Forum - View topicANNCast - Risky Viz-ness
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Gina Szanboti
Posts: 11586 |
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Two of your three examples were concurrent with Monster, and none of them had 74 episodes. Which means that maybe more fans were willing to gamble that Viz would at least release the first 26 and bought the first half of the season on a leap of faith that was much smaller than that required for Monster.
Remember, Viz sat on Monster's license for over a year before they even started casting the dub, after waiting nearly 4 years from the initial airing before they even picked it up. Which adds another layer of risk to be considered by both sides. My point is, many, many people who wanted Monster waited to see if they'd at least release a second box set before buying the first, because they knew from past behavior it was unlikely, especially given how Viz had already been treating the property like a red-headed step-child. Completing a couple of 2-cour series licensed in a timely manner is much more likely, hence initial sales of those are much more likely to be better. But it doesn't convince me that Viz has changed its attitude in the least. Viz has always seemed to have its head up its ass when it comes to public relations anyway, and I don't see enough evidence yet of a sea change in their corporate culture of insulating themselves from their customers as much as possible to trust them yet (I have seen some baby steps in the right direction though). They've got work to do, at least as far as I'm concerned. If I'm the only one who feels that way, then hey, no problem. I think I'm not though. |
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darkchibi07
 Posts: 5511 |
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Mmmm, I want to go for the obvious and say that title itself is a hard sell especially if it's about superheroes where the main characters are both male. 
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Hypeathon
Posts: 1176 |
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@ rootsofjustice & darkchibi07:
At this point, I've been learning more and more that's it's best not to assume how the TV business works without hearing from the horse's mouth how the TV business actually works. It may not be as simple whether the idea of a show like Tiger and Bunny or it's name screams "fit for TV". There could be other factors into it. I remember Jason DeMarco was interviewed on the One Piece Podcast a month or two ago about One Piece being on Toonami and I believe somewhere along the line, Jason mentionede how he was a bit worried having Deadman Wonderland and Casshern Sins starting the Toonami block. He thought at the time that once those shows end, then what now? Because part of what can help make a programming block or channel successful (and it makes sense thinking of it this way) is having something that can last for a good long while. That's why the big 3 shonen series are there as well as a few 50+ episode shows like Eureka 7, FMA Brotherhood, Soul Eater, and Inuyasha. When you think of something like Tiger and Bunny, that's only 25 episodes, I can see why Adult Swim may have felt reluctant to pick it up, at leas at the time. Now that's not to say Adult Swim doesn't ever want shorter shows so as long as they think they're decent (yeah, I know. That's debatable but it's meant for an entirely separate discussion), maybe the situation has changed and they're considering it more. Who knows? Maybe Tiger and Bunny is the next show replacing Eureka 7 once that ends. Or maybe it isn't, I mean Viz is not the only company pitching stuff to Adult Swim. It's best to think of these theories as possibilities and keep it that way unless we can get more concrete answers from people involved with the TV business. |
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Galap
Moderator
 Posts: 2354 |
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It's not like I work at Viz, so I'm obviously don't know how they do things there, but I can say from personal experience that it's pretty easy to give something your all, even if you don't like it personally. That's part of professionalism in the arts. If you're a professional musician, and you're called upon to play a song you don't like, it's not like you don't try hard to make it the best it can be, because it hurts your integrity as a professional to half-ass anything. So I wouldn't pass off that particular statement as disingenuous a priori. |
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ConanSan
Posts: 1818 |
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You'd have an easier time asking the tide to change. |
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tuxedocat
 Posts: 2183 |
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Nope, you're not the only one. I bought the first box-set of Monster, and it still sits on my shelves. I know a lot of people who refused to buy it due to all the reasons you so deftly outlined in your comments (the most incisive of which I highlighted in bold). Thing is, Viz built this lack of consumer confidence themselves, so it is no surprise many people are hesitant when it comes to blind buying a partial set of any series Viz releases. The lack of of communication was especially egregious with Monster. They refused to say anything to anyone about a second set for what seemed like forever. This podcast marks the first time that I really felt like anyone from Viz has been truly forthcoming with information about that title. I am glad they don't have the license, and hope that someone picks it up. It might be a good seller if rescued by a distributor that doesn't have Viz' unfortunate, self-inflicted, track record. Be that as it may, I still buy Viz products, and would probably pay for Neon Alley if/when it is available for Roku (I don't like my PS3's reliabllity when it comes to streaming, unfortunately). I hope that, going forward, Viz will be able to repair and rebuild consumer confidence with anime fans. There seems to be a push in that direction, at least. I would welcome a re-release of the complete Hikaru no Go, but I'm not holding my breath. I have the original eleven volumes on my shelves, and am getting a feeling of deja-vu. I would love to have the rest of it and would double dip for the volumes I have already if it was available as a complete set. I would also buy Neuro, BTW, if that ever happens. I was surprised to hear that Vampire Knight is still a good seller. I guess it is a title that people love to disparage online, but consider a guilty pleasure? 
Good to hear about the demographic shift from Charlene. Other industry reps have been saying this as well, despite denial from a certain faction of the fandom.... 
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tasogarenootome
 Posts: 593 |
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Man, I had no idea Monster was coming off iTunes!! Did they announce this or give warning anywhere? I'm really disappointed because I was slowly buying the whole series that way so I'd have it. I know this is far from the first time this kind of thing has happened but darn it!
I think now that the age of singles seems to be mostly over, Viz is on the way up. Fear of a series being dropped will prevent fans from buying and pretty much locks fans and companies in a nasty cycle. I am happy they have HnG though and would definitely buy a Neuro release. |
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MaxSterling
 Posts: 35 |
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I'm curious what kind of interaction/interface ANNCast uses as Zac is so clear in these podcasts but the guests are muddled and hard to hear. On radio guests, of course not in the booth sound clearest with LAN lines rather than Skype. Does ANNCast employ Voice over IP and would it consider upgrading so guests can be clearly heard? As for this episode because of her voice I could understand Charlene but as for Brian I had to replay some of his replies as he has a lower voice and is not as clear.
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neocloud9
 Posts: 1178 Location: Atlanta, GA |
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I would pay any price they could set for a release (sub-only or otherwise) of Majin Neuro. That anime has been one of my all-time faves ever since it very first premiered back in 2007... I was really depressed when Viz first announced they had it, since that's come to be a death knell for physical anime releases, but maybe with their renewed focus on animation? Please? 
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HeeroTX
Posts: 2046 Location: Austin, TX |
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I'm sorry, but I could believe that IF they hadn't run the SIX episodes of FLCL 50 times and weren't on their BILLIONTH iteration of the 26 Cowboy Bebop episodes. I have seen no indication from their programing that Adult Swim really cares about the longevity of a show. "One Piece" (hundreds of episodes available) got dropped once before as did Case Closed. If anything, it's better for them to keep running short series because if they fail they can switch to something else quickly and (based on past performance) if it succeeds they can just run it into the ground ad nauseum. |
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TitanXL
 Posts: 4036 |
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Anime-wise, Viz does seem to put it on the back burner. Just how many Naruto movies and OVAs have been released in America? Of the 6 Shippuden movies only 3 are out, and of the 10 OVAs only.. 3 or so are released here? I'm not sure, but I know they're worse-off than the movies are. And that's for the most high-profile anime series here, so I imagine the less popular ones get even less priority.
FLCL is also a trippy comedy that I'm sure appeals to the stoner demographic, Detective Conan is too cerebral for the demographic, and One Piece just isn't that popular especially back then. Cowboy Bebop is Cowboy Bebop. I could see Tiger & Bunny being a hard sale. I doubt many Adult Swim viewers are female so it loses out on a majority of its audience, and despite being about superheroes it's more of a jab at them with all the corporate selling-out and product placement. Actually I wonder if the product placement is part of the problem for legality reasons. Anyway, Cowboy Bebop actually played itself straight and was more serious. I feel like Tiger & Bunny would be lost on a majority of the audience, not to mention has far more traditional anime tropes. Look at Blue Rose's design and powers. It's more in line with long-running shounen anime design and powers than Bebop which was more 'guns and sci-fi' |
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Hypeathon
Posts: 1176 |
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Uh, okay then. You can believe that you know exactly how the TV business works if you want to stubbornly stick your head in the sand about it. |
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bleachj0j
 Posts: 926 |
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They have to dub those, not to mention dubbing the already long series. Funimation hasn't exactly gotten out a lot of the One Piece movies either for the same reason. So that has no bearing on how anime being put on the back burner. |
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PurpleWarrior13
 Posts: 2034 |
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I really like Viz. I used to loathe them, but they've changed their tune quite considerably. They seem to be the most "mainstream" out of all the licensing companies, with FUNimation a fairly close second. They do a good job getting their anime out there. Tiger & Bunny is still for sale at Wal-Mart, despite not being on the telly.
I would love a Ranma re-release. Their old release was muddy as hell, and plus, the Blu-rays are now out in Japan. Also while they're at it, getting the 2008 Ranma OVA would be nice too, and get the original surviving voice cast back. though a few have retired, and Genma's has died. Actually, now that I think about it, the only characters I can see their voices returning are male Ranma (his second voice), Kasumi, Happosai, and Shampoo. I would like to know what's going on with Blue Dragon. That show's situation is worse than Monster's (at least that had UNCUT DVDs). |
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Looneygamemaster
 Posts: 192 |
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At least the uncut version's up on Hulu. So it won't break my heart if it never comes to DVD--because I really don't like that show.
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