January 18, 2009
Fandom diverging from the mainstream? Well... yeah
Commenting on a post by Author.
First, wasn't that quote originally about Nixon?
As to the rest of it, that's not really any surprise. The Japanese market's had this effect going for several years now, if you think about it.
Who buys DVDs in Japan? The otaku, and that's more or less it. They're way too expensive for casual fans, and said casual fans probably saw the show when it was on the air anyway. (Japan has not discovered the glory of the discounted season box set, heh.) The creators of an anime series aren't worried directly about ratings - if they can sell it to the TV station, they get paid for that part, whether it gets great ratings or not - but the amount of money they make on the show is directly influenced by how well it sells on DVD.
So how do you get more otaku to buy your DVDs? Sometimes it's "you make a really great show," right, KyoAni? But the other answer is "you make it appeal to otaku more." And this is generally done by loading it up with moe, moe, moe, or else aiming it at a particular group of fans (or several of 'em). People like flat-chested heroines? Put one in! People like male leads who aren't actually homosexual but have ambiguously close relationships that can be easily misconstrued? We'll take two! Girls with glasses? One "Miyuki" to go, please. Maids? Put in a dozen. Hell, put in a hundred!
Taken to the logical extreme, you get Gravion. (Or Eiken...) These shows aren't necessarily "bad", just focused on fanboys like a laser. "This is a really good story" is definitely in second place to "I won't buy anything unless it's got cute maids!" And in the meantime, you get things which are repulsive to the general public; as an anime fan, I'm prepared to write off lots of big-busted maids everywhere if the show's good, but there's plenty of people who'd find the idea offensive.
Heck, take Nanoha as an example. Great show. But it's loli, and I mean seriously loli, in ways that make even a calloused and hardened soul like mine uncomfortable. (Actually, it's kinda comforting - proof Japan has not turned me into a lolicon! Heh.) I couldn't show Nanoha to a normal person in a million years - not only would they be kind of horrified, but they'd probably be really worried about me afterwards. And that's an example of a good show that didn't need the lolita elements, strictly speaking! Well... but if it hadn't had them, would anyone have bought it in the first place?
The otaku market is fundamentally different from the "normal" market because of things like that. It's no longer just whether the show is any good or not. It's whether the pandering that's in the show rises to the level that normal people are turned off by it before they get a chance to enjoy the good parts of the show.
So it's not really a wonder that Afro Samurai outsold Haruhi 2 to 1. I mean, yeesh, the one show is full of high school girls casually molesting each other in front of boys, and the other has Samuel L. Jackson having lots of fun in two roles. (Yeah, a buddy brought Afro Samurai to work, and I enjoyed it, even if I didn't go out and buy it. It's stupid fun, but it's fun.) I mean, if you look at it the other way, it's probably the worst-selling thing that Jackson has ever been in, by a long way.
Comments are disabled.
Post is locked.
First, wasn't that quote originally about Nixon?
As to the rest of it, that's not really any surprise. The Japanese market's had this effect going for several years now, if you think about it.
Who buys DVDs in Japan? The otaku, and that's more or less it. They're way too expensive for casual fans, and said casual fans probably saw the show when it was on the air anyway. (Japan has not discovered the glory of the discounted season box set, heh.) The creators of an anime series aren't worried directly about ratings - if they can sell it to the TV station, they get paid for that part, whether it gets great ratings or not - but the amount of money they make on the show is directly influenced by how well it sells on DVD.
So how do you get more otaku to buy your DVDs? Sometimes it's "you make a really great show," right, KyoAni? But the other answer is "you make it appeal to otaku more." And this is generally done by loading it up with moe, moe, moe, or else aiming it at a particular group of fans (or several of 'em). People like flat-chested heroines? Put one in! People like male leads who aren't actually homosexual but have ambiguously close relationships that can be easily misconstrued? We'll take two! Girls with glasses? One "Miyuki" to go, please. Maids? Put in a dozen. Hell, put in a hundred!
Taken to the logical extreme, you get Gravion. (Or Eiken...) These shows aren't necessarily "bad", just focused on fanboys like a laser. "This is a really good story" is definitely in second place to "I won't buy anything unless it's got cute maids!" And in the meantime, you get things which are repulsive to the general public; as an anime fan, I'm prepared to write off lots of big-busted maids everywhere if the show's good, but there's plenty of people who'd find the idea offensive.
Heck, take Nanoha as an example. Great show. But it's loli, and I mean seriously loli, in ways that make even a calloused and hardened soul like mine uncomfortable. (Actually, it's kinda comforting - proof Japan has not turned me into a lolicon! Heh.) I couldn't show Nanoha to a normal person in a million years - not only would they be kind of horrified, but they'd probably be really worried about me afterwards. And that's an example of a good show that didn't need the lolita elements, strictly speaking! Well... but if it hadn't had them, would anyone have bought it in the first place?
The otaku market is fundamentally different from the "normal" market because of things like that. It's no longer just whether the show is any good or not. It's whether the pandering that's in the show rises to the level that normal people are turned off by it before they get a chance to enjoy the good parts of the show.
So it's not really a wonder that Afro Samurai outsold Haruhi 2 to 1. I mean, yeesh, the one show is full of high school girls casually molesting each other in front of boys, and the other has Samuel L. Jackson having lots of fun in two roles. (Yeah, a buddy brought Afro Samurai to work, and I enjoyed it, even if I didn't go out and buy it. It's stupid fun, but it's fun.) I mean, if you look at it the other way, it's probably the worst-selling thing that Jackson has ever been in, by a long way.
Posted by: Avatar_exADV at
04:03 PM
| Comments (2)
| Add Comment
Post contains 607 words, total size 3 kb.
1
And that's an example of a good show that didn't need the lolita elements, strictly speaking! Well... but if it hadn't had them, would anyone have bought it in the first place?
And that goes double for Divergence Eve/Misaki Chronicles. Hell of a fine show that didn't need the huge boobs -- but would anyone have watched it without them? Or enough people?
Posted by: Steven Den Beste at January 18, 2009 11:28 PM (+rSRq)
2
Indeed. Div Eve was definitely that kind of show.
Though Div Eve and Nanoha actually made good shows under the otaku-friendly gloss. Even something like Gravion can be somewhat interesting while it's busy pandering. And there are other shows that try to do something interesting but just don't manage it. But then there are the kind that don't even pretend to get beyond that...
Though Div Eve and Nanoha actually made good shows under the otaku-friendly gloss. Even something like Gravion can be somewhat interesting while it's busy pandering. And there are other shows that try to do something interesting but just don't manage it. But then there are the kind that don't even pretend to get beyond that...
Posted by: Avatar_exADV at January 19, 2009 04:22 AM (7TgBH)
13kb generated in CPU 0.0096, elapsed 0.1437 seconds.
30 queries taking 0.1365 seconds, 51 records returned.
Powered by Minx 1.1.6c-pink.
30 queries taking 0.1365 seconds, 51 records returned.
Powered by Minx 1.1.6c-pink.
