jan 26, 2019 3:18 am Reply with quote
zrnzle500 wrote:
But the problem with the industry isn't that there is only a few decent people and that it is filled with "madmen", it's that many are overworked and underpaid.

I should probably clarify, I don't mean "madmen" in a sense of "people who are maniacs or have no idea what they're doing", though on reflection Yamakan probably does. I mean "madmen" more in the sense of "people crazy enough to keep doing this work under these conditions for the sake of making anime".
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