Forum - View topicAbout Kadokawa's Investment in ANN
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Mizerous
 Posts: 69 |
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I for one welcome our new overlords.
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ANN_Lynzee
ANN Executive Editor
 Posts: 2968 Location: Email for assistance only |
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You will. This was a specific topic of conversation during this process. As for me, the head of editorial: Good morning. I still have my job. I still have the same boss. He somehow managed to convince a very large corporation that I should be able to continue doing what I do at my discretion. I continue to gain power at the detriment of the internet. I saw some mention that "investigative pieces" will go sideways. Not as long as I'm still here. Those often were written by me or under my purview and if you've been reading here long enough you should know I'm a giant, stubborn, pain in the ass. |
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MangaNeko
Posts: 137 |
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Congrats ANN! I have enjoyed your website immensely for decades, especially when my favorite magazine Protocuture Addicts joined. I believe the foundation at ANN is strong, so I look forward to the platforms growth.
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Maidenoftheredhand
 Posts: 2633 |
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This doesn’t seem positive to me at all
I know staff is saying nothing will change and maybe it won’t at first but I’ll believe it when I see it. |
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Sandstar
Posts: 196 |
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@ANN_Lynzee
"So long as I am here" So, all Kodakowa has to do is fire you, and get someone who will do what they want? None of the staff at ANN is irreplaceable, despite what you all seem to think. |
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fathomlessblue
 Posts: 359 Location: Manchester, UK |
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I swear to god, every time I see a multinational corporation aquisition described as 'Joining A Family', my mind immediately goes to that one Kobeni 'burger' chapter in CSM. And with Kadokawa, my faith that the ANN staff won't eventually meet a similar fate isn't exactly sky-high.
I genuinely hope this goes well for ANN, at least in the short term, but I think we've all been round this block enough times to know that this sort of thing rarely, if ever works out in the long run. There's always something in the fine print, or an eventual ousting of the old guard to make sure things go more smoothly in their favor. We'll see if at least someone will get a golden parachute if it all goes south. Worked for Kleckner, even if that was a different situation I feel the biggest concern in the short term is less editorial meddling and more what adding additional tech guys at the back end will mean for Kadokawa ability to use traffic data for their overseas business model. Last edited by fathomlessblue on Tue Nov 01, 2022 2:41 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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all-tsun-and-no-dere
ANN Reviewer
Posts: 615 |
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I don't blame anyone for being nervous here. As a writer, I have my own reservations. I've seen too many small companies whose work I've loved be acquired by big companies and have their mission statements switched to "whatever makes us the most money." Campo Santo said the same thing when they were acquired by Valve, and Valley of the Gods appears to be pretty much cancelled. Fanbyte has pivoted from thoughtful criticism to game guides. You are all well within your rights to have doubts.
I don't know much more about this than any of you, since I'm a freelancer and not staff. However, here is what I do know. Chris is incredibly stubborn and uncompromising, for better and for worse. LYNZEE* is also unbelievably stubborn. What's more, I'm stubborn - and I don't like being told what to do or write. I'm the one who wrote a deeply negative review of Fruits Basket -prelude- while the site was plastered with ads for it. I also don't depend on ANN as my primary source of income; I write here for a lot of reasons, but money isn't one of them (though the extra cash is helpful and I wouldn't do it for free). The moment I get a whiff of orders being handed down from on high about what we are and aren't allowed to say, I'm out of here. In short, as long as you see bylines from Caitlin Moore, be assured that the writers are still allowed to express their opinions freely. I have a feeling that goes for most of the other editorial writers too. *For some reason my phone autocorrects her name to all caps and it just feels right to keep it that way Last edited by all-tsun-and-no-dere on Tue Nov 01, 2022 12:52 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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ANN_Lynzee
ANN Executive Editor
Posts: 2968 Location: Email for assistance only |
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I'm not going to argue with a doom-sayer who doesn't understand how business works but I cannot just "be fired," to the detriment of my haters. Kadokawa cannot just fire me or other staff on a whim. That's not how any of this works. |
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Cardcaptor Takato
 Posts: 4955 |
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Thank you for the reassuring posts ANN staff. Though I still have my concerns, this puts me more at ease and I do have faith in the writing of Lynzee and the other staff here and I hope this all works out for the best.
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Queilow
Posts: 2 |
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I'm completely sympathetic to having a huge backlog of awesome features and need the investment to actually do all of them. I hope to see these features and they really blow my mind. ANN is my favourite place to get news, reviews and find new anime. I hope ANN gets to keep calling the shots and not go down the Oculus Quest route where all promises are broken after 3 years.
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fathomlessblue
Posts: 359 Location: Manchester, UK |
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At least the one small positive is that regardless of what happens, I have a lot of trust in several of the ANN writing team to stand up and be publicly vocal if shenanigans start occurring behind the scenes. |
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cutslo
Posts: 63 |
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Pearl-clutching is certainly not needed here because with no offense to the editiorial staff, ANN is hardly a bastion of hard hitting investigative journalism. I doubt Kadokawa will take issue with the usual mix of industry press release reposts and moderately upscale fandom-level blog opinion pieces/reviews. Though your life will certainly get interesting if you somehow manage to piss off a conservative Japanese publishing house that just so happens to own you anyway (and "contractually obligated" will not help you much then), but that seems fairly unlikely. If nothing else with decent funding we might finally get a website that works better on a technical level and doesn't function like it's 2004.
I mean, the realistic worst case scenario is not a sudden pro-Kadokawa propaganda bent but that a couple of years down the line Kadokawa looks at the bottom line, decides that it's not worth it and fires everyone to concentrate on releasing top 10 lists forever. |
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Shay Guy
 Posts: 2166 |
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@Tempest, ANN_Lynzee: I dearly hope your optimism proves warranted.
Well, maybe now we can finally get that phpBB3 upgrade? It'd be nice to have signatures. |
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Philville
 Posts: 158 |
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I don't need to come to anyone's defense, and you have a point about some of the site's technical limitations, but in my opinion describing the incredibly hard work that often goes into reviews as "moderately upscale fandom-level blog opinion pieces/reviews" is pretty harsh, even if your initial intention wasn't to bash the editorial content. I started an account here this summer mainly to voice my appreciation of the quality of some of the reviews I've been reading on this site (in this particular case, the episode reviews for Made in Abyss: The Golden City of the Scorching Sun, specifically). ANN may not offer cutting-edge "investigative journalism" at every turn but plenty of writers here pour their blood, sweat, and tears into consistently thoughtful, insightful, and eloquent reviews -- on tight deadlines, to boot -- which I (like many others here) have found enhances my appreciation of the anime I watch. I'll take quality content over technical improvements any day (not that I wouldn't welcome the latter, obviously). What's the point of a super smooth user experience if the "experience" itself is compromised? On several occasions, I've noticed a reviewer prepared to swim against the current and to take a critical view of a popular franchise, and some users have genuine concerns about the implications of this acquisition/investment for this kind of free thought. There are very real scenarios where differences in cultural sensitivity or "independent" reporting might create tension between staff and management (which is what I gather many people are worried about). "Opinion Pieces" have a merit of their own and it is precisely their subjective, independent status which is at stake. Having said that, some of the recent posts by ANN staff have definitely reassured me somewhat. Last edited by Philville on Tue Nov 01, 2022 2:05 pm; edited 5 times in total |
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PurpleWarrior13
 Posts: 2027 |
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At least it’s not Sony/Crunchyroll.
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