Hulu's secret weapon.
Animation Gives an Edge to Streaming Services
One of the most popular options on Hulu ... is an animated series about an adolescent ninja and his pink-haired love interest battling a mysterious organization.
... Hulu has 9,500 episodes of anime titles. ... Netflix offers 4,000 anime episodes for streaming. ... Hulu can offer anime in its raciest and rawest form, though the company said it included ratings on episodes and avoided acquiring anything too sexual. ...
... Hulu’s strategy mirrors the approach of fledgling pay-cable channels in the 1990s and early 2000s. Networks like IFC, Spike, G4 and Starz all featured artsy Japanese animation to try to attract a young, hip audience. ...
It's fine that anime is popular, but piracy has lowered its cash value in the states. (Why pay big money for something you can get for next to nothing in bootleg form?)
Japanese creators are no doubt thrilled with their popularity, even as they are bummed by the tiny revenue streams. There's a lesson there for other creators.
Posts
16 comments:
The big deal here is that the shows Hulu is picking up now are simalcasting with their Japan releases. Anime piracy drops when there are available versions that are well translated. I'm sure it won't completely counter it, but ease of timely access and quality translations are big factors for Anime viewers. (Until more recently CrunchyRoll had a reputation for very poor translations and script editing. It seems they are starting to turn this around as well though)
Having fallen out of the whole anime thing in recent years, it seems the view from a few guys I know over this is in how the future is in streaming legit anime in this fashion versus DVD sales that have slumped in recent years. I do think that it's probably the only logical way to get any of these things in the US outside the fansub/piracy market that may never go away given the circumstances.
It certainly helps though at the same time I kinda miss not having these things in physical form on my shelf, but then, hardly anything that's coming out now appeals to me at all.
Oooooh nothing to "sexual", but utter sick violent depravity, well, that's ok. Most kids have seen saw right? Well, that's nothing compared to this stuff so it'll be ok. Gut god forbid their young minds get corrupted by the sight of the female anatomy! Or the "sex"!!!!
Please--no more Japanese cartoons until they learn how to tell a coherent story and create identifiable characters. Enough of the pre-pubescent plots that appeal to only the most juvenile 13 year olds.
Please--no more Japanese cartoons until they learn how to tell a coherent story and create identifiable characters. Enough of the pre-pubescent plots that appeal to only the most juvenile 13 year olds.
Please watch KIKI'S DELIVERY SERVICE and PORCO ROSSO before making statements like that.
I have. They're passable, but nothing special. And BLAND. OK for small children...but not much more.
Again, people have their likes and dislikes about anime. It's certainly not all hyper-active, ultra-violent mayhem that seems to categorized the subject for the past 20 years (Yoshiaki Kawajiri often fits that description), certainly the works of Studio Ghibli go the other way too, I do see identifiable characters there, but perhaps it's still a cultural difference we Westerners find hard to take when accepting anything from Japan that isn't filled with giant monsters, earth-shattering explosions or transforming robots.
I think that bringing in quality versions of anime at a good price point will diminish piracy.
Itunes got people to buy recorded music instead of steal it, because it was offered at an attractive price. Same thing should happen here.
Thanks, Steve, that's really the point (not whether anime is someone's cup of tea or not). There is an audience for anime, and there is a ton of piracy going on. If this gets more of the revenue stream to the people who create anime, then it's a good thing.
I have. They're passable, but nothing special. And BLAND. OK for small children...but not much more.
I disagree, but you are entitled to your opinion. Perhaps you would prefer the visual excitement of Katsuhiro Otomo's MEMORIES or Satoshi Kon's PAPRIKA.
Again, they need to learn how to tell a story that doesn't rely on the short attention spans of 4 year old kids. Japanese Cartoons has nothing to do with "cup of tea." It has to do with clear communication, which most of them do not have. And they focus on the most juvenile subject matter for the most part. The only half decent one I've ever seen was Totoro and Grave of the Fireflies, with Totoro being the truly outstanding film. Fireflies didn't utilize the medium of animation at all. But it was a good film (because of the writing) nonetheless.
Again, they need to learn how to tell a story that doesn't rely on the short attention spans of 4 year old kids.
I'm starting to doubt that you've actually seen any of the films that I've mentioned so far. I would not accuse Koji Morimoto's "Magnetic Rose" of being aimed at people with short attention spans.
I was in Japan and saw, "Redline"," Welcome to the Space Show" and "Arriety". All brilliant, with completely different style, pace,narrative and story line from each other.
If they're made for 4 year old kids with short attention span, I'm sure one of them.
Meh--most japanese cartoons are silly kid stuff, or juvenile pap. When they learn to tell a story well and characters an audience can care about, let the world know. Until then, it'll be relegated to the world of 13 year old little girls.
Well thanks for swinging this all the way back again.
Meh--most japanese cartoons are silly kid stuff, or juvenile pap. When they learn to tell a story well and characters an audience can care about, let the world know. Until then, it'll be relegated to the world of 13 year old little girls.
That's a generalization, you're judging an entire industry based on what amounts to a couple of genres that are directed to a young audience. It would be the equivalent of them saying "I will care about american animation when they stop making their movies about pop culture jokes, Hollywood celebrities and fart jokes, that's all they do, only 4 year olds with short attention spans can like that", and while some works do meet that criteria, not all of them are like that.
It sounds like you're applying a double standard, people complain that western animation is not taken seriously since it's only seen as "for kids", but you are doing the same thing with japanese animation, despite the fact that they cover a lot more genres than western animation, specially in the US, does, just because you have only seen works directed at tweens.
Post a Comment