"Anime is Going to Die", Oh Woe is Us!

Do you recall the whole hoopla about two years back when the bubble finally burst on the US anime market? I mean really, did they think that somehow the market would continue to expand forever and forever? Did they really think flooding the market with hundreds upon hundreds of titles, sometimes with multiple versions with boxes or limited edition items, was sustainable or a good idea? Well obviously Eric P. Sherman of Bang Zoom! Entertainment did. He dubs anime, and seeing as the market has severely crashed, he isn’t happy. He wrote this up on the weekend.

I fully understand his comments, but jeez, blaming fansubbing for the demise of Geneon, CPM and ADV Films on those who download fansubs is absurd. We know that Geneon made some really, really bad choices. Releasing stuff like Cybuster, Human Crossing and Rumiko Takahashi Anthology which sold like lead bricks. Some sold way less than 100 copies per volume according to an ANN podcast. It was also the absurd amount of money paid for licences such as Heat Guy J which was in the order of a six figure sum for EACH episode. CPM was a victim of the Musicland bankruptcy with hundreds of companies being owed over a hundred million of dollars of unpaid invoices. This is what screwed CPM. Finally, just about everyone knows ADV isn't dead. They're pretending to be dead under the guise of several companies, mainly Section 23 (a sly reference to Texas bankruptcy law) and Sentai Filmworks. They did this to get away from their bad choice in Japanese financial partners. Again, nothing to do with fansubbing whatsoever.

Even worse is Sherman's comparing of copying files to stealing copies of Guitar Hero and cheese (!) from shops. While I again I understand where he is coming from, the analogy is a pretty silly one. One download never represents one sale as the music industry. While it might look like I'm trying to defend fansubbing here, I'm not. I buy anime on DVD and haven't acquired a fansub since it went from VHS to digital online (some 10+ years ago). I just find there kinds of articles that Sherman and the like write aren't very helpful. You can see by the posts on the blog it was published on that the responses have been overwhelmingly negative. It's getting people narked off rather than onside. No surprise there really.

What Sherman and other industry people need to understand is that it is no longer 2003. They need to change. It's no good whining like an idiot and blaming everyone else.

Unfortunately the “I know how to save the industry” armchair marketers have voiced their opinion in various blogs and forums. Sure I don’t mind anime fans discussing the issue, but hell, the stuff they suggest is completely unfeasible. Like cheaper anime. Fuck me, can it get any cheaper? We’re talking about US$30 or less for half a season. It’s not like the 1990’s or even the last decade. These people still wouldn’t be happy if DVDs were given away for free. They whinge about everything; subtitle fonts, lack or even inclusion of dubs. It's petty bullshit and lame excuses from those who just don't want to pay. Then you have the free streaming people who want titles out hours after their Japanese broadcast. Seriously, how does this help the US company? Japanese companies are the ones who do this. Unless a US company licence the show before it airs, and how often does that happen now days?

Seriously, I no longer care about the industry falling over in the US. At my current backlog rate, I’ll be finished sometime in early 2012 or. I have more than 2000 DVDs, about 300 or so VHS, 50 or so laserdiscs, about 200 manga, hundreds of English language anime magazines and tons of artbooks. My conscious is clear is everything falls in a heap. I’ve done the right thing. Really tired of the whining. They need to solve their own problems rather than asking others to do it for them.

Anime Still Equals Porn, Even in 2010...

So how long have we had anime in this country then? It’s been close to 50 years since Astroboy in all its black and white goodness hit Australian TV screens. Still remembered quite fondly by baby boomers, it didn’t stop there. A ton of English dubbed anime was broadcast in the 1960’s. It then waned a bit in the 1970’s, however we still had stuff like “Adventures of Kum Kum” and repeats from the 60’s. Of course the 1980’s brought us the big ones; Star Blazers, Robotech, Voltron and the colour Astroboy remake. Even bigger was the 1990’s with Akira and the “Manga Video” boom. Anime hasn’t left our TV screens or video shelves since then. It’s everywhere, even in limited runs in cinemas. With Miyazaki films and shoujo stuff like Fushigi Yuugi and even Gravitation, we know that Japanese animation covers a wide range of genres and that the media understands this, because they’ve grown up with this stuff too, right?

Uh, no. On Sunday’s Dateline on SBS, Adrian Brown looked at the “anime cartoon industry” (I’m looking forward to their expose on the manga comic graphic novel industry) and the financial woes they’re having. Anybody who has been vaguely following what has been happening in Japan knows a little bit about what is happening there. I will give Mr Brown a couple of points for naming the low birth rate in Japan (no kids to watch the anime) and illegal file sharing as a couple of the reasons why the situation isn’t great. However I should have realised the tone of what was to come by his explanation of what was anime;

“Anime depicts big-eyed male and female heroes who look like children or teenagers but often engage in adult levels of violence and sexuality, usually in some apocalyptic or futuristic setting”

Oh right, so stuff like “Marmalade Boy” or “Cardcaptor Sakura” or “Detective Conan” or “K-on!” for crap’s sake. Seriously, where have you been for the last 20 years Adrian? It’s really hard for him to claim ignorance here as over the top of his spiel is images from the Tokyo International Fair with images of “K-on!”, “Pretty Cure” and “Naruto”. You know, stuff that full of sex and violence.

Anyway, surely those whom interviewed about the decline can point him in the right direction. For example, Kazumori Hashimoto of A-line Production;

"We can't make what we want to make. To keep the business going our products must sell. The industry is geared to where demand is - which is the obsessive fan market, not the general public. That's the trend I worried about most".

He's obviously talking about the moe stuff, the bishoujo stuff, niche stuff, the stuff that's geared toward the otaku. Fair call. Aside from the kids stuff and the big family shows, this is it; the otaku niche stuff. What about with Toyoo Ashida (director of “Fist of the North Star” and “Vampire Hunter D”);

"With the declining birth rate the target of animation production has moved towards young people and adults who grew up watching animation. We now produce anime specifically for those people. So we were able to expand our target audience and our market, but to meet the shift in the market we developed late-night anime."

Straight after that comment, Adrian Brown says

"The new animation Ashida is coyly referring to is anime porn."

Uh, say what? He's talking about late-night anime, literally the anime that airs late at night like "Angel Beats!" and "K-on!". The explicit hentai shown during Brown’s interpretation of Ashida’s comments would never be broadcast on TV, it’s OVA stuff. And it's not like late-night anime is some fangled new thing. It's been around since the late 1990's. How flipping ignorant can you get? Oh, then we have;

“Graphic comic books can already be found in any Japanese convenience store, but anime porn comes in forms that escape the rules covering photos and live-action videos, even when children are depicted sexually - one chilling online video game, called 'RapeLay', lets players choose victims of any age - and a growing number of animation studios are turning to porn to survive.”

Anime studios are doing what now? Name one studio that has turned to making hentai to make a profit. Uh, what does “RapeLay”, have to do with the animation industry? Ignoring all the other rape simulation games out there and the fact the game is over four years only and has been out of print for at least a couple of years and the fact there has been other rape fantasy material in Japan for more than 30 years (e.g. "Rapeman" manga and live action films), well this game is obviously the downfall of Japanese society! And even if anime studios were making hentai to make ends meet, strange that no one in the anime media has picked this up. Brown must have some sort of scoop. Ah, no, his take on anime clear for all to see by the questions he asks the animators;

“So the pictures of the little girls, that's what sells?”

And

“In lots of the pictures the girls always seem very innocent.”

In other words; “You Japanese are a bunch of perverts. I’ve just had the causes of the woes of ther industry explained to me in detail, but I’ll go down the porn path which is irrelevant to the story and I’ll make up some bullshit story about studios making porn to survive, despite the lack of evidence”. It’s also very telling that the word “ecchi” is translated as “soft porn”, which ecchi really it isn’t.

Is it really too much to ask that journalists to do a decent job and report the facts? Brown seems to be still stuck in the mid 1990's and still thinks anime as is all about porn, and if it’s not, he’ll do his best to make the story fit his preconceived ideas. He has deliberately misinterpreted what Hashimoto and Ashida said either because he thought it was too hard to get the whole otaku concept across to a general audience (or didn't understand it), or more likely the porn angle was more up his alley. Crap journalism is crap journalism. Journos are there to inform the public, not make up stories where non-existent mainstream studios are turning to porn to make a buck.

Video Backlog: "Shingu: Secret of the Stellar Wars"

Publisher: Right Stuf (USA)
Format: Region 1 DVD, NTSC, Japanese Dialogue with optional English Dub and English Subtitles
Length: 26 Episodes x 25 minutes
Production Date: 2001
Currently in Print (as of writing): Yes

Story Outline: In May of 2070, an alien ship appears above the skies of Tokyo. Although seemingly not a threat, a strange giant being appears beside it and destroys it, leaving a trail of what seem to be cherry blossom petals in its wake, much to the surprise of Tokyo’s inhabitants. Strangely, no one seems to be really shocked about the incident. People assume the government has been hiding the fact aliens have existed for some time now. In the small town of Tenmo, a new student named Muryou Subaru is staring high school. Unlike the rest of the class, he is wearing an ancient school uniform from a century ago and seems a little strange, though is popular with his classmates. However student council vice president Kyoichi Moriguchi decides to challenge Muryou on the rooftop of one of the school buildings. Class rep Hajime Murata tries to stop them but is caught up in what seems to be a psychic battle. Hajime soon discovers not is all that it seems in Tenmo, and the residents have been keeping a secret; they defend the world against alien attack.

Mini Review: This show was a bit of a surprise. I can recall seeing some adverts for this show in Animage and Newtype years and years ago, but never heard any buzz about it. While it might be advertised as a sci-fi adventure, it’s more like a slice of life show with a sci-fi sub plot. Although it’s meant to be 2070, it’s more like 1970 at some points. It’s got this weird nostalgic view, yet it’s futuristic and family friendly at the same time. The key to this show is its characters which are quite well rounded and really likable. The whole alien invasion plot really takes a back seat most of the time. So much so you sometimes wonder why they’re so laid back when they know some sort of invasion is happening. The Right Stuf’s name change from "Record of School Wars Muryou" to “Shingu: Secret of the Stellar Wars” doesn’t make a whole lot of sense really. Substituting one Japanese name for another. Sure Shingu has a bigger role than Muryou, but what is the point? Couldn't figure out why the character design was so familar looking. It's Takahiro Yoshimatsu who did "Future GPX Cyber Formula" and "Trigun". Fun show, even though it felt a bit slow at points. Oh, by the waw the picture above is the original Right Stuf box that came with volume one. Ugly isn't it? Good thing I picked up all five volumes for US$8 or less. Bargin. Totally worth it. 7.5 out of 10.

Remaining Backlog: 20 months (it's much easier this way than listing the number of discs).

Video Backlog: "Kai Doh Maru"

Publisher: Manga Entertainment (USA)
Format: Region 1 DVD, NTSC, Japanese Dialogue with optional English Dub and English Subtitles
Length: 47 minutes
Production Date: 2001
Currently in Print (as of writing): Yes

Story Outline: In the Heian period, a tomboyish girl, Kintoki, is saved from death by the hands of her murderous uncle and his followers by a warrior named Minamoto no Raiko. Raiko takes her back to the capital, where she grows up disguised as a boy and joins Raiko's band of warriors known as the "Four Heavenly Kings". However she is smitten with Raiko, but never confesses. The situation grows worse in the capital with disease and bandits running rampant. The bandits plan to over take the government in the chaos they have created and end up kidnapping Kintoki and burn down the capital. This forces Raiko to rescue Kintoki.

Mini Review: Nice little OVA, but it's obviously an experiment for Production I.G. Story was quite good, but really confusing if you don't know much about Japanese history or legends. In fact it uses the same legend, Shuten Doji, as the previous anime I reviewed, but in a totally different way. Because of the rather sudden ending, I still felt the story felt a little unfinished at the end. Some of the CG was quite awful, mostly the background stuff, but when it worked well, it loked great. Decent show overall. 6.5 out of 10.

Remaining Backlog: 20 months (it's much easier this way than listing the number of discs).

Video Backlog: "Shuten Doji"

Publisher: ADV Films (USA)
Format: Region 1 DVD, NTSC, Japanese Dialogue with optional English Dub and English Subtitles
Length: 4 Episodes x 50 minutes
Production Date: 1989 - 1991
Currently in Print (as of writing): Yes

Story Outline: Two giant Oni (demons) travel through space and time fighting in a bloody battle. Eventually they end up in modern day Japan where one the Oni is killed by the other. In front of this scene of carnage are a young couple, Kyouko and Ryu Shiba. Though frightened at what has occured, the surviving Oni takes a human baby from it's mouth and offers it to the couple. It tells them to look after the child and that he will be back in 15 years for him. The couple name him Jiro Shutendo, and finally he reaches his 15th birthday. Jiro is painfully aware of what he is and curses his fate, he is a an Oni. A girl who secretly has a crush on him, Miyuki, is kidnapped by a group of thugs who are secretly controlled by an Oni worshipping cult (some of which are Oni themselves) and is replicted in plot to Jiro into a fully blown Oni and to eventally kill him.

Mini Review: As you'd expect from Go Nagai, demons, blood, naked women etc. Really crude in terms of story and animation (especially the second OVA). A lot of his animated stuff looks so low budget and crappy, especially the OVA stuff from the 1980's and 1990's. However the story had this amazing twist, which was highly illogical and silly, but a great twist which pretty much saved the show for me. 6 out of 10.

Remaining Backlog: 20 months (it's much easier this way than listing the number of discs).

Video Backlog: "Phantom Quest Corp."

Publisher: Pioneer (Geneon, USA)
Format: Region 1 and 4 DVD, NTSC, Japanese Dialogue with optional English Dub and English Subtitles
Length: 4 Episodes x 30 minutes
Production Date: 1994 - 1995
Currently in Print (as of writing): No

Story Outline: Ayaka Kisaragi, a woman in her late 20’s who comes from a long line of Japanese exorcists, runs a company named Yuugen Kaisha or “You-Gen-Kai-Sya” as the English titles reads on the opening Japanese credits. Her job is get rid of occult problems for her clients (when she has clients). The company’s name is a pun meaning limited liability company as well as the occult, something which is alluded to in the opening crawl in the credits, but never explained in Geneon’s English version of show. Ayaka is helped on the accounting and client relations side by a young boy named Mamoru Shimesu, though it is never explained what his relation is to Ayaka. Methinks some child labour laws are being broken there. Despite almost always being broke as she is a bit of a lush and is a spendaholic, they have a house and office smack dab right in the middle of Shinjuku’s skyscrapers. The stories in the show revolve around her solving supernatural problems for her clients along with some hired specialist help and with the help of bedraggled detective Kouzou Karino, who is part of the local police’s specialised supernatural division, U Section. Karino is abit smitten with Ayaka, naturally.

Mini Review: Look, it is a complete rip off of "Ghost Sweeper Mikami", however it’s really, really fun. Fantastic fluid 1990’s OVA grade animation (with Yoshiaki Kawajiri doing the opening animation) with four really good stories. Plus Ayaka is a complete babe. A tall gorgeous, leggy redhead. Yowza. Even though there is a bit of fan service as you’d expect with Ayaka wearing a lot of short skirts and rather inappropriate clothes to meet clients and a small fleeting shot of her nipples as she falls out of bed, the show seems really tame when compared to modern day stuff. Fun 1990's OVA fluff really. I still have the video tapes I bought back in the 1990's from the US. The show brought back a lot of memories from the 1990’s when anime was in short supply and I was buying tapes from the US like there was no tomorrow. Unfortunately a lot of the material from the subbed US tape sets aren’t present in the DVD version, like the laserdisc sized inserts and the You-Gen-Kai-Sya business cards. So glad I kept the video tapes. Some parts of the OVA were a bit weak, so it's a 7 out of 10.

Remaining Backlog: 20 months (it's much easier this way than listing the number of discs).

Video Backlog: "Iron King"

Publisher: BCI Eclipse (USA)
Format: Region 1 DVD, NTSC, Japanese Dialogue and English Subtitles
Length: 26 Episodes x 25 minutes
Production Date: 1972 - 1973
Currently in Print (as of writing): Yes (Mill Creek Entertainment DVD reissue)

Story Outline: Gentaro Shizuka (Shoji Ishibashi), singing cowboy extraordinaire, is actually a secret agent National Security Organisation on a mission to thwart the plans of the Shiranui clan to bring down the Yamato clan. Which is uh, the current 1972 Japanese government. Along with a transforming giant cyborg called Iron King they defeat wave after wave of the Shiranui clan’s giant robots. Naturally Gentaro has a multi-purpose weapon called Iron Belt which he can transform into a lance or a whip, which he usually whips the giant enemy robots with or uses to climb aboard the robots (or more often ends up dangling from said robots while the robots angrily try to shake him off). Early on the story Goro Kirishima (Mitsuo Hamada), a rather wimpy and weak looking man is sent help Gentaro much to his initial disgust, though he two of them soon become best buddies. Gentaro doesn’t understand why Goro disappears when Iron King shows up or why he drinks so much water afterwards (Iron King requires water to run). A bit thick, our Gentaro. Joining them early on in their journey is the rather cute Yukiko Takamura (Chieko Morikawa), but is she a spy? After the Shiranui clan are defeated, the next two enemies are the Phantom Militia and the Titanians.

Mini Review: So it's a rip off of Ultraman mixed in with a bit of Kamen Rider to a degree. Gentaro’s singing is annoying, though in the middle of the series it goes away, only to return with a vengeance unfortunately during the last part of the series. Goro is a complete is a nerd and quite an unlikely Iron King, but he’s quite a decent character. Gentaro is a bit of a prick really. A bit of a misogynist. Kind of disturbed at how most women in the show are slapped by Gentaro or die at the hands of the enemy (or both). Lots of lapses in logic, but hey, it's an early 1970's kids show. And where else could you see a bull and horse explode? (not graphically, but in a cheap 1970’s special effect way). Stupid dopey fun, but a bit repetitive at times. The gross stupidity and lack of logic and sometimes continuity make it a real hoot though. 7 out of 10.

Remaining Backlog: 20 months (it's much easier this way than listing the number of discs).