Lame way of representing "Part B"? Go fuck yourself. I like it.

Continuing from where I left off before, because the list just got too damned wordy, I want to instead focus on the more volatile pieces of anime fandom that piss me off. Unlike the first five items, which are just general fan pissing contest annoyances, these next five are much more serious. My friends and copatriots on this site, Kylaran, Sorrow-kun, and Akira, have been trying to bring out an awareness of the otaku nature both from aspects in the west and in the east. Their works have inspired me to bring forth more issues I find are important to anime fandom. These five items deal with the potential harm of fandom, the mental state of some fans, and the importance of personal freedoms and liberties. Because of this, I toned down trying to be antagonistic and curbed the swearing quite a bit, as I really want the readers to understand where I am coming from here. Sure, I still take some pot-shots at the fringe, but I do it out of love. I sincerely hope these last five are read with an open mind, as there is an “ugly” aspect to otakuism that we need to explore.

(...)
Read More »

Copyright © 2010 Behind The Nihon Review. All licensed material are owned by their respective parties.
By TypicalIdiotFan | Permalink | 26 comments | Add to del.icio.us | Tweet! | AnimeBlips - vote it up!
Post tags: Bleach, Dance in the Vampire Bund, FUNimation, Happiness!, Hideaki Anno, Kannagi, Neon Genesis Evangelion, NTR, Otaku, Waifu

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

Gonzo (TSE: 3755) stock prices from 2005 to 2009. Prices listed in Japanese Yen.

On July 28th, 2009, Gonzo Digimation Holdings was officially removed from the Tokyo Stock Exchange. Citing more than two years of consecutive loss, the corporation was forced to stop trading in compliance with TSE regulation. How did Gonzo, a company once renowned for its innovative style and unique productions, fall to such financial ruin? Fans speculate that Gonzo’s failure began when it abandoned innovation for fanservice with shows such as Rosario and Vampire, Kurogane no Linebarrels and the (in)famous Strike Witches. Bear in mind that DVD sales for Strike Witches was considerably greater than sales for any other series hitherto produced by the studio. Yet, the animation department was indeed losing money; by Fiscal Year 2008, it was operating on a loss of several hundred million yen (several million US dollars.) Gonzo’s collapse as a corporation was not a simple result of shoddily-produced anime; rather, many reasons led to its collapse, including an over-ambitious push into the global market, declining DVD sales and the global financial meltdown of 2007-2008. In this multi-part series, I will attempt, to the best of my limited ability, to chronicle and comment on the anime industry’s first casualty in its relentless push into the global market.

(...)
Read More »

Copyright © 2009 Behind The Nihon Review. All licensed material are owned by their respective parties.
By Akira | Permalink | 12 comments | Add to del.icio.us | Tweet! | AnimeBlips - vote it up!
Post tags: ADV, FUNimation, Geneon, Gonzo, Kurogane no Linebarrels, Microeconomics, Rosario + Vampire, Strike Witches, Transformers

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

Several years ago, the music industry began a series of very public law suits against various internet pirates for the distribution of their music.  A massive dialogue ensued and has since generated enough content to fill hundreds of encyclopedias. Without the legal high ground, some pirates generated clever reasoning for their positions; some began flawed moralizing on the issue, and many others just stuck up their middle fingers and dared the industry to get them. Regardless of all the hubbub, those few who were unfortunate enough to get caught were charged massive fines.  In hopes to continue their ways, the pirates rallied under the undeniably true mantra “you can’t catch us all”; however, that was never the point.

(...)
Read More »

Copyright © 2009 Behind The Nihon Review. All licensed material are owned by their respective parties.
By Shadowmage | Permalink | 17 comments | Add to del.icio.us | Tweet! | AnimeBlips - vote it up!
Post tags: FUNimation, One Piece

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh