anime industry

Life Lessons – Relating with Shizuka’s Difficulties – Should you Chase a Passion?

July 9, 2015 by Chikorita157 4 Comments

Since its airing, Shirobako gave a good glimpse of the Anime Industry on how it works and the issues surrounding it with some that are interesting to discuss about. Now, I am going to take a look at the last aspect, should you chase your passion or pursue a career that pays well?

Sure, the other four girls (Aoi, Ema, Misa and Midori) had an easier time getting their foot in their door, but there is one girl who had an extremely difficult time and her name is Sakaki Shizuka. The difficulties she faced comes at no surprise considering that the voice acting industry is very competitive and there are only so many roles to go around at a given time. Was it worth it at the end to pursue such a career? Could she have done things differently?
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Category: Editorials, ShirobakoTag: analysis, anime industry, personal experiences, voice acting industry

Shirobako – Final Review

April 23, 2015 by Chikorita157 Leave a Comment

After PA Works finish producing a failure known as Glasslip, they have to come up with something that no studio has done before to make up for it. With that, they decided to make a show about anime production called Shirobako （白箱, lit white box), which focus on five girls trying to make it in an industry that is hard to get into.

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Category: Reviews, ShirobakoTag: anime industry, final impressions, PA Works

Shirobako – Episode 24 (END) – Crossing the Finish Line and Looking towards the Future

March 29, 2015 by Chikorita157 5 Comments

After making it back to the party, Aoi finally shares her thoughts and experiences. — After making it back to the party, Aoi finally shares her thoughts on working on the production.

At last, Musani is almost at the finish line. Can they get the finished product to all the TV stations on time?
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Category: ShirobakoTag: anime industry, final impressions, PA Works

All Work and No Pay – Being a Japanese Animator is Tough

February 3, 2015 by Chikorita157 11 Comments

Just little over five years ago, I have done some research on how the Anime industry works and of course, I have only covered the surface. Shirobako, which started airing back in October of last year. Not only it reveals how anime is produced, but also blew open some of the internal issues in the industry, especially in regards to the animation studios.

With that, I will be focusing on animator’s wages, working conditions and its implications on the industry as a whole. Also, what steps should the industry take to deal with these issues?
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Category: About the Japanese Animation Industry, Editorials, ShirobakoTag: analysis, anime industry, essay, opinion, topical issues

Shirobako – Episode 13 – A New Year and More Work for Aoi

January 9, 2015 by Chikorita157 Leave a Comment

It's already the new year and Aoi is already suffering with all this work thrown on top of her. — It’s already the new year and Aoi is already suffering with all this work thrown on top of her.

The New Year barely started and Aoi is already stressed out after taking on a higher position of becoming the production desk.
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Category: ShirobakoTag: anime industry, PA Works

Production Values and Anime – Is “Let’s Fix it in the Blu-ray Release” a Bad Excuse for Lack of Quality?

January 6, 2015 by Chikorita157 16 Comments

Animation quality is one of the aspects of Anime that viewers tend to judge first hand when determining how good the production values are for a show. The sad fact is that animation mistakes regardless of the studio are bound to happen. Animation studios work on a very tight schedule and because of that, they might not have enough time to check every key frame before having to give the finished episode to the station to air. As a result, these errors usually get fixed later on, namely for the Blu-ray/DVD release.

To me, I think it is always in the best interest for the animation studio to make them not too noticeable and then fix it while enhancing some scenes in the final release. However, what implications will arise if studios decide to take advantage of this fact and air a half-finished product to entice people to buy the physical releases? Let’s find out.
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Category: About the Japanese Animation Industry, Editorials, Ore Twintail, ShirobakoTag: analysis, anime industry, essay, opinion, topical issues

Shirobako – Episode 12 – Learning a Thing from a Veteran Animator

January 3, 2015 by Chikorita157 Leave a Comment

After being on the side lines for a long time, Shigeru finally lends them help. — After being on the side lines for a long time, Shigeru finally lends them some help.

Since I didn’t cover the last episode for the first half of Shirobako, it’s time to find out if Musashino Animation will finish the final episode or not…
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Category: ShirobakoTag: anime industry, PA Works

Thoughts about the 2D Animation vs. 3D/CGI debate with Anime

November 12, 2014 by Chikorita157 13 Comments

A recent episode of Shirobako has brought up an interesting topic regarding the whole 2D Animation vs 3D Animation/Computer Generated Images debate and how should Anime be made. This issue was so controversial that it almost pushed Endou to quit (besides Tarou’s incompetence).

The 2D vs 3D/CGI debate has been a passionate one for the fact that most Anime have 2D animation. As technology improves, animation studios might be eager to adopt 3D/CGI as a way to make it flashier while cut production costs. By doing so, something gets lost in the process, which is why this debate is so passionate not only to fans, but people who work in the industry.
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Category: About the Japanese Animation Industry, Editorials, Love Live, Shirobako, The iDOLM@STERTag: 2d vs 3d, animation, anime industry, essay, opinion

Thoughts about Japan’s crackdown on Anime/Manga Piracy and How they should deal with it

August 31, 2014 by Chikorita157 1 Comment

Just last month, the Anime and Manga Industry have started to crack down piracy of Anime and Manga. While I believe that these creators should get the credit they deserve and the industry made some progress in doing so with legal streaming sites, there are still some shortcomings, especially in regards to Manga. I think there are ways to fix it that would benefit the industry rather than fighting an endless battle on piracy.
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Category: About the Japanese Animation Industry, EditorialsTag: analysis, anime industry, controversy, crunchyroll, opinion

Anime – Is it just an Advertisement for the Source Material?

July 26, 2014 by Chikorita157 6 Comments

Just recently, I shared my thoughts on why Game Freak should finally revamp the Pokémon Anime. While reading through some of the comments, I thought to myself if Anime is really a gloried infomercial or advertisement for a source material. If that were the case, would Anime necessarily lose creative merit because of this?
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Category: EditorialsTag: analysis, anime industry, essay, fandom

More on Region Locking – Why this practice needs to be abolished.

July 26, 2013 by Chikorita157 8 Comments

In an editorial several months ago, I criticized briefly on region locking on streams. This month, Ryu Shoji from Bulbanews wrote a good editorial on why Nintendo should go region free after Microsoft changed their DRM policy, effectively abolishing region locks. Considering that licensed Anime and streams is region locked and most Anime fans play video games, I think this will be a great topic to talk about since I am against region locking for various reasons. (Image Source)
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Category: EditorialsTag: anime industry, controversy, essay, nintendo, personal experiences, region locking

Attacking the Anime Fandom – The Negative Implications for the Anime Industry

May 24, 2013 by Chikorita157 6 Comments

Last week, Nintendo decided to take away monetization of videos such as reviews, Let’s Plays and reviews from their fans. While copyright law is very complex when it comes to fair use and making derivative works, attacking a fandom by taking down Youtube channels, banning fanart and sending cease and deist letters to take down fanmade games can hurt their goodwill and reputation.

While we have seen this with video games with Sega taking down Shining Force videos last year and Husbro putting an end to a fan-made My Little Pony fighting game early this year, what about Anime? Yes, it exists and there are very negative implications that can occur from fan backlash. I will focus on several reasons why companies should not attack the fans for making fan generated content and instead, should support them. (Image Source)
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Category: EditorialsTag: anime industry, essay, fandom, opinion

Censorship in Anime – Looking back at the Past and Why its Ineffective

May 4, 2013 by Chikorita157 5 Comments

But, they don't look like doughnuts! — But, they don’t look like doughnuts!

When Idolmaster Shiny Festa got released in the United States, it’s apparent that they have removed swimsuits scenes from the game. When I heard about this, I got the idea to write about censorship in Anime since I knew about some pointless changes in the Pokémon anime. Besides the awkwardness, there are some reasons why they do this such as the differences in cultural values. However, some of the reasons why changing or censor some things is not acceptable in my opinion.
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Category: EditorialsTag: anime industry, censorship, controversy, essay, opinion

Brief Thoughts about the US Anime Industry and Anime Collection

January 24, 2012 by Chikorita157 11 Comments

By now, this topic got hammered to death in the blogosphere by now, but looking back at my DVD collection back in 2009, it has significantly grown into a sizable stack. Therefore, I feel the need to share my brief thoughts about the current situation with the anime industry in the United States and of course, taking a look at my collection after these years. (Image Source)
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Category: About the Japanese Animation Industry, EditorialsTag: anime industry, collection, fandom, opinion

Thoughts about Bill 156 and Why the Law is Censoring like it’s 1984.

December 17, 2010 by Chikorita157 11 Comments

sample-826a765e90677b14d2b6ba3d8065df23 — Am I angry about this bill? Well yes and I am pretty vicious!

If you have known already, Tokyo pass the very controversial ordinance, Bill 156, which is also known as the “Nonexistant Youth Bill” that have strong support. However, this bill has been called an act of censorship and an apocalypse for the Anime Industry as a whole. While I think the bill is overblown by a certain tabloid blog in the Anime Blogosphere, I still think that this bill is very destructive to the industry and it’s an excuse to promote government-sponsored censorship. (Original Image)

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Category: EditorialsTag: anime industry, censorship, controversy, editorial, fandom, opinion, politics, rant

Editorial: The Harsh Reality of the Anime Industry

February 22, 2010 by Chikorita157 8 Comments

With the last article, I decided to write a response to the author of “The Golden Waste” as he seems to be ranting about people not buying licensed anime for some reasons. Everyone should be buying licensed anime if they like the show and/or want to support the studio, there is no way around with that. However, the money that comes from both the Japanese and licensed Anime sales of DVDs is very small for the Animation Studios. We can argue or rant about dub versus sub-only releases, Crunchyroll and licensing companies as much we want, but it doesn’t change the fact that how much corporate greed comes from the Japanese Anime Industry causing the animation studios be left with peanuts in comparison with the American Music Industry.

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Category: About the Japanese Animation Industry, EditorialsTag: anime industry, commentary, editorial, greed, harsh reality, opinion

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