The Wheel of Pandering
One way we (I) gain insight from thinking too much about silly things, like the nature of anime industry for example, is through abstractions, models, and generally theorizing about the cogs and levers that turns whatever thing I’m thinking about. Well, maybe cogs and levers are code words for elements and their relationship with each other, but it doesn’t have to be.
Any “oldfag” industry types will be able to say something about merchandising and its role in the rise of anime as a popular cultural icon. It’s true, especially in the last 15 years with the changeover to video games. All we need as an example, a proof, is to see how Pokemon became the global monster that it became. In fact, it brought up a generation of western anime fans with it, which is something older generations of merchandising-lead anime productions also did, but differently. But I don’t see any “oldfag” analysis of present-day (or not even anymore, Pokemon is a 90s thing) marketing deals and what not. I want to read about, say, how the Upper Deck/Konami mess impact the business trends of that sort of anime, for example. Because it’s relevant. And less about how Bandai took off because of their business strategy in the 70s and 80s.
A repeated thing that I’ve seen in editorials is Japan’s inability to capitalize its status as a global trendsetter, to the degree that often their trendsetting ideas are exported by international giants (say, in fashion) that end up making the far majority of money and Japan getting little to no credit. At least in the realm of video games, this hasn’t been entirely the case (God bless … Sony? Nintendo? Sega?), but that’s a bit of the exception. Of course, it isn’t because Japan isn’t trying (at least in anime; they may very well be not trying in some other areas). But it isn’t like Pixar is notable for their love and use of the Ghibli work in their rise to being the best selling animation studio on earth or anything. I think the key lesson to take heart is that it isn’t Japan doesn’t get it or doesn’t do it right, but they’re just not reaping the benefits, or doing it wrong to harvest that positive benefit, the reward. It’s like winning the war but losing the treaty. [/wheel of morality]
Ok, let’s just ignore the last paragraph for now. Read these posts at Awesome Engine. It is like cranking that lever; it’s like hitting “start” on some simulation software. I’ve already long internalized these elements but it wasn’t clear to me as to how it all came together; which cog spins which way when whichever lever turns that direction. Now it makes more sense.
If you can only read one of those, check this. The NTV narrative is particularly enlightening, because when we distill the story by focusing on a single player, the various reasons why things happen condense into visible lines of rationale and rather than just noise in the air. I just have a few comments.
1. I agree in general that complaining about “moe pandering” is silly. It’s not so much a criticism as a means in which I sympathize with those people who got into anime because of 80s mecha shows or the various gory/sexploitation stuff. And then as time moves on, cultural trends and what sells changed. Consequently people are left in the dust if they couldn’t “grow up” with it. At least, that’s one aspect of looking at change in anime in the past 20-30 years. At the same time, it’s safe to say the context in which western fans are exposed to anime has also changed, and it impacts the way we perceive anime as well.
I’m a sci-fi person. And this day and age I have to take it where I can. Even if it’s crap like Index or Railgun. The era of Tylor and Nadesico is over, and honestly I’m not even sure if there are any good reasons to return to that kind of thing today. Maybe I’m just open-minded enough to get huge rise over the setting of Simoun or Xam’d, in contrast to some. Maybe I am tolerant enough to stomach the Heroic Ages of the world. I get by. I certainly don’t expect everyone who got into following anime to do what I did.
2. And it’s perfectly fine to stop. Some people “grow up” and “grow out” of being an anime fan, almost by design. Put away up your Kenshiro posters and gunpla? It makes sense as an observed behavior in American fandom, now that it has been relatively robust subculture for some time.
3. And because now America and the west is, at least in the middle of the last decade, a big source of revenue to Japan’s anime-related content industry, it needs a good look. The paragraph I told you to ignore? That stuff.
4. At the same time, NTV anime’s main target audience undoubtedly is its domestic crowd. It’s sort of an established fact (sort of only because I would have some difficulty citing) that what Japan likes in their domestic media is often not what the rest of the world likes. Since NTV’s anime draw from some pretty high profile mainstream manga, the success of their anime adaptations in the US might be a harbinger to the localization of critical (as in, not your Jump-type stuff), mainstream Japanese comics in America. It’s probably safe to say that things like Monster or Nana will sell, but neither would be able to engage with the US audience (or their pocketbooks) on the same level as the more maniac-inducing stuff like Evangelion or Cowboy Bebop. In fact outside of Ghost in the Shell and Death Note, I’m not sure which NTV anime would have really reaped some serious money, or even could. It isn’t to say shows like Ouran Host Club or Berserk (or many others) can’t make money, but it seems most of these titles have to aim low, or aim at a very specific group, to turn a profit.
It would be nice to go back to Taylor and Nadesico days. So miss that sci-fi drama stuff. Those were the days indeed.
I’ve thought about stopping with anime myself. I’ve almost been in it for about 15 years now. It just isn’t the same for me anymore. Although, I seem to be finding more interest in the visual novel and light novel scene, which probably haven’t changed either but are a new and fresh venue for me.
Have to say this is a great post. I totally agree that Japan just isn’t reaping the benefits as much as they should be.
What’s interesting to me is that NTV has a lot of commercial “failures,” but they’ve pretty much set the tone for contemporary American fandom with Death Note and Ouran.
I’m sorry, what exactly do you mean by “oldfag” in this context?
http://www.google.com/search?q=oldfag may be best. It’s a term of endearment.
Okay, so you mean you want people who have been here a while to give their take on what’s happening in the anime industry right now, comparative to what they saw happen back then.
That seems like a good point. Not to paint with too broad a brush, but it seems like the content generated by older fans mostly consists of bemused cultural commentary. That has its place, but there’s so much more that could be done.
There’s another perspective that I was thinking about while writing this, and that is the context displacement that almost all western fans experience. A lot of the vocal, older fans-types have done time in Japan, so to some of them that piercing-of-the-context was a major revelation that they will never be able to stop sharing with us.
Which is fine. But there’s precious little from the present-day industry perspective out there that simply is available. I don’t really care if it’s old or new people who share that stuff. Someone ought to do it more.
The adage is something like we need to know where we have been to know where we’re going. But I feel fan chatter is almost entirely predominated by where we have been and nothing about where we’re going.
There has to be some good way to write objectively about “quality” within periods somehow within lapsing into traps of favoritism or rose-colored glasses. The mid 80s were “good”. The early 90s were “bad”. The first batch of late-night shows were usually “bad”. The next batch was “good”. That sort of thing.
I think by breaking it down into smaller pieces, it avoids making over-arching judgments that tend to be a little too much about one’s personal values than any of the merits of the shows/movies/OVAs.