Forum - View topicAbout Kadokawa's Investment in ANN
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Shay Guy
 Posts: 2166 |
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Come to think of it, what kind of track record does Kadokawa have with their buyouts, and the way they treat them afterward? Especially overseas companies, web/media companies, anything that might be remotely analogous.
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Greed1914
 Posts: 4490 |
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This isn't entirely surprising. Ad revenue is down pretty much everywhere, and even companies that seemed to be doing ok are getting bought up lately. I doubt ANN went into this without its own reservations or being aware of how it could look. The thing is, interested buyers are most likely going to come from some sort of related business. While some other completely unrelated investor would be nice, those same companies would also look at a niche news/review site and wonder why they would bother.
Also, it isn't surprising that the website itself is the first thing to see some benefit. Even within the last few days, I've found myself thinking how it seems dated. Obviously, that wasn't lost on ANN staff, but it's the kind of thing that can go by the side if most of the budget goes to the day-to-day expenses. |
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Utena no Prince-sama
Posts: 1 |
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As a long time viewer who never bothered to post or make an account until now, I'll say that while some of the reviews and editorials are good, there's been plenty that were not, some even coming off as vindictive and personal. I lost a lot of respect for the site when Lynzee Loveridge was allowed to published her Sailor Moon "history" article unchallenged when it was just a thinly veiled excuse to write an essay about the one time Todd Haberkorn called her out on letting her political views get in the way of her impartial reporting. Dedicating an entire essay to something so petty and trying to disguise it as a concern for the franchise she loves felt so underhanded and manipulative. At worst, one might think she was trying to intentionally drum up enough drama to get him removed from his job for daring to talk back to her. At best, it was just a blog vent piece being presented as informative summarization of the franchise in America. Ironically it proved Haberkorn right at the end of the day if it was her motivation to do the entire thing. It's one thing to do those jokey TWIA or reviews, but that article was trying to present itself as an authorities and informative piece of the franchise's history in the west, none of which involves a tiff between two people on social media. |
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moozooh
Posts: 150 |
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Noooo!.. I only recently registered here because I'd run out of placed to discuss anime and related subjects with people closer to my age (38), and the archaic site and forums were a major filter working to that end. Now it's going to be overrun by rude inarticulate kiddies like every other place. :D |
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ximpalullaorg
Posts: 396 |
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FROM is mostly independent but they're very successful at what they do so...not really a good example. They acquired/merged with (don't recall at the moment) Dwango, the company that manages Nicovideo. I don't know what is the situation now, but a couple of years ago the company was in deep red and wasn't making profit at all... but Nico is still here so who knows. Also they did spin off their entire game division (Kadokawa Games) after their titles underperformed (the last one being Relayer). AFAIK they don't really "own" a lot of overseas companies (but I may be wrong). |
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SHD
Posts: 1752 |
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(Just a thought: how about filing away this information about ANN, and then complaining if/when you start noticing things not going well? Like... c'mon. Christ, 5 pages of preemptive doom & gloom.)
Look on the bright side, maybe now they'll have enough money for proper translations of Japanese news! |
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Blanchimont
 Posts: 3470 Location: Finland |
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They acquired J-Novel Club in 2021. In 2016 they acquired 51% stake in Yen Press. |
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ANN_Lynzee
ANN Executive Editor
 Posts: 2968 Location: Email for assistance only |
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@Utena no Prince-sama
I'm sorry you didn't find the piece informative. People have regularly approached me at cons to tell me it's one of their favorite pieces of my writing. However, you've misrepresented most of what was in the piece. At the risk of going off-topic (which most of this already was anyway): animenewsnetwork.com/feature/2021-06-01/sailor-moon-got-me-into-this-business-and-im-exhausted/.173165 lost a lot of respect for the site when Lynzee Loveridge was allowed to published her Sailor Moon "history" article unchallenged when it was just a thinly veiled excuse to write an essay about the one time Todd Haberkorn called her out on letting her political views get in the way of her impartial reporting. That's not what happened. Haberkorn ghosted me on an interview he agreed to regarding rape allegations after emailing Zac and Chris to question if I was capable of being impartial due to my status as a sexual assault survivor and "feminist." His knowledge about my status as an SA survivor was likely taken from essays I'd written for another outlet or a Twitter thread he didn't participate in. The "feminist" claim was based on a shirt I was wearing in my profile picture at the time. I point this out because neither status were things I personally shared with him. I certainly don't consider surviving sexual assault a "political view" that I chose for myself. Dedicating an entire essay to something so petty and trying to disguise it as a concern for the franchise she loves felt so underhanded and manipulative. The entire essay is not dedicated to that. It is discussed in four final paragraphs in what is otherwise a nearly 20 paragraph essay. It is not the center of the discussion of the piece at all, although I can understand if you didn't like it. At worst, one might think she was trying to intentionally drum up enough drama to get him removed from his job for daring to talk back to her. Haberkorn never "talked back" to me. As I said, he never spoke to me directly about his concerns. There is also no way he would be "removed from his job" because the information was about his participation in an already finished product. none of which involves a tiff between two people on social media There was no "tiff" on social media. We have never interacted on social media. Last edited by ANN_Lynzee on Tue Nov 01, 2022 3:16 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Gem-Bug
 Posts: 1252 |
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You are like low-key seething and it's honestly really funny. Why are there so many people in these forums that literally hate this site? 
Congrats, ANN. I hope this turns out to be a boon! |
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Bisuketto
 Posts: 153 Location: Middle America |
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The quality of the site has been slipping in recent years. I'm a bit amazed to be honest it took them this long to sell out.
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WWAanimefan
Posts: 60 Location: Everett WA USA |
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It will be interesting to see what this acquisition will bring to this site in the future. I look forward to seeing what projects are being referred to.
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THELISTCRITIC
Posts: 9 |
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Hopefully this acquisition means the return of The List, which I love critiquing.
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varmintx
 Posts: 1212 Location: Covington, KY |
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So much lazy cynicism in the thread. Which, I suppose, is to be expected. Any change is automatically assumed to be for the worst.
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Kadmos1
 Posts: 13583 Location: In Phoenix but has an 85308 ZIP |
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Chris was head of ANN for a long-time but I do wonder why he finally caved in, outside of money, to sell most of ANN to Kadokawa.
Now, if Kadokawa relinquished control of J-NC and Yen Press but still allowed for these companies to license from Kadokawa, I think Kadokawa taking over ANN would be less of an issue. Regarding the Lynzee and Haberkorn thing: With the rape/sexual assault investigation against Todd, why does he still occasionally find work when Vic Mignogna, with a longer history of complaints, get blacklisted? I am #KickVic but I am trying to understand this discrepancy. Same thing goes with Damon Mills and Chris Niosi getting work while Vic is blacklisted. |
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Albion Hero
Posts: 96 |
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Its mostly because the Vic allegations became major news covered on many mainstream websites, while these other cases mostly went under the radar (like the Wikipedia page for Haberkorn doesn't even mention anything about it). At the end of the day companies only worry about the bottom line instead of actually working on principles and most people will know about Vic and may not buy their products but not the others. |
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