September 2011 Archives

Recently, Funimation posted a survey for fans of the anime series Princess Jellyfish (Kuragehime) that asked various questions regarding what fans might like to have as bonuses in the release (I believe the survey is still active, and it's worth spending 15 minutes to have your voice heard if you love the show like I do and plan to buy it). Most of the questions dealt with nuts-and-bolts stuff like the preferred release format for the special edition, as well as what included special items and available merchandise viewers would prefer (the short version of my answer - ALL THE THINGS).

There were also a few questions that asked the respondent to describe the reasons why they enjoyed the show. Those of you who've read my site know that the things I enjoy the most about the series are its sense of humor, the way in which it features a cast of female fans/geeks, and its ability to reconcile the worlds of fandom and pop culture in such a way that our geekish aversion to the latter is shown as the prejudice that it is. The survey ended with a text field and an invitation to mention anything else.

So I did.

Having been continually frustrated by both Funimation's recent license acquisitions and some of their advertising campaigns, I sent them what was essentially a harshly-worded letter asking them to consider the demographic range of the anime fan market, one which, if attendance at any of the conventions I've visited lately is to be believed, includes quite a few women and even a small-but-significant group of older adults (who aren't just there to play chaperone!). I realize that the sale of anime is an uphill climb right now, and that a couple of bad business decisions might spell disaster for some of the companies trying to sell the media to an increasingly apathetic market. My opinion, though, is that most companies, Funimation included, aren't really even trying to court a wider audience and, by playing it safe and only setting their sights on series that appeal to the hardcore (and primarily male) otaku market, are allowing the market to contract even further as those of us who aren't being treated as a valued audience get frustrated and leave for greener pastures (for example, torrents of great series that, for whatever reason, will never be released Stateside or anywhere else outside Japan. Yup, I went there).

Hello once again, everyone. Sorry about the long absence; a simple computer upgrade turned into an ordeal involving faulty parts that took some time to resolve (the culprit turned out to be a bad video card that was arcing electricity, yikes!). In my typical fashion, rather than get to posting anything substantive, I thought I'd start back with something a little amusing to ease myself back into the blogging game.

Star Driver: Kagayaki no Takuto and Mawaru Penguindrum are two recent anime series that have, at least in the minds of some fans, laid claim to the mantle left behind by Revolutionary Girl Utena. Whether that's true or not is in the eye of the beholder (personally, I thought that Star Driver had its great moments but was inconsistent, and, well, Penguindrum is only a little over 1/3 complete), but the two series do have some elements that set them apart from the rest of the pack, not the least of which are their strikingly odd and flamboyant transformation sequences. I thought I'd try to attempt a good-natured and humorous comparison of the 2. For reference, here are video versions of both (unfortunately, I would have liked to have found a clip of the first episode battle from Star Driver, but the Crunchyroll stream is only available to premium members and there isn't a better clip on YouTube):

Hello everyone. Real, substantive updates may be on hold for a while, since I'm in the process of building a new computer and don't want to start anything big at the moment. For now, though, I've added both an "About" section and a "Contact" page to the site. I realized much too late that I hadn't listed my email address anywhere, so I apologize to anyone who's wanted to contact me and was unable to do so. Anyway, the pages are linked from this post and can also be found at the bottom of the content bar on the right (right about the Movable Type logo).