Anime, Manga & Figures Blog

This post is a response to Sevakis’ open letter to the anime industry, as posted on AnimeNewsNetwork.com.  To summarize, Sevakis is seeking to get the anime executives in Japan to embrace streaming and other new technologies, rather than relying on packaged media, for distribution of anime.  In other words, instead of relying on sales of dvds and vhs, Japanese anime companies should focus more on making money from online distribution.  My response is focused on the American consumer side of this issue.

A basic tenet of American copyright protection law is that the rights holders HAS TO ENFORCE their intellectual property rights.  This means that whenever someone infringes on your copyright, you have to do the cease and decease letter, followed up by actual litigation in federal court if necessary.  If the holders don’t enforce their rights, then I would argue the anime shows in question have entered the public domain, with no American intellectual property protection whatsoever.

Has this tipping point been reached?  For heavily downloaded shows, I would argue the answer is, “Yes.”  If you have 100,000 downloads of a Naruto episode, for example, I believe it would be hard for Viz to convince a federal court that the episode is still entitled to protection under American copyright laws.

But I agree that the change has to come from the Japanese companies.  American companies are limited in available recourse under American copyright laws.  And if the American companies don’t have the license to the anime shows, they have no legal standing to sue for copyright violations; only the Japanese companies that create/produce those shows have this power.  By standing pat and doing nothing, the Japanese companies are allowing the degradation in the value of their anime properties.

Sevakis provides several ideas in the Getting Out of the Rut section of his editorial, and I fully agree with them.  By embracing streaming technologies for episodes of new shows within days of airing on TV, the Japanese companies can capture revenue when global market interest in these episodes are at their highest.  People who enjoy the show will still buy the collectibles and the packaged media.  In America, you have plenty of examples of this occurring with TV shows like Heroes, CSI, etc.  Even though these shows have been aired (and illegally distributed online), American consumers are still buying them on dvd.

Unless the Japanese companies stop relying on packaged media for distribution, I agree that the value of subbed anime is zero, and will stay that way for the foreseeable future.

I’ve seen one episode of Kodomo no Jikan OAV and one episode of the TV series.  I can’t help but think that these anime shows are meant for pedophiles.  I know this is a controversial statement, so please bear with me while I explain why I say so. 

Jikan takes place in elementary school, where the main character is a new teacher named Daisuke Aoki.  He is the object of affection of Rin Kokonoe, who is an extrovert and not shy about expressing her love for the teacher.  She’s the ringleader of a group that includes Kuro Kagami and Mimi Usa, both fellow elementary schoolers in Rin’s class.

[HEAVY SPOILER ALERT!!!!]

The OAV shows the three girls in a very sexual perspective.  How do they end up in a lingerie store, where Rin tries on bras?  She also flashes her panties to the teacher.  She teases the poor guy and embarrasses him.  Mimi is drawn having breasts (again that character is an elementary schooler).  There’s a bathroom scene where all 3 girls are naked as well.

The TV show has some censored scenes (panties flashing).  In one scene, Rin sucks on Aoki’s finger in a very sensual way. 

Bottom line is that if you’re a pedophile, this anime show is perfect for you.  If you’re not into very young girls, you may get queasy, sickening feelings while watching this show.

I’ve seen a handful of episodes of Dragonaut - The Resonance, and it’s time I put in my two cents on this series.  The show takes place in the future, where the Moon has been colonized by humans, and commercial space flights to the Moon takes place on a regular basis.  And yet, there is an alien threat.  Pluto has been destroyed by an alien invader, which is taking over the former planet’s orbit and named “Thanatos.”  Additionally, there exists dragons, which are somehow connected to Thanatos.

The storyline seems complicated, and there’s a lot of character conflicts involved.  The episodes are split into short preludes, which show past events, and the main feature episodes.  The story revolves around Jin Kamishina, who is the sole survivor of a moonflight accident five years ago, and who lost his family on the same flight.  He encounters a girl named Toa, who seems to have beyond human abilities, and this encounter results in his pursuit by government agencies.

Dragonaut really panders to the young adult male audience.  Some of the female characters have really oversized breasts.  Toa’s uniform resembles a school girl wearing bloomers (short, tight gym pants).  And there is plenty of computerized graphics actions of dragons fighting one another.

With the exception of the theme songs, the music is really good.  There’s a lot of classical music sprinkled in for dramatic effect.  I find the opening song, “Perfect Blue,” to be average.  The ending song, “Rain of Love,” has my vote for the WORST theme song of 2007. It is simply that bad, in my opinion.  The singing is horribly out of tune, and the singer’s vocal simply can’t hit the notes.

Dragonaut - The Resonance has enough good elements to appeal to male viewers.  And I’d like to see how the show is resolved, if at all.  The 13 announced episodes don’t seem enough, at the rate we’re going right now, to even deal with the Thanatos-threat-to-humanity angle right now.  I would not be surprised to see a season two announcement down the pipe.

Just picked up a weekend pass to New York Anime Festival from Forbidden Planet.  I luv being able to buy tickets at retail stores, rather than online or through the mail.  I expect the convention to be really good, and well attended.