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Forum - View topicHey, Answerman! - Popularity Contests
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scineram
![]() Posts: 371 Location: Green Hell |
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I just installed DVD43, that detects a region locked DVD and automatically frees it. At least if you run Windows. |
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Soundmonkey44
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Another solid Answerman, and I agree Popularity is a fleeting thing, like beauty it is temporary & fickle. Overall it should not matter how popular an anime is or is not, but how much the individual viewing the anime enjoys it. Just because something is popular doesn't mean its good *doesn't mean its bad either mind you, but doesn't mean its the best thing since sliced bread* different strokes for different folks and what not.
Also, I too am one of those 10 or so people that still enjoys Master Keaton. ![]() |
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thenix
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it's weird but popularity can be a snowball effect. If it's more popular: then more people will enjoy it, if more people enjoy it: it will be more popular. Whereas if something is under the radar it doesn't get the boost to get started on that cycle. Sometimes that's good, an anime may not be good so it's not popular, so it doesn't get recommended etc. With anime it's hard to get the initial boost to have a chance at being popular though. Either it needs to be rather good and on easily accessible tv, or be so good that people will spread it word of mouth across cons and the internets etc.
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Cutiebunny
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I do not consider any anime property as being popular until it receives a special monthly promotion at the local Lawson's or FamilyMart.
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RyanSaotome
![]() Posts: 4210 Location: Towson, Maryland |
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Popularity does matter quite a bit if you care about the state and direction of the industry. Things that are not popular will get made less, while massively popular properties get quite a few clones that drive the direction the industry goes in. Just look at Idolmaster from last year... we already have 4 or 5 idol anime clones since because of its massive popularity. But for shows that aren't popular, there aren't more anime like them.
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Swissman
Posts: 786 Location: Switzerland |
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I think this has rather to do with the popularity of AKB48 and idol culture in general than with Idolmaster as an anime. And let's not forget that idols have been long popular in anime, not just recently. |
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vinamara
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I don't see how anyone can't enjoy this masterpiece. Keaton is a force to be reckoned with. |
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ChibiKangaroo
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To be honest, I thought Zac's praise of Madoka Magica was a little too exuberant. Although I agreed with most of what he said in his multiple reviews on the show, I thought the final review was a little over the top. Long after viewing the series, I have yet to see any explanation of the Madoka Magica finale that makes sense in any kind of meaningful way. Most explanations seem to be more or less whimsical, vacuous, wish-fulfillment psycho babble about the power of love overcoming all or the power of a pure girl's heart saving the universe and offering hope to all girls everywhere, or Madoka becoming a god so that she could change the rules of the universe and give hope to all people throughout time. For such an ambitious show to end with a finale saturated with inane platitudes and superficial (and very well-tread in the genre) concepts was a travesty. I don't disagree that Madoka Magica was one one of the best anime to come out in recent years, but after doing so much to break the mold of its genre, it finished up by quietly slinking back into the mold and relying on die hard fans to come up with hackneyed interpretations of how amazing it is in spite of its play it safe conclusion.
I haven't watched the films, and I probably won't go out of my way to do so, but I understand why a person who is not a die hard anime fan would not find the show all that compelling. The first 95% of the show appeals primarily to anime fans who are distressed over the stagnation of the magical girl genre. The last 5% of the show appeals to strident optimists (and young children) who want to believe that hope and love conquer all evils. For the general audience of the L.A. Times, and the vast majority of all American movie viewers in general, neither of those two apply. That is why I imagine that the L.A. Times reviewer's take on Madoka Magica expressed little more than lukewarm intrigue. P.S. I found his comment about "all-girl universe" to be kind of funny. I suppose it is more or less a given that most magical girl shows will exist in an all-girl universe. Perhaps that might have been something else that Madoka Magica could have addressed, but perhaps that will be forthcoming in another deconstruction of the genre. |
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Angel M Cazares
![]() Posts: 5484 Location: Iscandar |
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I have not quite thought that much about what the ending of Madoka Magica means, but I did not feel very comfortable with it. The story, characterization, premise and animation/art on Madoka Magica were very strong in my opinion, but the ending does feel contrived. Before Urobuchi announced that Madoka Magica will be milked out, I had hopes that the third film might have clarified some aspects about the series' ending. |
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cl-shojo
Posts: 70 Location: New York |
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Although I like Ranma 1/2, that's not the Rumiko Takahashi series that makes me wonder why InuYasha is more popular - my vote goes for Maison Ikkoku! Sure, Maison Ikkoku is a much different breed of series since it has no action and is a pure romantic-comedy, but there's no Takahashi series as touching or moving as this one. But the fact that it (and Ranma) are over twenty years old doesn't help, either, since there are certainly fans out there who won't touch titles from before the 2000s. So yeah, timing is everything.
Last edited by cl-shojo on Fri Nov 02, 2012 10:42 am; edited 1 time in total |
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Brand
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I also love Master Keaton but the show probably came out ten years to early to find a real audience in the U.S.
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Animerican14
![]() Posts: 963 Location: Saint Louis, MO |
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Sigh... I'm really way too busy now (and dead tired! college is kinda sucking now!) to really articulate much original stuff, but I never saw the ending as something being "safe." Even if you look through the latter parts of the main series thread, or the latter parts of the Volume 3 review that you might've merely skimmed over/not read, I think you can find some good arguments for the relative merit of the ending that definitely do NOT talk in phrasing and concepts as sophomoric as merely "pure love overcoming all". For instance, from the Volume 3 review thread (which was actually partially addressed to you but didn't seem to get a real reply from you there.):
Moving back to your points....
"Distressed over the stagnation" of the genre? Maybe it's just an aesthetic matter of wording, but I really didn't care too much about the genre (nevermind "distressed" over it) when I got into the series, save for some pre-conceived notions I might have had of it due to memories of Sailor Moon. It appealed to me because, regardless of genre, it was intelligent-dramatic-tragic-entertaining-compelling.
Again, the ending isn't that simple-minded. But even if your notion of the meaning of the ending held true, I don't think you're all that right about the audience to whom the ending appealed. Personally, I was nearly deathly obsessed over Madoka between the beginning of March and end of April 2011, and I can't tell you how much I was not and am not an optimist, at least to this naive an extent. I was counting on a largely depressing ending, maybe something Evangelion style or just something bitter through and through. Instead, the ending was more positive (though definitely more nuanced, which I very much appreciated, than you're making it out to be), and managed to make sense in the scheme of it all; it was a natural conclusion to a dark and angst-ridden series. Last edited by Animerican14 on Fri Nov 02, 2012 11:50 am; edited 1 time in total |
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HitokiriShadow
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It's fine if you don't like what the ending did, but that's very different than it not making sense. It did make sense. So sorry you weren't paying attention and/or refuse to acknowledge the explanations given to you. That's your problem, not the show's.
You clearly don't watch many magical girl shows. There are usually at least a few male characters (usually at least one that is the object of at least one girl's affection). And if you mean none of the major characters.... well yeah, no shit, its a *magical girl show*. That doesn't make it an "all-girl universe". Last edited by HitokiriShadow on Fri Nov 02, 2012 12:31 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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RyanSaotome
![]() Posts: 4210 Location: Towson, Maryland |
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To me, Madoka was a show I really enjoyed while it aired, since it gave better internet discussions than nearly any other anime I've watched as it aired... Hell, I enjoyed discussing what might happen next and the symbolization more than the anime itself. But looking back, I don't really see it as a masterpiece or anything. If I was just watching it now, instead of while it was airing, I'd probably consider it simply an above average series, nothing more.
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ChibiKangaroo
![]() Posts: 2941 |
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@ Animerican14 -
That block you just cited in your reply is an exact example of the kind of vacuous, platitudinous explanation I was referring to. I'll quote a few passages which exemplify what I am talking about:
What the hell does this mean???
Kami means god in Japanese. What is the point in trying to extract some kind of distinction here?
Psychobabble. Also, it doesn't even make sense that her wish was contradictory to her present existence. She hadn't even turned into a witch yet.
THIS MEANS NOTHING!!!
The value of one's humanity vs how the world works??? What does that mean???
What dreams, hopes and wishes? What are we even talking about here? You see what i'm saying? Explanations of the ending of Madoka Magica always involve these kind of hackneyed statements As far as your last two points, perhaps you are different than the demographic that I think is mostly serviced by Madoka Magica, but I think given that the show is clearly posed as a deconstruction of traditional magical girl tropes, and the ending is massively optimistic compared to the rest of the dark themes preceding it, my points are well made. |
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