Questioned By Fandom For The Week Of February 7th, 2015

I’m guessing that they will; it’d be smart marketing to do it simply because fans want to know and it gets people to talk about the title and release more.

Frankly, most companies really don’t do enough to talk up their titles. Granted, you have limited resources in order to do promotion, but there are creative ways to get the news out there and extend the life of the marketing of it before its release.

English language casting news is definitely one such way. Between having actors announce their roles sometimes, doing cast announcements at conventions, extended reveals with graphics over the course of the week and, of course, video reveals.

So yeah, I’d say the odds are greatly in favor of it.

With no releases out, there’s not much to really say.

Beyond that, they’re doing what almost every other Japanese company that wants a foothold in the USA has done in the last ten years as a new entry into the market. So it’s not a surprise that they’re focusing on higher prices, more pack-in materials and goods and fewer episodes per release. That’s simply the market they know. I’m just glad that they’re doing a new dub for one of their two new shows (denki-gai doesn’t warrant one in my opinion) and they’re not replicating the Japanese release style completely, since they’re getting fewer discs here.

What I ~hope~ for is that Pony Canyon digs into their catalog a bit for titles that have never been licensed for release over here, or got DVD only releases whose licenses expire, and brings something new from the past to the game.

For the same reason a lot of video game to other types of mediums are in that they come across as little more than a cash grab. There are some really good ones on all sides over the years, but the bad have outweighed the good and that creates the perception that it’s just to sell more toys. Which in a lot of cases is true, so why invest yourself into something like that?

The better approach is to take each property as it is and see if it’s enjoyable from there, rather than its origins or connections in toys or video games.

Oh man, I wish I could remember which one it was. There was one hentai dub that I had listened to which basically went wholly off script in an utterly hilarious way. I couldn’t remember what the title was at the time the question was originally asked, but Justin Sevakis thankfully reminded me that it was Temptation. It’s the most hilarious four minutes of a hentai dub for me and I encourage anyone 18 and over to check it out.  NSFW LIKE TOTALLY

I’ve seen it over the years and in a way, it’s just something to ignore. You see this in just about every hobby and it’s the equivalent of these guys that say girls “aren’t real fans” when they cosplay or are just being superior about it in that form, which largely makes it seem like they’re just trying to prove they’re the better fan.

Most that import aren’t like that. They’re in a pursuit of quality that means something important to them. I don’t import much, but I’ve gotten a few things, often because I expect it’ll never come out here or some other reason. And most that I know don’t play the superior card in how they talk about it.

But those that do the kind of trash talking style aspect of it, I relegate to the same pile as those that go on about others not being real fans, which means I mostly ignore them.

Part of it always felt like that because Bandai went so big on it in the same way that they did with Haruhi, a lot of people bought into it thinking it was a Haruhi. There was a lot of expense in putting the sets together itself and then with the market crashing (and the economy as a whole) and distributors getting hit by loss of revenue due to places like suncoast closing down, it was like a perfect storm of about a billion different things.

I’m hopeful. We keep hearing whispers about it and that various parties are involved, but it feels like it’s one where they know it’s a big property and are looking to ensure it doesn’t turn into a loss based on fan expectations of it (i.e. dubbed, blu-ray, which for a long series can be a frightening prospect). There may even be a broadcast desire in there as well on the licensors part that can complicate things.

At this point, it’s going to start hitting diminishing returns soon based on when it first came out and when it ended. That’s not to say a lot of fans won’t flock to it, but it really needed to start being released while it was being simulcast to continually build awareness.

I love the show and am hopeful that this’ll be the year. But I have no idea what would really be the best fit for it.

You know, this is tough. I mean, really tough. But I’m gonna go simple with it.

Overall, I have a real affection for the original Urotsukidoji series because it was just a huge show in its day and really does some great stuff.

I also have some real affection for Another Lady Innocent, because historically inaccurate beautifully animated hentai is so rare and it’s just an absolute visual treat.

The one title I keep coming back to regularly that I really enjoy and pull out every now and again is Consenting Adultery. That’s probably my favorite “serious” show.

The one I’ll show anyone I can get my hands on is F3 through, because, well, F3!

Honestly, it’s just a matter of engagement. The squeaky wheel often does get the grease. There just has to be the numbers to back it up in the long term to make it worthwhile. Regularly hitting up various streaming services with feedback through twitter, facebook, tumblr and so forth. Even just a campaign among various non-US viewers who want to see shows posting pictures with “this is not available in your region” imagery with soemthing like “why won’t you take our money?” could do some good over the long run. It’s not a quick fix, but folks just need to get creative, consistent and clear.

Both of those companies are Japanese direct companies, much like we saw with Bandai Visual USA. They’re still not the norm, and with the amount of anime they release compared to others, they aren’t setting any trends at the moment. What they are finding is that there is a segment of fans who are willing to pay higher prices for higher (sometimes perceived) quality. That’s all it is.

And honestly, anime has had its chance and it blew it in going mainstream and wide. I suspect it won’t get another shot at it again outside of a couple of flash in the pan shows here and there. While I thoroughly enjoy a lot of anime, very little of what’s produced these days are global mainstream shows that can appeal.

It’s not the price of the releases that’s keeping anime niche. It’s the content itself.

I watched some of it at the time, but I wasn’t all that into shows like that at the time, though I was a fan of the original Batman: TAS series.

Because that happens with a lot of shows; When you license a series, you have to license the various components within it – broadcast, streaming, DVD, Blu-ray, VOD, etc. Some companies offer only some rights when licensing things out.

It pretty much sounds like when Crunchyroll got their streaming rights for the first season of Free!, it included the DVD home video rights only. So if anyone wants to release a blu-ray, they have to license those rights.

FUNimation ended up with this along the way with the series Baccano, which when they licensed years ago there weren’t Blu-ray rights to license. So they can release the DVD, but we saw Aniplex USA putting it out on Blu-ray because they had the rights.

Essentially, when a series is licensed, it doesn’t mean you get all rights to it.

I’m not convinced it’ll actually happen, but the one that I’m hugely intrigued by and hope that it can find its way is Justice League Dark since it’s populated by characters that I want to see get a proper big screen treatment.

Yup. There’ll always be shows like that, unfortunately for fans of said shows.

For me, it’s the sports anime that will seemingly almost always end up like this. I’d love to see Kuroko’s Basketball get a solid release. Baby Steps too.

There’s also the slew of short form anime series out there which are almost never picked up, which is a real shame. I want Poyopoyo on DVD and Blu-ray, as well as others like Encouragement of Climb.

Check a few of my other recent answers; I got a slew of questions on this today. 😀

I’ve been mulling this over a bit in my mind.

But I keep coming back to the same thing.

I really miss Geneon Entertainment, ne Pioneer Entertainment.

Pioneer was a company I got behind when they brought out Japanese laserdiscs with dubs and subs back in the mid 90’s and that started my home theater/entertainment kick. They were also a very big supporter of anime getting on DVD in the early days – as well as a very big supporter of my site when I first started – they even hosted my site briefly while we dealt with early web issues in the late 90’s.

The company is one that had some great releases across a broad spectrum of genres and types and they also largely had some of the best quality releases in terms of authoring, which made sense considering who they were.

With so many companies disappearing in the past decade, they’re the ones I lament the most.

That’s not to say I don’t miss the others; I had/have great relationships with them, made numerous friends there that I still have to this day and many work elsewhere in the industry or in morphed versions of the companies. I’d love to have them all back, to see BEI back at strength, CPM bringing out some classics, Urban Vision with its quirky as hell titles and seeing those adult anime distributors back in the game.

That’s a little complicated and really up to the individual person. If there are no streams or digital copies available in your territory and you’re going this method to get it from a legal place, then I personally have no “moral” issue with it.

If there are places in your region that does offer it, I always recommend going there because that’s how you get things to grow and change.

But I’m also old school in that if I don’t have access to things in a straightforward legal manner, I can do without. There’s a wealth of stuff out there and, as I’ve been told, have endless patience.

The thing that seems to be lost in all of this is that just because CR streams a show, it does not mean that they had home video rights attached to it. It’s not a common thing that they end up with those rights, but after several years of streaming shows, they have several that can be dealt with that way.

From what I know and understand, they do not go after home video rights. Sometimes a streaming distribution partner bundles it with the streaming rights and because of that those home video rights have sat idle. Discotek is taking advantage of that with the new deal.

I really don’t see it making a major impact in general with what other companies get.

The upside is that some of these lost shows will finally get a release.

The downside is that until Discotek starts producing dubs, a number of shows that really deserve to have them and would do well with them won’t have them. And the same goes for high definition releases. For a good chunk of the market, no BD (or no dub), no buy. If you can stream it in better quality than you can own it, why would you own a lesser quality copy? Therein is the rub for me.

The magic eight ball says:

It is certain
It is decidedly so
Without a doubt
Yes definitely
You may rely on it
As I see it, yes
Most likely
Outlook good
Yes
Signs point to yes
Reply hazy try again
Ask again later
Better not tell you now
Cannot predict now
Concentrate and ask again
Don’t count on it
My reply is no
My sources say no
Outlook not so good
Very doubtful

No.

The titles that Discotek are doing are ones that Crunchyroll has had the home video rights for for a long time. Some streaming rights come bundled with the home video rights, which CR hasn’t exercised before since it’s not their core business.

There’ll likely be a few every season that fall into this category, but by and large it’s not the norm by any measure.

no clue. It’s not consistent to be sure as I move between several different keyboards/systems over the day and it takes time to reacclimate to the different sizes and minor layout differences. But I’ve been typing since I was a little kid, back on an old, real typewriter, so it’s been a familiar part of my life.

Nope. While Aniplex Japan may be involved with a show, they may not be the partner in the production committee that has the international distribution rights. AoJ doesn’t always equal AoA release.

I haven’t seen it, so I can’t say. But once it’s dubbed, it should be shown. Toonami needs fresh and unusual shows rather than the same thing over and over again.

It’s not an agree or disagree thing; the shows that people are waiting on are ones they have to wait on as well – they generally have to wait until all of the Japanese home video releases come out for a particular season, especially if things are being reanimated or fixed for them, and then they can begin the process. Which is why it’s usually a year between license and release.

Papuwa, in the series that ADV Films brought over.

I still have no freakin’ clue what they were smoking in making that show.

Magical Play comes close as a second.

As for strange subjects? In relation to anime, give me series revolving around married couples. They’re pretty damn rare, but when we do get them they’re usually a lot more entertaining since the character dynamics are very different.

First and foremost, I always recommend that you know your audience. If someone hates a genre, don’t show them that genre.

In my experience, I’ve found diverse things that work, some very obvious ones of course, with:

Cowboy Bebop

Lupin the 3rd: Castle of Cagliostro

Anything Ghibli

And, to my surprise, His & Her Circumstances

It’s easier to suggest things based on what people might like. If someone likes SF, find the best of that genre – though not the crazy best or something like Evangelion. Ease them into things. Find things that aren’t culturally heavy and more accessible.

Part of me says Whedon, just to see what he can do now after some big feature film affairs and his desire to create something of his own. He’s a different person than when he did Buffy and Angel. I’m not sure about Dollhouse though, that kind of leaves me wary. I like his style in general, but he has such similar tendencies that I get afraid of him doing just more of the same. Which fans admittedly want.

A lot of it is that for a lot of directors, making the adjustment from a confined two hour placement to a larger placement of material isn’t easy. You can see it with some that they can do it as some trilogies work, while others don’t.

I’d be interested in seeing what Sofia Coppola could do with an extended run, a ten episode personal show on an AMC, FX or something. Same with Sarah Polley.

I think Paul Thomas Anderson should take the leap to something on HBO in order to really expand on story and cast in a way that he seems to want to with his films.

An insane Wes Anderson event series is totally a dream.

I keep hoping Galavant did well enough that we could get Baz Luhrmann to do an even musical series.

And if I could bring him back from the dead, I’d have someone throw tons of money at Stanley Kubrick for something on a premium network.

I don’t think either is a surprise, really. Actors come and go and sometimes they just get involved in other projects before they get a chance to come back to something fun. Sometimes they work on the stuff at the same time. Baker has done a lot of anime over the years, but with the heavier commitment of the US produced animation, it’s no surprise that it kept him away. And since he gave such fun performances as Loki and Hawkeye, well, I can’t complain about it.

I’d say Baker is definitely the bigger surprise since his slate of work is just huge and it’s hard to imagine him not being busy.

In the end, it’s good for fans to get a taste of something new and old at the same time, and especially since the time away has them working in a lot of other roles which can add an enhance what they do in anime.

I love it! I wish they’d do normal editions at the same time, or go back and do more deluxe editions of previously released works after the fact. We see this in the US comics side a lot where there are deluxe hardcover editions, new commentaries and intros and other things.

I think we’re seeing it because the manga side are seeing it more on the shelves as the comic side does it – notably with DC Comics and Vertigo and some Image titles as they’re owning the bookstore channel in this regard.

Retailers see them as standout pieces that they can display more as it catches the casual eye.

From a production standpoint, there are definitely some real standouts. The new Jojo’s book is freakin’ gorgeous across the board. I really love how Vinland Saga looks as well with a great heft, something that looks and feels like a solid, serious work and reading experience.

These releases tend to come and go through the office to reviewers, so I don’t get extended time with them. But seeing the diversity is a huge plus and I love seeing the effort and passion going into them.

Oh man, I dunno where I’d even begin. I’d probably do something like Urotsukidoji just because that original film or two are just amazingly fun works in general.

And who wouldn’t want to do a commentary for hentai…

I think my interest would be within a few different movies in that I’d rather do a conversational commentary with the writer/directors for them, such as Wings of Honneamise, Urusei Yatsura 2 and the Kimagure Orange Road movie as opposed to me just babbling on about things.

Director’s get the big props because, for the most part, they really do put everything together in the end. At least the good ones, and with so much money riding on things, they’re more involved in the entire process than ever before, working with everything from top to bottom, casting to marketing to color correction and more. Some deserve the credit more than others, but they’re like the CEO of the company/film and the success or failure often will have their name attached to it.

I admit to following directors more than others, but also partially because directors work with their small cabal regularly so they often travel together. And a number of writers end up working towards directing, or we get actors that move into writing and directing.

I watch things from pretty much every genre out there so I tend to see a lot of things, but it can get overwhelming and lost in the blur of it all. There are those that come up from time to time, but I really have a hard time naming off the top of my head to be honest.

Where I’m getting interested is in seeing how many comic writers are making the transition, becoming more involved in the adaptations of their works, and seeing them writing comic series with a more theatrical bent to them.

Anything is possible, but since she mostly does dubs based out of California, it’s unlikely outside of some unusual project I’d guess.

Sadly, no. I don’t get the chance to really sit down and read like I did in my younger days, or in the last few years where I had more activities that I would spend time at for my kids.

I’m currently reading the fifth Game of Thrones novel (I know, that’s not the name of the series), but it’s proving to be a real slog. I’ve got some Peter F. Hamilton and Stephen Baxter lined up after that. but they’re all just thick and detailed hard SF novels.

I’m sure I could come up with more if I got the chance to look back at my collection a bit, but the first three that come to mind are:

Manifest Destiny – This would make an excellent TV series. I could almost see it as a CW show to complement The 100 except set a few hundred years ago.

East Of West – Similar in that I think it’s ideal for serialized storytelling, except on a premium/pay network.

Manhattan Projects – Give this a couple of big budget crazy ass films and just run with it in a hilariously over the top way. Pure R-rated material that would be intense on all levels.

Pax America is one that I’m glad is getting explored already because otherwise that would top my list.

With the manga done, I’d definitely be interested in a second season. But I’m glad we just got a first season and one that didn’t adhere to traditional anime creation rules.

Each definitely have their place and in their respective mediums. For me, I enjoy the arcs overall in storytelling because that’s often where the main changes occur in the overall setting of a particular story. Standalone tales, unfortunately, have been relegated to filler material – partially because of how fans view them at that.

When it comes to comic books, I used to love the standalone stories because that’s when you would have characters that would in a sense just sit around and shoot the breeze and talk. Things would get expressed, characters reveal themselves more, etc etc. I far prefer that kind of exposition over the talking and exposition amid a fight. Witty banter? Sure. Revealing things amid all of it? Leaves me cold.

Each type of story works differently too, so some series or properties really don’t work well with arcs or standalones. It’s about really knowing the material at hand. A mixture of both is what I prefer, though there are great ways of doing standalone pieces amid arcs that don’t come across as forced. When one reads lengthy series of novels involving huge arcs over the course of years, you have to populate it with the smaller standalone stories in order to better build the larger narrative.

Comics and anime (and manga) have really forgotten how to do that, partially because fans don’t like spending money on things that “don’t mean anything” or where “nothing happens.”

It’s a phase that’s been around forever. If it’s a passing phase… hoo boy.

The little sister stuff can vary a lot, some being super creepy, some just being a more natural if exaggerated version of sibling relationships. Most shows/manga that are out there have a creative out so that it’s not truly creepy as hell. Those that go the distance I have to give props to in that they don’t back down and find a cheap way to resolve the situation. It’s one of the reasons I liked Oreimo to a degree. Other shows like Koi Kaze can really humanize it in an interesting way.

Here’s a piece I wrote about with it last year:

http://www.fandompost.com/2014/12/11/questioned-by-fandom-why-is-incest-stigmatized/

It is risky for them, but their costs are vastly different from someone who has to license it from them in order to bring out, share the revenue and profits (if there are any). Pony Canyon has sunk most of the costs into the release in Japan with merchandise, DVD/BD sales there, soundtracks, etc. With the US release, they’re doing new discs, working off of the existing materials with the dub added, and just the cost of the dub really. So it’s a different game.

The basic thing to remember is that no anime is created equal in terms of what it has to do to be profitable.

Not really. Each title is it’s own thing and ROD had its own problems in general, from age to being released before. AoA mostly focuses on the new shows from each season and moves forward with that rather than any back catalog plundering. Which is unfortunate, but is what it is.

Pony Canyon is the content owner in Japan, so they can bring it out when they want. NIS America, and most others, have to wait because when a series ends, it can take six months or longer for all the home video releases to come out in Japan. Those have to finish before overseas releases can begin.

Toradora was the first series NIS America released and they were very cautious in what they were doing in exploring the market, rather than going in with a huge splash and potentially facing a disaster.

I was VERY surprised to see Yuki Yuna getting a dub, but very pleased. I’m not surprised Dengeki-Gai didn’t get one. Creating a dub from the get go for at least one series shows that they’re listening (even if pricing is what it is) to what fans want, and fans do want dubs. So they’re a bit ahead of the curve of some other Japanese entrants into the US market.

Every company maps out their own marketing plan and works off of it. While they may adjust from time to time based on what others announce, I wouldn’t read anything into it – especially with simulcasts. Some distributors will spread out their acquisition announcements over the first month or more, especially since so many get made so quickly that it can be too much of a barrage and acquisitions get lost along the way in terms of fans noticing.

Now, if we get a release date (which will be at least a year away) and nothing in North America by then, then yes, it would be surprising. But a lot of it will likely be determined by the streaming numbers and interest as to whether it gets passed – or if Madman opts not to exercise the home video release.

I’d say just enjoy the show as it is now and see what happens.

I really don’t see that happening. It’s been the “looming threat” for years and it really hasn’t happened. We had Bandai Visual come in and they didn’t get the numbers they wanted so they backed out. Aniplex is hitting the numbers they want because they’re mostly bringing out fresh and popular shows with solid pack-ins for most and it’s doing what they want. Pony Canyon is too early to be fully sure since they’re not doing exactly the same as AoA, but a little more of a mix.

The fact is though is that AoA and Pony Canyon are going to do just a select number of shows. While we may get a dozen different series released each month from Sentai or FUNimation, we get far less from AoA. The market ~cannot~ sustain the collectors item only thing. We’d get a trickling of shows and that’s about it. And even though every show is a precious jewel to each company, most shows really don’t need or require the big collectors item approach.

I had a few questions related to Toonami yesterday, but I talked about it in my posting of the new schedule.

“And with only one show on the schedule that’s actually new, with Kill la Kill, it’s no surprise that ratings have continued to drop down over time since the relaunch a couple of years ago. Every show is dead and tired at this point and with the wealth of material that’s out there, some of which surely has actual TV rights included with it, it’s insane (i.e. business) that we’re seeing this slate of shows being used. It’s still easy to guess that a lot of shows don’t have full on broadcast rights, but the Toonami block basically needs to be a nightly block with new series on a regular basis – or Toonami needs to give a few subtitled shows a try to see what happens. Nostalgia goes only so far for most of these shows that they’re showing or that are being dropped.

Regardless, for most “fans in the know” and likely a number of casual fans, these are shows that have been around for an age and there’s little buzz about any of them, especially since Attack on Titan finished its initial run and the hype has died down considerably there.”

I suspect that a lot of the Toonami ratings are simply inertia based fans that are just hoping to help by watching in some small way.

I’ve never been interested in Toonami since for me, everything they’ve shown is stuff that I’ve seen before and I’m not terribly interested in watching dubs (though I want lots and lots of good dubs out there; they just don’t appeal to me for the most part). Toonami coming back was great and we saw good ratings when they do new things, like the Evangelion presentations, Attack on Titan and so forth. But the block has been very, very tired.

I can’t imagine anyone being really enthused in serious numbers about Cowboy Bebop or Inuyasha being on the block. They’ve been around the block for too long, same with DBZ & One Piece.

There’s a ton of fresh shows out there. Toonami needs to change its approach wholesale. Pick up a bunch of 13 episode shows, do them as a two week block; first half and then second half. Make mini events out of it. Bang them out hard and get people hooked to seeing what else is coming. Then spread out showings elsewhere throughout the week with ongoing broadcasts at the midnight hour for an hour each night with two different shows for 13 weeks.

But frankly, I have zero faith in the Cartoon Network in general, because their guiding principle seems to be “If we don’t own it, it’s not worth it.” They’ve screwed over too many shows I actually cared about for me to care about their success anymore.