New York Anime Festival 2007

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Hisui and Narutaki’s NYAF schedule

Friday
Del Rey Panel
ImaginAsia Panel

Saturday
The Art of Reviewing Anime Panel
Katsushi Ota Q&A
Kobun Shizuno Q&A
Viz Media Panel
Otaku USA Panel
Unicorn Table Concert

Sunday
Vertical Inc. Panel
State of the Manga Industry
State of the Anime Industry

This was the first anime con in NYC since 2003, but nevertheless I had high hopes for NYAF. They were planning far in advance; they got the Javits Center; the schedule was up almost a month before the convention; and they were advertising. However, this last one was a bit worrisome, NYC is a big place and if everyone in it who likes anime shows up at a con you can expect a freakin’ crowd. Their projected numbers were around 15,000, I am eager to see what the actual was. Unfortunately for them, it didn’t seem that busy. It is not that I want to be squashed between otaku all day but for how big this con seemed like it was going to be, it wasn’t.

Without a doubt, this was definitely a professionally run convention. There were no major schedule changes and everything ran as smooth as silk. Even Otakon at it’s best did not run as smooth as NYAF. I think it could be argued that it ran a little smoother than Anime Expo. I have only gone to Expo once and it was very well run the year I went, 2006, but they still made things a little bit difficult and obtuse. They also had a bunch of schedule changes and mix-ups. So not matter what there is something to be said for professionally run conventions.

Saturday at NYAF, which is always the busiest day at most cons, seemed like a Friday at any other big con. When something like AnimeNEXT gets a crowd like that, it seems fine because they are smaller cons and have smaller expenses. They don’t need as many people to make back their money. Doing anything in Manhattan is expensive. I too wonder if this is the last we shall see of NYAF. First year cons almost always have a low number of attendees, so maybe they will wait and see if this con will grow. If given an chance, I’m sure that this con will grow but it has to be given that chance. According to this, BAAF had 3,500 people during its first year in 2001. Then again, BAAF 2001 was a much smaller affair from what I remember of it. Still, it was a convention that grew in numbers and scope as the years went on. BAAF did occur at another time but it still shows that even in NYC it takes time for a convention to grow. I’m also not really sure what exactly killed BAAF. I have heard several stories but they were more rumors rather than anything close to factual evidence.

Friday started out well for me, I got there around 2:30 since I had silk-screening in the morning. I met up with Kohaku to wander this new experience. The first thing that struck me was how the dealers room was set-up. It was very similar to comic cons and there was a lot of free stuff, which is always a plus. There weren’t too many people so navigation of the area was fairly simple. The entire convention was in a relatively small area but had very wide hallways.

I missed Friday because of work (and the fact that I accidentally FedExed the print out of my ticket to one of our clients). I guess on Monday there was a very confused guy opening up an overnight package. I showed up at around 6:30 to see Narutaki and Kohaku getting out of the convention.

The dealers room was definitely set up like the New York Comic Con when it was at the Javits Center. I don’t remember this convention having more free stuff than any other anime con. But maybe that is because I’m a moody loner that ignores other people where as Narutaki and Kohaku are normal functional human beings. I remember the comic con was pretty packed but things still moved nicely most of the time thanks to the large hallways.

It was also the best day to talk to industry people since there wasn’t a whole ton going on and they weren’t overwhelmed with questions yet. We chatted with Mike Bailiff (I think) from ADV and also Chris Oarr. We also talked with quite a few people over at the newest addition to the manga market, YEN Press. And as per usual, talked with the people from Del Rey as well. Del Rey certainly made a lot of acquisition announcements for the coming year, of which included a light novel of XXXholic and the manga of Gankutsuou.

I’m curious to see what the XXXholic light novel reads like. It was great potential to either be very good or very bad. XXXholic can be very episodic so a random story in the middle is not anything that would be obtrusive. I have not heard anything about the Gankutsuou graphic novel but historically any manga based on an anime is weaker than the original work.

ImaginAsia, I wanted go to to see how the classics were doing. I really wanted them to be going well! And thankfully they are, thanks to the sets being really nice and them being shown on their cable channel. They also have a block of programing that is all Geneon titles, I had to ask what was going to happen to that with the recent news. They said it would remain as is, and they have hopes that Geneon isn’t completely dead yet. I also spoke to them after the panel and asked about Rose of Versailles. I thought I was going to hear the usual about it being expensive, and the creator is problematic. But she told me that the biggest obstacle right now is Riyoko Ikeda wants the manga released first! Well, bring it on people!

Well did they not say that Riyoko Ikeda was not a super crazy lady but she was a super crazy lady who also wants the manga released first. Also Geneon still seems to be in an odd undead limbo between being fully dead and just half dead.

The dealers room, the industry booths, and the artist alley were one big mish-mash. I can’t really find a reason for this, except to possibly just fill the room to make it seem bigger. But after some searching you could find everything you wanted. And of course the dealers room did hold some gems. But this is not really my priority at cons.

I did not buy much this convention most because it was so close to Christmas. I did find it odd that they combined the dealers room and artist alley into one as well. I did pick up a neat Gundam doujinshi where they remade Azumanga Daioh strips with Gundam characters. Any doujinshi with Domon Kasshu and his glowing King of Hearts in a Azumanga strip is worth the price of admission.

The Art of Reviewing Anime panel was rather uneventful, but it did reaffirm my beliefs about the AnswerMan being jaded. I don’t think it’s impossible to work in the industry and still be a fan. Daryl from AWO was there to and it was rather amusing to see him and the AnswerMan saying the completely opposite of the other. But the Katsushi Ota panel was wonderful! Thank you Del Rey for bringing him. He is the editor of Faust which Del Rey announced they would be releasing parts of. It is a light novel anthology series that has illustration accompaniment. This will definitely be an experiment here in the U.S. and I’ve very excited about it. I asked him about digital distribution and he said there was something big coming up later this year that he couldn’t talk about.

Jaded? The tomb of a Chinese Emperor is not as jaded as Zac Bertschy. A noir gumshoe is not as jaded as Zac Bertschy. The fact that he did not light up cigarettes to put them out on members of the audience was somewhat surprising.

Well if nothing else, Katsushi Ota provided me with the highlight of the con. Kinoko Nasu who writes for Type-Moon (games like Tsukihime and Fate/Stay Night) also has written for Faust so you know I was at this panel. I like the idea of light novels in general so I was probably going to go anyway, but once I found out they might be announcing some works by Nasu, I was there in a flash. Faust seems pretty interesting. They have a collective mix of authors and artists working on the book. We will only be getting selected parts of the Japanese Fausts but as long as we get Garden of Sinners, DDD, and see their CLAMP artwork I’m happy. I asked Ota what his impressions of Nasu were and he gave me both an amusing story and a definite insight into the man. That was awesome. I also thought that their boxed line of books looked nice.

I am always interested in more light novels being released, since I’ve such a big reader, so this is a dream some true to me. Ota seems to be smart, insightful, and has a desire to bring creative people together into projects. Anthologies haven’t been bigger sellers in the U.S. but I hope this turns that around. It will have short stories and also excerpts from longer works.

At the end Katsushi Ota gave me the first two books of DDD and then took my picture with the books and promised to send the pictures to Nasu himself. WIN! That is the second Japanese creator that now has a picture of me. Without a doubt my favorite part of the convention.

The Guest of Honor was Kobun Shizuno. At first Patrick Macias asked him about how he became a director in the anime industry and what he though of the industry in general. Then Shizuno showed a pretty long clip of his newest show, Cross Climber. It seems to be about a full immersion virtual reality MMO with a sinister secret purpose. Then a bunch of people asked him questions about the Evangelion movies that he could not answer. The most interesting part was listening to how Shizuno worked his way through the industry to become a director. I sort of wished the people from the audience had asked him some more interesting questions. I did like that someone asked him a Princess Nine question. That show does not get enough love.

You are kinder than I was. I was practically leaping from my seat in outrage at the crappy questions. Two questions were not about his OWN work but about Ginax works. This man is a director, not a film critic, you shouldn’t be asking what he thinks of other peoples’ work. Not to mention there was only time for about 5 or 6 questions so them being wasted was quite a frustration. After this panel we also man into Dave and Joel from Fast Karate and talked with them a bit.

I had never heard of Unicorn Table before they were announced as the musical guests. But I am always up to hear some J-pop! So the concert was something of a high priority for me, and I wasn’t disappointed. There were 10 or 11 songs, which was more than I could have hoped for. We pushed our way to the second row and enjoyed quite a show! We survived the otaku stink for nearly an hour and a half. Although, I wasn’t crazy about her solo songs in the middle, the entire band was the best part. They really got the crowd up and cheering. There was even a raffle at the end, they gave away a t-shirt, a DVD, and a small bag.

Unicorn Table was pretty fun, although my favorite part was when the guitarist and the bassist just started to rock out while the main singer was changing costumes. I stayed away from the madness at the front of the concert and enjoyed myself in the back. I also have no need to be around stinking touchy-feely otaku.

The panels were all industry run and this was my biggest complaint. I really like a mix, I always go to many industry panels but I also like things about older anime or some aspect of anime. I hope this can be remedied next time around. The best things were the state of the industry panels where people from all over got together for a round-table of what’s been going on in the last year. As can be imagined, the anime one had a lot of what if’s and what can be done. It was really informative.

I’m not sure why they did not have any fan run panels. I admit when fan panels are bad they are very bad but they also could have had some good fan runs panels. It might be that as a professionally run convention they did not want to take the risk of a non-guest/nonprofessional run panel. Excluding fan run panels cuts down on your poorly done panels but also excludes a good many interesting panels that could exist.

It was really interesting to hear the two state of industry panels. The manga panel was happy talk and full of what are we going to do next. The anime panel was full of what can we do to pull ourselves out of this mess. Both panels talked about digital distribution. The manga panel speculated on why they were doing so well and how they could keep up their success. On the anime panel, they discussed why sales were down, what they could do to counter it, and what their hopes for digital distribution were. John O’Donnell, from CMX, definitely stole the show during the anime round-table. His answers/tirades were insightful if a little harsh.

I feel like this was a small con that seemed bigger because of the industry involvement but really it wasn’t anything like Otakon. A small con dressed up in big con clothes. Then again, it was its first year and also it is the winter…in NYC, not exactly the most inviting scenario. I also feel like it should have gone on longer into the night. Panels running till 8 or 9 at least and showings till at least then if not later. We know they could do it since the concert went on till almost 10. Overall, I had a good time and learned a lot. It wasn’t the best time I’ve ever had at a convention but I look forward to another one of these, if there is one.

I like having a con basically in my back yard. I’m sure I would fly halfway across the country to go to NYAF, but I will definitely take a subway ride again next year. It was not my favorite con but I had a good time and it did everything I need a con to do. I was never at a real loss of what to do; there was always something interesting going on. I sort of wish I had had some more time to see some of the movies they premiered on the big screen but there were too many good panels. Too many good things is never a real problem. It proves that a for profit convention can be done in an acceptable manner. If NYAF takes what they did this year, and grows, it has the potential to be one of the big name East Coast cons. I look forward to seeing how things turn out next year.

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