“Second verse, same as the first.”
- The Ramones, “Judy Is a Punk”
I’m not normally a reader of The Economist, but this week’s issue had an interesting article about the economic impact of Harry Potter. The boy wizard has done some interesting things: In the post-Potter world, an otherwise unremarkable single mother is richer than the queen, Bloomsbury has risen from nowhere to become Great Britain’s premier children’s book publisher, and the film industry now relies almost entirely on known properties for its blockbusters. The way the dominoes fall is quite fascinating.
And relevant! Picture by Ringo78: http://www.pixiv.net/member_illust.php?mode=medium&illust_id=5212539
The last time I wrote about K-ON!, Kyoto Animation’s high school rock darling, I was confident that this was anime’s heavy metal love ballad to “mono no aware”: It would be forgotten, or perhaps wistfully remembered here and there. But a lot of things have happened since then, including the announcement of a new season. Yui and her merry band will not go gentle into that good night, at least not yet, and that’s led me to reconsider what this show really means. Has K-ON! changed the world?
Maybe not, but it’s a pretty good sign of where we are. If you know K-ON!’s record-breaking history, for example, you know that Blu-Ray is here to stay. Otaku are the early adopters, a legacy of Akihabara’s technological roots, and the amount they have collectively paid to see Mio’s beautiful eyes in high definition is pretty amazing. And we’re not even going to talk about Fender’s guitar and bass sales in Japan.
In unrelated news, I bought an ukulele last week. Superstardom, here I come.
K-ON! is getting a new season right now because it sold well, and because it wasn’t a legal pain like Haruhi. If Kyoto Animation took on more projects than it currently does, we might have gotten it even sooner. The thirteen-episoder paid its dividends, and now they’re going to make another; it’s simple supply and demand. Same with this season’s A Certain Scientific Railgun, or with Nyan Koi! Fans of certain shows are more explicitly benefiting from a system where they can vote with their dollars.
Say what you will about moe pandering being a cancer to the industry (which is absolute rubbish; there’s nothing so pathological about it), but I find it comforting that we have some kind of voice. In this way if nothing else, K-ON! has made its mark on our small history.
Congratulations, fans. You really did earn it.
January 2, 2010 at 10:01 am
Moe pandering? What is that? Instead of striving to make a better series than K-ON!, they are focusing on more of the same. Supply and demand is what’s wrong with the creative process behind anime today, when big guns like Kyoto Animation could put some of that money to better the medium as a whole. Instead, they throw it away on rants (Endless Eight) and second seasons.
January 2, 2010 at 10:41 am
I think it’s a little unfair to call this throwing away money. If anything, they’re clearly going to make more.
You’re right that creators being afraid to innovate because it might not sell is a bad thing. But I don’t think that’s necessarily the case here. Regardless of the motivations, Endless Eight was bold and, in its way, pretty unforgettable.
Thanks for reading. Your comment speed is lightning.
January 2, 2010 at 7:20 pm
Innovation is a curious thing, and often may not be intentional or all that different from “the formula.” Stepping away from any formula is not what a company in this industry wants to do (I agree), but I also agree with Miha that “milking” usually leads to redundancy, boredom, and let’s say, fillers.
Unfortunately, innovation is a high-risk move when intentional, but if KyoAni want to show innovation, they don’t need drastic change imo. In an iterative process such as S1 [break] S2 [break] S3 and so on, each iteration only needs slight change, hopefully creating a better product. It is kind of like car manufacturer lines, they aren’t going to abandon something that sells, they are going to try and improve it.
Hopefully, KyoAni, or any other studio in this situation, makes that consideration. Perhaps, modifying the second wave is the highest risk move, but I honestly believe that the redundancy effect will begin to take it’s toll by the end of S2. If there is an S3, they will need to do something at least slightly different.
I think we can have the “same” thing, but with slightly progressive modifications and still be pleased with the product.
(Haruhi is a slight exception because their “innovation” of airing the story out of order has something to offer)
ps. I think Miha is using Realtime RSS >_> (realtimerss.org)
January 4, 2010 at 12:24 pm
Sorry Ryan, didn’t mean to ignore you!
Haruhi had all kinds of innovation going for it. That darn dance really caught on at exactly the right time, with YouTube and the power of viral memes just beginning to blossom. And the thing about airing the story out of order is that it demonstrated some care and artistry on the part of the storytellers.
K-ON! doesn’t have that– in fact, the one time they tried to show some sense of storytelling (in the second to last episode), it was panned pretty hard, at least by the blogging audience.
Then again, if you’re thinking insidiously, the repetition of everything post-Azusa could be seen as an experimental precursor to Endless Eight… dun dun dunnnn.
January 4, 2010 at 9:54 pm
I haven’t completed the series, lol. But, yes. I think KyoAni will likely stick to the same pattern for K-ON! but if they happen to make additions, it might be a good move.
I’m not familiar with the source material, but like I mention, if it is the same stuff for another 13 episodes, fans might tire and vibe “glad this is over” rather than “I want more of this.”
Even the best food begins to taste boring after having it every meal.
January 2, 2010 at 10:25 am
KyoAni needs its Gundam moment… where an innovation is (painfully) brought out of a stagnant conservative vehicle (super robot anime).
The first Mobile Suit Gundam series wasn’t very successful, and had a lot of technical (and content) issues as well. But it was a start of something. The real robot genre became the dominant strain within the genre, even if the robot genre itself was never to be as nearly omnipresent as it was in the 70s.
The complaints and accusations are noise, surely. But they play a role too.
January 2, 2010 at 10:46 am
Right, exactly. I think that’s what’s going to happen in this so-called “moe boom,” sooner rather than later. But I’m of the opinion that an artistic medium, handled by artists (which is what the creator of even the most panty-ridden, testosterone-soaked throwaway anime is) will eventually produce art. It’s optimistic.
January 3, 2010 at 2:40 am
>> KyoAni needs its Gundam moment
Air TV? Because Haruhi already happened, and none of that was something that exist in a vacuum.
January 2, 2010 at 10:42 am
I’ll buy the dvds, the blu-rays, those fancy hats, heck I’d even buy a train if that meant I got a Baccano sequel.
You’re right of course. K-ON gets the sequel because it sells. The thing is that shows that didn’t sell well at all are getting second seasons as well. Can someone please explain why Asura Cryin’ got a sequel? Or Natsu no Arashi?
January 2, 2010 at 10:53 am
You know, while I do like Natsu no Arashi, I really can’t tell you why it got a second season either. Perhaps because Akiyuki Shinbo is an influential guy who can do what he wants? Asura Cryin’ had a gorgeous opening that I’m sure sold lots of singles, so that might have something to do with that.
A Baccano sequel would be fun, but at least it has the saving grace of being a very complete, very good story. Many shows don’t even get that.
January 2, 2010 at 7:28 pm
I believe these were “planned” from the beginning, same with White Album. Studios wanted to create double-season works (which offer more DVD releases if it sells), but the obligation of having a straight 26-week project versus two 13-week projects separated by a couple months seems to require a higher grade of consistency, productivity, and stress management.
As I mentioned above, it could have to do with iterative releases as well. Use one formula for 13 episodes, reflect on it and come back a few months later with a slightly revised formula
(I am not necessarily implying content+creation formula, but could be a modification to productivity formula, allowing higher efficiency in production)
January 3, 2010 at 2:43 am
It’s not so simple. The finances behind those works go beyond how well the anime sells. These are all cross-market marketing projects. In other words, if the manga gets a sales boost, that could also justify a second season. Of course, it may very well be that there were some kind of viewership goal in which leads to the second season of things.
White Album is probably the notable exception from the rest, because stuff changed in between despite being planned for 2 cor from the beginning.
January 3, 2010 at 3:11 am
Hmm. That’s pretty enlightening. Thank you.
January 2, 2010 at 11:40 am
[...] anime production. Animate a concert scene, make big bucks. I don’t have a problem per se with fans getting what they pay for, but when supply takes over inexistent demand that’s not just bad for businesses involved, [...]
January 2, 2010 at 12:39 pm
Ah yes, that fellow who spent god knows how many dollars on several sets of those hyper-expensive headphones because Mio wore them once or something. When you consider hardcore fans like that, the anime (pop culture?) industry sure has a strange growth; comparatively, not as many invest in it, but it arguably deals with love. And love, being as irrational as we know it for, makes the industry fueled by irrationality.
I think moe is a fad. It has to do with the contemporary otaku’s yamato nadeshiko. When Japanese women moved to the working class, got into universities and started making as much/more money than men, the male populace probably thought it was cancer as well, these women being so different from the unquestioning housewife. I think the idea’s somewhat similar.
Question then is, will moe move out of the contemporary as well? What will be the next yamato nadeshiko? The tsunderes?
January 3, 2010 at 1:27 am
Those are some pretty sweet headphones, though. Certainly not what I’d expect of a high schooler. Why, it’s almost as if the animators were TRYING to promote them.
By “moe,” I’m guessing you mean cute, somewhat helpless girls who don’t seem to have meaningful character traits beyond what makes them cuter and more somewhat helpless– Yui being the ultimate case. Yes, I think that’s a bit of a fad. But you and I both know that the reality of today’s anime, even the trashy stuff, is a bit more complex than that. And it continues to develop, season after season.
Thanks for reading, as always.
January 2, 2010 at 12:48 pm
Then again, moe is a man-made trend, making it incomparable to that. In that case, I really don’t know what example to give.
January 3, 2010 at 1:29 am
I think the example you used is perfectly good. Yamato Nadeshiko was an invention of the Showa period, after all, kind of a conservative backlash by the people in power.
January 2, 2010 at 1:19 pm
I’m not particularly delighted by the recent developments of the anime industry as this whole moe thing is pretty much the epitome of artistic stagnation, but that doesn’t mean that all moe/bishoujo anime are bad by default. KyoAni has proved that they can do outstanding work within the currently popular context, their technical perfection, care for details and special approach really pays off as it helps them to sell their characters. This is also the origin of KyoAni’s ability to turn some random manga/light novel/etc. into a huge hype, I’m sure that neither K-ON! nor Haruhi or Lucky Star would have been that popular if it weren’t for KyoAni’s production. They have certainly had some influence on the industry in recent years, some tried to replicate their approach (design, layouts, emphasis on character acting, etc.) with So-ra-no-wo-to being the most obvious example. Many fans seem to be disappointed that they do another season of K-ON! because they overlook where KyoAni’s real strength and creativity lies – not in the material itself, but in the presentation. That’s a problem which is widespread in the anime fandom and something that Thomas Lamarre addressed in his book “The Anime Machine”, namely treating anime solely as “textual object” and disregarding that it consists of moving images and that its production plays an equally important role as it’s content. A true work of art can emerge from any kind of material.
Anyways, I’m contented with what KyoAni does since I feel a kind of enthusiasm and carefulness in their work which are unique in this kind of anime. Their anime are by far the best and most entertaining in this otherwise so spiritless moe/bishoujo “genre”.
January 3, 2010 at 1:31 am
Yes, this. Exactly. You’ve put my thoughts on the matter just about perfectly. Thank you.
January 2, 2010 at 3:31 pm
Does K-ON really mean anything in the context of Blu-Ray? I mean, Macross Frontier sold something like 45,000 Blu-Ray DVDs a year before K-ON came out. That’s also a somewhat mainstream show, so the next question is “How many of those were bought by non-otaku?”
January 2, 2010 at 4:41 pm
The mainstream rents…
January 3, 2010 at 1:24 am
I recall K-ON! being the first major record-breaker. Granted, I believe the record was immediately broken afterwards by Bakemonogatari, but still. K-ON! is a money-making powerhouse, which either indicates how much power KyoAni’s accumulated in post-Haruhi success, or how well they’ve mastered their formula for financial success. Either way, I’m impressed.
January 3, 2010 at 2:19 am
Checking over again, now I see where the discrepancy is. Macross Frontier and Code Geass R2 sold around 25k in 2008, while K-ON sold 33k. That 45k was the total BVD and DVD sales. The record is held by Evangelion 1.0, which sold 49k.
But yeah, this had already started back in 2008: http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2008-12-01/anime-makes-up-64-percent-of-bd-sales-in-japan-in-september
January 4, 2010 at 2:15 pm
Your userpic thing owns.
January 2, 2010 at 5:27 pm
When I saw the massive K-ON! promotion in Akihabara this past summer, I was wondering whether the series really would have its heyday and then disappear into obscurity. But apparently, many months later, fans (and KyoAni) are not done with it yet. If it’s still getting attention and merchandise many years from now, perhaps it will become one of the unforgettable titles.
It is comforting that the industry responds to what fans want and will churn out second seasons of popular anime. I suppose fans will then feel more obliged to support the industry because the industry is giving them what they want. It seems like a nice cycle.
January 3, 2010 at 3:29 am
I saw a K-ON! calendar staring at me in a convenience store at Osaka station. It wasn’t a particularly anime-heavy area or anything, just that one calendar, sitting there. Very odd, but also indicative, I think.
January 2, 2010 at 5:59 pm
I remember that after the episode where it showed Mio wearing those $100+ headphones the real life equivalent started selling like hotcakes. This show is definitely moving its fanbase.
January 3, 2010 at 3:25 am
I think K-ON! really rubbed the sweet spot when it comes to technophile Akiba-kei. Now all we need is a similar anime featuring cutting-edge computer equipment, and Electric Town will live on forever.
January 2, 2010 at 7:31 pm
Hey, long time no read. Happy belated new year. Anyways, back to the comment. I never did watch K-ON! period, but zaqq
January 2, 2010 at 7:35 pm
Unfortunately I just deleted like my whole comment while cleaning my computer….orr ohh..nvm, I accidentally submitted it -_-”
Anyways, what I was goona say was I’ve never watched K-ON! before, and the whole genre really REALLY turned me off, but I gotta say you definitely have a point. Even if you didn’t LIKE K-ON! you HAD to acknowledge it was there. K-ON!’s everywhere. You really can’t escape it. And the thing about the guitar sales, that’s such a valid point. Hmmm, great post.
January 3, 2010 at 3:23 am
Glad you liked it. I think I could have done a better job connecting the Economist article to the issue at hand, but I just wanted to discuss how much the industry depends on our money to oil its gears.
January 2, 2010 at 9:44 pm
I’ll admit I’m excited for a K-ON second season. However, anime is a business after all, and it makes sense to go with what sells (Gonzo caught on to this a little late). As you’ve stated, Otaku drive sales, and this probably results in seeing shallow, pandering shows topping sale charts all the time. As long as we get the occasional “out-of-the-box” work, I’m not worried.
It is rather amazing how K-ON drove sales of hundred (or thousand) dollar pieces of merchandise though. I can only think that makers/sellers of expensive guitars, headphones, etc. can only be happy with more K-ON. There might as well be more to this than just Kyoto Animation’s bottom line.
January 2, 2010 at 10:16 pm
I get worried though when the apparent assumption you can glean is that shows that are for otaku are mainly “shallow and pandering”, but that’s something else entirely. I think.
January 3, 2010 at 3:55 am
Yeah, I made a blanket statement that’s not necessarily true. However, while I enjoy K-ON, I do realize that it is a show that is a bit shallow plot-wise.
January 3, 2010 at 3:21 am
I remember when K-ON! was just announced, people were going to watch it regardless of how they felt about the source material, because Kyoto Animation was doing it and KyoAni never steered them wrong so far (conveniently forgetting Munto for a moment). K-ON! would have easily fallen under the radar if any other studio had worked on it. Now it’s a smash success, generating enough money for the directors to light their cigars with burning Benjamins. So who’s pandering to whom?
The instrument sales were not surprising in that they happened, but the sheer enormity of sales (that is, the fact that it was more than just a blip on the radar) was pretty amazing.
January 3, 2010 at 2:25 am
Still doesn’t explain why the music of K-On! is subpar.
Kyoto Animation could’ve done better! They did give us Aya Hirano 4 years ago!
January 3, 2010 at 3:13 am
You think so? I rather like “My Love Is A Stapler.” Instrumentally, I think it’s all well put-together.
Thanks for reading.
January 5, 2010 at 4:48 am
So do I. And I think Cageyake GIRLS isn’t too bad either.
January 3, 2010 at 10:12 am
[...] somewhere else. It’s more the cancer of old viewers, who have other values. After all, if it weren’t selling, we wouldn’t keep getting these [...]
January 3, 2010 at 7:23 pm
I was surprised that K-On! got as much attention as it did. Right when after the first episode came out, I wrote a post about how boring the manga is and that my first impressions of the anime were that it’s merely decent.
My opinions have now changed and I am now a huge Mio fan. I have been drawn into the hype.
Is this really voting with our dollars? Or is this simply lobbying from the various industries and affiliate bloggers/ merchandize…etc.
January 4, 2010 at 11:48 am
I know for a fact that you are not alone. Earlier today, at an anime goods store in central Kobe, I saw nendoroid figurines of the K-ON! cast…
Ritsu: 1000 yen (sad– I bought one out of pity)
Mugi: 1200 yen
Yui: 1500 yen
Azusa: 1800 yen
Mio: A whopping 3000 yen! Three times as much as her best friend! Twice as much as the main character!
So, there you have it, in cold hard cash. Mio is loved most of all.
January 4, 2010 at 3:07 pm
Isn’t it sad, Ritsu? I’d buy that out of pity, too.
January 4, 2010 at 1:47 am
Your opening about how Harry Potter has changed the (publishing, primarily) world was quite interesting — as is the tie-in to K-on!.
But I’m afraid what interested me most was this aside: “…because it wasn’t a legal pain like Haruhi…“. To what does that refer?
January 4, 2010 at 11:53 am
From my understanding of things, it took forever for Kyoto Animation to produce a sequel for Haruhi (even allowing for Clannad) because of disagreements with the series creator, most likely over money. Which is understandable, given how under the radar this success was.
January 4, 2010 at 7:01 am
It would seem I was wrong in my earlier assessment of K-On!’s longevity. Although, I must say that when I visited Animate or other anime stores in Japan 95% of what I saw there was stuff currently airing or had just finished airing the season before. Not much K-On! stuff. However, while the new season is airing, I’m sure the Animates will shift gear back to K-On! again.
To me K-On! was just the next incarnation of Azumanga or Lucky Star. I like these kinds of cute high school girl comedy fluff well enough, but they aren’t on my must see list.
January 4, 2010 at 11:57 am
The K-ON! flows like sweet teenage wine, at least from what I could see today. Probably the announcement of a second season has people (and stores) all fired up.
January 4, 2010 at 9:10 pm
/me drinks. Yes, it’s great to be excited over something like sequel announcements, generally. I think most of the Japanese base and commercial outlets were positive on the announcement anyway. Who cares what the West thinks about K-ON! anyway, lol.
January 4, 2010 at 2:14 pm
I suppose it only makes sense that an Economist article would convince you of the inherent goodness of free market capitalism in determining what kind of anime gets made. Just remember that they had similar praise for Augusto Pinochet.
Personally I think neoliberal economics are shit for everything, but I feel they’re especially bad for the creation of art. The reason the US has the National Endowment for Arts, for example, is because there’s more to entertainment than appealing to the lowest common denominator. Without risk-taking innovation can only be accidental, and no one’s going to take risks in this economy, especially in the cash-strapped anime biz.
I’m not denying that fans do vote with their dollars, and that it shapes what shows up on TV, but I think the process is more pathological than you give it credit for. Conformity encourages more conformity; why innovate if your competitors have all proven that you can get by with the sure thing
There’s also the difference between voting with your feet and voting with your dollars (The Economist claims to advocate one but implicitly supports the other). Do you really want what shows everyone watches to be dictated by the guys who drop hundreds of bucks on the headphones their favorite characters wear? The body pillow collectors? The ‘anatomically correct’ doll fetishists? The type of anime fan who spends the big money isn’t necessarily the one who I want picking the lineup every season.
Fans should have a voice in what anime gets made, and you’re right that in a way they do. But I’m not as optimistic as you are about what they’ll do with it.
January 4, 2010 at 11:47 pm
Well, inherently good, not so much. If I didn’t already like K-ON!, I’m sure this would seem like quite bad news. Just interesting, and as I said, kind of reassuring that we can make SOME things happen.
This second season is clearly the result of financial success, which is a win for the people who like the show. It feels different from, say, Endless Eight, where viewers were apparently at the mercy of groupthinking artistes with an ax to grind.
But then again, people still bought those stupid DVDs with the same damn episode on them, ultimately proving KyoAni in the right. So it’s complicated, this economic stuff. Past a certain point, I fully admit being in over my head.
January 5, 2010 at 12:19 am
Endless Eight DVDs are really selling? Amazing. (Were I a malicious capitalist, I would have put one “Endless Eight” episode and one non-”Endless Eight” episode on each Japanese DVD (which tend to have only two episodes each).
I’m agnostic as to K-On!. I watched each episode (and they skipped pretty far to the head of my queue, too), but I didn’t think it advanced the art of anime much, and represented a decline in Kyoto Animation’s output.
“where viewers were apparently at the mercy of groupthinking artistes with an ax to grind” — I’d amend that to “mediocre artistes…”. A studio like SHAFT could have done much the same thing, and made it interesting for the audience all the same. At, oh, one-third the frame-count, probably. For that matter, I think vintage-2006 Kyoto Animation could possibly have done the same thing and made it interesting.
For a while, I was entertaining the theory that “Endless Eight” may be Kyoto’s animators sly comment on endless Key adaptations (the costumes change but the plots and the character types stay the same).
As to The Fin’s complaint about art and economics, I think there’s room for a happy medium: innovation in art, yes, but I’m not keen on art for critics only. And sometimes the two can be married happily: look at the success of Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei and Bakemonogatari.
February 28, 2010 at 1:13 am
[...] 28, 2010 · Leave a Comment On my desk at work is a nendoroid figurine of Ritsu, which I got on the cheap in Kobe. For the most part, it just sits there, attracting little notice. But sometimes I get moments like [...]