Forum - View topicPR: Right Stuf's ANIME TODAY Looks Forward to 2008 with Zac Bertschy of Anime News Network and Proto
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Asako
 Posts: 751 Location: Hawaii |
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Wow, so that's what you sound like.
I thought the interview went pretty well. Very interesting to hear more of your view on anime, the industry and so-forth 
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Randall Miyashiro
 Posts: 2451 Location: A block away from Golden Gate Park |
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Zac is a cynic? I never suspected
I thought the interview went very well and as usual agree with most of Zac's frustration with the market and fandom. I'm always amazed at how many fans think it is their right to get anime for free. I wonder if we will see the rift between casual viewers and die hard collectors grow in 2008. I am curious at seeing Bandai Entertainment's sale figures. Gundam Destiny has consistently been in the top sellers for anime at Amazon. Granted the series was rather disappointing in content and people here didn't buy it I still think it was at the top of BE's sales for 2007. It was one of the very few anime titles to actually break amazon's top 500 DVD lists. I wish the current volume wasn't defective since I can't use amazon as a barometer since they yanked the 12th volume which I believe was the best selling anime title on amazon the week before release. The defective Seed 12 disc is still at #1 at DVD Empire lists followed by the defective Eureka Seven and Bleach 8. It is also listed as the top seller at Anime Castle and Robert's Anime Corner despite the bad press that these defective discs have received! |
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firecrouch
Posts: 125 |
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I just listened to this last night and I absolutely loved it. I was planning to type a full response here but I think it deserves to be a full "Thank You" e-mail to Zac.
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loka
 Posts: 373 Location: Pittsburgh, PA |
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on giant robots not being that popular-- i hear A LOT of anticipation for the airing of Code Geass on US tv. in my opinion, the fansub was a pretty huge hit.
i expect it to revive the giant robot market some. |
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billyarnie
 Posts: 190 Location: San Antonio, TX |
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Just listened to your interview on RightStuf.com's Anime Today podcast. I wish they hadn't broke your interview into 2 segments, but I guess it was necessary. I ended the podcast as soon as you're 2nd segment was done. This 52-year old geezer, thanks to [adult swim], has become a newbie okatu & I agree with your opinion on the "entitlement" view of the young "Rabid Otaku". Of course, I used to buy 45 RPM "single" records when I was young. I understand buying CD "albums" to get 1-2 good songs; 3 or more if the artist is like The Beatles or Garth Brooks. The 1st anime I have ever bought DVD's for is Witchblade; call me Mr. Joe Cho from the U.S. of A.
I understand the convienence of streaming free videos, but I am willing to sit through a 15-30 second ad for a videogame or whatever. Even move than 1 for a 22-25 minute anime ep. I would be considered politically "conservative", but I won't diss the young fans as "liberal"... though some may be. You are RIGHT... if fans don't pay ANYTHING to get What They Want, What They Want DISAPPEARS! Say you like to drink Red Bull, Monster or Rockstar energy drinks... Hell, even Gatorade! If you expect them to give it away, don't be surprised if they go out of business... because they CAN'T AFFORD to Give It Away!! Same with anime... if you download fansubs of the latest Japanese shows, don't expect them to stay in business when U.S. fans don't bother to buy DVD's or even buy individual episodes on iTunes. If you've heard of "Pay it Forward", then "Pay it Backward"; give some money, respect & love to the companies that create your favorite anime. It's NOT your "Right" to download free anime... it's your PRIVILEDGE! Cough up a few bucks, or you won't have ANYTHING to cough up bucks FOR!!! |
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kyokun703
 Posts: 2505 Location: Orgrimmar |
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I enjoyed the interview. It was quite good, especially the second part, with the "entitlement" section. The sense of entitlement (and the levels it reaches) from many young people is frightening.
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Moomintroll
 Posts: 1600 Location: Nottingham (UK) |
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If the forums here are anything to go by, they're more likely to be libertarians than liberals. |
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HeeroTX
Posts: 2046 Location: Austin, TX |
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Good interview, as always, I disagree on some points, but interesting all the same. I think you muddied your own point on how anime should be marketted by getting on a soapbox, understandable, but it confuses the point there. Which is notable because I think many people get into the argument because it's framed as ONLY the two extremes, either you buy all the DVDs to watch anime (or any that you ever want to watch at least) to keep from being a filthy pirate and a thief, OR all companies are evil and fans deserve to get everything they want for free because that's how things have been and why throw away a "good" thing. I'm not sure what the middle ground is, but people don't want to be lumped in as one or the other of those simply for disagreeing with one side.
But I'm mainly writing to get on my own personal soapbox and ask WHY people continue to bend over backwards to pretend that "viewer" equates to "fan". The two are NOT equivalent and as one reason as to why I laugh hysterically at your opinion that people will only care once a JAPANESE company goes down and can't produce any more. I am unfortunately left to just ask if you're that out of touch (slight hyperbolic question for effect) with even your own site. Didn't ANN run it's own poll about favorite directors? How many "fans" can even name ONE director if you take Miyazaki off the table? Make it really hard by taking Kon and Oshii off the table. The reality is that many people "going to conventions" (which is a whole separate discussion) don't know or CARE about the companies making the stuff. Heck, take a quick look at all the anime cons with any announced guests. Let's take American VAs out of the discussion for a moment, how many cons have Japanese guests (any Japanese "production" guest, artists, directors, seiyuu)? Now, how many cons have COSPLAYER guests? Sure, cost is a factor, but you're gonna tell me you can't get one mid-tier director or even budding mangaka or seiyuu for the price of 3-4 cosplayers or even 2-3 American VAs? Really? Seriously? And this is one reason no one cares, why should they, it's not ABOUT the material. We're not bringing people (or material) over here because "I respect this person and they have information that will be of interest to fans", we bring people who "give the best RoI". The industry (and I include anime conventions in that designation for this point) doesn't care about merit (I'll make an exception for AnimEigo who truly has gone for whatever Bob Woodhead feels like) they care only about dollars and cents, so why the surprise that their MARKET (which hasn't been FANS since the days of VHS) feels the same way. It's just truly unfortunate that in this age the market can get the media for zero cents. So while the industry is trying to maximize profits, the market is trying to maximize savings, and thus many people download it for $0.00. (give or take) |
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