Blah blah word vomit about animes

[kanna]

Alright guess I feel like starting internet fights today!!

So, it was just announced today (not even a few hours ago, I'd assume by the amount the story is exploding on Twitter) that Viz just had a MASSIVE layoff and restructuring. 40% of their staff (something like 60 people?), gone. This is super alarming to me, because Viz has always been the

Comments

[wodhaund]

THANK YOU for saying everything I think only more politely and with less foul language.

[kanna]

I cut out a lot of instances of the words "manchild" and "manbaby" before I posted this ;;;

[wither]

While I agree with a lot of points, on the other hand, a lot of companies also did massive gutting that have nothing to do with piracy.

My company has continually made profits for the last two years, yet they are also continually cutting where they can to insure they continue to see a profit. The market for everything was fucked when the economy tanked. Everyone argues "the entertainment industry will always flourish because people need to be entertained" but while that is true, they can work within their budget and cut the hell out of anything they deem as excess and work with skeleton staff -- as has happened in a lot of places. This is what they are doing to survive and it is not limited to the industry.

Here have a joshua

[kanna]

Oh yeah, I don't doubt that profit margins and the economic downturn have a LOT to do with it. It's just this perfect storm of shitty things happening to the industry, between the economy in general, the TERRIBLE management of most of the companies themselves, and the shitty fans, but this is the one thing that we're actually culpable for that's still definitely a problem.

Re: I can only compare this to Naruto because it's the only manga I read

[kartos]

It's honestly the same as TV. Why the hell is BBC America showing Doctor Who two weeks behind BBC, and they chop the shit out of it? This needs no translations!

Re: I can only compare this to Naruto because it's the only manga I read

[kanna]

I'm not sure what the answer is with manga, but I REALLY think that anime companies should be looking at sites like hulu a hell of a lot more. I think sponsored content is a great compromise. I LOVE the fact that I can watch FMA: Brotherhood (rofl whenever I get around to watching it, that is) for legit AND free on hulu. I absolutely don't mind waiting a week and watching a few commercials, because it means people are getting paid for that shit.

hi i am pretending to know something about bizness

[bellanche]

Or, if they really need to make a profit: Netflix. Or even an animu/manga version thereof and make it a conglomeration between all the companies.

[kartos]

I so fucking agree. I always buy shit when I can afford it, and when I actually remotely like it. I want hard copies, but my problem is some of that shit is way overpriced. :| :| :| This generally means I never even see the shit to begin with.

Not to be a bitch, but it seems like some shit is way over-hyped and boring as hell. Maybe that's why anime is going the wayside??

"There are "scanslations" of material that was in english in the first place."

Are you fucking kidding me? OH wait, I already knew about this... it's called fanfiction. :| but seriously, what??

[kanna]

TBH, it's kind of a vicious cycle with the pricing. A lot of the stuff is overpriced because they can't support the license on lower prices. The more stuff gets pirated, the more they have to sell it for to make up for the lost readership. The more they sell it for, the more people turn to piracy.

Also, are you familiar with series like Night School, Maximum Ride, and X-Men Misfits? They're all 100% American created series, and ALL of them pop up on a regular basis as "scanslations" on sites. It's literally just scans of material that's in english in the first place.

[kartos]

Ugh, yeah. :(

I have heard but never seen any of them, and I don't really do any watching even of scanlation places. I don't understand putting that much work into scanning a comic, esp when it's already available for cheap and shit. Do these people understand you are literally screwing the creators out of money? I just...don't even.

I want to also mention I have a shitton of Avatar The Last Airbender in digital form. They were the ones taped from TV and not DVD rips, but even then I'm less inclined to go purchase the DVDs because they are so much money for all of it.

[annwyd]

I have actually all but stopped watching pirated anime since I discovered sites like RightStuf and the phenomenon of decently priced anime. I'm pretty sure there's a small subset of fans who would buy a lot more anime if they realized there were places legitimately selling it for less than the overpricing assholes at cons do.

Buuuut that's a small subset. I don't know about the rest.