Youtube video "We Have Accepted Mediocrity" snipet focusing on 80s anime

Discuss anime, especially but not limited to 1950's~1990's series, and related sub-topics
User avatar
Fvlminatvs
Posts: 33
Joined: Sun Mar 11, 2018 9:53 pm
Anime Fan Since: 1981
Location: South Jersey

Re: Youtube video "We Have Accepted Mediocrity" snipet focusing on 80s anime

Post by Fvlminatvs »

gaijinpunch wrote: Mon Apr 30, 2018 4:22 amWill check it out -- thanks. Wonder if he'll update it if he considers it a bit dated?
Based on our conversation, I don't think so. We only traded a few emails back and forth. He's written a book or two since then but I don't know if they're on the same topic (or a similar one). I think what he considers to have been erroneous were some of his predictions about how the Japanese economy would go in the 2010's. Still, it is a really interesting look into what was going on with the Japanese economy back in the late 2000's and how that interacted with the otaku sphere. I definitely think some of his observations with regard to the otaku market were correct.
gaijinpunch
Posts: 174
Joined: Tue Oct 02, 2012 8:03 pm
Anime Fan Since: 1980
Location: Tokyo

Re: Youtube video "We Have Accepted Mediocrity" snipet focusing on 80s anime

Post by gaijinpunch »

Read a few parts so far. Seems like sound arguments. One thing to note though - Japan, and specifically it's economy, has always been a black whole of logic. They've been saying it would crash and burn for ages, but quality of life there is still way better than most of the rest of the world -- better than the US in many regards, for many demographics.

I am curious what their possible dominance in robotics, and their booming tourism industry brings to the table.
User avatar
Fvlminatvs
Posts: 33
Joined: Sun Mar 11, 2018 9:53 pm
Anime Fan Since: 1981
Location: South Jersey

Re: Youtube video "We Have Accepted Mediocrity" snipet focusing on 80s anime

Post by Fvlminatvs »

gaijinpunch wrote: Tue May 01, 2018 8:42 am Read a few parts so far. Seems like sound arguments. One thing to note though - Japan, and specifically it's economy, has always been a black whole of logic. They've been saying it would crash and burn for ages, but quality of life there is still way better than most of the rest of the world -- better than the US in many regards, for many demographics.
I think it is self-evident that the 2010s has seen a major stabilization of Japanese markets that has probably come as a surprise and a relief to many. A few of Marx's observations have been proven untrue or completely reversed in the 7 years since the article series' publication.
Publishing: Revenues in the book and publishing industry decline yearly, and the manga and anime industries are in crisis. Manga magazine sales are collapsing, and even relatively stable single-title comic collections have started to drop.
This sector began to reverse almost immediately after publication of the series. However, to my estimation, it reversed into a bubble itself. Manga publication has been bolstered tremendously by the amount of single-cour to four-cours animated adaptations. While it has always been the case that manga-anime adaptations have been a major part of the business practice, with the decline of OVAs in the digital market, there have been a plethora of short, partial adaptations on the order of two cours and sometimes four cours. I can think of a whole mass of syndicated televised adaptations that never follow the complete run of the source and leave the conclusion dangling with unresolved plot threads--nearly all of them are post-2005.

I can't speak to the purpose of the adaptation treadmill before 2005. It seemed, though, back then, that an adaptation (be it televised or OVA) was primarily for fans of the source but I could be wrong. It is certain, though, that current adaptations are meant to boost sales of source material--at which the adaptations are extremely successful.
User avatar
Char Aznable
Posts: 220
Joined: Sat Jul 12, 2014 11:31 am
Anime Fan Since: Early '90s
Contact:

Re: Youtube video "We Have Accepted Mediocrity" snipet focusing on 80s anime

Post by Char Aznable »

Interesting topic. There's no question that creativity in anime has become stifled over the last decade, if not a bit longer. Certainly, there's been "crap" made long before, and no decade is exempt. (And make no mistake, there's still entertaining anime being produced today.) But from a financial perspective, the industry seems less likely to take chances in the way they did around the '80s and '90s. And it's not surprising, as the same is true for Hollywood. Few studios wants to take risks anymore on concepts that aren't "sure sells." I have a few friends out in LA working in the film industry and they say that back in the '80s/'90s the main problem studios would have is that the scripts they were getting "all looked the same" and would have to urge writers to think outside the box and produce something fresh/new. Nowadays, it's the opposite and the words "too different" are what screenwriters constantly hear. The worst script-note a screenwriter used to get was "cliched and predictable", whereas now that's the goal.

Anime is no different. Big risks and stepping too far outside the box can result in financial losses, hence why the "harem" plot is done over and over, or why we see the subversive take on the magical girl formula being run into the ground after Madoka Magica was a hit. It brings to mind a quote in the revised Anime Encyclopedia, which may put it best: "...the early 21st century has taken such cynical recycling to new levels. Time and again, we found ourselves wondering if we had found a new title for an old show, only to discover on viewing that, yes indeed, it was the same old plot made anew, in the hope that none of the anime audience of 2001 would be around to notice the lack of new ideas."
Post Reply