Blog Talkback: Toons of the 2000s: Anime We Hope Never Come to America

*sigh*

Did we really need yet another "oh no, somebody else might watch this" thread this month? I'm seriously struggling to see the point here beyond trolling 4chan, which isn't much of an accomplishment given that they're the most easily-trolled community on the entire Internet.

Here's the thing: if you really, really want a series to die before it can reach America, stop giving it exposure. This thread isn't going to change anybody's mind. The people posting here in agreement with you were never in danger of picking the series up and becoming fans. On the other hand, all those angry channers downranking the blog are also potential anime buyers, and companies are going to take their sales into account when making acquisitions, whether you like it or not. Some similarly-minded folks may even learn about these series because of this thread. Your public service announcement can only add to the 4chan legions; it's never going to decrease them.

Look, I know it's frustrating that stuff you can't stand is popular while stuff that you like is forgotten, but standing on the street corner with a cardboard sign and shouting at passersby about the evils of Children's Hour is not going to change that. Plus, it's really annoying to walk by those people while running your daily errands.

If you want the shows you like to get licensed instead, the only thing you can do is make sure that more and more people know about them. Something like this, on the other hand, will accomplish nothing.

EDIT: Ironically, if School Days had stayed true to its roots and been a hentai series, there wouldn't be a word of complaint if Media Blasters picked it up.
 
Because they're busy trying to catch actual criminals, save the economy and keep North Korea from acquiring nuclear weapons?

A better question: Why should the Japanese government do anything about this? TV shows, no matter how bad they are, cannot hurt you.
 
This list isn't so much about the quality of the show themselves but rather if it would sell or not.

Only the Japanese care THIS much about loli!
 
If it was that ridiculous from episode one, it would have been intentionally made to be crazy like that. Then it would have been hilariously awesome.

But it's not. It's done so straight that it kills it. The fact that the final episode is like that is just... well, dumb.

Believe me, if School Days was some kind of hilariously over the top soap like you described it would be great. But it's just not.
 
Yeah, when I was watching the first episode of School Days, I was like "This doesn't seem so bad. When does that thought get crushed?" I need to watch more of it to form an opinion since the first episode seems to put me in a comfort zone if "it isn't as bad as people say it is." but I know it goes south sooner or later.
 
I wouldn't compare that one to the ones on this list. Moe yes, but hardly erotic. The show feels like something 10 year olds 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.
 
It was just part of the round up - do a top 5 best, do a top 5 worst. I know that comes close to being equal time for crazies and certainly not Bambi-moral (nothing good to say shutta you mouth,) but it was a fun list to do. Certainly grabbed some eye balls, and well, that's the point of this series of article - have a little fun with light writing, and drive traffic to the blog. Honestly, I didn't think it'd get traction outside of here.
 
I can't help but find this silly; the anti-censorship argument would be far better off without that comment coming up. It reminds me of fanboys back in the day that insisted that Dragon Ball Z was progressive and edgy by virtue of its violence and language (real or made up). Let's not have censorship giving special credit to subpar content that it doesn't deserve. Is our standard really "if American TV doesn't want to air it, it's awesome!"? Of course, given that the episode didn't air on most stations due to a murder involving a sixteen year old girl the day before it was scheduled, you ought to recheck your premises. I believe only AT-X aired it eventually, and that was with the blood recolored to black and censored sound effects. You know, the kind of rotten stuff that only happens on Disney XD. Heh.

On top of that, there's plenty of censorship for second and third tier shows that gets removed for the disc release, creating an incentive for the mega otaku to buy uncut DVD's. So, is Japan suddenly prudish like America supposedly is these days, or is the industry just pushing its luck more than it should?

Anyhow, yes, Government can't/should not micromanage the industry. Should people be demanding a better product than something like this? The pitiful protests of 4chan notwithstanding, of course they should.

On Elfen Lied, I don't know...we have Section23 instead of ADV now, don't we? And of course School Days is utterly unremarkable except for the final episode, whereas Elfen at least had something to distinguish it as out of the ordinary. Something that I personally hated, but it existed.
 
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.
 
I don't see a problem with it being made.. just a problem of it being bought. If one person makes up some tasteless stuff, that's one thing, but when thousands of people stand in line to get it, then you have a bigger problem with society as a whole. Don't censor it, just figure out why people are so drawn to that kind of stuff.
 
Believe it or not, our Toons of the 2000s has nothing to do with trolling 4chan. We're a bit more interested in fun retrospectives than wasting our time. Anime We Hope Never Come to America just happened to seem an appropriate partner to the upcoming (and slightly behind schedule) Anime That Still Hasn't Made It To America. That's the beginning and the end of it. The overblown reaction of anyone we've irritated is merely an amusing side effect that'll blow over and be forgotten in a heartbeat. Not a big deal.

Were our selections popular? Among who? A minority of fans in an already niche medium? Maybe some were big in Japan, but popularity there doesn't necessarily translate to popularity over here, especially among the genres represented in this top 5.

--Romey
 
Ah Moonphase. The manga is better but it was a very cute little watch. Dub was good too and...

I'm sorry what were we talking about? :p
 
Sorry, I wasn't trying to one-up you. I actually agree with most of what you've said in this topic. I just wanted to point out that Moonphase is mild. I've been other places where people see Hazuki in her outfit and their minds go nuts.
 
That's fine. I was being a bit presumptive, though after wasting my time having multi-page debates on TZ before with people who refuse to refute all of my statements, I wish to dodge that as much as possible in future. With all the words I've thrown at this talkback, I could have written up the rest of the entries for our best unlicenced anime list, and maybe taken a crack at my long overdue review of the xxxHolic boxset.

Oh, and as someone who bought the Moonphase anime in singles (taking care to get the LEs with the postcards that came with the volume one w/ box,) and dropped collecting the manga after volume 4 was edited, I know it's mild, and that lot of what there is woven in with the plot, and that it rarely if ever seems to distract from the story. It's not half bad as a story either, but that's the point - Moonphase was an okay show, and a certainly better anime than a lot of the other titles on the list if only for the interesting and well-constructed mythology, and somewhat unique comedic layout. However, it was a mediocre performer at best, which bodes poorly for shows that are trying to use heavier service to compensate for a weaker story and characters. In short, if Moonphase can't make it work here, how can it be anything but grim for Kojika and Chokotto, where you have no chance of opening the demographic up beyond the most hardcore of otaku in a market where the hardcore often seem loathed to layout for a series, opting for merchandise instead? I mean, that's the real killer for those titles - you get one narrow demographic, and that's not gonna change.
 
Moved to after all the people who posted while I was editing.


Yeah, I can appreciate the difficulty there, given that most of the well-known bad stuff has been licensed already (Pilot Candidate and Love Hina would definitely have been on my list otherwise). I think a big sticking point here is that there has to be an element of disappointment for a series to be considered bad. A story or show is bad when it sets out to do something and then fails at it; the more glaring the failure, the greater (and more hilarious) the show's badness. There was an artsy action series called Kurozuka last year which intrigued in places, but meandered so heavily in its plot and "huh?" sci-fi twists that it was just a pain in the neck to follow, and then came to a conclusion that seemed to epitomize randomness. The action scenes were well-done enough. If the story hadn't been as ambitious as it was, those alone would have sustained it. But when the storyline tried and failed, the entire show suffered heavily because of it. We've seen this before; even if it hadn't had a raft of other issues, Gundam SEED Destiny pretty much tore itself apart due to trying to do things storywise that simply didn't work with the setting and characters.

I wouldn't have put Queen's Blade on this list even if it hadn't been licensed, because it has no pretensions of being anything other than what it is: a gigantic outlet for male hormones via large-breasted women ripping each other's clothes off (and bizarre Japanese sexual fetishes). The writers knew exactly what they were going for, and fans of the franchise would be disappointed if that's not what they got; furthermore, there's not much they could have done to make the show better at that goal. Does that make it award-worthy? Of course not - but it's not shooting for any awards, and it's certainly not meant to be a classic for the ages.

Now, are these titles going to sell over here? In many cases, probably not, but the anime industry produces a lot of duds in any case. The list is dressed up as "Anime We Hope Never Come to America (because they're bad)." Sales don't enter into it. GaoGaiGar was a pretty big flop over here, and people really should have seen it coming. Was it a bad series? No; it did everything that a toyetic giant robot show for kids was supposed to do.
 
Duly noted, but what I meant was that some titles can be a surprise hit. I would have never thought a show such as Eiken would be anywhere near a top 10 chart or aired on TV, but it happened. I don’t know how, but by the power of grayskull, it happened.



Cute detailed character designs, fluid animation, and wacky sexual hi-jinks?



You missed my entire point, bro! I’m not saying there are no bad shows just that some only set out to do a specific thing. For example, if a martial arts flick had lots of jaw dropping and well choreographed fight scenes but little actual story I don’t think it should automatically be considered a bad movie. But if a martial arts flick fails in delivering its main goal of good martial arts action (inexperienced fighters, sloppy direction, etc) and added nothing else to the table it, would be bad.



Couldn’t have said it better myself. :)
 
OOOh! I thought I had it the last time, but this time I think I got it. What you are saying is that in the context of fanservice shows, quality comes down to whether or not it arouses someone sexually, and a good story and characters would just be a bonus. So if a blatant fanservice show doesn't "get the job done" it's bad, but if it "bob's your uncle" so to speak, it's the equivalent of "Hamlet". Bro! I'm glad we finally cleared this up. ;)
 
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