Marketing Otaku Anime
An alternative take at the eternal struggle of copywriting (read the comments there!) anime for an American audience–the shoppers of America’s big-box heartland–is that it really doesn’t matter. At least not in the way fans think of it.
Let’s take a well-known import of Japanese media in America–wacky Japanese game shows in which the contestants are battered and embarrassed by a barrage of otherwise unimaginable activities if not for the fact that somebody out there had to imagined them first for it to exist. It’s on par with weird sex videos from Japan in terms of sheer otherworldliness.
It’s not unexpected for the people who gave us the high school girl that asked for nobody other than aliens, time travelers and espers to befriend her, perhaps. But the subtlety of that concept is already a mile beyond the veracity an one-liner could express, with the likes of “octopus porn” or “a story of love, dreams, and perseverance” or “watch silly Japanese get dunked in goo!”
Let’s re-examine this divide between works that are layered and works that are less so. Author gave us some other examples which goes to the heart of the matter. For instance, Manabi Straight, he says, is a political thriller. I’m in no position to disagree, having claimed it being one of the best demonstration of the Kingdom of God I’ve laid eyes on. Religion and politics! (No wonder nobody licensed Manabi Straight.) These forbidden family dinner topics would hardly be the first thing one expect to grace the cover of such DVDs, I admit, but it’s there if you choose scratch deeper.
But what is probably a better example is Simoun. It is light years beyond the likes of Divergence Eve’s “come for the tits, stay for the sci-fi thriller” fishing. It’s a show where you don’t need yuri goggles to see the yuri, but the yuri is actually a lie. It’s the kind of anime that even a 500-word post would fail to really get to the heart of what makes it a great story to a wide range of viewers. It’s unreasonable to expect 1-liners to capture even a fraction of Simoun’s glory.
Perhaps another way to think is that copywriting is just some cheap marketing. It’s like the barkers that work out front of strip joints and gentlemen’s clubs. Do we expect people to purvey works that pander to immediate gratification or through thorough research, sampling, and the testimony of critics, fans and friends? In the case of most anime, it’s both. But copywriting obviously is just one form of marketing, to aim for the former. All this is to say, if we take the frame of mind of a fan we would naturally feel ill towards copywriting, like how some feminists may feel ill towards women who work those joints and the related forms of degrading marketing.
But when it comes to anime, there are notable exceptions–when a show it’s constructed with a certain disposition in mind. Say, Excel Saga? Divergence EVE? Or Simoun?
If I want to make just one point, it would be that otaku anime (unlike, say, Saiunkoku Monogatari) aims at a specific audience who are familiar with the work pandering to them. It isn’t to say no one else would like otaku anime, those outside of the target audience, but those kinds of shows generally dispenses the pleasantries and instead exercise their art within the difficult-to-define space within that genre. It’s like saying a $15 bowl of ramen is the best ramen you’ll ever eat in NYC–how do you justify it? And how can you explain it with a simple 1-liner? It’s extremely difficult to do copywriting for a general audience for a niche work, that’s just how it is. So why fret?
And we see that not all anime does this. Excel Saga is a good example of a gag anime that has some universal appeal but is very otaku in terms of its target audience. People ate the humor and the gags up, but to understand its full excellence requires an appreciation for the numerous in-jokes that most people just would not understand, let alone finding them an important addition to their Excel Saga experience. It’s a step up from Divergence EVE, which has this fanservice factor, a candy shell if you will, that dresses something probably more substantive, filling for the audience that enjoy that sci-fi space genre. I mean, that’s true for a lot of anime that use fanservice as a way to get people interested, to try out the show in the first place.
Simoun, ultimately, is the kind of show that plays to this marketing limitation. There’s no point trying to say how awesome a show is just on the cover. It can cite to reviews (or better yet, awards it won…LOL) but for most anime in America, it’s a crap shoot. The only thing Simoun got going at first is just the very natural girl-on-girl covers with all the naughty poses and body positions. It is the only barker speak Simoun has. Those quick, tender kisses and flowing tresses might have a certain appeal, but I don’t think that’s what makes the show worth watching.
At the same time, fans of the show may read and see those things and think “hey this is not (quite) what the show is good for!” And they would be right. However I think the series itself is a bait and switch, so when that marketing speak reaches the eyes of someone who is curious but ignorant, it actually accomplishes the proper effect. The misleading copywriting actually sets up the lies. It is a trap.
And Simoun is better off with its traps, I think we all can agree. When the traps are not so good, that’s when copywriting becomes misleading and people whine and all that. Worse, you get the people buying something totally misleading!
It would be perfect to wrap up this post with some copywriting from Simoun’s R1 DVD release, but the blurbs on the DVDs read more like, well, honest-to-goodness plot summaries. All that is to say, I think, whoever wrote them actually saw the show? It’s a wild guess, but in the end fans do the best at promoting the shows they love, right? Modern technology transforms copywriting via things like customer reviews might work better!
DVD trailers and back cover summaries are for people who don’t ask friends, read reviews, or look for any information outside the bare minimum. Kind of like going into a show blind, but worse in some ways.
If this were a perfect world where everything everyone made was top notch, high quality merchandise, there would be no need for advertising; stuff would be sold on merit and word-of-mouth. But a lot of things suck, so marketers thrive on disinformation.
It works the other way too. Remember when Fox didn’t prescreen Dragonball Evolution for critics? Keeping the public in the dark about how bad it was ’til the very end.
I don’t really think this is totally true. DVD trailers and things like that is just one part of a whole array of marketing materials. I watch DVD trailers sometimes! But I also read reviews and get words of mouth from others. I believe most people attack it multi-prong.
The thing with copywriting on the packaging is that you have to be physically shopping at a place with the thing, so it acts a bit like the narration to a trailer, I guess. So I treat it similar to trailer material I guess.