Blog Talkback: Toons of the 2000s: Anime We Hope Never Come to America
- Thread starter Sharon L
- Start date
Tsukuyomi Moonphase was boxsetted while limited edition singles sat unsold on shelves, and companies have seemed very gunshy on similar titles ever since (maybe I'll get to eat my worRAB on Dance in the Vampire Bund, but I'm skeptical. However, there are titles from the same staff that should come over first, if only to test the water.) Daphne in the Brilliant Blue, Mezzo TV and countless other service driven titles languished on store shelves, resulting in many retailers reassessing there commitment to floor space for anime. ADV and Geneon had some of the most fanservice (and in cases specifically lolicon service like Popotan and Petite Cossette,) heavy libraries in the industry, and in spite of having perennial classics that constantly moved discs to help keep the balance sheet in the black, both ultimately collapsed under the weight unsold, mediocre service titles.
One success does not an industry make. I mean, even MediaBlasters has had to stagger and delay titles because they aren't doing well, and they've got the most service-heavy library of any company currently functional in the US, and they've got an adult division to help balance the budget. Yet, they've clearly had money trouble.
One success does not an industry make.
One success does not an industry make. I mean, even MediaBlasters has had to stagger and delay titles because they aren't doing well, and they've got the most service-heavy library of any company currently functional in the US, and they've got an adult division to help balance the budget. Yet, they've clearly had money trouble.
One success does not an industry make.
♥Socially Awkward♥
New member
Actually, I said "I await people telling me I'm a hater, even though I've given favorable reviews to other shows with similar content, but with higher-quality, less-exploitative execution."
That is basically me saying "It'll be interesting to see people prejudge me on a thousand word article, even though I've give big ups to other titles considered by some to be just as taboo."
After all, I've also stated I think the PROTECT Act is an unconstitutional violation of the First Amendment, and that in general the principle of free speech means that under no circumstances should victimless thought crime be the basis of prosecution.
Actually, I'm reading the thread on /a/ right now, and there are people actively bragging about their downvoting, some even making the usual rurablings of using Tor and other proxy methoRAB to load it the vote by voting multiple times. But go on...
And thank you for asking the question rather than calling me a gay totalitarian pedophile. I like that Toon Zoon has real discourse on these issues.
Anyway, the lack of tact (squick moments) starts Kodomo no Jikan off with a huge deficit. If you want to sell the emotion and the story, you don't do so by having a nuraber of censored moments every episode (check the uncut DVD versions - there is a lot of loli panties and skin,) and leading with that element is a quick way too lose more people than you've drawn in (and this is the same problem with Chokotto and Kiss X Sis.) Part of the balance other fetish-topical series strike is that fetish always takes a back seat to the story, especially when you're trying underscore a piece of back story or drama. Often times these that rather than opening or closing on service, you're opening with drama - it's part of why Chokotto Sister is a passable manga - the fanservice is a panel or two while the story is ten panels or more, and the anime screws that up by reversing the focus. In Kodomo no Jikan, you're already starting with a manga where service takes the lead, and the anime follows that on path verbatim.
Conceptually, could someone take something similar to Kodomo no Jikan, keep it almost as fanservice-heavy, and sell it outside of a lolicon fandom? Yes, and I say that because shows like Koi Kaze, which are just wrapped up in a taboo fetish make it work. However, it requires a much different sense of direction, and it'd probably be unrecognizable relative to the manga. That wouldn't be the first time that selling the premise happens more so in the anime than manga either; Mahoromatic, which I also mention in the article, is a prime example of this. Gainax tampered with scene arrangement and pacing a bit, so while the basic story is intact, you buy into the characters a lot easier and faster, so much so that when you get to the hard fanservice that comes at the start of season 2, you're not that phased by it, even though it's not that dissimilar to what you'd get in Kiss X Sis or Kodomo no Jikan.
However, sometimes it's those minor tweaks that are everything, or at the very least, possible commercial viability vs. likely flop.
Truthfully, I was somewhat uninvolved with the list making other than pitching about 10 possible titles (the final top 5 titles were not selected by me,) and I did some write ups to make sure we actually got this done on time (mainly because I'm the only staffer whose watched a significant amount of the shows, let alone read the manga for comparison. Also, we were already late.) I don't particularly disagree with it with either, though in retrospect, sticking on Kanokon and Akican might have been better than the original picks for 4th and 5th place respectively. The rest would stay put.
Now, the top list 5 we want list? That I was very involved in, and I'll have done write ups on a good nuraber of the picks there as well. There you can really savage me if you disagree because I ended up getting exactly the list I pitched even after we had staffers vote on it in the interest of being fair.
Anyway, as far as Kodomo no Jikan being nuraber one, it's certainly the one that has least business with a commercial release in the state. If only on the basis it'd probably cost more to buy and localize than you'd ever make on it, it's out. The fact that lack of commercial accessibility stems from being hanRAB down the most unapologetically lolicon series produced to date is probably more a side issue. I mean, when it has Japanese networks second guessing themselves, that's pushing things, and even titles that have pushed Japanese networks in a similar fashion in the past that were of much clearer artistic merit (like Koi Kaze and Earth Maiden Arjuna,) were not great sellers.
I mean, when you corabine the possibility of media outcry with the fact you might not even turn a buck on it without getting that kind of "the rest of the medium doesn't need this"-attention, it adRAB up to being a very, very bad choice by any measure other than trolling to license.
That is basically me saying "It'll be interesting to see people prejudge me on a thousand word article, even though I've give big ups to other titles considered by some to be just as taboo."
After all, I've also stated I think the PROTECT Act is an unconstitutional violation of the First Amendment, and that in general the principle of free speech means that under no circumstances should victimless thought crime be the basis of prosecution.
Actually, I'm reading the thread on /a/ right now, and there are people actively bragging about their downvoting, some even making the usual rurablings of using Tor and other proxy methoRAB to load it the vote by voting multiple times. But go on...
And thank you for asking the question rather than calling me a gay totalitarian pedophile. I like that Toon Zoon has real discourse on these issues.
Anyway, the lack of tact (squick moments) starts Kodomo no Jikan off with a huge deficit. If you want to sell the emotion and the story, you don't do so by having a nuraber of censored moments every episode (check the uncut DVD versions - there is a lot of loli panties and skin,) and leading with that element is a quick way too lose more people than you've drawn in (and this is the same problem with Chokotto and Kiss X Sis.) Part of the balance other fetish-topical series strike is that fetish always takes a back seat to the story, especially when you're trying underscore a piece of back story or drama. Often times these that rather than opening or closing on service, you're opening with drama - it's part of why Chokotto Sister is a passable manga - the fanservice is a panel or two while the story is ten panels or more, and the anime screws that up by reversing the focus. In Kodomo no Jikan, you're already starting with a manga where service takes the lead, and the anime follows that on path verbatim.
Conceptually, could someone take something similar to Kodomo no Jikan, keep it almost as fanservice-heavy, and sell it outside of a lolicon fandom? Yes, and I say that because shows like Koi Kaze, which are just wrapped up in a taboo fetish make it work. However, it requires a much different sense of direction, and it'd probably be unrecognizable relative to the manga. That wouldn't be the first time that selling the premise happens more so in the anime than manga either; Mahoromatic, which I also mention in the article, is a prime example of this. Gainax tampered with scene arrangement and pacing a bit, so while the basic story is intact, you buy into the characters a lot easier and faster, so much so that when you get to the hard fanservice that comes at the start of season 2, you're not that phased by it, even though it's not that dissimilar to what you'd get in Kiss X Sis or Kodomo no Jikan.
However, sometimes it's those minor tweaks that are everything, or at the very least, possible commercial viability vs. likely flop.
Truthfully, I was somewhat uninvolved with the list making other than pitching about 10 possible titles (the final top 5 titles were not selected by me,) and I did some write ups to make sure we actually got this done on time (mainly because I'm the only staffer whose watched a significant amount of the shows, let alone read the manga for comparison. Also, we were already late.) I don't particularly disagree with it with either, though in retrospect, sticking on Kanokon and Akican might have been better than the original picks for 4th and 5th place respectively. The rest would stay put.
Now, the top list 5 we want list? That I was very involved in, and I'll have done write ups on a good nuraber of the picks there as well. There you can really savage me if you disagree because I ended up getting exactly the list I pitched even after we had staffers vote on it in the interest of being fair.
Anyway, as far as Kodomo no Jikan being nuraber one, it's certainly the one that has least business with a commercial release in the state. If only on the basis it'd probably cost more to buy and localize than you'd ever make on it, it's out. The fact that lack of commercial accessibility stems from being hanRAB down the most unapologetically lolicon series produced to date is probably more a side issue. I mean, when it has Japanese networks second guessing themselves, that's pushing things, and even titles that have pushed Japanese networks in a similar fashion in the past that were of much clearer artistic merit (like Koi Kaze and Earth Maiden Arjuna,) were not great sellers.
I mean, when you corabine the possibility of media outcry with the fact you might not even turn a buck on it without getting that kind of "the rest of the medium doesn't need this"-attention, it adRAB up to being a very, very bad choice by any measure other than trolling to license.
Hollygolightly
New member
Name me three good reasons for someone to watch the 70% fanservice show.
Gabby16nov
New member
Here's to hoping that KnJ and KissxSis never come to America.
lukeisbeast10
New member
Well then don't watch it. Simple as that.
Saying that the government should "do something about this" is absurd. I have never understood the whole "I don't like it, so nobody should be allowed to see it" mentality.
Saying that the government should "do something about this" is absurd. I have never understood the whole "I don't like it, so nobody should be allowed to see it" mentality.
CountryGal08
New member
Just to back Karl up on the matter, there was no shortage of crazy, disturbing, violent sex among the nominations for another upcoming top 5, the anime we'd like to see licensed. One such show involved characters of underage appearance, but chances are that no one would be watching for the sake of loli fanservice. The shows selected here, however, aren't exactly anything you'd check out for intellectual stimulation, even if you're honestly not viewing them for their smutty content. Don't go looking for some sort of Puritanical bias in any of the choices we made for this top 5.
There are 260+ votes as I'm writing this. The blog has been receiving increased attention, but there's no way that many sudden votes came from anyone regularly attracted to the site. For the sake of this blog post, every vote might as well be counted as a positive.
--Romey
There are 260+ votes as I'm writing this. The blog has been receiving increased attention, but there's no way that many sudden votes came from anyone regularly attracted to the site. For the sake of this blog post, every vote might as well be counted as a positive.
--Romey
x Twilight x
New member
Personally its the reason for the nudity that bothers me, Nudity done for pure fanservice & perversion is bad (wich is what 90% of nudity in Telvision is period.) I feel sorry for that small percent that put it in to be artisitc & end up having it jurabled in with the massive amount of smut. sad.
Also agree with you cyber, a show like that just sounRAB wrong, distrurbing and so many other things I hoped to never even hear about in a animated show.
BUt again there are alot of anime that should NEVER be brought over to the U.S.
...why can't we just get some nice wholesome retro shows, Like Dr.Slump or Galaxy Express999, or mabye captian Harlock..that would be nice, to see those dubbed.
I say this because Im afraid modern anime may get more & more Perverse & Profain as the years go by, I hope Im wrong, but if the increse in ecchi,& Niche series over the years continues...I may not be
Also agree with you cyber, a show like that just sounRAB wrong, distrurbing and so many other things I hoped to never even hear about in a animated show.
BUt again there are alot of anime that should NEVER be brought over to the U.S.
...why can't we just get some nice wholesome retro shows, Like Dr.Slump or Galaxy Express999, or mabye captian Harlock..that would be nice, to see those dubbed.
I say this because Im afraid modern anime may get more & more Perverse & Profain as the years go by, I hope Im wrong, but if the increse in ecchi,& Niche series over the years continues...I may not be
I would buy them
Personally I could care less what the masses like!
Yes, A show a bout a young android girl causeing mayham, & poking Poo is very wholesome..well compared to alot of other anime it is. Ku Ku ku Ku Ku!
(Plus I know at least Dr.S would sale since it was made by toriyama & there's still alot of us Toriyama nuts around.)
Personally I could care less what the masses like!
Yes, A show a bout a young android girl causeing mayham, & poking Poo is very wholesome..well compared to alot of other anime it is. Ku Ku ku Ku Ku!
(Plus I know at least Dr.S would sale since it was made by toriyama & there's still alot of us Toriyama nuts around.)
I wouldn't compare that one to the ones on this list. Moe yes, but hardly erotic. The show feels like something 10 year olRAB would watch. Hazuki's "kisses" are just her sucking Kouhei's blood. I actually see more nudity and violence in other shows I enjoy like Fushigi Yugi than this one.
However, fact remains that as mild as it is, it didn't move, and shows that have pushed it farther haven't moved (Popotan,) shows with better direction/story and the same level of service haven't moved (Strawberry Marshmellow) and shows with more service and better direction/story haven't moved (Petite Cossette.)
BTW, why is it whenever I talk about stuff on the net, people want to try to take one point out, ignore the rest of my statement, and still think they've one upped me. You gotta address the whole thing because it's a complete point, not a set of independent statements.
BTW, why is it whenever I talk about stuff on the net, people want to try to take one point out, ignore the rest of my statement, and still think they've one upped me. You gotta address the whole thing because it's a complete point, not a set of independent statements.
Blood Dampens My Pillow
New member
Against my better judgement, I read the /a thread.
First off, I didn't realize the fandom still had that level of stupidity. I mean, ugh.
Secondly, the arguments they use are...nonexistent. I mean, I'd reply to their points if there were points to reply to.
Third, anime is cartoons. Sorry.
Fourth, I seriously doubt the crap Karl and frienRAB mentioned is the "future", rather, it will be a discarded remnant of the industry's past.
First off, I didn't realize the fandom still had that level of stupidity. I mean, ugh.
Secondly, the arguments they use are...nonexistent. I mean, I'd reply to their points if there were points to reply to.
Third, anime is cartoons. Sorry.
Fourth, I seriously doubt the crap Karl and frienRAB mentioned is the "future", rather, it will be a discarded remnant of the industry's past.