Forum - View topicAnswerman - What's With All the Overpowered Characters in Anime?
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whiskeyii
 Posts: 2245 |
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This may be too broad a question to answer succinctly, but how are series picked for adaptations, then? I was always under the impression that they were largely a) middling to widely popular and b) still in circulation to drive up physical sales, with the modern-day caveat of c) having a built-in fanbase. Full disclosure that I have seen Shirobako, so I'm aware that the anime-making process is beholden to quite a few powers-that-be in terms of merch, promotion, and name recognition, but how does the production committee ultimately decide "Yup, next year we're gonna go with Series X, Y, and Z!"? |
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zztop
Posts: 646 |
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I've also wondered the same thing too. How does the publisher determine which series are most deserving of getting an anime adaptation? For example you see certain mangaka like Mashima Hiro whose works have always gotten animated, but there are others who never get animated at all or only just the one title gets an anime (ex. Matsuena Syun works have never gotten an anime beyond History's Mightiest Disciple Kenichi). And then recently you have wildcard decisions like the upcoming Reincarnated As A Vending Machine anime, whose light novels were discontinued 6 years ago and thus is unlikely to boost sales or cater to a rabid fanbase. |
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michizure
Posts: 177 |
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Isn't there an element of circular reasoning (or self-fulfilling prophesy) here? High fantasy gets adapted, which generates an audience, which justifies adapting high fantasy. There's a noticeable dearth of other potential genres, particularly science fiction/space opera, even when they have the same focus on overpowered protagonists. What little sf does get adapted tends to have a medieval fantasy skin (e.g., SAO, but it's far from the only one). Show me the Reborn as a Space Mercenary anime, and then we can talk. |
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Alan45
 Village Elder Posts: 9841 Location: Virginia |
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@michizure
The people who produce entertainment are very conservative. The don't give up on a genre until it quits making money. Apparently high fantasy is what makes money now. Science fiction/space opera has been present in the past. The fact that it is not being made much currently is an indication that it ceased to make money. |
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Lord Geo
Posts: 2547 Location: North Brunswick, New Jersey |
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Yeah, pretty much every single decade has had some sort of genre that defined a lot of the anime being made in it (minus maybe the 60s, since companies were only making so much TV anime at that point, in general). The 70s had super robots, the 80s had real robots (& OVAs, in general), the 90s had long-running shonen action, the 00s had moe, & the 10s had ieksai. I'd say we're still early enough into the 20s that we haven't quite seen what genre will "define" this decade, exactly, but maybe high fantasy (coming off of the 10s' isekai boom) will be the one. |
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King Chicken
 Posts: 88 |
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That just seems like common sense. Giving consumers what they want is always a safe business opportunity.. |
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Zalis116
Moderator
 Posts: 6867 Location: Kazune City |
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Was this supposed to be "paramount"? |
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Nojay
Posts: 112 |
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[quote="michizure"]
The webnovel of "Space Mercenary" was on hiatus for a time but it restarted publication on Syosetu a few weeks ago. This sort of hiatus is sometimes an indication that the writer is talking to a production committee regarding a possible anime adaptation of their works. The story has an ongoing manga which has been licenced by Western publishers, another indicator the story has significant followers. We'll see. The other SF-isekai story I would like to see animated would the "Galactic Officer Corinth" LN/manga but the progenitor web novel seems to be on permanent hiatus. |
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Alan45
Village Elder Posts: 9841 Location: Virginia |
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The concept of nerd guy befriended by hot girl seems to be on a roll these days. Of course this is just a different form of fantasy.
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Hal14
 Posts: 667 Location: Heart of africa |
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Nerd boy meets pretty girl is an old setup for romcoms (and dramas) that's been around in both east and west. The film Can't buy me love (Nerd pays a cheerleader to date him and teach him to be cool/popular) came out in the 1980s. I'm not sure this setup ever declined in popularity. |
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InfiniteJest
 Posts: 136 |
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I’d say it’s a combination of wish fulfillment and lack of patience.
Video game culture has become so instant gratification that slower character arcs And development /growth just take too long to grab the younger audience who are used to quick or instantly developing gratification. Comic book culture in the US is the same as Japan in this regard. Action over storyline. Power over growth. If people want characters to grow slowly they read a novel (not a LN) if they want to get excited and cheer they want that immediate excitement a yelling muscle bound mega guy can give. This makes money because it grabs attention quickly and doesn’t risk losing the audience that will toon out if it takes 6 episodes to get to a big fight/victory. Sure there are exceptions. The audience isn’t uniform. But it’s the trend that marketing has seen as profitable for years. |
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SonicSP
Posts: 40 |
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There hasn't been a new Answerman in many months. Was it ended again?
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DerekL1963
Subscriber Posts: 1114 Location: Puget Sound |
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Yes. Froggie has moved on to other things. |
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NeverConvex
 Subscriber Posts: 2304 |
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There's a difference between "copy the last thing that made money" and "what consumers want", though. Just imitating whatever sold well previously doesn't help you figure out what hasn't aired in the recent past that consumers might really want. |
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Alan45
Village Elder Posts: 9841 Location: Virginia |
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@NeverConvex
I agree. Unfortunately, "copy the last thing that made money" is easy. It is an easy decision, easy to sell to your corporate overseers and covers your butt if it fails. "The fickle fans are tired of that, who knew". "What hasn't aired in the recent past that consumers might really want." is hard. You need insight, and talent and a willingness to take risks. To go to your corporate overlords you need evidence to support what may be a decision you made on instinct. If it fails, its your baby. Guess which people prefer. |
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