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Old 12-13-2010, 05:16 PM   #1
Talon87
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UPN Answerman Session #7: What's The Weak Point?

Today's question: In your opinion, what is the weakest element plaguing anime and manga today? Is it the writing? The art? The characterization?

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Previous threads:
UPN Answerman Session #1: Most Deserved Sequel?
UPN Answerman Session #2: Most Disappointing Ending?
UPN Answerman Session #3: When Do You Drop?
UPN Answerman Session #4: Your Dream Job in the Anime Industry?
UPN Answerman Session #5: Good Dub, Bad Dub?
UPN Answerman Session #6: What Distracts You The Most?
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Old 12-13-2010, 05:30 PM   #2
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My problem with anime today (or maybe I'm just old now) is that everything is exactly the same. The only new shows I really watch now are stuff that break outside the mold (PSG for example).
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Old 12-13-2010, 06:15 PM   #3
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Unfortunately, anime is not the only thing that has become so mainstream. Even the western media has followed this trend. They are working off familiarity and nostalgia as a way to get people to watch their shows. If you look at the last few years in movies, more than half of them are remakes, sequels, or film adaptations of a popular book or old TV series.

This creates a feel that everything old is now trying to be new... but we know it's old... so it doesn't feel new... Unoriginal. Boring.
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Old 12-13-2010, 06:29 PM   #4
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It's really funny because Japan's trying to resurrect Space Battleship Yamato at the same time that America just resurrected Battlestar Galactica. Everyone who's gone to see the recent live-action Yamato film in Japan has said, "The good news is, it looks great. The bad news is, it looks 100% like the new BSG series." People are going to accuse Yamato of ripping off BSG when it's already the other way around.

Or so I'm told. I've never seen Space Battleship Yamato before. But I know it's a cartoon from the 1970s and I'm told the 1980s Battlestar Galactica seems to borrow quite heavily from it. Then again, can that really be helped? After all, you both start off with the initial premise of "humanity is screwed and all that's left is this one itty bitty little spaceship," give or take a few other ships in deep space.

I think unoriginality is one of the biggest problems facing the industry, but I've been able to get at least one gem a calendar year up until 2010 so it's hard to complain. And some of the gems I've gotten have been remakes: which is as unoriginal as you can get sort of by definition.

For me personally, the biggest problem I have with the anime industry right now is that we're stuck in the lolimoe rut. But that's not really a "weak element", per se, within the context of the original question. So I wasn't able to post until now (when I replied to your guys' comments).

As far as writing goes, I don't think it's too too bad other than the fact that a lot of it is unoriginal. As far as art goes, times haven't been better. As far as music goes, I have sort of subconsciously noticed that we're not getting as good of soundtracks as we once did, but maybe that's in part because "all the good ones are taken" (LOL) and so musicians are having a tough time finding ways to write inspirational but original music, too.
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Old 12-14-2010, 03:49 AM   #5
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Demographic marketing.

Not 2 hours ago, I did something rare and turned on the telly, jumping immediately to my usually romping grounds (History Channel, Discovery Channel, National Geographic, Animal Planet). Unfortunately, EACH of these channels, at the same time, had a reality show of sorts on it.

Long gone is the era when television channels were devoted to a single type of content, for it is now ruled by "shows people of this demographic have been shown to enjoy". And it works, too.

This is the real cause of "same-ness". And I disagree with Kuno, since he's watching one of the crudest shows in years that's also a rehash of FLCL. There *are* good anime every year, maybe not Masterpiece quality, but decent shows do come out, they're just few and far between. After going through .hack, I realize that a lot of the shows Talon, Lindsay and Namek got into earlier in the decade were a heck of a lot more thought provoking than most of the recent stuff. I'd cite it as demographic changes making "risky" anime even more risky, with companies that produce a high number of them in a short time (GONZO, Madhouse) facing financial difficulties. It no longer pays to be creative, it pays to make shows that stimulate the brain's pleasure centre.

If I were to paraphrase Loki, anime has become a lot more commercial enterprise, despite remaining fairly niche. It's smaller than other industries, but is run like them.

The major reason I've begun a foray into visual novels (and a major influence for wanting to learn Japanese in the near future) is it has greater versatility and doesn't succumb to the demographic shoehorn nearly as badly. The demographic is adult, and the adults come for the hentai. They'll buy it as long as its there, and that guaranteed sale allows writers the freedom modern publishing and animation won't allow them. It's generally accepted that seinen manga, in spite of its heavier bias toward drugs, sexuality and violence, tends to have more substantial stories than shounen manga. This trend ultimately terminates in doujin territory, the ultimate creative outlet, but doujins can't (usually) achieve the level of quality professional works can. Well, Katawa Shoujo might prove us wrong, but that's still a ways off...
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Old 12-14-2010, 02:47 PM   #6
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Porn + Something = Sellable.

I like your math Dopple.
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