Category: Fandom

AGE of Despair

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There have been a lot of Gundam announcements of late, but it seems like no matter what the internet lights up with as many negative nancys as can be mustered. Perhaps the classic case of people not actually knowing what they want? If they want to do something new, if they want to broaden the audience, if they want to remake the classic, or if they want to add to the continuity, it seems nothing will satisfy the established fanbase.

It was a perfect storm of announcements recently. On June 13 Bandai announced that the newest Gundam series would be Mobile Suit Gundam AGE. Almost immediately after the announcement there was an overwhelmingly negative outcry from the Gundam fan community. The show was instantly panned for being immature and nothing more than a toy and game tie in for children. It was clearly too far from the franchise’s legacy. Then on the 22nd they announced that they were also adapting the Gundam: The Origin manga as well. This lead to an equal but opposite outcry from the fan base that they were just rehashing the original series and that Gundam had nothing new left in it. I noticed quite a few outsiders on Twitter questioning what did the Gundam fanbase want as it seemed that absolutely nothing made them happy. As someone who considers himself part of the Gundam fandom it is still puzzling to me. It almost seems that no one hates Gundam more than Gundam fans. What do you have to do to make them happy? Is there anything you can give them that does not cause a hissy fit?

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The Accidental Pirate

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A conversation during a dinner at AnimeNEXT alerted me to a possibility that I hadn’t considered before: ignorance of piracy. One of our fellows observed a girl buying Twin Spica vols. 7–8 but telling her mother and vendor that she didn’t need the others because she could read them online. When relaying this story, the teller felt the girl genuinely didn’t know that Twin Spica isn’t distributed online. Similarly, a co-worker recommend an anime to me, when I said I’d check it out she directed me to a site that was streaming it illegally. She literally had no idea the show was actually available for free on Funimation’s own site.

As a blogger and an intimate member of the anime community who has good access to people in the industry as well, I take for granted the notion of knowing when something is a fan-sub/scanlation or a pirated version of an already licensed English release. Actually, just knowing something is licensed or is streaming in the U.S. is even something I take for granted, even though I still miss announcements. I also like to think I know what sites are providing content for free, in English, and are legally doing so.

But many do not.

And as far as I can tell this stems directly from the advent of streaming content be it anime or manga. When you download something off bittorrent or seek something out via IRC, you know exactly what you are getting. But if one looks up “free anime” on Google you will find many a site that looks similar to Hulu or Crunchyroll or whathaveyou but isn’t legal; the same for looking up manga. However, how does one go about knowing that? Why just this morning, a site called Animulu started following me on Twitter saying they provide legal streaming anime, but I’d never heard of them. There isn’t some sign on these front pages saying “WE ARE SUPER ILLEGALLY GIVING YOU THESE ANIMES AND MAKING A PROFIT.”

How do you personally know the difference? How do we educate fans about it?

Chiharu Harukaze and the Straight Talk Express

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hisuiconI recently mentioned how much I have enjoyed the comedy in Hayate the Combat Butler but Kenjiro Hata occasionally decides to drop some hardcore truth on us as well. In chapter 319 we learn the truth about the doujinshi market. Only 5% of doujinshi sell over a thousand copies, about half sell less than 50 copies, and 70% lose money on their efforts. In one page it shatters the idea that people are casually making themselves famous or making a casual living through doujinshi. When you sit back and think about it the reality of the situation is quite obvious but sometimes you need it laid out in plain black and white. It is easy to see CLAMP and Type-Moon create a career out of their amateur work and assume this happens more often than not. You always hear stories about doujinshi artists who turn down professional work because of  the insane hours and might conjecture they are making a living doing their independent projects. I guess I always assumed the success rate was higher even if that was a very naive notion.

hisuiconOn the other hand I am curious how different this is from trying to make a living off of doing an independent or web comic. I am sure there are a great number of people who try their hands making a living off of their creative talents but only a select few that ever become anywhere near successful. I just wonder if a career via doujinshi has any higher or lower success rate versus other forms of independent comic art.