Category: Editorials

The Speakeasy #031: Stars and Stripes, American Cartoon Invasion!

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Drink #031: Stars and Stripes,
American Cartoon Invasion!

While this is an anime and manga blog/podcast, from time to time we indulge in talking about our other pursuits like comics and video games. This month we are look at American cartoons.

There was a time back in the primordial past known as the 80s when there was a growing number of kids who rejected the idea that animation had to be for kids. There were these Japanese cartoons called anime that were edgy and hip. Jump ahead to the 2000s and two things have occured. We finally started getting enough anime that we realized in actuality while there were some cartoons from Japan that were for adults, a majority of the were for kids. And at the same time American animation stepped up its game. They generally came to the understanding that they could make cartoons a little smarter and mature and the universe would not collapse in on itself.

Cut ahead again to 2012. We look at some of the best cartoons that have come out in the last year and why we love them. Some are remakes, some are reimaginings, some are sequels, and some are even cool new originals ideas. But they all say that there is animation for children of all ages in the U.S. And maybe you should check some of it out.

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And now your helpful bartenders at The Speakeasy present your drink:

Instructions:

Layer this drink in a chilled shot glass. Using a cold spoon, carefully pour the ingredients over the back of the spoon into the shot glass. Garnish with a piece of star fruit.

Viki a Small Wonder

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When anime companies finally started embracing streaming their shows on-line there is a definite transition period as they tried to figure out what worked. They knew they had to move toward digital distribution but how they would do that was anyone’s guess.  Would people pay per episode? Would they buy season passes? Would people watch commercials? How much would they pay for digital downloads? Which titles were worth streaming? What titles would still sell on physical media after being streamed? While most streaming sites focused on licensing the latest and greatest shows a few companies like Toei tried putting out older shows like Captain Harlock and Fist of the North Star on various streaming sites. While these titles hardly set the world on fire in term of streaming they were all picked up by Discotek proving there is an audience for older titles. You just have to handle your classic titles correctly. And you must have realistic expectations.

And now it seems that Viki.com has caught on to that principle as well. There is a market for streaming older titles. You just have to be clever with how you put them out and know your limits. If you expect them to get the number of hits that a Naruto or even a Kuroko’s Basketball will pull you are sadly mistaken. But if you keep your overhead low and your licenses smart there is potential for a business model.

The Viki model is two-fold. The first part is to mostly get older shows with some prestige titles like some of  more under the radar Tezuka anime and a few other rather obscure titles that you are certainly not going to get into a bidding war over. The second part is have all the subtitling done by crowdsourcing. That means that all the subs you see are done by fans. For better or for worse.

It is certainly an interesting model. There are some distinct problems that can crop up with such as system as well as some unique opportunities that a conventional system like Crunchyroll would not be able to take advantage of. The question is how does this system turn out in the end. How much does Viki capitalize on its strengths and how much does it show its weaknesses?

Viki is a site that popped up on my radar unexpectedly but I haven’t heard a lot of talk about it since then. Their model is different than other streaming sites as it looks to the fans to contribute their time and knowledge to getting a translation available for all to enjoy. But Viki goes through the process of licensing the title from Japan for streaming legally.

The site boasts a collection of mostly older, older anime titles which as far as I’m concerned is its claim to fame. These are the titles I want to see streaming because it is doubtful an actual release would work for it and that’s okay. We get so little anime from eras past that any way seems better than none at all. And Viki’s site, while not perfect, is far from the worst way to see these shows.

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The Tsukihime Remake and the Database Animal

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If you read my recent little report about the Type-Moon Fes you will notice that there was one very important piece of news I made no commentary on. That was the unveiling of the Tsukihime Remake preview video. As of when I write this article I have not found any footage from the event of what was shown but when I find something I will edit it in. What is important is that when I started reading the info dump from people who were scanning Twitter for news there was no video footage at all. All we had were a few brief descriptions from people who attended the event. While most people seemed very impressed by what they saw of the preview they mentioned one thing above anything else. Ciel was radically redesigned. That news came as a shock to me. As one of the few Ciel fans I was a little worried about my favorite Tsukihime heroine. Continue reading →