Category: Editorials

Are we on the cusp of revolution?

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Justin Sevakis recently wrote a rather interesting article that was posted on Anime News Network. He basically states that the only people who can save the anime industry on both sides of the Pacific are the companies of the anime industry on both sides of the Pacific. DVD sales are way down and there is no appeal you can make to fans to keep them from downloading fan-subs. The only tactic to fight the prevalence of down-loaders is to make their own affordable downloading alternative. Anything else will result in a continued downward trend in sales for American anime companies. The anime companies have to stop blaming the down-loaders and start doing something to give them an attractive alternative.

I agree with many point of his article, but I can’t agree with everything he says. I totally agree with the fact that the Japanese have to embrace digital distribution over the Internet. The music industry was forced into it kick and screaming and they got nothing out of waiting so long. They could have had much greater profits if they had just embraced the idea in a reasonable manner. The anime industry seems to be doing the same things. No one can stop piracy. What you can do is minimize its effects and give people a superior or more convenient product and sell it at a reasonable price.

This article makes a lot of sense. Anime fans are some of the most up on technology fan-bases, just because of the general age range. So you have to use the newest technology to reach them. However, I think it is a mistake to not appeal to fans to look inward about what is going on. I agree that the anime industry is the one that has to do something about it, they have to change, but I don’t think it is right to excuse greedy, impatient, and over-demanding fans that want everything for nothing. There needs to be big changes, on both sides of the fence.

The main problem I see is that the Japanese companies are extremely hesitant to embrace any sort of change. If the American companies can’t convince them to change their minds about downloadable episodes, then there will be no downloadable episodes. When an American company licenses a show from the Japanese, their licenses always clearly state how and where a title can be released. As I understand it, except for a few rare cases like Death Note, the Japanese are dead set against letting their shows be downloaded online. American companies aren’t exactly racing to make downloadable shows super affordable but at least they seem rather interested in the idea.

Ask John pointed out that there are streaming methods of watching anime in Japan but they are blocked internationally. And that is the biggest issue, American fans want to watch what Japanese fans are watching right now and who knows if that will be possible anytime soon. American companies have started streaming and there is are already 10 series available on iTunes. Steps are being taken, good steps, but that doesn’t equate to watching anime fresh off the presses (well you know what I mean).

My main problem with the article is that it seems to imply that if you put an affordable download out there you will stop anime fans from downloading fan-subs and get profits back where they need to be. I think this might well be a faulty assumption. There is a certain segment of the anime community that has and always will refuse to pay for anime. If you could download a whole 26 episode series for a dollar, it would still be too much for them. These fans are almost nonconvertible and not worth talking about. The main problem is without some fear of getting in trouble for downloading fan-subs I think many anime fans will stick with their free alternative because it’s cheaper and, for the most part, quicker.

I have been wondering the same things. Is a $1.99 unreasonable, no. They even have entire 26 episode seasons for under $40.00. Sounds like exactly what the doctor ordered. People on the internet are talking about $0.25 an episode. Sorry but that is insane! Even legitimate network shows don’t sell for that cheap. So, how do you get people to want to pay for something they can get for free? Well, you have to convince them that what you have is better. It is like bottled water. Which I don’t buy, but tons of people do, it is a big business. Companies have to get people to believe fan-subs are inferior again.

Fan-subs on anything popular are out on the Internet within hours of being played on Japanese TV. The quickest speed subbers are often sloppy and unprofessional in their translations, but quality subbers only take a few hours to a day to put out a more professional sub. Can the industry really compete with that rate of subbing? Any fan-sub group that I can think of is a group of amateurs. That does not mean that they cannot do a good translation job, nearly as good as their professional counterparts, but it does mean they are free from certain restrictions and bureaucracy that a legitimate translation would involve.

They aren’t exactly free of it, but they over look it. You can watch just about every new show out this season and no one else can give you that. If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em. That seems like the only way for everyone to win in this situation, but even if that were feasible, which I don’t think it is, that would take a lot of comprise on both sides of the Pacific.

For a legitimate release, companies would have to pre-license a show sight unseen. They would also have to arrange with the animation studio to get the raw episodes to match the release schedule of a fan-sub group. I’m not sure that without great effort that would be at all possible at this time. If you don’t do that, then a legitimate release will always lag months behind a fan-sub release. That means there are going to be a bunch of people who will take whatever comes first or at least close to first. Lots of times people will download a horrible fan-sub just because if comes out a few hours earlier than a good fan-sub. Those same people will be more likely to download, watch, and refuse to buy a superior legitimate release.

The whole thing comes down to timing and money. Fan-subbers don’t risk any revenue by picking up a dud that only 100 people download but an anime distributor does. And you can’t really blame them for not wanting to do that. The thing that has to happen is for Japanese companies to take up the fan-subbing banner. They would have to release decent (not great, just understandable) subtitled episodes available internationally the next day after it airs on TV. And it would have to be streaming for free with advertisements. In my opinion, that is only thing that can compete. And quite frankly, I don’t know if that is enough. Not to mention that fan-subbers get their raws from Japan, people in Japan uploading. If they want to chomp down on fan-subbers the people they have to look at are the raw uploaders, not the fan-subbers for the most part. If raws continue to appear on the internet, someone is going to fan-sub them and someone is going to watch them. In my opinion, everything really falls into the hands of the Japanese companies. The American anime industry can kick and scream but at the end of the day all eyes are on Japan for turning this around.

The other thing is, I feel on a certain level, one of the reasons people started using legitimate music download services like iTunes was the fear of being sued. I think a lot of people would still be downloading music if it were not for the waves of lawsuits that came out when the RIAA was taking on Napster. There are a large group of people who would pay for legitimate downloads but only if they felt they might get in trouble if they downloaded fan-subs. Does the industry have to crack down on fans to get them to buy legitimate releases or will it just breed a large amount of ill will. Japan seems to have started to crackdown on fan-subbers and scanlators in Asia but how long until they start suing people in America. Should they even try it?

Well, the whole music thing blew up because it was so highly publicized. For weeks you couldn’t go a day without hearing something about Napster and the lawsuits. And even though it was a bit of a red herring, people did feel like it was something they could really get in trouble for. Because you couldn’t turn your back without someone talking about it. And there were even those bunch of young kids that got in trouble. I think if the anime industry were to say throw the whole thing into the limelight, it might make some sort of dent. However, I don’t think anyone cares quite frankly. They would have to get the big guns, like movie studios to join the fray. But then what does that do to the market? I think everyone is being a scaredy cat. They are worried that fans will be mad, and they will be, but I think they will get over it. A bunch of people will say they will never watch anime again, some of them really won’t, but I think most fans are fans because they love it not because it’s free. I mean people still buy music don’t they? I think the industry would also have a better idea of their consumer market, knowing how many people are really out their buying.

After a lot of things I’ve been reading, I have to wonder if fan-subs are really the biggest issue. A number of places now have written that the largest amount of fans prefer dubs. Where does that leave them in this fight? They clearly aren’t the crowd watching fan-subs exclusively. They are the ones buying the most DVDs. So exactly what does fan-subbing have to do with them? I think that the split between fans who prefer dubs and those who prefer subs must be closer than what we’ve been told. For so long is has been said that subbies are the minority, but that can’t be true. Or perhaps we are just the crowd buying (or not buying) niche series. And what about the booming manga market? Doesn’t it seem that many fans have been pulled over to their side? In Japan, there isn’t as much competition between anime and manga but in the states they are opposing forces. I think fan-subbing is a huge issue but there have to many other factors leading to this downfall.

I feel this is a complex issue that has so simple answers. Nothing will stop fan-subs. Nothing will 100% be so cool that everyone will give up free easily accessible anime. Nor do I think DVDs are a dead format for anime as well. Heck, there are still people who collect and trade vinyl records. As long as there is some benefit to an old media, people will still use it. The problem is, the anime industry is dragging their feet. Just because the downloadable episodes are not a perfect fix does not mean it’s not something that need to be done for the health on the industry. If something is not done and soon I think we shall see a significant shrink in the output.

Narutaki Currently!
Watching Glass Mask
Reading Banya the Explosive Delivery Man
Listening to Porno Graffiti

Hisu (Brainwasher Detective) Currently:
Watching Future Police Urashiman
Reading Samurai Deeper Kyo
Listening to Rinbu Revolution by Okui Masami

Top 5 shows I watched fan-subbed and then happily bought after they were licensed
5. D.N.Angel
4. Innocent Venus
3. Paradise Kiss
2. Revolutionary Girl Utena
1. Berserk

Naming her Duck is not a reason to march on Washington.

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Count Spankula of AnimeJump once joked that if someone raised a stink on the Internet about their fantastic demands for an exclusive box set for Herman’s Head, they would be laughed off the Internet and ignored. But if someone makes a random complaint about an anime DVD, the anime companies tend to scramble to fix their complaint (even if it’s a minor complaint for a distinct minority of the fans). Is this a bad thing? Don’t we want a responsive industry that actually listens to its customers? Are the anime companies actually that responsive or do they just pretend to be? Do they actually listen to what we want or do they just pretend to?

Pleasing the fans, sounds easy right? WRONG. I think over the years American fans have become increasingly more demanding to the point of impossibility for any company to make everyone happy. I’m not sure when everyone got so darned picky. Or maybe the Internet just makes me think everyone is so darn picky. But on the complete flip-side, without so much fan input would we see the releases that we do today?

For one thing no one can ever do anything to make 100% of the people happy 100% of the time. That is one of the major dilemmas of any consumer industry. The minute you decide to do things one way, someone is going to complain why didn’t you do it the way they wanted it. Sometimes you can do things both ways, but is it worth the time and effort? Nine times out of ten any changes cost money. If you want to stay in business, those costs have to be out-weighed by increased profits. The only other reason to incur a cost is to increase overall goodwill of the customer. The other major problem is people on the Internet assume they are the majority just because they find a few other people who share their opinion.

A simple example is the use of honorifics in subs and dubs. In my opinion the simple answer is to use no honorifics in a dub but use honorifics in subtitles. I think it hits the broadest amount of fans of each type of translation. I feel that most people who listen to dubs would either like or not mind as much if honorifics are left out. They want their dubs to be adapted as close to English as possible. I feel that sub fans tend to want a more Japanese feel to their shows and would want the honorifics in their translation. I think it’s an acceptable compromise.

I’m in that sub fan category! I remember when I was watching Spiral and had the subs on I was complaining that they weren’t using honorifics but what was worse was they kept subbing the main character’s name as his first name even though people were using his last name! Hisu informed of Funimation‘s strange two sub tracks. One is a sub of the dub (don’t know why this exists!) and the other is the regular sub track. I was much happier after that!

The problem is when ever a topic like this comes up on the Internet, there will be someone who complains that they are a dub fan who demands that dubs have honorific. There will also be a sub fan who can’t stand companies putting honorifics in their subs. Are these people wrong in liking what they like? Obviously not. It would be silly to fault them for that. Also my preferences are far from gospel. The problem is when they insist that their preference is the only true preference and if their demands are not met they will boycott all companies X’s products. Or attack any one who has an opinion different then their own and insist that anyone who disagrees with them is a misinformed idiot.

Whatever are you talking a bout? The internet is full of calm, rational people.

That is just one example. The infamous sub vs. dub wars still are being fought today despite the fact that the have somewhat calmed due to DVDs being able to have both. People will argue endless about the minutia of translation, while ignoring the fact that translation is hardly an exact science. People will argue for hours on minor packaging details and which extras we do and don’t get.

I was told this story about the Kimagure Orange Road DVD release. The DVD has the opening in the extras section but not at the beginning of each episode. Sounds kind of odd, but it is there, you can watch it, no big deal. Well, people threw a fit! They claimed the company should have been upfront. About what? Once again it’s not as if the opening was gone or the song changed. And AnimEigo had to redo the DVDs because people were in such an uproar. Personally, I don’t know why AnimEigo complied to it. Not to mention that show isn’t some huge seller. But then AnimEigo doesn’t make money anyway.

AnimEigo had been surveying and they saw that most people skipped the shows opening after the first two times they watched a show. So they decided instead of making people skip the opening each time, they would just place the opening on the DVD as an extra. They did not mention that they were doing this, so many people were shocked when they popped the DVDs in their players. That was the main complaint people had, AnimEigo did not tell anyone that they were going to try anything different. People paid $240.00 for a box set and then it was not how they wanted it. Although I had no big complaint about it, I see why people felt a little betrayed. It is an industry standard to place the opening in the front of every episode. I would assume there was some sort of error if the opening did not play on an episode.

Once again, I agree it is odd and an idea they shouldn’t have tried again. But once you realized where it was, was it such a big deal? I think not. Betrayed seems like an awfully harsh word to use.

There were calls to send back the DVDs and to boycott AnimEigo and all their products. I don’t think it was the best idea the company has ever had but it was definitely no reason to stage a boycott. AnimEigo is one of the most fan-friendly companies on the market. Heck they released all of Urusei Yatsura, so they have earned my gratitude. It would take a heck of a lot for me to turn on AnimEigo. Leaving off the openings of one show but still keeping it on the DVD is not enough.

AnimEigo is the only company with enough money to release titles just because they want to. And thank goodness they do! If people really thought about, they would realize that no one else would have released all of Kimagure Orange Road on DVD.

AnimEigo went above and beyond to fix their miscalculation: they re-authored the DVDs; took back all the old DVDs; and sent out the new DVDs free of charge. Everyone was very grateful but did it really earn them any respect or gratitude? Bandai released a Gundam Zeta box set with spottily translated subs in a supposedly box set only set. Then then released individual DVDs with a better translation even though they said they would never release singles. Bandai refused to set up a exchange policy so the loyal fans could exchange their old DVDs to get the better DVDs.

People get mad but then they chill out and forget all about it. I don’t see too many people boycotting Bandai Gundam releases.

But did it really matter. Did anyone really remember the extra distance AnimEigo went but Bandai did not? I’m sure some people remember. I do. But how many others even care? How many peoples anger really stays after a discussion dies down on a message board. Should anyone really care past that point? Should people hold grudges and gratitude longer than that?

I feel like we are lucky any niche series gets released at all with all the complaining that goes on!

I remember when RightStuf picked up the second season of Super Gals. ADV licensed the first season but it did not do well enough for them to license the second season. Fans kept asking ADV but time and time again they said they were not sure it was a viable license. Then RightStuf announced that they took a risk and got the second season. The whole second season would be in an affordable box set, sub only. There were a lot of appreciative fans but it seemed that there were just as many people demanding they make a dub. There were people who refused to buy the box set unless it had a dub. RightStuf took a risky gamble and went out of there way to save the second season, and they got nothing but complaints. I mean in the end all RightStuf cared about was if they turned a profit on the show but a little appreciation could have been thrown their way.

Well, RightStuf also does the rare “we will only do this if X amount of people pre-order.” But it works for them and we see releases of small or obscure titles. I think it just comes down to a lot of people wanting it all, which isn’t wrong but seems slightly unrealistic. But I have to wonder, for all the complaining, are people actually not buying for those reasons? Some things seem too minor to flat-out refuse to buy for, especially the way things are done today. The only things that seem horrific enough would be major editing, like removal of scenes and/or plot points or completely changing names.

Well, one thing that pissed me off was Princess Tutu; a great niche title. Really an overlooked show that I feel could have gained a sizable fan-base like Utena. Not a break out hit that everybody has seen, like Bleach or Dragonball Z, but a cult classic. ADV decided to translate the main characters name from Ahiru to Duck. It’s not a name change because Ahiru means Duck. ADV felt that since Ahiru is not something one commonly names a child in Japan. It’s not a name word like Rose or Crystal; it’s like naming someone Pencil or Horse. ADV felt that the name would have more effect in English if translated.

Princess Tutu was a rare title indeed and one I had little hope in actually getting licensed. I hadn’t seen any of it but I had heard some good things and I remember Ask John had mentioned in his over view for that year of good titles. But there it was! I admit I was upset about the name change, until we really talked about it and I got the reasoning. I’m not sure, since sales figures aren’t released, how it performed against their expectations. However, I seem to remember some problems with the release schedule of the DVDs, like a loooong break in between.

People on the AnimeonDVD.com forums went ballistic. They whined that ADV was censoring the anime and destroying the artistic merit of the show. There were calls to boycott Princess Tutu and ADV products until they changed the translation. I consider this a major overreaction. It’s not like the made Princess Tutu the next Cardcaptors. I felt even if you thought the translation was not the way you would have translated it, it isn’t unwatchable or disrespectful to the original source material. People took a minor point on a struggling show and blew it out of proportion. The only thing all their protests did was push a niche show further into obscurity. They chased away people who might have otherwise bought the show due the buzz by reviewers.

Although I admit, fan objectives can be good, too. I am glad manga is not flipped! (Vertical get on the ball.) I was ecstatic that Princess Mononoke was released with the original Japanese track and therefore influenced the way all of Studio Ghibli’s works are released. Also, many small series wouldn’t be released without all the fan demand, such as Emma. I guess it is a question of drawing the line.

There has to be a happy medium, I just don’t see anyone taking it. I don’t want anime companies to just ignore the fans. I like the fact that, overall, the industry listens to what fans say. They might not be able to meet every whim but some of them are just impossible or not viable to cater to. On the other hand, many times anime fans have what I consider reasonable demands: good audio visual quality, limited to no editing whenever possible, quality translations, as many extra as possible are simple demands to be met. I wish anime fans were a little more accepting. It does not mean that they should roll over and accept any garbage that is put out there buy a little understanding would not hurt anyone.

Narutaki Currently!
Watching Rose of Versailles
Reading Story of Saiunkoku
Listening to Crescent album– Gackt

Hisu (Brainwasher Detective) Currently:
Watching Tsukihime, Lunar Legend
Reading Parasyte
Listening to Godot-The Fragrance of Dark Coffee

Top 5 dead licenses I would like to be restarted by someone
1. Kodocha
2. Fist of the North Star
3. Black Lagoon
4. When They Cry – Higurashi
5. Dirty Pair TV

Best AMVs I've never seen.

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The zen master looked on the AMV community and said, “So much potential. But even more wasted potential.” From what I understand AMVs started when people would throw multiple episodes on a VHS tape for fan-sub trading and there would invariably be 5 to 15 minutes of empty tape. To make use of that tape, and make their tapes more viable for trading, they would throw on an AMV or two. Eventually, people began to really like the AMVs, as more that just tape filler, and they became as popular as the shows people were trading for. What does it say that AMV artists back then could put in more effort for something to fill up a fan-sub tape than someone making an AMV today?

A chain of things have led to this blog. The first was the Answerman’s column where he talked about AMVs. That led to two podcasts about AMVs on the Ninja Consultants responding to his column. That then led to Narutaki and I looking up stuff on AMV.org. After all of that, we came to several conclusions: one, the signal to noise ratio of AMVs is quite high; two, there are a whole bunch of really good songs it seems nobody uses; and three, leaving subtitles in your video is more rampant that it should be.

I really enjoy AMVs, I think they are a fun way of expressing your fandom. In recent years, it has become increasingly easy to make such tributes. Of course, along with that you get more and more junk and it becomes harder to sift through it all. We were randomly looking up songs that we thought would make good music video and noticed so many that weren’t there! Something about there being 1000 videos using the same song drives me crazy, when there are tons of songs out there.

I remember a long time ago, Ask John had a column about AMVs. He speculated that, where as the Japanese express their love of an anime with doujinshi, Americans use AMVs. That was interesting enough to stick with me years later. I will point out one thing that was wrong with the article. The Japanese make AMVs but they tend to call them MAD movies. They also tend to include more visuals from Eroge games than in the U.S. Surprise surprise.

I guess that makes sense, I mean we know how huge the doujin community in Japan is. I look forward to an American doujin community growing to such numbers. They are completely different ways of showing fandom though. One is continuing the story or a fantasy about what could have happened, where MADs/AMVs are using what has happened and reflecting upon it. And of course, the Japanese community didn’t have the tape trading aspect that really created the AMV.

IMHO, MADs show a cross pollination of fandom between the East and the West. We borrow and adapt from each other all them time. How long before we have our own doujinshi conventions? How long I ask you?

It has become really easy to make an AMV. That means any punk can do it now. It used to take a large amount of technical skills, time, and effort to make AMVs. Now that you can get video digitally and edit video digitally, it opens the floodgates of who can make AMVs. This is good because it lets anyone make AMVs, so artistic people who might have been thrown off by the large amount of audio/visual knowledge required to make old style AMVs.

I HATE HATE HATE people who use video with subtitles for their AMVs. It’s super lazy and it usually means your whole collection is made up of fan-subs. If you own the DVD, it is a simple matter of not having subtitles on your AMV. If you only have fan-subs, or it is a show that can only be found fan-subbed, then someone had to have the raws to make that fan-sub. All you have to do is a little searching to find the raws. And if for some reason you can’t, you can still edit out the subtitles. All in all it’s just plain laziness that makes people leave in subtitles. Either do it right or don’t do it at all.

Well, you do have to rip your DVDs on to the computer so that is kind of a pain. But I agree that do it right, at least technically right, or don’t bother. But why should you? You can just slap together your Nate video, put it up on YouTube, get 7354628 hits, and all your friends will tell you how amazing it was. I think most people aren’t trying to be awarding winning, they are trying to be internet popular.

I hate you internet.

But what I think makes a music video memorable is pacing and movement. Everything else is just technical skill, which you need to have, but if you don’t know how to tell a story then I don’t think it has any power. Matching the timing, speed, and pace of a song to a show creates a sense of unity, like you can’t imagine that song without the video afterwards. Songs and movies both have a beginning, a climax, and a resolve; I want to see that in an AMV. And movement within the picture, how do I explain myself. How a character moves or the camera moves should be reflected in the music, as if to say what is going on in the video has created the sound. I don’t know if that made sense.

I remember my first anime convention, and subsequently, my first taste of AMVs. It is a fond memory and I saw a video I will never forget. West Side Bebop. If it isn’t obvious, it is Cowboy Bebop set to West Side Story, with really great lip-syncing and perfect comedic timing. This was shown at the only Anime Expo NY and won Best of Show and Best Comedy. I have never found it to watch it again. It is listed on AMV .Org but it is not available to watch. Other than that I don’t really have a list of AMVs that I love other than Hold Me, Princess Tutu and Ordinary Day, Escaflowne. I have a bad memory but this has spurned me on to start saving the ones I loved.

I can’t remember what the first AMV I ever saw was. I’m pretty sure it was something Mr. McGraw (one of our frequent readers) showed me, but for the life of me I can’t remember what it was. I do remember being impressed with the AMVs at Anime Boston 2004, the only time I went. In particular this one. They were really good. I hear that Anime Weekend Atlanta is where you go to see all the really impressive AMVs because that is where all the masters go to thrown down.

The AMV Hell series I really love for one reason: it protects us from jokes going on too long and therefore no longer being funny. They are usually on the screen just long enough to be funny and not wear out their welcome (with a few exceptions).

I think the one AMV we saw at Otakon this year sums it up best. Someone tried to do Gangster’s Paradise to Cromartie High School. When we saw it on the list everyone who went to Otakon was giddy with anticipation for how it would turn out. The problem was it seemed like a great idea but in execution it was just boring. Maybe if someone else had done the video it could have been hilarious, but I think it would have worked in the AMV hell format. Just play the song long enough to make sure people realize it’s Ganster’s Paradise and that the show is Cromartie get your laugh and move on to the next joke.

I have seen a lot of people use the opening song of the series for a music video. What? Doesn’t that seem like a total cop out? Clearly that song already goes with the theme of the show (unless you are like Berserk or NaruTaru. ) So exactly what kind of thought went into that choice? In fact, it seems like many people don’t think about song and show, they think I like this song and I like this show but not the two together. I think you see this a lot with romantic pairing videos.

Well every review of NaruTaru always mentions that the super cute happy opening totally does not let you know what a messed up show that is. Test Tubes. ;_;

GAH! DON’T SAY IT! IT STILL HAUNTS MY DREAMS!

BTW – the best romantic pairing videos are of pairings that don’t exist in any way what so every, except in the person who made the AMVs mind. I’m not talking about ones done for comedic effect. I’m talking about videos made to show that clearly Yomi has an undying love for Osaka (and your an idiot if you don’t see it too).

Or random yaoi pairings that you see only in fan-art and dojinishi but someone thinks it would be good to make a video about those characters. Even though they clearly have no interaction like that in the show at all. So they just keep showing moments of them talking.

I would really like to see more videos using older songs. Maybe it is just the age of people making them but I’m not old or anything. I think there are lots of songs that would make amazingly funny AMV’s. I mostly think in terms of comedy ones. I’m not really sure why that is, perhaps it is just easier to come up with a funny song pairing than try to make a very serious one that doesn’t come off as lame. I would also love to see more musicals/Broadway songs used but that requires great lip syncing abilities.

Your statement seems right on target about people not using older songs. Fandom has become increasingly younger so that probably means that as long as that trend continues the trend of not using older songs will continue as well. One of the main problems is any community is usually going to have certain common musical preferences. This does not mean everyone in the anime community listens to the same music. Far from it. But I’m sure if you could somehow read every anime fan’s Myspace page I’m sure some artists would appear ad nauseum. That is why you see a million Linkin Park and Weird Al videos. Oh and if I understand correctly, there is some very good software that greatly aids in any lip syncing efforts. It would take more work than others songs but I think it would easily be worth the effort.

Deadman’s Curve by Jan&Dean for Initial D would just crack me up. A lot of people probably don’t know this song. It is from the early 60’s and it’s about street racing, but it has such a wholesome bouncy sound. Most Initial D videos I see use some euro-beat song and really that isn’t making an Initial D video. It’s not that they aren’t good, but the show itself is one giant euro-beat music video so it doesn’t seem to require much effort. My Boyfriend’s Back by The Angels for tons and various shows all mashed up together. When I thought of using this song, I thought that surely someone already had! It is the perfect song for some hilarious butt-kicking wish fulfillment. Lots of characters popping up from all kinds of shows with choruses of girls singing. Summer of ’69 by Bryan Adams or Juke Box Hero by Foreigner for BECK Mongolian Chop Squad. The story doesn’t quite fit but I think it has the spirit and someone could make it work.

I think Who Could It Be Now? by Men at Work would make an awesome Welcome to the NHK video.

I think I may try my hand at an AMV one of these days. The power of a good AMV is to ellicit an immediate reaction whether it be joy, laughter, sadness, suspense. They can convey the feelings of a show in a compressed version which can feel overwhelming. What a show takes to give you a feeling, maybe 26 episodes or whatnot, someone is trying to give you one or all of those emotions in a matter of minutes. Or they are trying to make you laugh, and I love to laugh. There is nothing better! So if an AMV can accomplish one of these two things, then I can appreciate it.

I will be rooting for you but I know I don’t have the patients to do something like that.

Narutaki Currently!
Watching Bamboo Blade
Reading Bleach
Listening to X-Japan

Hisu (Brainwasher Detective) Currently:
Watching Genshiken 2
Reading School Rumble
Listening to “disarm dreamer” by Aki Misato

Top 5 AMVs I have watched recently
5. Urban Ragnarok, Metropolis
4. Best of You, Various
3. Getting Away with Murder, Death Note
2. Two Towers Requiem, Final Fantasy IX
1. Sweet Revenge, Gankutsuou