Hey, Answerman!

Box Office Mojo-ka Magica

Hey everybody! Welcome to another edition/column/weekly internet informational thing known as Hey, Answerman!

That's enough airing of self-disappointment: you all have some questions, I take it? Let's get to those.

I promise I'm not getting my hopes up, but with word that Aniplex USA's Madoka Magica movie event is selling out and adding showings, at $20 a ticket is there any hope that the event might get into the weekly box office report and be noticed by industry movie-watchers, in the way that limited art-house rollouts in LA/NY do?

Quick! Get the ladder and bring those hopes of yours back down!

Justin: The short answer is "no," Madoka Magica will almost certainly not be noticed in any way, shape or form by the rest of the movie industry. Most of the screenings for the double-feature are "one-night only" engagements, which are almost certainly just a matter of Aniplex renting out the theater space and having the theaters sell tickets (a common procedure known as "four-walling"). One currently listed theater, a single-screen L.A. art house theater called the Downtown Independent, actually is playing the double-feature for a week, so there's an outside chance that one might be a normal theatrical booking.

In any event, the theaters will normally report their box office numbers to the industry reporting service, a data analysis company called Rentrak, but if Aniplex is four-walling, they have the option of asking the theater not to. With only one night of screenings (and a four-hour running time), it's literally impossible for the screenings to make enough money to even show up as anything more than a blip on the radar, so Aniplex might decline. If they don't, the $10-20,000 or so they'll take in will put the screenings squarely in the same box office bracket as months-old art house movies like Killer Joe and Celeste and Jesse Forever. Nobody will notice.

"But wait, won't SOME Hollywood executive see that little blip in the listings and wonder, 'what is this Madoka thing?'" you might be wondering. Not on your life. As we're entering awards season, second and third rate filmmakers the world over are four-walling their crappy features right now with delusions of getting nominated for an Oscar. There is so much crap at the low end of the box office scale that, simply, nobody looks down there unless they're one of the aforementioned second or third rate filmmakers checking their own numbers. For industry people there is nothing separating these Madoka screenings from, say, a trust-fund endowed NYU Film School graduate holding screenings of his student film.

Just how well WOULD Madoka have to do in order to get some attention? A lot. While new indie movies might get a paragraph or two on Deadline.com by making a few hundred grand, well-known foreign genres like anime tend to get ignored entirely, as they're considered "specialty market," and not applicable to the business at large. For comparison's sake, Bollywood films often get subtitled US theatrical releases in a few cities with major Indian populations. Last week the Bollywood film "Barfi!" made $2.5 Million. And even with that name, nobody in Hollywood noticed.

But that's not the point of these screenings anyway -- they're being held to get fans of the show excited about the movies, and get us talking. And we are. So there you go.

And now, I'm going to pay some theater somewhere some money so I can have a Fandango ticket for a film called "Barfi!" in order to confuse and delight myself.

Dear Answerman, a question has been boiling in the back of my mind for a while and recent columns have brought it to the front of my thoughts. Namely, where are all the harem fans? I hear people mocking the harem/fan-service genre all the time, but I never hear someone step forward to defend it. There seems to be a ton of people who vocally loathe harem shows and their terrible jokes and repetitive plots, but nobody seems willing to stand up and say “You know what I absolutely love, derivative fan-service harem anime. That's right, there's nothing I enjoy more than watching boring-as-a-tree-stump-male-lead get punched out by tiny-fiery-tsundere-girl for walking in on her while she was in a state of undress. Because domestic abuse is funny.”

I mean, these people have to exist, don't they? I've heard it said (particularly here on Answerman) that harem and fan-service anime are a ‘sure thing’, that they sell fairly well and have a dedicated following who are always ready to go out and buy the DVDs. This has to be true otherwise they wouldn't keep producing harem anime, but where are the fans? There's nothing people on the Internet are fonder of then disagreeing with other people with opposing views. The harem genre is spoken of with derision so often; you would think that the fanatical obsessive-compulsive harem DVD buyers would be buzzing like an overturned hive, eager to strike down naysayers where ever they appear.

I also almost never hear harem/fan-service anime recommendation. Each season I try to keep an eye out for the ‘best’/most promising new series, and while several great shows come out every year I've never seen a harem lauded as ‘The Best’. Even when people are recommending shows categorically (‘This is a great sports anime’/ ‘This is a great show for Mecha fans’) I rarely see harem shows given the spot light. Shouldn't there be more harem fans trying to draw attention and glory to their chosen series of the season? A small but passionate group crying across the internet “Hey, this seasons T&A-rmageddon is really good! You should go and watch it, right now!”

At first I thought that maybe all the fans lived in Japan and that was why I never heard from them, but if that were true then harem anime would never be heard of, let alone released, in the west.

Or am I simply wrong? Maybe I'm just not seeing them; maybe I'm just not looking in the right places to find the ardent harem supporters. Are there legions of harem fan-boys battering down ANN's doors day and night? Am I really just not noticing?

Looking back on what I've wrote, I guess I seem a bit harsh. I don't actually hate harem anime, I'm just puzzled. Surely there must be some good harem anime out there, the genre wouldn't have lasted this long if there weren't, right? So why am I not hearing about it? Why are the fans so weirdly silent?

P.S. I'm also a Maryland resident like you and live in the Baltimore area, and I just wanted to say- isn't this whether nice? It was a horrible summer, but it's been cool and clear and beautiful for the last few weeks, and I'm just loving it.

At the time you composed this message, yes! It was lovely fall weather - cool and crisp, slight tinges of brown in the trees. Lovely. Now! It's grey, rainy, muggy, sweaty, and smells like butt everywhere. Screw that.

We all just march to the beat of our own drum, man. No sense in yellin' at the other dude for marching a different way to a different drum. Don't feed the trolls, etc. etc., and other Internet 101-isms.

Hey there Answerman,

You haven't really talked much about Neon Alley yet. I think it's an interesting idea, but I don't think I would ever pay money for it. Do you think it'll last?

I've been waiting on this question until I actually had some time to skip about in Neon Alley, investigating its nooks and crannies. And I finally did so! Here's my impressions!

Either way, I'm just glad I don't have to write The Click anymore. You run out of funny things to say about new Inuyasha episodes after a while.

So! This is the Answerfans part where I stop talking as much.

Last week, I... well, you guys had a ton of great responses, so I won't bother with too long of an intro. I went off on elitism last week, which, it turns out, a lot of you connected to!

Let's start with Cynthia, who delights me with the fact that I'm read by librarians:

Hi Brian,

This is my take on the question.

Elitism v Snobbery

Opera would probably fit most people's definition of 'elite'. I held season tickets to the opera for 20 years. I didn't go because I thought other forms of entertainment were inferior and unworthy of my time and money. I went because it was marvelously entertaining and I loved it. I didn't grow up with it; one day an acquaintance talked me into it, and that was it.

I think that ‘elitism’ is often used as a synonym for ‘snobbery’. Elitism in itself isn't a bad thing, when it means you prefer the best. It's when elitism becomes snobbery, when you think that whatever you like is the best, and what everyone else likes is crap, that you have a problem.

When I came into this wonderful fandom about five years ago, I tried a lot of different things, and still do. If you don't try new things, how else are you going to find your next favorite? Some that I love are Princess Tutu and Gurren Lagann, Loveless and Katekyo Hitman Reborn!, Saiyuki and Revolutionary Girl Utena. If I'd decided that I didn't like mechas or magical girls, I'd have missed out. I've often found that when I've avoided something that was popular because I was sure I wouldn't like it - because my tastes were ‘special’ and too outside the mainstream - that I was wrong. I was not being an elitist, I was being a snob. Sometimes things are popular because they hit the lowest common denominator, or are on TV and thus able to reach a wider audience; but sometimes things are popular - FMA, Fruits Basket, or Ouran, for example - because they are that good.

As a librarian, I subscribe to Rosenberg's First Law of Reading: “Never apologize for your reading tastes.” If you like it, own it, and don't let anyone put you down for it. Then you let them stew in their narrow-mindedness.

No worries, Black Mokona, in the world of lost points, one truth prevails:

Hm, to me the word "elitism" has always been used in the context of education. I gather that's not this week's column refers to at all, but I will be using that as my jumping off point.

Elitism has a negative connotation, and IMHO, it implies a set of standards that is, while not necessarily high or even productive, by no means imaginary. If Ivy League or Todai are too controversial for examples, let's take the "over eighteen" approach. People assume that that crowd will be more mature, responsive to intelligently written content, and adapt at policing themselves. Paradoxically, it is neither a fair assumption nor an inaccurate one.

An elitist anime/manga fan possibly has some kind of credentials even if it's just a catalog of the Jump line backing him. Possibly, he collects obscure and/or classic titles that he "assumes" everyone watches, or laments that the kids these days have no appreciation for anymore. Possibly, he doesn't know why something is seminal at all, masking that by claiming that the argument has been hashed out already. When I was 14 and fresh into the gates of the fandom, these were the elitists I encountered who made high the barrier to entry so that the club remains exclusive.

That's not to say watching a lot bears no merit. It doesn't necessarily give you an understanding of the genre/medium or the actual ability to talk about a show, but it can; in fact it has a tendency to. Watching a lot of anime makes you privy to many conversations.

The idea of elitism can form another divide in fandom, one between critics and other fans. It generally goes that viewers discuss the story, and critics discuss how the story is told. These methods of understanding themselves are debatable in their relationship to one another. Some believe they are hierarchical, some say they are interactive.

The problem is that when critics talk about the interesting elements of filmmaking, most people will not be privy to that conversation, which is no longer about what Mami tells Sayaka and Madoka, but about how she is framed, talking to them. The exclusion seems elitist and to some extent is, but it's fine as long as you keep it a separate chat window, a different platform. This conversation is nonetheless important. Another manifestation of this is the silmulcast and the weekly manga scanlation. The desire to participate in the conversation that would follow and then expire within a few days may explain the fervor. Unlike this forum based conversation, discussing filmmaking implies an assumption of prerequisite intelligence, and it distances some fans who would then term elitist behavior.

The definition of elitism I noticed the forum to be contesting concerns the opposite approach to consuming media, i.e. being selective about your intake. My guess is that it's largely due to the time commitment justification, while valid, subconsciously triggers the "I have a life and you don't" defense mechanism. Going back to what you said, Brian, about being challenged by anime, I think that's just not what many people watch anime for. But fans are people who we presume to respect the medium for what it can do, so yeah, it's a bit sad to see people preferring to be offered the same thing again and again. For genre fiction, familiarity with the formula does not counter the process of analyzing it. Both the pleasure of recognition and its deconstruction enhance viewing/reading experience, it's only the unwillingness to step outside of your comfort zone that hinders both the creator and the fans. In Hollywood blockbusters, the exploitation of homoerotic subtext and subsequent return to heteronormativity is the direct consequence of safe entertainment. It baffles me how far removed the issue is from my idea of traditional elitism.

The taste argument, meh, is it any wonder that taste-makers object to the color palette of Totally Spies? Anyway, the argument of taste is so convoluted that I don't know which way is up anymore, (you're supposed to be self-conscious in society, but still true to yourself, or strike a balance between that?) Only, please, it isn't something you need to defend.

In the same vein, next week you should ask what Case Closed mystery that answerfans like the most because I totally have one.

Wait, I'm confused. I believe I lost my point out there somewhere.

HEY NANOFATE FANS, I DON'T SHIP THAT PAIRING. Don't blame me, blame Peter here:

Simply having high standards does not an elitist make. Acting all snobby about it like it somehow makes them superior does.

“I don't think this show is very good” is a perfectly fine comment to make about a show you don't like.

“Man, this show sucks! It's just more otaku pandering garbage! Why can't they make good anime anymore?” is a very elitist thing to say.

The use of the word ‘otaku’ is a telltale sign. By ascribing a label to the ‘other’ group the speaker is separating themselves from that group. By describing shows targeted at that group as ‘garbage’, it adds quite the negative connotation to that group. It is as if the speaker thinks that ‘otaku’ have very low standards since they are pleased by such 'garbage.' And they proclaim that they hold great disdain for such ‘garbage’ because their tastes are so refined that only the finest top hat and monocle may grace their visage! They must assure that the entire populace is aware of their high standards of quality by repeating themselves over and over again at every opportunity. “I only watch the highest calibre of Japanese animation and if you accept anything less I peer down my nose at you!”

Non foppish version: basically an elitist will treat anything they don't like as garbage to make sure they make it abundantly clear that they only like ‘good’ anime. It's fine not to like something and voice your opinion about it but they go too far and act like it's not possible for anyone ‘with standards’ to like what they don't. They look down on 'otaku,' failing to realise that, by definition of the word, we are all otaku, we just have different preferences.

As for elitists driving me away… Hoo boy, don't tell a NanoFate fan you don't ship that pairing. You'll never hear the end of it.

Tiptoe, thru the tulips, with Kyler:

Dear Answerman,

I am what you would call an "ex-elitist." I once considered myself the worst snob there ever was. In the past, I was so snobbish, I wouldn't even bring myself to talk to the rabble that enjoyed what I considered to be nonsense, silly shows that were corrupting the minds of our youth with their fanservice filled antics and excessive shouty violence. None of your Bleach and Inuyasha for me, I'll just be watching Legend of Galactic Heroes and feeling good about myself, thank you very much. I liked things I thought were good, and I put serious consideration into the things I loved, and I honestly thought that was good enough. However, that all changed for me just very recently. And it wasn't because I realized what a prick I was, or I began watching things I otherwise wouldn't. Instead, I stopped because I realized just how horrible I was at being an elitist. In fact, I found that my standards were way too low for me to so much as look at true elitists.

It all started when I happened upon a show called Fractale, and, never having heard of it before, decided it was easily well-done enough to be considered a Good Show. I liked the setting and the animation, and thought that the story, despite some incredibly contrived and melodramatic moments, was moving at times and provided a lot to think about. I was so initially enthusiastic about it, in fact, that I went online to learn what other people thought about it and maybe discuss it with other people. Unfortunately, I quickly learned that it was not a Good Show at all. It was a Bad Show, for reasons every single critic except for me was quick to point out. Put simply, I was crushed. After that, my little supposedly highbrow world came crashing down around me as I began to learn more about what I thought I, as a self-proclaimed elitist, was able to like. I learned that I might very well be the only person who actually watched Spice & Wolf purely because of the economics and character interactions! All those years finding the deeper meanings in Gurren Lagann were a lie! Excel Saga isn't artistic in the slightest, it's just a stupid comedy show! I had no idea what to do with myself anymore.

Lately, I haven't had the courage to express an interest in anime at all. I was taught many severe lessons, and the only one that really stuck was that I should probably look up what the popular opinion is before I say I have standards. I am at a point where I am not sure about what I should be. Should I play the role of the village idiot, carelessly skipping through the flowers without giving a second thought to what it is I'm watching and feeling strongly about, or should I devote myself to being a true elitist, and become more strict about what it is that I allow myself to watch? Lately, I've come to question what it even means to have high standards when it comes to something like anime. Tastes are subjective, after all, and I highly doubt there are any two individuals who agree fully on the same things. Can someone like something others wouldn't give a second thought to, and examine it extensively, and still say they have high standards? Lately there's been a large part of me that says that it's truly up to the individual to decide what true standards are, and it's not really fair to make any sort of judgement based on what they will or will not watch, but it's hard to say. I guess my final answer is: I don't know, but it's worth pondering some more.

I don't want to throw any stones through my jerkface house, Johanna:

Hi Brian!

To me, the difference between having discerning taste and being an actual elitist is whether or not you actively deride others for their choices in entertainment. I admit that I sometimes fall into this trap (ex. "You don't want to listen to this new David Byrne/St. Vincent collaboration and want me to put on Taylor Swift instead?!" "You won't go see The Master in 70mm with me?!" "You're watching Grey's Anatomy instead of Parks and Recreation tonight?!") and this certainly extends to anime. I'm an anime fan simply because I love animation; I love Brad Bird, I love Sylvain Chomet, and I love Satoshi Kon. With so much great animation out there, I don't want to waste my time with crap, especially when I'm a fan of so many other forms of entertainment. I fully subscribe to the idea that I can tell what I will and will not be watching every season by looking at a picture and a short description. If I'm not intrigued and don't see a lot of positive buzz from critics, I ignore it. Thus, every season there are shows that seem inexplicably popular to me, just as there are musicians, American television shows, and movies that I don't understand the mass popularity of. I internally justify this by saying that the people who like it aren't probably engaging with it the same way I do with my favorite media. I like to be challenged by what I watch, and not everyone is looking to do that. However, the trap of saying that is that I mentally place myself on a pedestal above those fans who like whatever generic moe harem show is popular at the moment.

So maybe I should be less mean to people about their taste; I could dial back my elitist attitude and probably be a bit better for it. This does cut both ways though, people who put me down or call me a "fake intellectual try hard" for liking what I do could stand to knock it off as well.

Moral of the story = we should all quit being jerkfaces.

Alright! That's enough elitism chatterboxing. Although, perhaps that's not entirely untrue! I ranted at length about Neon Alley earlier, but I'm willing to bet that a good amount of you reading this have had the curiosity to check it out. Ergo!

Now you've got this week's question, and it's time to get answerin'.

For those of you new to Hey, Answerfans!, I'll explain the concept.

Believe it or not, I'm genuinely curious what you think.

That's right; as much as I love the sound of my own voice, I do love to listen to what other people have to say on a subject. I'm finding that over the last few years, the attitudes, reasoning and logic that today's anime fans use eludes, confuses or astounds me; I have so many questions for you, and I'm dying to hear what you have to say in response.

Welcome to Hey, Answerfans!

Basically, we're turning the tables. Each week I'm going to ask you a question, and I want you to email me your answer. Be as honest as you can. I'm looking for good answers; not answers I agree with or approve of, but good, thoughtful answers. People feel passionately about these subjects and I'd like to see that in the responses I get. I'll post the best answers I get, and maybe some of the crappy ones. Sometimes there may only be one or two good ones; sometimes five or more. It all depends on what I get in my inbox! Got it? Pretty simple, right? Start writing those answers and email them to answerman [at] animenewsnetwork dot com.

We do have a few simple ground rules to start with.

Things To Do:

* Be coherent.
* Be thoughtful.
* Be passionate.
* Write as much or as little as you feel you need to to get your point across in the best possible way.

Things Not To Do:

* Respond when the question doesn't apply to you. For instance, if your email response starts with "Well, I don't do whatever you're asking about in the question... " then I'm going to stop reading right there and hit delete.

* Be unnecessarily rude or use a lot of foul language.
* Go off-topic.

That's enough key-tappin' on this computer box - make sure to drop off those Answerfans answers and questions and other comments to my email! Which is answerman(at)animenewsnetwork.com! Have a fun night, everyone! Don't worry, I'll catch it all on Twitter later.