Forum - View topicNEWS: Inu Yasha tops in Canada
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Pepperidge
 Posts: 1106 Location: British Columbia, Canada |
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Given the huge number of ravenous female anime fans in Canada and the fact that virtually no other anime has aired up here since Gundam Wing, I can't say that I'm the least bit surprised that IY was the ONLY anime to make it onto any of those top ten lists, apart from YGO in the Netherlands.
Given the even more desperate lack of anime in the Netherlands, I can't say I'm surprised about that either. |
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Lanisatu
 Posts: 65 Location: Vaughan, Ontario, Canada |
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I know I've been waiting for some good anime to be aired on Canadian TV for a while.
CCS was a nice little mahou shoujo, but InuYasha can appeal to a wider audience. And InuYasha is a good series. I'm not sure why we didn't get it sooner. I never really got into the Gundam series myself, but that's another story. So, there hasn't been much anime on Canadian TV that I've been all that interested in for quite a while 
How many other animes are being dubbed in Canada only to be aired on US TV before coming to Canadian airwaves? Why is that common? I don't understand it! That didn't happen with SM, but was that just because the recording studio and YTV are both located in Toronto? (that seems awfully far-fetched) Because of the CRTC? Sorry, but I don't think all the blame can go to them. Doesn't the Canadian dub of an anime qualify for partial Canadian content? Besides, we all know YTV shows enough anime that's more kid-oriented/ gimmicky/ "low-end"/ half-hour commercials/ whatever you like to call them. So that seems a moot point, ne? *sigh* the amount of quality anime we could be watching... but sometimes, it seems that they won't show a lot of it because of "mature" content
Cartoons aren't just for kids. I've been yelling that back to people since at least 1995. And there are more cartoons geared to older audiences now; so why aren't we getting more of the anime geared to older audiences? Whatever happened to airing more "mature" items at later times? Why did Teletoon and SPACE scrap the ol' midnight animes? Macross Plus was great (even though they didn't show the last episode). And Ninja Scroll was a good movie 
Besides, Cartoon Network manages to show Cowboy Bebop, Trigun, .hack//sign, the Big O, Rurouni Kenshin, Lupin III... and, for younger audiences, they've got YuYu Hakusho, a bunch of the ones popular with YTV, and probably some others (but I don't pay much attention to that variety). I think Ranma 1/2 could be good for older audiences here, if a TV station ever manages to pick it up. It tends to be quite popular, and if they promote it by saying it's from Rumiko Takahashi, who also created InuYasha, I would not be surprised if it gained a steady following. (as could have happened if they wanted to market Utena, they could have mentioned it was from the director of SM) Evangelion is awesome, Key the Metal Idol too. They're both a bit short, I suppose, but they could probably do well on SPACE. For late night anime, it would be awesome if they got 3x3 Eyes or something else equally good  They should also consider grabbing .hack//sign, Blueseed might work too.
Marmalade Boy might be a possibility for YTV/ Teletoon. The anime is new here, but the manga has quite the following. And shoujo is pretty popular right now. But I don't really expect any TV station to even think about it for quite a while (darn). The Record of Lodoss War OAV & TV series would also be good. Since YTV aired Escaflowne for a while, they might be interested in that. There are tons of others, I'm sure. Those were just the first few that came to mind. *eheh* But maybe I'm getting my hopes up a little too high. It's kind of hard to gauge how popular anime and manga are in Canada right now. Sure we have the long standing Protoculture Addicts magazine, while most original US fanzines have only lasted a few years (if that). Convention attendance seems to be rising steadily though
And there certainly seems to be more distribution (y'know besides comics/ specialty shops and websites) in respect to sales. I still can't seem to find Japanese anime CDs in many "mainstream" retailers though (Futureshop, HMV, Sunrise, and the last Sam's store). And I'm in the GTA 
Thank goodness Anime North is next weekend. I need an anime fix 
--Lani
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Pepperidge
Posts: 1106 Location: British Columbia, Canada |
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If you haven't seen my website, I'd strongly recommend checking it out:
http://www.pathea.com/features/canada/ I'm also looking for articles from different people, so if you're in the mood to write anything, it would be most appreciated. Technically, most of the blame would go to the CRTC because THEY are responsible for not only enforcing ridiculously high Canadian content standards, but blocking out all legal access to stations like Cartoon Network. The reason YTV and Teletoon are shit is because they have no competition. And of course, the biggest problem is that while distribution is a little better up here now, it's still nowhere NEAR what it should be. And the only way it's EVER going to pick up is if more anime airs on Canadian television. I don't think YTV expected Inu-Yasha to be a success at ALL. (Note the fact that they didn't air a single advertisement for it until weeks after it debuted.) With its recent success, I would hope at the very least that YTV would have the sense to pick up a show like Rurouni Kenshin, which could easily air uncut at a 10pm timeslot on their station. Actually, judging by a few bits of evidence I've noticed over the past while, I really honestly think that YTV wanted to air Ranma 1/2 at one point, but ultimately turned it down due to the nudity. It would've been perfect too, seeing as how it was dubbed in Canada which DOES earn a show Canadian Content points. It's really the only reason they're airing Inu-Yasha now. Of course, given that there appear to be more female anime fans in Canada than male anime fans (remember that Sailor Moon was the first big hit here, whereas DBZ was the first big hit in the US), which is probably a huge reason why IY is so insanely popular up here, I really think that YTV should experiment with shoujo. And without a doubt the best place to start would be with Fruits Basket. The show is just so perfect for YTV... it pains me to think that it may never happen. That's what's tragic about this whole thing; the Canadian market has far more acceptance for less mainstream-like shows and would allow just about anything to air uncut. Technically, the anime situation should be BETTER in Canada than it is in the States, but thanks to a few pointless regulations, it isn't. The easiest thing you can do right now is to go to Teletoon's website (http://www.teletoon.com), enter the "Talk" section, and click on "Suggest-A-Show". You can vote for any show you like any number of times you like. I would most recommend voting for Cowboy Bebop, Gundam SEED, and Fullmetal Alchemist. Even if you don't like any of those shows, they would be ideal choices for the station to air during primetime and would be guaranteed successes, potentially opening the floodgate for more shows. You can find more station contact info on my website.[/i] |
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sun007
 Posts: 102 Location: No further than 3 feet from a computer. |
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My thoughts exactly. Canada really doesn't have enough anime shows.  At least, that's what some of my friends that live up there say. I live close to Canada.
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littlegreenwolf
 Posts: 4796 Location: Seattle, WA |
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It didn't happen with Sailormoon because yes, the dub was produced in Toronto. Other factors are that YTV actually paid for more Sailormoon to be dubbed, meanwhile in America, Sailormoon never got out of syndication untill a couple years after. If I remember correctly, Cartoonetwork had a deal made with Viz befor production of the dub ever really began, so Inu Yasha was all set to air on the network. I'm sure if YTV was intrested at the time, they would of jumped in on it too. I think it's common for these dubs to get on American tv first because, well, the main company is located IN the US. The dubbing may take place in Canada, like with Inu Yasha, but I'm pretty sure pretty much everything else was handled in the US. There was a big discussion a while back about CRTC and what anime is going to have to go through to get on air a while back, but I'm too lazy to look it up. It would be rather nice though to see more anime on tv when I go visit my family in Canada this summer. |
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Lanisatu
Posts: 65 Location: Vaughan, Ontario, Canada |
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I have seen your site, Jesse.
 So I know you have strong views against the CRTC. Actually, I found it a while back, because I was doing research (don't laugh) on the popularity/ success of anime in Canada. It was for my design thesis project, I was creating a TV station called "Anime Plus!" which (obviously) specialized in anime programming. I also wanted to have content related to manga and some to anime/ manga related material and stylistically similar programming.
I wasn't the only person with an anime station in my year though (and our college's anime club is non-existant for the time being), there were at least 6 other obvious ones. Anyway, I wanted to target an older audience, mainly older teens and adults. Some material could be fine for those as young as 12. I was planning to include very little family/ kids programming; but the stuff I was considering was better quality (e.g. a lot of Miyazaki works). I try to steer clear of those 30 min commercials, but I might give some a chance (after all, I watched He-man as a kid). So, I was trying to do research and found a lot of original fanzines (printed/ online) died without warning in recent years. Many only lasted a few years (if that). Not exactly encouraging  But Quebec's Protoculture Addicts is one of the few N. American fanzines that's really lasted; it's the longest running one I've found (debuted 1988). Your site, & ANN of course, are among the few that still have a pulse.
Thanks for the offer to write articles. Maybe I'll write something after Anime North is over
Sure the CRTC sets the standards, and they're quite overzealous (their requirements are awfully high); but there are ways to get around it. I'm sure there's more anime dubbed in Canada, which could qualify for partial Canadian content, that stations could air, if they wanted to (or just bothered to get around to it). YTV & teletoon just don't seem too eager to jump on them (darn). Blocking legal access to CN and such isn't such a big deal, & the CRTC is really concerned about the Canadian entertainment industry dying because Canadians are only looking at US "imported" material. That said, it doesn't fully explain why they choose to block out international/ (multi) ethnic programming as well. After all, Canada is very multicultural. I don't think the lack of competition is what makes YTV and Teletoon what they are. That's not much of an excuse. What about other Canadian TV stations that are great, regardless of whether or not they have competition from US TV? Every time I've gone to the US, I've been disappointed by MTV; they seem to have lost the music focus. Much Music hasn't. Plus CHUM City has created sister stations with a music focus (Retro, Vibe, Loud, Much More Music, etc.). CHUM City has created a variety of stations to showcase different content -- SPACE, Much Music & its spinoffs, Star!, CP24, Fashion TV, Sex TV, Drive-in Classics, Book TV (I've never heard of this one before), & Court TV Canada. Plus, they own VR and some other local stations. Do you really think their specialty stations have become successful due to lack of competition? Maybe in part, but not completely. That's even less likely for some of their more recent stations. Besides, CN is owned by TimeWarner. We all know how huge that corporation is. So they can afford to take more chances. Plus, I'd suspect they have easier access to anime considering many of the N. American distributors/ publishers are based in the US. Yes, I remember YTV didn't advertise InuYasha for a while (so I missed the 1st few eps the first time around *shakes fist in anger*). Even though it was successful on CN in the US. *sigh* But tons of TV stations do that with tons of good new shows. Dark Angel struggled to stay on air through the 1st season. It sure didn't help that Fox kept juggling the timeslot; it probably could have gathered a larger following if they gave it a chance. Jake 2.0 was cancelled early in its 1st season. It was on VR here, but I don't know of any other stations that aired it. I have no idea how they treated it in the US. Still, I think it could have lasted longer. But those aren't animes. Since InuYasha has become so successful (Yay!), I hope we do start to get more anime for the older crowd. Rurouni Kenshin would be great, but I won't hold my breath in anticipation. Besides, you'd think after SM was such an outrageous success that YTV would want to keep the anime ball rolling. Unfortunately, we're just getting the low-end stuff now because they seem content in just making the kiddies happy -_- Is the number of post-secondary anime clubs and the rising numbers of anime convention attendees going by completely unnoticed? YTV was at Anime North last year, and I wouldn't be surprised to see them again; maybe they're actually starting to get some idea of the popularity of anime. Maybe. They do have Stephanie Beard (voice #2 for MiniMoon on SM) as a VJ ("Sugar" is her nickname). It's weird to watch her, she always sounds like a kid 
But ANorth 2K3 was weird. There was YTV and there was yaoi stuff (which I don't ever expect to mix) -- shoved in your face everywhere.  And there were rampant Gundam fangirls that scared the voice actors but they're not so bad
What about the midnight anime they used to have on Teletoon & SPACE? I'm not sure why they were canned, it was a great way to see a variety of anime (mostly movies). SPACE used the Fri night slot of their "movies from Space" segment. They usually aired movies, but they also aired the Macross Plus series. YTV turned down Ranma because of nudity? That seems funny, considering the topless law we have in Ontario (but I'm not sure how that effects TV in the rest of Canada, even if the content is broadcast from Ont). Maybe *crosses fingers* they'll consider it again, as InuYasha is so popular. Besides, it can qualify for partial Canadian content
Experimenting with shoujo would be good for YTV / Teletoon. Fruits Basket is great! I'd love to see one of them pick it up. YTV certainly knows who's watching InuYasha, as hilariously ridiculous some of their commercial choices are (diapers, baby toys, feminine hygiene products...). But maybe I'm an oddball for the female anime fan
I'd like to see Teletoon pick up some of CN's adult swim anime (Trigun & Cowboy Bebop especially). If they ran them late at night, it'd be perfect.
Yeah, the CRTC is being too strict; but, as I mentioned, there are some ways to get around it. besides, if enough people say something about it, I think the CRTC might start to rethink their stance. Somehow that makes me wonder about whatever happened to people spouting off at Speaker's Corner... I've used the "suggest-a-show" feature on http://www.Teletoon.com & I plan to keep doing it. We need to get more good anime airing up here!
--Lani
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Pepperidge
Posts: 1106 Location: British Columbia, Canada |
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So you're taking Communications? I was thinking about taking some courses in that area when I (hopefully) attend University in the autumn, but I've heard horror stories about those degrees leading to an eternity of burger-flipping.
The only Canadian stations that are "good", IMO, are those owned by CHUM. Because, you know, CHUM rocks. YTV makes more money than any other Canadian cable station, and yet their aesthetics, scheduling, events, personalities (except Sugar), and overall theme are all disorganized, hideous and/or annoying. However, if Nick and CN were to appear on Canadian airwaves, you could be sure that they'd get their act together in no time.
Honestly, I would think that of all corporations, AOL TimeWarner would have the power to do whatever they wanted on Canadian airwaves. And while that is true, YTV doesn't seem to have much trouble obtaining kiddie anime, and it only took them a few months to get Gundam Wing. However, after that show "flopped" in its 11:30pm timeslot, I just don't think they've been making an effort. And I don't know what's wrong with Teletoon. If they can afford to air every season of Family Guy and Futurama, surely they could afford to pick up one measily show to test out at 11pm or something. Yet they continually insist that anime might be "too niche". Obviously they have selective hearing when it comes to North American trends.
I think they flopped because they didn't air anything that had mainstream appeal.
It's just a theory, but why else would they specifically state that they have no plans to pick up "Ranma 1/2" at the bottom of every anime-related e-mail they send out? I think it's quite probable that they tried to get it, but realized it was never going to work. And considering that the show had everything else going for it, why else would they turn it down apart from the nudity? There'd be nothing stopping them from airing it, of course; you can broadcast programming with nudity all across Canada. However, while YTV has aired MTV's "The Oddities", Aeon Flux, Stressed Eric, Gundam Wing: Endless Waltz uncut, and movies containing language up to and including the word "f*ck", I guess American "sensibilities" still rub off enough on Canadian broadcasters to see risk in showing female nipples on a youth-oriented station.
Funny you should mention that - I actually talked about this at the Speaker's Corner in my local mall. I had prepared a two minute speech, but I freaked out when I discovered that one dollar would only get me one minute of speaking time. I panicked and completely lost track of my own argument, leaving me appearing as a total mess. I was later horrified to learn that it was actually aired. If anything, it probably made our stance look LESS convincing. |
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Lanisatu
Posts: 65 Location: Vaughan, Ontario, Canada |
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Graphic Design actually. I'm a few credits short of getting my diploma (darn). My online portfolio is here: http://eminblack.minimanga.com/portfolio/ I'll probably be updating a lot this summer
The other thing I might have gone into would have been English. But, aside from becoming a teacher (which isn't exactly what I want to do forever), I don't think there's a lot that I'd be interested in that I could do with an arts degree. But I've always been interested in visual arts And why not do something I like, ne?
*lmao* They are pretty cool.
Really? I don't know about how much money they make; but one of the designers that works on their website was a speaker in my lecture series (he didn't exactly impress me, though). Honestly, I think their website is just a huge over-use of Flash. I hate it when people keep using gimmicks in their web design. The frames fad died (thankfully!) I hope this Flash fad will die soon. It's driving me nuts. People latch on to these fads, but don't know how to use them properly. The illustrator YTV commissions (Don Chrétien) to do a bunch of their art is pretty cool though. He also came in as a speaker for my lecture series. He mentioned that YTV says that they don't want "cute" things, yet a lot of the illustrations he does for them still turn out that way! Anyway, he does a variety of stuff, it's impressive. I don't watch YTV much anymore, but I'm not big on TV to begin with Then again, college has eaten up a lot of my time over the past few years (stupid homework).
I kind of miss some of the VJs they used to have, but don't seem to be around anymore. Like PJ "Fresh" Phil. Sugar is ok, but finding out that was her real voice threw me off a bit when I first saw her on YTV But she's so perky, I guess that's a good place for her? I'd heard her before, a little, on the radio as a DJ for "Kiss 92.5" a (then?) dance music station, during their morning show. She used to work with Jay (a.k.a. "Mad Dog") & Billie; who are now, inexplicably, on CHFI... o_O They seem like extremely odd choices for CHFI. They don't strike me as people who like soft rock or music from the 60's/ 70's... they bug my Dad
I guess when I found out that Sugar's practically the same age as me (I'm 22) I was a little surprised (according to the IMDb she's almost 24). But she was a MUCH better voice for ChibiUsa/ Rini than her predecessor. And she isn't annoying, which is good
I don't know if having Nick & CN readily available in Canada would really change YTV. They seem to be content in doing their own thing (whatever they decide that is for the moment). Every time I've seen Nick, I'm surprised by how much they & YTV are alike...but maybe that's changed?
Obviously. What is it with these TV stations deciding to revert back to that "cartoons are for kids" mentality? Ok, sure... Teletoon shows Undergrads, Clone High, etc. - but they're largely a station that specializes in kids cartoons. It's irritating, to say the least. And then, at least half of the shows for older audiences ("maturely immature" as they like to put it) are just plain stupid. As for the "niche" bit -- that's part of the reason Raijin Comics is now on hiatus. They're not satisfied with just manga fans as their readers. They want to gain a larger audience *rolls eyes* That makes me worry that if they do come back, they'll return with a bunch of crappy/ gimmicky series. Hmph. Not that everything they had was great, but it seemed like a fair variety. But money is more important than quality. How sad...
I suppose. But they did have a few good ones in there. Like Ninja Scroll (Teletoon) and Macross Plus (SPACE). I'd love it if SPACE would pick up a series like Evangelion, Key, or Cowboy Bebop Even if they went back to airing anime once a week in their movies slot. I don't think it would hurt their ratings. A lot of the movies they show are pretty old and/ or don't seem to be things that attract a large audience anyway. But what do I know?
Well, it was years ago that they aired Oddities & Aeon Flux... They seem to have changed quite a bit since then. I don't think they'd air those shows now. Of course, I don't watch YTV much Since I found out they were airing InuYasha, I've been catching the Friday block with InuYasha, Spider-man, & Reboot... but that's about it. *heh*
As for American "sensibilities" - they were largely founded by Puritans... YTV did seem to be at ANorth this year, I think I recognized one of their VJs -- but it wasn't Sugar. At least they weren't shoving themselves in people's faces this year. *phew!*
Oh!  That's not so good. But don't feel so bad; I'm sure there are lots of Speaker's Corner clips with people that are much worse (er... if that's any consolation at all)
--Lani
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Pepperidge
Posts: 1106 Location: British Columbia, Canada |
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*sigh* I'll probably wind up majoring in English, Writing, Communications or something equally useless. Damn fate.
Well, they do have their share of problems (ie: trying to spread their programs thin by airing many of them on City, Space, AND Bravo), but they're pretty awesome compared to, say, Global or Corus.
The reason Raijin Comics magazine failed is because their titles have absolutely no appeal whatsoever to mainstream audiences (or a significant portion of manga audiences, for that matter), which is exactly the same reason that the anime that SPACE and Teletoon once showed flopped. Sure, hardcore anime fans may be able to appreciate Wings of Honneamise, but they'd be quite foolish to think that it would capture people's attention better than Gundam. Also, it was Teletoon who aired Macross Plus, not SPACE. SPACE just aired movies provided by CPM - most of which were from the 80's.
That's pretty much all I watch on the station as well, heh.
I've been scolded by many a history buff for making that exact same generalization, but it is basically the truth. |
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