Forum

@YamadaKun

You have causality reversed. Something becomes popular when enough people like it. No one throws away money at something just because it's popular.

There's also no way to prove your assertion. At All. I like K-On. It's good stuff. I haven't seen Big O yet, even though I've bought it and is on my to-watch list. I may or may not like it. I may prefer K-On over Big O. Or I could just like the two equally for different reasons.

Anyways, this whole thread has devolved into collectivist nonsense, about Japan vs US, about fitting people into one side vs another based on individual taste.

@configspace I hate people, who only like anime that was popular in Japan. As if it's inherently better. If anything, it's the opposite. Anime with more US animation features and/or western features tend to be better. The SAC series. Hell, the GITS series is a modest success in Japan, but it's no Love Hina. In America, it is the most popular adult anime franchise in the country, right next to Akira. Production IG has something most anime companies have. Balls. The GITS has always had super high production values. They take RISKS. SAC and 2nd GIG had a $300,000 episode budget, tied with Escaflowne for being the most expensive TV anime at the time, GITS the movie, which had the 2nd highest anime movie budget at the time. SSS which was the most expensive OVA at a WHOPPING $3.6 million. GITS Innocence had a $20 million budget. GITS has some of the best storytelling in fiction. Period, Only a few anime can match it. Hell, most anime that do better in the US seem to have better production values.

Quote:

Something becomes popular when enough people like it

It's almost like people can have bad taste!

YamadaKun wrote:

Which anime is better?
https://encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcREJdpdd5k2Ggwj8KT09r7KqXMMXwViY8sOkBgFSAwFGPlf9b4d

The anime which looks like Batman TAS/Batman Beyond and is a cross between Batman, Giant Robo and Godzilla with kickass giant robots, awesome plots and music, as well as slick visuals, which got no ratings or merchandise sales in Japan, but succeeded in the States

OR

https://encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSTspSAlOcIbqGTQAkYXFidkqF2cM8fnxxbznAuo5BSWorMuOd0Mg

A stupid piece of moe crap, with generic art, stupid plots and everything, but sold over 500,000 BDs and made over $150,000,000 worth of merchandise sales, but has done more or less "meh" everywhere else?

If you picked K-On, you must be out of your mind. Big O IS better..

I hated Big O back in the old days it was on Cartoon Network, and I love K-On... so I'll pick K-On. Big O doesn't do anything for me, I'm not interested in those types of shows.

And yeah, I don't like Akira or Cowboy Bebop either.

Last edited by YamadaKun on Tue Aug 13, 2013 1:06 pm; edited 1 time in total

@RyanSaotome Why don't you like Akira? Can't understand the plot? Is the 160,000 animation cels( too good for you? Don't like proper lip syncing and facial expressions in anime? Voice acting too good? Music too good for you?

How about Big O? Are the plots too deep for you? Is the art WAY too good for your "tastes?" Is the music too much for you? Does the fact Roger Smith look like Bruce Wayne put you off? Do you actually take Big O SERIOUSLY? It's a SUPER ROBOT show. You're not supposed to take Big O oh so seriously. Just saying.

Why don't you like Bebop? Art too much for you? Can't handle the epic music score?

Oh well.

Not interested in dark action or psychological shows. If its action, I want it to be more battle shonen like with special powers and all like a Fate or Index. And the character designs and art in those shows don't draw me in as well, especially Akira. The art in that movie wasn't appealing at all.

RyanSaotome wrote:

Not interested in dark action or psychological shows. If its action, I want it to be more battle shonen like with special powers and all like a Fate or Index. And the character designs and art in those shows don't draw me in as well, especially Akira. The art in that movie wasn't appealing at all.

Oh come on. How is Faye Valentine NOT sexy? Also, the art in ALL of those anime blow any anime you like, except for FMA. I don't mind F/Z. In fact, I like F/Z. It's the best anime in like the last half decade, but the art is decent at best. But I get it. You're a new anime fan and you're young, I take it. You need to watch the classics. Start with GITS, then move your way up. I guarantee you if you re-watch them, you'll love it.

Just because RyanSaotome is acknowledging that Japanese fans in general have a different taste in anime than American ones isn't an assertion that Japanese fans have superior taste to American ones, it's simply a statement of fact. Ryan may find (as I do) that his tastes have more in common with the general taste of Japanese otaku as opposed to American ones, but I've yet to see him claim his preferences are somehow superior.

It seems nearly everywhere you go in English-speaking anime communities, you're met with people who do nothing but complain about the lack of the "sophisticated", "artistic" anime like Cowboy Bebop, Death Note and the like, and do nothing but whine about how nearly every new show that comes out isn't like them. All Ryan is trying to do is point out that that those sorts titles have always been less common, they aren't the bread and butter of the industry, and that American anime fans should realise they are a tertiary market that is barely considered by anime producers. As disappointing as that may be, it doesn't make it any less true.

I understand that moe isn't for everyone, and I can understand the disappointment at not recieving more of what you'd like to, but there's no need to attack Ryan and kill the messenger. Moe makes money for anime companies, and they'll keep making moe anime until it doesn't make them money anymore. If you love Little Witch Academia and want more of it, I hope you funded the Kickstarter, and if you didn't or couldn't, you buy it's Blu-Rays, merchandise, or otherwise support it in a positive fashion. Nothing else is going to encourage anime companies to cater to you.

For the record, I really liked Academia, but not enough that I funded the kickstarter or that I'd be prioritizing buying it over other releases. I hope their second OVA is successful and perhaps the Japanese fan community will give it a second chance then.

YamadaKun wrote:

@RyanSaotome Why don't you like Akira?

It's extremely violent and rather gross at parts. The completely random and gratuitous rape scene also gave me a rather negative impression. Akira was technically my first anime I knew was anime as a friend wanted to show some of us what anime was. But it was another friend showing me ranma that got me hooked. There is nothing wrong with liking akira, but it's not the kind of movie that will appeal to everyone.

YamadaKun wrote:

RyanSaotome wrote:

Not interested in dark action or psychological shows. If its action, I want it to be more battle shonen like with special powers and all like a Fate or Index. And the character designs and art in those shows don't draw me in as well, especially Akira. The art in that movie wasn't appealing at all.

Oh come on. How is Faye Valentine NOT sexy? Also, the art in ALL of those anime blow any anime you like, except for FMA. I don't mind F/Z. In fact, I like F/Z. It's the best anime in like the last half decade, but the art is decent at best. But I get it. You're a new anime fan and you're young, I take it. You need to watch the classics. Start with GITS, then move your way up. I guarantee you if you re-watch them, you'll love it.

Believe me, I've tried to watch some of that stuff in the past. I just don't like those types of anime... Different people like different things. Even back in the early days of Adult Swim when Cowboy Bebop was the big new thing, I tried watching it once and I just didn't like it at all. A couple years ago I gave it a chance and watched it all the way through, and it was a struggle to get through the entire thing (I didn't drop it just because one of my friends was bugging me to finish it).. but its certainly one of the least enjoyable anime I've fully completed. I watched like half the Ghost in the Shell movie and dropped it, too.

You like your darker action shows, and thats fine. I like my moe, harem and battle shonen shows.

Draneor wrote:

YamadaKun wrote:

@RyanSaotome Why don't you like Akira?

It's extremely violent and rather gross at parts. The completely random and gratuitous rape scene also gave me a rather negative impression. Akira was technically my first anime I knew was anime as a friend wanted to show some of us what anime was. But it was another friend showing me ranma that got me hooked. There is nothing wrong with liking akira, but it's not the kind of movie that will appeal to everyone.

Funny enough, Ranma is what got me hooked to anime as well... I never knew there was a medium that had content like that, so I got addicted to anime checking out all the other shows like it.

YamadaKun wrote:

@RyanSaotome Why don't you like Akira? Can't understand the plot? Is the 160,000 animation cels( too good for you? Don't like proper lip syncing and facial expressions in anime? Voice acting too good? Music too good for you?

You can appreciate AKIRA for the technical achievements, but I can see why people dislike it for the messed up conclusion and cobbled together story in places. It's an anime spectacle, but not flawless.

Draneor wrote:

YamadaKun wrote:

@RyanSaotome Why don't you like Akira?

It's extremely violent and rather gross at parts. The completely random and gratuitous rape scene also gave me a rather negative impression. Akira was technically my first anime I knew was anime as a friend wanted to show some of us what anime was. But it was another friend showing me ranma that got me hooked. There is nothing wrong with liking akira, but it's not the kind of movie that will appeal to everyone.

Your other points are valid but I'm not sure how being incredibly violent is a flaw. I haven't seen the film (don't look at me like that), but Akira is the kind of show which one would expect to be gory.

Chagen46 wrote:

Draneor wrote:

YamadaKun wrote:

@RyanSaotome Why don't you like Akira?

It's extremely violent and rather gross at parts. The completely random and gratuitous rape scene also gave me a rather negative impression. Akira was technically my first anime I knew was anime as a friend wanted to show some of us what anime was. But it was another friend showing me ranma that got me hooked. There is nothing wrong with liking akira, but it's not the kind of movie that will appeal to everyone.

Your other points are valid but I'm not sure how being incredibly violent is a flaw. I haven't seen the film (don't look at me like that), but Akira is the kind of show which one would expect to be gory.

Some people don't like lots of gore, so it would hurt their enjoyment.

Last edited by YamadaKun on Tue Aug 13, 2013 1:56 pm; edited 1 time in total

@VORTIA Stop using the "popularity" shtick. Nobody ever uses that to review a film. Let's use a scenario

Spirited Away vs Toy Story 3 review

RyanSaotome esque guy: Spirited Away sucks. It only made $235,000,000 in Japan and $40,000,000 elsewhere. Toy Story 3 did over $440,000,000 in the US and Canada alone. It's total is over $1,000,000,000. Toy Story 3 is obviously WAY better and it won 3 Oscars and a Tokyo Anime Award.

Guy who uses quality: Not really. Spirited Away may not be as successful as TS3, but the story is better and the character grow more, as well as it being more tranquil and more refreshing. SA is original. TS3 has been done before. Awards and popularity=/=quality. Quality does.

Who's the better reviewer? Me or the Saotome esque guy?

Also, I don't care if the Japanese don't target me or the anime most of us westerners like are only middling in success in Japan. At the end of the day, we're giving them money, so if they don't care, oh well.

@Draneor Akira is actually toned down considerably from the manga. The manga makes the anime look like Peter Pan in comparison.

@RyanSaotome How long have you been an anime fan? I've been watching anime since the earlyish 80s. If you pretend you've never watched old anime, yet rewatch it, you might like it. You'd appreciate that most animators worked HARDER and the quality and originality was much better back then. Zeta Gundam was the new thing that most kids had. I went back to Japan in like 85 and every kid I knew had a Zeta Gundam toy. Macross was new then. These shows had better art, visuals and storytelling.

Draneor wrote:

YamadaKun wrote:

@RyanSaotome Why don't you like Akira?

It's extremely violent and rather gross at parts. The completely random and gratuitous rape scene also gave me a rather negative impression. Akira was technically my first anime I knew was anime as a friend wanted to show some of us what anime was. But it was another friend showing me ranma that got me hooked. There is nothing wrong with liking akira, but it's not the kind of movie that will appeal to everyone.

How long ago was this? (When you saw Akira, I mean.)

Forum - View topic
NEWS: Little Witch Academia's Tokyo Event Cancelled Due to Low Ticket Sales

My Oni Girl Anime Film Review

Barely Glancing Ahead: Searching for the Future in Inio Asano's Works

Shun Umezawa's Darwin Incident Manga Gets TV Anime

The Unimplemented Overlords Have Joined the Party! Novel 1 Review

This Week in Anime - Darkly Deconstructing Japanese Super Heroes for Fun and Profit

Voice Actor Hideyuki Umezu Dies at 68

Kingdom Hearts Games Get Steam Release on June 13

Yashahime: Princess Half-Demon Manga Enters Final Battle

Bloody Sweet Volumes 1-2 Manhwa Review

The Anime Backlog - Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood

Bringing Anime to Southeast Asia: Interview with Medialink, Ani-One Co-Founder Lovinia Chiu

I Want You to Make Me Beautiful! – The Complete Manga Collection Review

Your Anime Rankings - Best of Spring 2024, May 6-12

Forum - View topicNEWS: Little Witch Academia's Tokyo Event Cancelled Due to Low Ticket Sales

Forum

Forum - View topic
NEWS: Little Witch Academia's Tokyo Event Cancelled Due to Low Ticket Sales