Miyazaki vs Otakus -

[random_pickle]

I'm hoping I posted this in the right board.

Anywho, you know Miyazaki, the guy that directed the famous films Spirited Away, Princess Monoke, Castle in the Sky, etc? Recently he was interviewed where he stated that Otakus were ruining the anime industry. He says that Otakus keep making anime without spending time with real people, asking "is something like this believable?". He then finishes by saying that Otaku are humans who can't stand looking at other humans. http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/int...m-with-the-anime-industry-is-it-full-of-otaku

Needless to say, the Otaku were not pleased: http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/bbs/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=2818929&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0

lol this guy is so senile now. First, he says his movies aren't anime even though they are animation made in Japan, and now he's saying that people funding the industry is the problem with it. It would be a lot better if all the companies went bankrupt and there was no anime at all, right old man?

Heaven forbid that anime should be made by people who really love anime.

What are your thoughts on this? Is Miyazaki overexaggerating, or are the Otakus truely causing problems for the anime world?

 

[Jewelsmakerguy]

Honestly, I think it's a little of both.

While it is true most Anime released (especially during the early/mid 2000s) seem to just pander to Otaku with their fanservice and generic moe crap. Miyazaki probably doesn't realize that Otaku also watch his films.

 

[_blank_]

I will confess something here, in this tiny little hub in the internet: I never really liked Miyazaki films. Yes, they were all really well animated and all, but I never could get into them. I always felt they were always very pretentious and the whole Miyazaki fandom just made the experience all the worse for me.

That said... I think I can actually agree with Miyazaki on this to a certain point. Although I don't really care much for his films, I can tell there is a heart to his films- there is a signature feeling to it. I can't say that however for most anime out there now. It feels like tired retreads of other shows and doesn't want to create anything new, but rather recycle the same tired tropes and the same tired animation. There ARE a few stand-ins here and there, but by and in large, it does feel more and more like a color-by-number "craft" than an "art."

But of course, saying that now is saying that about a decade too late to be relevant.

 

[Pine Tar]

In all fairness, in Japan, otaku essentially means basement-dweller obsessed with something relatively trivial. So, I guess the equivalent in America would be a creator for a children's cartoon show telling a significant group of loser college-aged fans that "This show was made for children, so please stop making porn,"

 

[Jewelsmakerguy]

I will confess something here, in this tiny little hub in the internet: I never really liked Miyazaki films. Yes, they were all really well animated and all, but I never could get into them. I always felt they were always very pretentious and the whole Miyazaki fandom just made the experience all the worse for me.

I'm not that keen on Miyazaki's films either, so you're not alone on that one.

That said... I think I can actually agree with Miyazaki on this to a certain point. Although I don't really care much for his films, I can tell there is a heart to his films- there is a signature feeling to it. I can't say that however for most anime out there now. It feels like tired retreads of other shows and doesn't want to create anything new, but rather recycle the same tired tropes and the same tired animation. There ARE a few stand-ins here and there, but by and in large, it does feel more and more like a color-by-number "craft" than an "art."

That's probably because they release more Anime than America does cheap Seinfeld-inspired "sit-coms" and Family Guy rip-offs. Hence their (moreso than usual) lack of creativity.

That and Japan doesn't seem to want to take risks anymore.

 

[GGGBYBYBY]

I completely agree with what he's said. Otaku are fucking things up because marketing seeing the money potentials from them and then just make rip-offs of each other. It's literally pandering to men locked in the basement 90% meaning new potential audiences aren't reached out to. There's not enough diversity in the genre for other people to be interested in it and when people do get into it quite often they're met with hostility by NEETS who have grown to become entitled because they get pandered to too much. It's not good for anybody when a genre begins to pander too much to one thing and neglects other people. If you're not big on fanservice or underaged looking characters that have verbal tics and wear a bikinis all the time a lot of anime just doesn't appeal to you. Like it's hard for some people to ignore so they abandon the whole genre.
Neckbeard gamers kind of reflect this sort of thing. They get pandered to so much that they get shit produced for them left, right and center. Then when say somebody who is not a neckbeardy gamer goes to play a game or something and they get a lot of hate for it because gamers think that the person doesn't belong there or something when in reality a type of media really shouldn't belong to anybody but its producers.
For example the Magical Girl sub-genre has recently been really appealing to Otaku with the whole MOE factor and it's making people who aren't that type of person avoid a lot of the genre. Before then there were some titles that could appeal to many audiences, them possbily included in it like we look at say for example Futari Wa Pretty Cure(the first series) or Cardcaptor Sakura which appeals to the young girls it's marketed at, teenage anime fans, yuri fans, shoujo fans, older magical girl fans and Otaku. But if we look at other magical girl titles such as Moetan who the fuck else other than Otaku would really care about that?

 

[Dr. Mario]

I remember when I first read it on Anime News Network and laughed as fuck. Miyazaki cares more about his fanbase than other producers and/or mangakas.
I mean, he want them to be better people instead of a great bunch of good-for-nothing manchilds.

 

[Judge Holden]

the existance of anime like highschool of the dead pretty much confirms everything he said

 

[homerbeoulve]

This beef against Miyazaki is unjustified.

 

[caffeinated_wench]

I think he has a point.

Seriously, look at anime and manga now. They're so bland. Where's the heart?
A lot of it is basically fanservice with no real concept of originality to them.

I've become so picky about what anime I watch, personally. Or any manga I read. This is the result of the aforementioned lack of any real substance.
It's just generic crap created to make a quick buck.

At the same time, it makes the ones that go against the grain and have compelling stories stand out much more.

 

[Picklepower]

He's right, lets not forget that America basically has a completely different definition and association with the word Otaku than Japan. In America, your considered an Otaku if you simply, are a fan of a lot of anime. In Japan an Otaku is a borderline Hikkiomori shut in, that collects figures of anime girls, and plays dating sims 24/7. And there is a lot of anime that panders to that crowd now. There are a lot of anime fans in the U.S that got mad at his statement, but they don't understand that, he isn't talking about them.

 

[Bob's Fries]

One word. Wizardchan.

 

[trueandhonestfan]

I think he's over exaggerating, but he has a point. I wonder how he would feel about the ONE TRUE GOD HARUHI.

 

[R.A.E.L.]

Ehhhh, I don't know.

Then again, there is anime like Panty and Stocking with Garterbelt. So I can kinda see what he means.

 

[CatParty]

isn't all japanese cartoons just the same thing over and over any way?

 

[TrippinKahlua]

Miyazaki is absolutely right - the every day Japanese person does frown upon those so called "Otaku's" and "Weeaboos"

Honestly though, every single culture and subculture has their way of doing things and appreciating those individuals in different cultures.

For good example, here in the Bahamas, if we were to slip or fall at the grocery store due to negligence on the stores behalf, we will NOT make up some sort of claim that we're owed some sort of fortune. We Bahamians think Americans rely on the justice system far too much.

isn't all japanese cartoons just the same thing over and over any way?

Only when you want to believe that.

 

[Kamen Rider Black RX]

Seriously, this pandering is the reason I stopped watching anime and started checking out Toku, Doctor Who, Firefly, Supernatural, Gravity Falls, Walking Dead, A Song of Ice and Fire, etc. It just wasn't for me anymore. Sure there's a few recent titles I like (The Devil is a Part-Timer, Maoyu), but modern stuff just isn't for me.

Alan Moore said something similar a few months ago about people over the age of 13 liking superheroes.

"I haven't read any superhero comics since I finished with Watchmen. I hate superheroes. I think they're abominations. They don't mean what they used to mean. They were originally in the hands of writers who would actively expand the imagination of their nine- to 13-year-old audience. That was completely what they were meant to do and they were doing it excellently. These days, superhero comics think the audience is certainly not nine to 13, it's nothing to do with them. It's an audience largely of 30-, 40-, 50-, 60-year old men, usually men. Someone came up with the term graphic novel. These readers latched on to it; they were simply interested in a way that could validate their continued love of Green Lantern or Spider-Man without appearing in some way emotionally subnormal. This is a significant rump of the superhero-addicted, mainstream-addicted audience. I don't think the superhero stands for anything good. I think it's a rather alarming sign if we've got audiences of adults going to see the Avengers movie and delighting in concepts and characters meant to entertain the 12-year-old boys of the 1950s."
Read more at http://www.comicbookmovie.com/fansites/JoshWildingNewsAndReviews/news/?a=90524#foblUuVB4U2eAZSM.99

 

[darkhorse816]

Akibared!

 

[Slowboat to China]

I agree with Miyazaki. I didn't care for some of his films (like a true snob, I prefer the original Howl's Moving Castle book to the animated adaptation), but when you watch a Miyazaki production you do get a sense of joy and pride in craftsmanship--both sorely lacking in many recent productions.

Miyazaki explained that animating people can only be done by those who spend time observing others, something he feels the industry lacks because it's "full of otaku."

This, especially. I'm a small-time writer, not a filmmaker, but even I know that if you want your characters to be well-rounded and realistic then you need to study--and interact with--real people. And realism is important no matter how wildly unrealistic your settings and plot are: you could be writing about feuding gods, but if they're not fully rounded and consistent characters, then they become not people to connect with but shiny objects to watch. A lot of more recent productions seem to prefer the shiny object approach.

 

[Surtur]

http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/interest/2010-07-13/hayao-miyazaki-is-not-an-ipad-fan

To be fair to anime fans, he seems to have a hate boner for rather inconsequential things. Not an Apple fan myself, but calling touch screens "masturbation" is taking shit a little far.