What to say About the Death of Anime

An interview with Hideaki Anno, the creator of Neon Genesis Evangelion, has caused a bit of a stir in the anime community due to his sentiment of “Anime is dying.” I personally think he is right but not in the sense of the entire community collapsing in on itself. Anime has been more or less a consistent the Japanese lifestyle pretty much since the widely accepted creation of it in the late 1950’s to early 1960’s and has grown and evolved in to a giant there. There were a couple of low points as with any growing genre but mostly it has grown upwards and mostly showed few to no signs of stopping. There are many animation studios, creation houses, and fashions of anime creation now that it was a matter of time before other locations outside of Japan were going to try their own cracks at bat with their own style.

And now we are here

It has been well documented how hard life is for a manga/anime creator in Japan. If you want more information on that all you have to do is just google it, really, it is easy to find articles about how poorly they are paid and how they are clocking in hours that even the best would show fatigue with. The business model that is being performed in Japan is just not sustainable for the genre of entertainment to continue to grow inside of the country. There is a strong chance that the anime bubble is going to implode on itself and not to say it will not recover but as to what we know “anime” to be now will not be as it is in 10-15 years if even that long. Almost anything is able to be outsourced and some places will see to it that they could possibly do the work better themselves. Not to mention the market is eventually going to change in one fashion or another with the wants and demands of the people who are paying.

And people are paying hand over fist for this one.

Speaking of people who are paying, this eventual death of anime as we know it probably will not affect the US in the same fashion as it would Japan. Americans are so far behind the loop when it comes to anime that mainstream wise while the traditional idea of anime is on resting, we would just receive material translated here that has been there for years. Even as the gap is closing with sources like Crunchyroll and other direct streaming sites there is still a delay that audiences are going to not necessarily be aware of. Not to mention that the US have their own style of animation and has even shown to have as much mass appeal as anime.

Point proven

Anime is dying but the giant banner of what is known as or generically referred to as “Anime” is not. Other places are going to create their own versions of animation that could easily appear to be Japanese in origin, the system in Japan will eventually have to be reworked to foster new ideas and fresher forms of anime, fully hand drawn anime might become a thing of the past (no matter how sad that makes me), and the bubble will eventually deflate but it is bound to inflate once again. One of the best parallels I can come up with for this is the crash of video games and its subsequent rebirth. Video games grew to an insane degree and the bubble blew. Massively. But all it takes is one title or one company to turn things around and restore prestige to any form of entertainment. The reason that I am even willing to take merit with Anno’s words is because, even if you hate the show or are a fan, you have to admit that NGE has had a major effect on the medium and changed the perception of animation only being for children and the usage of symbolism (however much it was sometimes just to look pretty).

Totally not symbolism. Nah. Nope.

He’s Alive?! HE’S ALIVE!

Woah, hey, hi. I’m back… for a least a moment. Faquza here and you may have noticed that I have been a little quiet for last few months. Well, I’m in a transitional period of trying to get a few different things up and going because life.

Working on life over here. Got to repair that handle…

I’m still gaming and such but I just haven’t really had a chance to sit down and type out much of anything, mainly because of work. But I’m going to try and get some reviews and opinions down the pipeline rather than just leaving you guys in the cold. Yes, I know, just clamoring with anticipation for another asshat with opinions on the internet; how original. Why yes, because… well… they are my thoughts on things. To give a mini assessment on things as of late.

I want to learn Sony Vegas: I’m going to try and work with the program more so I can start creating and editing videos. “But Faquza,” you say turning your head slightly at the thought “why do that when everybody and their mother are making those types of videos?” My retort: I just feel like I want to. No particular rhyme or reason for it. Always have. I do this because I like it, not to go make a name for myself and have continuous, monotonous tropes that show up a lot in my work (pick a youtuber, almost any popular youtube lets player and you will see what I mean).

I don’t have to name names on that trope list because here is a sterling example of what I mean.

Triple A gaming, the churn out machine, and Amiibos: So it has been a bit of a time in gaming. Mortal Kombat showing how triple A gaming can be done with a massive undertaking to keep the genre evolving. I’m going to work on a review of this soon so don’t worry. In the opposite direction: A new Assassin’s Creed game has been announced… I hear the crickets.

Surprised? Anyone? Anyone at all?

Okay, there is a possibility of this one being good mostly because this one isn’t going to be based on sword play so here’s to innovation on that. Victorian England could prove to be a nice change of pace but after the DISASTER that was Unity, I’m waiting before any level of excitement is shown. Witcher 3 comes out very soon and I’m looking forward to it and at the very least the scripting and story are always done well in those games so here’s to that. Star Wars Battlefront is a thing (yeah, I’m a few weeks late on reporting about that, I know) and it looks okay so far from what we know. More info needs to be released before dictating or even suggesting a negative or positive opinion for it to me at least. Shifting gears, there are Amiibos I want but I’m not going to go to the extent that Nintendo wants me to go to get them. So the jury is out on me getting them but I would say Nintendo’s first crack at this was a resounding success.

I want. I want a lot of these.

Streaming problems: So I don’t know how many of you caught some of the older streams but you may have noticed that the quality in them was kinda mediocre. That is all on the internet connection I’m on currently. That will be changing soon but I can’t necessarily say that it will be much better or worse yet. I’ll have to test it when I get it. Also, I may, in the future, try to get a PS camera so I can be seen while playing (why I would put you guys through that is beyond me but who knows, might take off) and the only reason I haven’t done it already on say my laptop is because I don’t want it to overheat or anything stupid like that. It’s pretty powerful but running OBS, a streaming device input, and a camera at the same time may not be the best idea. But I am trying to make things a little nicer for those willing to watch and comment. Which brings me to something else: Please, if you are in the stream, chat. I request that because that can at least make things a little more interesting rather than me just commenting reactions to what’s going on in the game. I typically have chat next to me and even though there is a delay I really like interacting with the people who are watching. So just take time out to make an account and chat a bit. I really would appreciate it.

So that’s it for me right now. Currently waiting on Mass Effect 1 to download on to my system to play it and being oh so salty toward Project Cars, (IF YOU INVALIDATE MY LAP TIME ONE MORE TIME I WILL…) and waiting for a PPV tonight, so if you have comments, leave them. Suggestions, leave them. Just let me know, you guys are just as much a part of this as I am.

And That’s Game.