Forum - View topicAnime released outside of Japan = "Hand-Me-Downs"
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Tyrenol
Posts: 398 Location: Northern California |
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I caught on to this recently. Probably all of the anime that's been licensed and shown outside of Japan had either been watered down horribly (ala 4Kids, i.e. One Piece) or really hadn't been changed at all except for some changes for the English dub.
There's no really serious effort by Japanese companies to create something for the foreign (mainly North American) market. Bandai/$unrise tried with Cowboy Bebop and Superior Defender Gundam. (All they could do well is Power Rangers.) One visit to the Gunota Headlines one day had found be sending corrective e-mails to Bandai the next day about this interview by Sunrise Board Member Yasuo Miyakawa
We all know of course that most of us are always up for a good story to tell. And that it's better not to pick a side. But yeah. Last I heard, anime is still considered a "niche of a niche" market. Just think of how much of a niche it wouldn't be if it targeted the serious adult crowd, the age 20+ crowd who'd watch anime because it isn't like "Looney Tunes." However... If there is such an effort, please be sure to refer it to me so that I can be proven wrong. 
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Hisdon
 Posts: 411 Location: Poquoson, VA |
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I'm not sure what you mean by "watered down" and Cowboy Bebop was a HUGE sucess in America as far as animation goes. If you are referring to 4kids dubs...that's a pretty big generalization.
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Asako
 Posts: 751 Location: Hawaii |
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Anime in Japan is made for a wide range of viewers. They also have different rules as to what can be put on their televisions and what cannot be.
Everyone who's watched Dragonball when it first aired in the US can probably remember the scene with the flower covering Goku's bits and pieces that was obviously inserted. But his nudity would have been allowed on Japanese television. Another example would be when Sailor Moon aired with "Serena" and "Rini" in the bath together and the water was colored pink just so the suggestion of the female parts were covered up and not shown to American kids. And don't get me started on video games that used to be set to "milk-mode" like a lot of anime also did when it was aired in America. It's as if we don't know what blood looks like! So, obviously companies are trying to protect the kids from viewing such "vulgar" images. And also protecting the companies from being sued by parents in general. (Everyone's out to make a quick buck these days) Things need to be edited when aired on TV or companies will get in trouble. One piece is made for kids in Japan but more things will probably be strained out for viewers and possibly to fit in a selected time slot. (In a way all the rules and regulations tell us what we can and cannot watch, so are we really free? muahaha) Another example in the beginning for Anime coming out in stores was the Street Fighter movie. They came out with an edited version and an uncut version. BOTH versions lacked the fan-coveted Chun-li shower scene! (Thank goodness for import shops) I really would like to know the reason behind that cut. Perhaps during the time it was released, popular belief was that anything animated was strictly for kids so they protected themselves with that omitted piece of work. I do think the anime industry has come a long way since then and there are releases of cut vs. uncut coming out. But that still leaves fans to criticize translation. It's difficult to bring ideas over to North America that need full explaining when it's an everyday occurence in Japan. meh, but that's a whole different topic 
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PantsGoblin
 SubscriberEncyclopedia Editor  Posts: 2969 Location: L.A. |
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Um, exactly what other alternative would there be? Something that's mildly edited? That's mostly what 4kids does. One Piece is really the only one they murdered, the rest aren't great but they aren't as bad as that.
Samurai Champloo and Hellsing are other obvious examples I can think of. I wouldn't say there's no effort, they just usually don't go out of their way to cater to US audiences. In addition, I wouldn't think most of them are acustomed to creating animation that Americans would think are "cool". Also, are you saying Cowboy Bebop didn't do well in the US? Because it did. Sure, it's not like the next monster franchise like Power Rangers, Pokemon, and Yu-Gi-Oh! were, but were you seriously expecting it to be that? For anime like Cowboy Bebop, some of the appeal for it is that it is niche. I'm almost certain it wouldn't have sold as well if they attempted to market is as the next huge trend. It also just wouldn't have fit the serie's style.
You haven't seen enough anime. There are plenty aimed at 20+ audiences with mature themes to them. Just off the top of my head: Honey and Clover, Haibane Renmei, Elfen Lied, Gankutsuo, Koi Kaze, Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou, Kino's Journey, Mushishi, Hanbun no Tsuki ga Noboru Sora, SaiKano... And many more... They weren't the "best sellers" out on the anime market (if they were even licensed at all), but that's kind of the fate for titles like these. The general American public refuses to accept that animation is capable of as much depth as live-action. There really isn't anything you can do about it, that's how it is. |
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Keonyn
Subscriber Posts: 5567 Location: Coon Rapids, MN |
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Actually a lot of anime is made with foreign audiences in mind as licensing to foreign distributors is a huge source of revenue for them. There's even been anime produced specifically with foreign audiences in mind, see the recent release of Afro Samurai. It's a global market, something few people consider these days is that even Hollywood makes movies with foreign audiences in mind as international sales are really the only way a lot of these companies break even.
The global market has added more revenue and given these companies greater freedom to produce what they envision, most companies can't afford to ignore the global market anymore because in all aspects of entertainment global income has become embedded in to their bottom line. |
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Zalis116
Moderator
 Posts: 6897 Location: Kazune City |
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What about Gun x Sword? Many reviews, like this one on ANN, have said that it's very much a "marketed to Americans" series.
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daxomni
 Posts: 2650 Location: Somewhere else. |
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Why on earth would anybody want more Americanized anime? What good would that do? North America isn't the center of the universe and most of what we make these days is so bad that I can barely stomach it. It's true that I have some issues with the way Japanese media present certain characters and plots, but the day that most anime becomes Americanized is the day I stop watching it.
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Anthony P
Posts: 227 Location: Phoenix, Arizona, US |
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I find it pretty unlikely that anime titles across the board will begin showing an American influence moreso than they already do anytime soon. America's glory days are going to be over soon enough, anyways, whenever China finally rears it's massive head and kicks us squarely in the ass. |
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Tyrenol
Posts: 398 Location: Northern California |
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Nice comebacks.
However... I'll see your "Gun x Sword" and raise it with shows like "Chrono Crusade," "E's Otherwise," "Negima," and "Scrapped Princess." The problem I have is when companies try too hard to cater to a certain audience. One of the reasons why they combined together to stopped the illegalities is that anime fandom IS international. They want to make as much money off of it as they possibly can (which is understandable). But they end up falling flat on their faces trying to create the next "Cowboy Bebop" or the next "Dragonball Z" when they don't have to be the next anything. I won't deny that said Bebop became a hit in the US. And we can talk about "Gun x Sword" later. I just want to know if there's an actual, serious market aimed at entertaining us without making us roll our eyes whenever the company pulls stupid pet tricks on us. Themes and cliche's play out, and a good story needs to be told at the end of the day. I myself had been very critical of some of the many shows I watch. (The reason I don't watch too much anime is that I'm working 50 hours a week.) The last thing I want to see is some screwed-up sub-plot (ala Mai-ZHime where a couple of characters I actually liked [Akane and Kazuya] get screwed around ). And "North America's domination?"  Show me a current animation studio in North America that can actually compete with the powerhouse that's Japan and its fellow Asian counterparts.
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Iwatch2muchanime
 Posts: 1291 |
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DISNEY |
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Keonyn
Subscriber Posts: 5567 Location: Coon Rapids, MN |
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Sort of ironic that you're acting with a superiority that makes it sound like you believe Japan is the center of the universe. You also seem to think you are, you see, while you are so bias you can not stomach US productions others obviously enjoy them so why should they bend to your will because you don't like them? That's the problem with some people, they seem to forget that we are entering a point where society is becoming integrated and global, such seperatist attitudes are disgusting, elitist and a step backwards.
Disney/Pixar, Fox Animation and Dreamworks and even smaller animation studios. Yet again we have this supremacist attitude, just because it isn't marketable here at this time doesn't mean they can't compete, through limited productions it is obvious that the US can, it's just not done because it isn't consider economically viable by most studios. But you forget that the CG you see integrated in US films is just another type of animation, animation that if turned towards a feature could just as easily compete. Yet, here we are, the purists again so full of themselves and their hobby they are more willing to put on blinders and laugh and make comments with no logic involved. This is a great big world, and Japan is not the center of it or the only locale that can produce talented people, nor is the US, suck it up and deal with it. |
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Greg Aubry
 Posts: 224 Location: Detroit, MI |
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I'd say PDI/Dreamworks or Pixar before I'd say Disney anymore. Disney's CGI animation studio is more akin to Blue Sky (which is certainly "good", but not as amazing as Pixar's). There's no denying, though, that Disney put out some amazing looking animation in the '90s and the early part of this decade that would put a good deal of anime to shame, if only for frame count and fluidity of movement.
I feel a can of woms opening... |
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Hisdon
Posts: 411 Location: Poquoson, VA |
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Whoever does the liscening on Southpark, Simpsons, Family Guy, Futurama, other satires, ect. as well. Keep in mind that most American made animations that are television shows aimed at older audiences are satires
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Iwatch2muchanime
Posts: 1291 |
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Well Pixar was bought out by Disney, so now Pixar is Disney in a sense. |
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Abarenbo Shogun
 Posts: 1573 |
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Repeating it 400 million times in a row and having a spotty DVD release is not what I call "Successful." |
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