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Forum - View topicInfluencers Gigguk, Dillon Goo, and OtakuVS On Making Their Own Anime
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mdo7
 Posts: 8229 Location: Katy, Texas, USA |
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Oh great, so now we have influencers that aren't even Japanese to make animation and called it "anime", so this is going to make the definition of anime even more confusing, and diluting the definition of the word. This is going to lead to more (and probably endless) flame wars (well not on ANN forum but still...) on Reddit, and other forum where anime get discussed and people and anime fans trying to blur and muddied the definition of anime. |
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Beatdigga
 Posts: 5148 Location: New York |
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I'm reminded of when Penny Arcade made a game, and they knew after years of making fun of the industry and games journalism, that games journalists were going to rip them wide open. It takes guts to open yourself up like this after picking creatives apart, so hopefully they're willing to take the very considerable amount of criticism headed their way.
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Wyvern
 Posts: 1792 |
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Except that...didn't happen at all? The Penny Arcade games scored in the high 70's on Metacritic, and looking through their archives I only found a single review that could really be called negative. I'm pretty sure game journalists have too much actual work to do to waste time on an imagined vendetta against two webcomic guys. There's nothing wrong with celebrities wanting to make games or anime or whatever and attaching their names to it, but they are not uniquely brave or heroic for doing so. Every normal creator who manages to make a game or anime is also risking bad reviews, and they're doing it WITHOUT the celebrity benefits of built-in name recognition or a legion of fans who'll defend them from criticism. |
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LinkTSwordmaster
 Posts: 816 Location: PA / USA |
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When I see them slide by on YouTube now & again, I get the same vibe as when I see Mr Beast slide by, and Mr Beast specifically had that massive ton of controversy surrounding that recent Amazon show and its filming (whether it was valid criticism or not). I'd be interested to know whether or not the general anime community is genuinely excited for this news, or if its mainly just their fans & marketing arm that are. Why?
I vivdly remember Kim Kardashian making a mobile game. The quoted statement bothers me. Switching off of the lowest-hanging fruit example for a moment, I remember Red Vs. Blue waaaay back in the day before the actual Rooster Teeth folks became a major name with RWBY, but in spite of loving Red Vs. Blue (at the time) and literally everyone I'd bump into telling me that RWBY was a must-watch series, I just could never get into it. It looked too similar to some of those 3D PBS kids shows, the voice acting always seemed to be missing beats or delivered weirdly - I just never could sit down and get into it. It felt like an animatronic anime girl wearing a human skin costume - something about it was "off". And in the time since, Rooster Teeth has had various controversies, and you can pull up the big RWBY Is Disappointing, And Here's Why video and have 2.5h of essay/documentary content explain what I instantly saw in minutes of trying the first few episodes out when they originally launched. It just never resonated with me. On the other hand, Shinsei Galverse just popped up to watch in the last few months and it very much seemed like they perfectly captured the sort of style and era that they were aiming for. I've seen tons of one-off, overly-violent, weirdly-scifi OVAs in my time, and for them to successfully capture in 2025 the feeling of having some weird Card Captor/Sailor Moon/Blue Gender one-off I'd have seen while half-asleep on a late Showtime channel back in the day was a nice treat. The fact that it actually seemed like a team of women that were all into the subculture themselves, were genuinely excited to document their creative process and will something into existence was an inspiring process to follow, and I'm happy with the end results of it. So I guess we'll see how these projects turn out when they're out, but coming into the situation blind, if Mr Beast popped up and said he was making an anime of his own original story tomorrow, I think it would be valid to ask "Is he just slapping his name on something that's going to look uncomfortable like an animatronic wearing a human/anime skin?" I still remember Rebels: City of Indra. I'm still bitter. |
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meiam
Posts: 3674 |
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Hummm citation needed? I mean, we've had celebrity make product since forever, but here "making" was always vague (I don't think Michael Jordan know much about making sneaker for mass market). I'm kinda disappointed that the interview didn't ask the obvious question "what exactly did they do in the creation process"? (I didn't look that hard into it so it might have been answered somewhere else). But there's so many way someone can be credited as the "creator" of something. Like, did they just give a general, half a page summary, and let someone else take over? Did they write the script? Storyboard? Where they just vibing in the writer room? I think its easy to believe that doing a critic of something must mean that they know how to make one better after spending so long examining it, but they're really different skill set. Its why most publishing house have editor go over the writer script, and that those are rarely writer themselves. Double that as youtuber, success doesn't really come from good critic, it mostly come from making an entertaining video that will successfully ride the wave of whatever is popular at the moment and well edited video (if they do it themselves). Flip side, the general quality of anime is so all over the place, that there's no reason to believe these will be particularly bad. My best guest will be that they'll be severely limited by animation and this will affect the perception much more than the creator input. |
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The_Outsider
Posts: 136 |
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I think the more pressing question is what kind of input will japanese creatives have over these productions, if any? Or are they just slapping the anime label on them to chase a trend?
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mdo7
Posts: 8229 Location: Katy, Texas, USA |
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That's why it's going to open up a big debate on "what is anime" (as I linked on my opening post). I hope this doesn't become another Porter Robinson's Shelter AMV controversy back in 2016 when it comes to that debate. |
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Gan Gan
 Posts: 6 |
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Aggressive opening... This reads like a puff piece or advertorial with constant positive affirmation throughout and dismissiveness to offscreen doubt. An article with an open mind to the subject I understand, but this is way way over the top. Off-putting. |
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Wizardizar
 Posts: 209 |
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Do you get the same vibe when you watch a ANN livestream? It's also on Youtube. Like there is no similarity between anime youtubers and Mr. Beast, except that they make content on Youtube. That's like seeing a dude on the street and saying they give you Hannibal Lecter vibes, because they're both dudes. |
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MarshalBanana
 Posts: 5731 |
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As someone who has been subbed to Gigguk since he made ZP style Anime reviews in
Windows Movie Maker, it i very strange to hear him described as an influencer. It might very well be the correct term, but I always thought they were called Anitubers. In regard to the conversation in the forum, he has lived in Japan for a few years and the project I being done by a Japanese studio. The other 2 are a different case. |
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TheRealMaria
 Posts: 123 |
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Influencer is the overall name for people on social media who, well, influence people. "Anituber" is just a label people give influencers who focus on anime. Although it would only apply to YouTubers given the term which is outdated given many other platforms exist now like Tiktok and Instagram. I don't really follow many influencers myself and the few people on Twitch and YouTube I do watch are smaller and hate being called that and don't try to sell me stuff or take advertisement sponsorships or anything but influencers getting into marketing and media is nothing new. Some are more successful than others but In my experience it always comes down to them having big subscriber numbers rather than them actually being talented or creative at something. Voice acting is a notable one you've seen a lot of influencers getting into because companies think hiring someone with millions of subscribers or followers will boost the awareness of their game or show. Sometimes they're not wrong. |
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FlamingFirewire
 Posts: 504 |
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If you watch and listen to all of Gigguk's talk around his new show, there's clearly an artistic intent & creative back and forth to the entire project - the podcast (Trash Taste) episode featuring Kevin Penkin most recently is interesting & I hope the anime itself hits the notes is looking for. As an ostensibly free piece of media for everyone to enjoy, I don't see a reason why anyone should be put off by the production of any of these pieces.
Fun to note is that it looks like Bâan's English dub is being directed by another youtuber CDawGVA (Connor). Hopefully it hits it out of the park. |
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Greed1914
 Posts: 5357 |
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Yeah, the discussions around it make me think it will at least be an honest effort all around. We'll see how it turns out, but it does count for something that it'll be viewable for free and that Gigguk funded it himself instead of crowd funding it. |
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TheAnimeRevolutionizer
 Posts: 341 |
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This. Knowing my history of "internet reviewing", I'm gonna sum it up that at the end of the day, "everyone's a critic", and what you put out really tells where you invest your time into. There are definitely critics who have their own work that proves their pedigree and right to be one; Gordon Ramsay and Marilyn Manson are some I can think off the top of my head. But if you want a place to really apply Sturgeon's Law, the world of reviewing is a prime candidate. There's a lot of barking and commentary, but you couldn't ever tell me that if they put out their own work, that I'd roll eyes myself. Critics and "influencers" may know of trends and what's in the vogue, but most often do not know the social, cultural, and historic conditions, let alone the spirit of the times that allow those trends to get big and become something bigger. This leads often to works from such individuals that are contrarian, copies whatever was popular before, or is what they "hate" with a new veneer or "with improved taste". Moreover, the internet currently gives anyone off the street with a podium and a chance to hear their voice. If I don't trust the guy off the street corner preaching on about "the coming apocalypse", then I don't trust the same person online venting out on Youtube with their own videos. It's not that bad, but you couldn't ever convince me that someone who champions "more original works" and how "what's typical and expected are the heretical bane of all anime" in extremes that loop around that makes the legendary ouroburos go "take it easy", and from a westerncentric perspective from someone who is from out west to ever make "a legit anime" anything. Pretty rough from me, but as much as criterion and critical analysis has its place, expect the same machine to put you through the ringer if you go down the same way. Plus, in a world like today where everyone still loves the buzz of being in the know of sensationalism and what's popular, investment in quiet reflection is rarer than diamonds. That's what made a lot of great entertainers and auteurs.
I'm just hoping there's more investment in their works than just having watched whatever was popular at the time when they were kids and that their worldview goes farther than just the USA anime fandom and selection. |
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mdo7
Posts: 8229 Location: Katy, Texas, USA |
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I'm more worried about if we could see a repeat of Porter Robinson's Shelter AMV all over again, I mean that's what happened back in 2016 when that AMV came out, and it lead to people debating about "what's anime", or what's count as anime despite the AMV was animated in Japan, and still some people refused to call the AMV anime. |
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