Forum - View topic

ANNCast Live from Anime Expo 2013

It would be interesting to hear more specific stories about Japanese companies complaining to ANN about its content, but I know that's impossible as a matter of professionalism and might needlessly burn some bridges.

I wonder if there's a way to get some Japanese anime fan to do some sort of video fan review somewhat like the ones in That Guy With The Glasses. I'm always curious if they're capable of pulling that off. Or maybe have someone get in contact to those interested and teach them how.

One of the view anime reviewers I really trusted and enjoyed his opinions, Grumpy Jiisan, is indisposed, we don't even know the state of his current health. Really sad, since he has impeccable taste and knowledge. I don't even know of any other anime video reviewers worth spending time on other than him, JesuOtaku, and Bennett the Sage.

Will there be an ANNCast live at Otakon?

Oh my god the Justin question! He totally doesn't look like what I thought at ALL! His voice is really deep, so I en-visioned very heavy set Caucasian male with sight balding, thick glasses, a beret and perhaps a beard. Please don't kill me lol!

Zac mentioned some of the shows that he can count on to fill up the podcast calendar for the year: Super Manga Pals, Challenge of the Supernerds, semi-annual appearances by Funimation and Vertical, etc. One that I'd like to see added to this list is the format we heard earlier this year where Zac and Bamboo took 90 minutes to just really dig into the themes and ideas of Penguindrum.

I think Zac later referred to this show as "Spoilercast", and that's a perfectly good name to give the format. Just take some show that's gotten its US release (so you can talk about the dub if there is one and so there's been enough time for people to have seen the stream), start with a spoiler warning and talk about the entire series in a thoughtful way... not the usual consumer-oriented review ("middling animation with too much fanservice… C-"), but as a work of art. Maybe it was just that series in particular, but Zac and Bamboo really seemed into it, and it made me want to go see the show (still haven't… should!). After all, if you're engaging the hosts and the listeners, you're doing something right.

I dunno what it is about video reviewers but they always seem like their primary audience is casual people rather than fans of the product. I have a friend who's into comics and he always says Linkara constantly has no idea about what he's talking about in terms of history or certain series, and from what I've seen of sentai fans they feel the same way about his 'History of Power Rangers'. I don't know much about those but I do know about anime and all the anime reviewers I see also seem to do this I know a lot of them usually showcase the dub which seems odd. JesuOtaku's uses edited dubs like Digimon and Pokemon which change a bunch of stuff from the original and uses it to explain things for the characters which end up being totally wrong because the dub is so altered that as someone who's seen the original it's kind of painful. I've only seen one video of his but Bennet also focused on the dub and kept saying how terrible it was and seemed to only focus on that when he could have easily switched to the sub and end all that grief Seems like judging anime based on the original Japanese version would make more sense than a terrible dub but maybe that's just me. It just seems like they target people's nostalgia with Power Rangers and Digimon who probably haven't watched the show since they were kids and trying to hook that audience, when anyone who's seen the original versions and actually knows about those subjects already knows that stuff or in fact knows more because they've seen it for themselves and have seen the true version of it. I just dislike watching videos of people who know less than me about a subject.. which is why an actual Japanese otaku video would be cool, but I suspect anyone who knows a lot about the medium would be too busy watching it to make videos and I doubt they care what us Americans think

No, that's kind of looked down upon in Japanese culture If you've ever seen videos on NicoNico or on YouTube from Japanese people, you'll notice a lot of of them either avoid showing their face by not showing it or wearing a mask, and most of them usually don't talk. Compare an American review on YouTube about a tokusatsu toy to a Japanese review about a tokusatsu toy and you'll see a world of difference. To be blunt, 'attention whoring' is looked down upon in Japanese culture, and that's basically what those kinds of internet video reviews are. Maybe if it was aimed at strictly an American audience, but any Japanese person who's fluent enough in English and American culture to do that probably isn't the type of person you're talking about.

I dunno what it is about video reviewers but they always seem like their primary audience is casual people rather than fans of the product.