WTH JAPAN!!!!? My rant on 2009 animes

that is true. Although many American overgrown superhero fans still ogle at the hyper-enlarged breasts and butts of many superheroines (and villainesses) of today. So it's not like we don't have our own "otaku" culture here. One of the problems with U.S. mainstream comics today has been the fact that superhero comics aren't really gaining younger fans but instead are catering to 30+ year olRAB who still read the stuff religiously. SounRAB just like otaku to me.
 
I never heard of a comic of the kind of content you would see in Queen's Balde.

The comic market itself is dying and comic book companies make their money off other media instead. When a comic becomes a cartoon, they often tone down such things to make the cartoon appeal to kiRAB. Now movies based on comics, often have fan service, but they don't have comic book movies that only have fan service and that is it.

Also most people in American would rather look at Malin Akerman, Jessica Alba, Scarlett Johansson or almost any Hollywood starlet that has been a comic movie, rather then some anime girl.

Yes there is fan service in America, but its the fan service that would be more appealing to the general audience and its considered bad form to make a movie or a show that is just fan service.

I have no problem with fan service, I most don't want it be the sole focus of a movie or a show.
 
The funny thing I'll say about To-LOVE-Ru- the manga at least has an odd kind of charm. Don't get me wrong, it's still full of hyper perverted antics but there's at least the sense that the writer actually cares about the characters and there are elements of the older, more romance inclined harem comedies. The anime sadly threw any trace of that out in favour of a more generic and heartless 'Fanservice Motif of the Week' show.
 
Queen's Blade is rather an exception--exceptionally over the top. Most fan service is still mostly panty shots and jiggles. I look at Power Girl covers and Michael Turner art and I see the same things. Hasn't translated to American animation simply because we have more strict censorship laws here for the most part. But obviously there is a large audience for that Michael Turner/Adam Hughes "cheesecake" (i.e. fanservice) art.

So while yes, the mainstream male audience would still rather look at Maxim or whatnot (and it still seems a bit ridiculous--I mean, porn is here for a reason) I would disagree with the idea that there is NO ONE in America who doesn't get turned on by 2D characters.

Hell, just check out the DC/Marvel boarRAB.
 
Fanservice and sex appeal are good things if uses correctly, and to argue otherwise is in a lot of cases, prudish.

However, fanservice alone doesn't cut it. If that's all you can offer, then it's just easier to look at a pin up, or in the case of Queen's Blade, pornography. You can't just expect to make something sell with a pretty face and no soul, the same way deliberatly nonsexualized and deliberately boring shows fail miserably. Too many shows focus so much on that "OMG cute!" aspect they ignore just about everything else, creating unwatchable drivel. The shows of the 80's, the action girls and the like, knew a pretty face needed something to support it.
 
I figured compelling storylines, developing characters, and breathtaking animation would be enough to hook people. In fact, misogynistic things like fanservice and sexism tend to turn me off of a show. And yes, most anime is blooming with that stuff these days, hence why I watch maybe one show every few years. But saying "that's just the way things are, oh well' is a terrible attitude to have; if we all thought that, then women wouldn't even be able to vote. People should be complaining and doing something about it more than ever. They won't, of course, because it's a male dominated medium, but they should.
 
I do think the focus on fan service with comics does make it less successful then they were in the past, say in the 60s. The cartoons and movies have more appeal to the general public then the comics themselves.

Not to get too off topic, but Maxim is popular because it features women who would never appear in porn, like Malin Akerman and its makes people feel less dirty then porn.

Again the problem isn't fan service, I have no problem with that, the problem is with animes like Queen's Blade, that are completely over the top and have no value besides fan service.

To use a comic book example, the Catwoman movie existed only to promote fan service, it had no other value to it and it was considered one of the worst comic book movies ever.

Same deal with anime, if an anime exists only to promote fan service, most people with taste won't like it.





But is that a good product? Is that a work quality, if you wanted suggest anime to friend who has never seen it, would you suggest Queen's Blade?
 
-it sells well, so yeah (only reason it was created, obviously good product if it does it well)

-if this friend liked that sort of thing then yes, if not than no, its a matter of preference.
 
Brtiney Spears sold well in 2002, does that her a good singer?

Persoanlly I think a work of fiction is good or not depending on well the plots and characters are developed, not much it sells to lonely guys.
 
If something (anything) has well developed plots and developed characters and it does not do very well then it is not good, if it was good more people would have liked it.
 
Can't really agree with that. Something can be good and still fail. Sales and popularity aren't everything.

Popularity may certainly determine commercial success and there must be some reasons for its appeal, good and bad, but even in that case, the fact is that perfectly good shows are canceled all the time while others may be renewed for a potentially infinite nuraber of seasons or sequels, on both movie and TV screens, which naturally applies to Japanese anime as well.

You also have plenty of series that succeed in America but fail in Japan and vice versa. What's "good" or "bad" going to mean then?
 
If a show is created to cater to 10 people out of a 1,000 and does the job while the other 990 don't care, I suppose you could call that "successful." But only in the sense that winning ten bucks in a million dollar lottery is like winning a fortune.
 
there has never been a show like that ever
(but my answers is yes, it did what it was created for)

I don't get how this example is anything like that.
 
It's relevant because you're kidding yourself if you think that anyone beyond a super niche, super sad section of otakudom gives a damn about Queen's Blade or its less extreme cousins.

A significant concern of the anime industry is that there is too much catering to that fanbase, as opposed to serious efforts to actually expand the audience.

In sum, your definition of success is meaningless beyond the very immediate short term. If everyone thought that way, the industry really would be doomed.
 
they aren't supposed to, it was never intended for anyone else besides the super sad section of those otaku guys. Im not kidding myself thinking that anyone else would care because im not thinking that at all.
 
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