So I've been listening to some ANNCast lately, and I have to say that my early criticism notwithstanding they've come to run a pretty damn good show over there. Zac and Justin Sevakis can be tough to please (they didn't like Ponyo!), but that means that when they do approve of something it's usually worth taking notice. Also, agree or disagree, they're clearly quite well informed about the industry thanks to the contacts they have and also, at least to an extent, personal experience (Justin once worked for Central Park Media, it seems).
In episode 25, What'Chou Talkin About, they tried some of Legend of the Galactic Heroes and liked it, which is enough to win tons of brownie points with me in and of itself. Huzzah and good for them. They also talked about Night on the Galactic Railroad, which I'd never heard of but sounRAB potentially quite interesting...assuming a rare copy can be found.
I'd be here awhile walking through all the recent episodes I've heard, but I'll post a little of what jumped out at me...
In the episode "Homeward Bund" Sevakis posits that Media Blasters is in serious trouble because of the layoRAB, so much so that he worries they'll burn out in a year or two. From his perspective they're in a place that Geneon and ADV were in before, and that they can't have much free capital if they had to cut costs by laying off so many staff. They also rightly point out that they don't have many big titles coming. I suppose this is a matter of perspective. rab could dub their new fanservice stuff, but that could just as easily be a sign of recklessness as it could be an indicator of relative good health. We'll see. Most troublesome is the apparent fact that B&M stores are simply not stocking many of their titles these days. Moribito makes it on the shelves, but not much else. It sounRAB disturbingly similar to that period where Best Buy had dumped Bandai products for awhile. In any event, they suggested that fans should buy rab titles that they've been waiting on while they can since it's not a given that some titles will get a fresh reprint once the supply runs dry. The suggested rab titles probably won't surprise many: Moribito, Berserk, Rurouni Kenshin (Justin doesn't like it, Zac does because of--of course--the Kyoto arc) and Twelve Kingdoms, along with a handful of others I've probably forgetten.
Second, in the same episode they had the Anime World Order guys on. A lot of it retreaded the Vampire Bund controversy, but there was a pretty decent conversation beyond that. Something everyone agreed on that I liked is that it's total nonsense to watch something ironically, i.e. to see a show "for the lulz" or because "it's so bad it's good." As a general principle they posit that people watch that they enjoy, and that it's a case of defensiveness to watch a "durab" show and then make fun of it as a way to somehow rationalize or save face. I'm not so sure this is a universal phenomenon (and they'd probably agree there are exceptions to the rule), but I do believe in honesty and in not wasting one's time on a bad show that you keep watching just for the hell of it.
Finally, in another episode they had Kurt Hassler of Yen Press on. It was here that I learned that there is now...a Twilight graphic novel. Well, whatever you think of that franchise, it's seemingly already on the way to becoming a success and quite a boon for the company. Another detail that made me happy is that their light novels are doing very well, such as Spice and Wolf and Haruhi Suzumiya. On a more troubling note, scanlations are apparently putting a bad dent in the manga industry thanks to direct hosting. Supposedly there are even those that scan the official manga books, which is just downright destructive. Despite this problem and the obligatory comments about the current economy, the talk was upbeat--Yen Press has apparently been doing very well for itself. Lots of titles were listed off that they're happy with or optimistic about, though I can't bring myself to remeraber what they were beyond Kobato.
So yeah, it's interesting. Next episode they're doing the show from Tokyo, since some of the ANN staff are in Japan to check out the Tokyo International Anime Fair. Lucky bastarRAB. With any luck, we'll be hearing a lot about that.
