Episode 215 – The Otaku Effect

Does an anime’s director or original creator affect the quality of an anime?  Or the anime that is produced?  Acclaimed director Hayao Miyazaki thinks so.  The Anime Addicts discuss what they think about the topic and site other sources in the process.

Production side:

If anime studios are filled with Otaku, how does this influence the animation process and anime industry?

• Miyazaki claims the anime industry suffers because it is full of “otaku”.

  • http://en.rocketnews24.com/2014/01/30/ghiblis-hayao-miyazaki-says-the-anime-industrys-problem-is-that-its-full-of-anime-fans/

  • http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/interest/2014-01-30/miyazaki/the-problem-with-the-anime-industry-is-it-full-of-otaku

  • “If you don’t spend time watching real people, you can’t do this (draw realistic characters), because you’ve never seen it.”

  • “Almost all Japanese animation is produced with hardly any basis taken from observing real people, you know.”

  • “It’s produced by humans who can’t stand looking at other humans.”

  • The industry’s staff don’t like watching people and so they can’t accurately depict people

  • Miyazaki is claiming that many other artists’ inability to properly project human elements in animation definitely has some credibility behind it.

• How Directors/Creators have Changed and Evolved:

  • Main Argument – The change in the anime industry has affected the enviornment creators have grown up in.  Therefore, their choices on what to produce and their perception of the media is equally affected.

  • Throughout the 1960s-1970s manga was primarily viewed as a medium for social/political commentary

  • Due to criticism of individualism and the oppression of anything ‘childlike’ for enjoymenti n Japanese adults manga was viewed around this time as risque and counter-societial for college students to read.  They forefitted reading the classics for reading children’s manga

  • Starting in 1985 we have the shinjinrui or the people born into a time of affleunce without war or hardship.  They have been described by social scientists as the passive consumers of leisure goods.

  • Fan-produced manga – doujinshi – saw it’s spike in 1989, the peak was 1990-92

  • The comic market was a gateway into manga for Japanese women through homoerotic subtext.

  • This time was also the advent of pardoy manga, changing from the serious and adult styled images that had been sustained since gekiga in the 1950s

  • http://www.sfu.ca/cmns/courses/2011/488/1-Readings/Kinsella%20Japanese%20Subculture%20in%20the%201990s.pdf

    • Miyazaki Hayao – Born 1941

      • 20s – 1960s

    • Mamoru Oshii – Born 1951

      • 20s – 1970s

    • Hideaki Anno – Born 1960

      • 20s – 1980s

    • Satoshi Kon – Born 1963

      • 20s – 1980s

    • Yoshiyuki Tomino – Born 1941

      • 20s – 1960s

    • Tsukasa Fushimi – Born 1981

      • 20s – 2000s

      • Original Creator – My little sister can’t be this cute

    • Kakifly – Estimated Birth – 1980s

      • 20s – 2000s

      • Original Creator – K-On!

    • Kiyohiko Azuma – Born 1968

      • 20s – 1980s

      • Original Creator – Azumanga

KRAM:

I. Art

1. Todd McFarlane

– Drawing hobbyist and fan of comic books from an early age

– Went to school on a baseball scholarship and studied graphic art

– Ankle injury ended his baseball career

– Worked in a comic book shop to pay for continuing education

– Worked with Marvel and DC comics before moving on to Image comics and creating Spawn

2. Rob Liefeld

– Lifelong comic book fan and began tracing comics at an early age

– Took fundamental art courses in high school and junior college

– Came to prominence with Marvel Comics and later founded Image

– Drawing ability has been criticized publicly — Barry Windsor-Smith (Conan the Barbarian 1970-73): “Rob Liefeld has nothing to offer. It’s as plain as bacon on your plate. He has nothing to offer. He cannot draw. He can’t write. He is a young boy almost, I would expect, whose culture is bubble gum wrappers, Saturday morning cartoons, Marvel Comics; that’s his culture. Somebody was at his house and came back with a report: There is not a single book in his house — only comic books. I see nothing in his work that allows me to even guess that there’s any depth involved in that person that might come to the fore given time.”

3. Opinion

– Art education is key; in a comparison to comic book illustrators David Mazzucchelli, BFA (Daredevil, Batman: Year One) and Alex Ross (Kingdom Come, Marvels; studied painting at American Academy of Art), the fundamental understanding of human anatomy notably suffers in McFarlane and Liefeld’s work

– A parallel can be seen in the work Hajime Isayama of Attack on Titan, who has named manga artists Tsutomu Nihei, Ryouji Minagawa, Kentaro Miura, Hideki Arai, and Touru Mitsumine as his influences. His understanding of human anatomy and natural shading is an easy criticism of his art.

II. Writing

1. Fan Fiction

– FF has a bad reputation b/c it’s weak imitation, writers have no education

– Peter Jackson and The Hobbit

2. Sacrifice for tropes

– Good characters/stories are often weakened by tropes

– Probably the largest portion of the anime industry relies on rinse-and-repeat otaku shows that pander to who is putting in the most money

– Troy Duffy (The Boondock Saints) and Damon Lindelof (Prometheus)

III. The Good News

– The anime industry is so driven by fans’ support and participation that it’s likely not going anywhere for a long time

– Comic Market is the largest comic book convention (more than 500,000 attendees; Comic Con has 130,000 for comparison), and it exists solely to sell fan-produced works

Consumer side:

“Do the influences and demands of the consumer base dictate the content found in anime or manga?”

DVD sales – https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2013-12-25/top-selling-animation-dvds-in-japan/2013

Manga SAles – http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2013-12-01/top-selling-manga-in-japan-by-series/2013

Most of these are Shonen manga and most of the anime dvd sales are from films that are not of a fan service nature.  These include 2 past Ghibli films and 3 films from popular franchises; DBZ, EVA, and One Piece as well as Gundam.

Still “pull strategy” supply chain effects are present in most any industry.  The consumer requests the product a “pulls” it through the delivery channel.

I think markets first start in “push” strategies in which the seller promotes a product through marketing.  After demand is generated, “pull” strategy can exist.