The Perilous Path of Anime no Chikara
Basically, I want to address the issue Wah brought up here.
What is Anime no Chikara? It’s an animation programming project for TV Tokyo. That’s the straight-up answer. It’s not some kind of attempt to make “better” anime per se, at least no more than any other anime in production trying to be a “good” production given their limited means. In a sense, it’s just business as usual. It’s a broadcasting company paired up with a production company/publisher. What’s the big deal?
From the business method perspective, Anime no Chikara is clearly not business as usual. It is about making and airing anime originals. And this is part of the context that western viewers are largely (and by that I mean almost entirely) deprived of, as mentioned here. And given the partnership tag, maybe it’s even financed differently.
For starters, I’m having a hard time thinking back to a critically acclaimed and top-selling franchise that began as anime. Gainax’s Evangelion and Gurren Lagann are the only ones that came to mind. Even among Studio Ghibli’s massively-profitable ventures, a hefty number of them are based on pre-existing novels and manga. Just what is so important about original animation? Besides that there are very few of them relatively speaking…?
And I think that is the context where “Anime no Chikara” makes sense. Of course, the more common view (as used in jest) is just a marketing scheme. I don’t know enough the financing deals going on behind the 3 announced Anime no Chikara productions to say if Aniplex/TVT is making some kind of stance in terms of ownership of rights or anything like that, but from the consumer end of things, just how much “chikara” is there to Soranowoto or Night Raid is all we have to go on with.
If I was cynical, I’d say it’s a great marketing scheme. I mean, you can have mediocre shows (although neither Night Raid nor Soranowoto are mediocre at a glance) simply hyped up via these labels, and people like me would pay attention to them for whatever the reasons. And contrary to trends (light novel adaptations tend to score well…), anime originals tend not to be so hot in recent memory. So is TVT and Aniplex just here to rickroll us?
But speaking as a fan of animation, I have to be somewhat excited about seeing more original anime projects. There’s something special when animation is made from something other than manga. It doesn’t seem like there’s any real differences if we drill down to the basic day-to-day processes involved in creating anime, but it’s stuff like this that will ultimately lift some of the categorical late-night anime out of the gutter they are in, and provide an example of something more than more of the same.
I guess this is the real reason why I’m sticking with Jun Maeda’s Angel Beats, right? Now that is the other Anime no Chikara show this season, if you know what I mean. Between A1 and PA Works, somebody has to come up with something worthwhile right? I wonder if ever will Kyoto Animation get its Anime no Chikara moment… Or Gainax! Talk about “spirited” animators!
TL;DR: Wah is just not being pandered to by Senkou no Night Raid. And I too think there’s that “otakusai” feel about Night Raid that some might have reacted to when they saw Sorawoto for the first time (as in they both have that feeling). It’s just that the latter isn’t so potentially offensive as a matter of historical/geopolitical nature.
I see Anime no Chikara in part as a challenge to noitaminA, which is known for its very strong, well-respected, and occasionally break-out series. Anime no Chikara is attempting to one-up this by trying to create a brand that has a similar caliber but is only “original” anime. I think they could succeed at making a competitive brand, but it’ll take a while to develop the reputation, so it just remains to be seen if they can do good enough shows that ALSO make enough money to keep ‘em around.
I don’t think Anime no Chikara is really up to challenging anything, mainly because in the end noitaminA titles are franchises that are already established, save for maybe one or two (Eden of the East?). On the other hand there’s an added level of risk and reward when you work with original material and if every Anime no Chikara title is going to be like that, it will be much more hit and miss than noitaminA is.
Also I have no idea where Anime no Chikara is going with their programs. I don’t think they are looking for a more mainstream audience that noitaminA is, given what we’ve seen so far.
The only other show in the last 10 years or so I can think of off the top of my head (and even this one depends on how we’re defining “critically-acclaimed” and “top-selling”) is My-Hime.
They shouldn’t call it Anime no Chikara if they’re not going make anything good!! They should just call it Crappy Shitty Anime No-One Cares About!!
Even if it is just a push to make more “original” works and not some attempt to revolutionize the medium (Which is what I thought it was. I’m pretty sure I read something to that effect somewhere, or I could have just made it up.) I think criticism of their shitty pretentious programming is warranted since it’s so grandly labels itself as the “power of anime”. Like, if you’re calling yourself the power of anime you have to be at least as good as Cowboy Bebop. I mean seriously, there’s no excuse.
“For starters, I’m having a hard time thinking back to a critically acclaimed and top-selling franchise that began as anime.”
First thing that popped into my mind was Nanoha. Though ‘critically acclaimed’ is a stretch there, it’s almost entirely an anime creation even though technically its origins are in a game.
The many Precure shows are all anime-first creations too as far as I’m aware, but that’s not saying much. Certainly not something to hold up as exemplary.
But the most obvious example is actually really obvious: Macross. Macross F wasn’t that long ago either. Much of Gundam is anime-first too.
Nanoha is based on Triangle Hearts.
PreCure is actually a good example…although I think that’s kind of going the way of shark-jumpers. It’s as old as Mai-Hime at any rate. Good o’ 2004 shows…
Macross F is … more Macross, so I don’t think it counts. Nor Gundam. I mean to some degree their originality is…very little? In terms of design, animation production and music they may be unique (Gundam Unicorn is awesome for example) but they are all derivative works at heart. To call them original works is at least suspect legally, as they don’t even clear that hurdle.
@wah: That’s what your mom said about you.
>> (Which is what I thought it was. I’m pretty sure I read something to that effect somewhere, or I could have just made it up.)
If you recall where you read it, let me know. Because I think that notion might have carried farther and exaggerated more than what was officially announced. I looked for it briefly to no avail.
>> Like, if you’re calling yourself the power of anime you have to be at least as good as Cowboy Bebop. I mean seriously, there’s no excuse.
While I agree about the “no excuse” part, I think you’re just reading the term narrowly. To me, the power of anime is not in shows like Cowboy Bebop. It’s in movies like Paprika, Ponyo and in Yuasa’s works–it’s the sort of thing that makes anime worthy as a medium. If you talk to Kon, Miyazaki or Yuasa as to what they want to do with animation, they can give you solid answers. If you talk to people like Anno, Watanabe and Oshii, they probably won’t be able to. I mean Bebop is basically cool cartoons that mimics equally cool live action crap, if you think about it critically. Why animate it? And just what about anime is cool intrinsically?
Err, didn’t Code Geass spawn a franchise? Sunrise is certainly trying to
I think I’m on wah’s side in all this. I kinda liked Sora no Woto but considering what they were labeling the timeslot as being it was rather derivitive and unambitious.
Code Geass is even a better example. Thanks for that.
>>If you recall where you read it, let me know. Because I think that notion might have carried farther and exaggerated more than what was officially announced. I looked for it briefly to no avail.
Yeh, I may just be making it up.
I was just using Cowboy Bebop as an example of an original anime that I felt really hit it out of the park. I’m sure we all have differing ideas of what “The Power of Anime” is, but my issue is that these shows (Sora no Oto, Niterade) are making an half-assed attempt to live up to that moniker.
I know what you’re saying, but is it really fair to use your definition of chikara? You’re not the one who calls Soranowoto “Anime no Chikara.” Someone else is, and I think they’re going for something more like, what’s unique about anime compared to, say, manga or whatever.
I think the real “perilous path” that Anime no Chikara is taking has to do with it being the only other time slot with a name attached to it, thus drawing immediate comparison with noitaminA. That’s a brutal juxtaposition to me, as — through six series — I have yet to see a noitaminA show that wasn’t practically perfect. Sure, that comparison is terribly unfair, but that isn’t going to stop people from making it.
I know I said it’s a time slot, but it’s not what they announced, so let me clear it up. It just happens that so far it is showing at the same time. It might be a time slot thing.
Perhaps it is fair to compare it with noitaminA, that’s not the problem. On the other hand, you gotta wonder why nobody talks about Noise, which has probably the most original Fuji TV anime thus far and is a much better comparison with Anime no Chikara…
“On the other hand, you gotta wonder why nobody talks about Noise, which has probably the most original Fuji TV anime thus far and is a much better comparison with Anime no Chikara…”
I was about to say “Why hasn’t anyone mentioned Noise yet?”. Wish I woke up like 2 hours earlier to say that.
This is making me feel bad for products under the “Anime no Chikara” slot, since apparently that means besides the original content, there must be something special about the show to make it end up in the slot. :v
Isn’t Sora no woto based on a manga?
Nope. Although the manga did come out before the anime did, they announced the anime before the manga came out so…
[...] no Chikara timeslot, Omo from Omonomono noted that it’s a little difficult to come up with a decent list of anime originals that are both critically acclaimed and popular. Omo brought up Gainax’s Evangelion and [...]
I think there is possibly some confusion over our interpretation of Anime no Chikara as well. I was under the impression that the whole purpose was just to bring famous directors, animators, etc. together. I don’t think that necessarily means the project will come out great. There can be wonderful directors working on a project, but when they say “okay we need K-on, but make it somehow intelligent” they probably had a really tough time trying to make it work.
In ALL regards, Sora no Woto was a complete failure. Otaku saw right through it, and I’m glad they did. This is going to be a problem that Anime no Chikara is going to face if they continue down this path and they will inevitably be forced to do one of two things:
1. Say “fuck it,” and completely sell out. No need to hide behind anything, bring the best animators/directors/whatever they are trying to claim and put them to work on the biggest moe-fest possible and don’t bother to hide it. Otaku appreciate that, and I would appreciate their honesty.
2. Say “fuck it,” and go the opposite direction branching out hard, trying to create something new and powerful. Judging from their understanding of the market and their horrible attempt to “subvert” the moe genre through Sora no Woto (that’s my analysis at least), this probably won’t work. Highly experimental work is a possible choice in here, and they might choose that path if their attempts to make a middle ground between “new and exciting” and “modern anime formula” keep failing.
[...] conclude, I think I’m in agreement with a comment made by VIPPER I found in Omo’s blog while I searched Google for ‘Anime no Chikara.’ He says: I [...]
“ALL” regards, definitely not. But in light of what has transpired in Night Raid, I think even “failure” is hardly fitting for Sora no Woto.