Miyazaki Calls Otaku The Problem With Anime Industry

http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/interest/2014-01-30/miyazaki/the-problem-with-the-anime-industry-is-it-full-of-otaku

http://en.rocketnews24.com/2014/01/30/ghiblis-hayao-miyazaki-says-the-anime-industrys-problem-is-that-its-full-of-anime-fans/

;__;

edited 31st Jan '14 5:12:43 AM by Shota

I wouldn't really call it wrong. Too much feeding into itself, which doesn't lend itself to people outside the loop as well.

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Not what he was talking about, though (also, there's certain factors mitigating that problem). What Miyazaki was saying is that there's too many shut-in otaku that don't spend time around real people, and thus can't animate people well

edited 30th Jan '14 10:42:22 PM by Hylarn

I suppose that these days, people that get into the anime industry are people that grew up as anime fans themselves. Since they possibly learned drawing and animating from said anime, they might have skipped artistic fundamentals like being able to draw a realistic portrait. This has gone so far that anime characters look like anime characters, as opposed to the stylized humans they are supposed to represent.

But that's just a bunch of baseless speculation. I know pretty much nothing about art.

edited 30th Jan '14 11:12:08 PM by Kayeka

To be fair, Otaku are probably the only people willing and passionate enough to put up with all the bullshit you hear about in making an anime.

The fact that they are willing to put up with that is contributing to said bullshit, though.

Heck, they might not even be willing. It's hard to stand up for your worker's rights when you know that for each employee, there are ten more people willing and able to take your job. People that are skilled enough to get a job amongst such competition generally don't have much in the way of other marketable skills.

It Can't Be Helped is probably a factor why the cycle of bullshit won't change.

Don't expect any worker rights movements to start in Japan anytime soon.

edited 30th Jan '14 11:18:23 PM by Thorn14

Hey I didn't know he was such a funny guy.

I don't know if it's that big of a problem.

I would have thought you could take your animators to sporting events, watch clips on youtube, or even watch movies to give them an idea of what the audiences should expect. Real life is a terribly messy artistic subject plus people don't actually expect realism in any medium, let alone anime.

But he does know more about animation than me.

"Nullius addictus iurare in verba magistri, quo me cumque rapit tempestas, deferor hospes."

But would that translate into sales?

Taking extra effort to animate realistically? I should say not. It's doubtless something that only experts notice.

Otaku care more about... Well I can't generalise that much.

Write better scripts even on an average budget and I'll be happy.

"Nullius addictus iurare in verba magistri, quo me cumque rapit tempestas, deferor hospes."

I feel the animation in modern anime is perfectly fine. Miyazaki's a cool guy and all but he's pretty old-minded. If you're trying to get a very realistic feel, sure observing people definitely helps, but not every anime needs to be like that.

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You and I aren't the target market. We don't go out and pre order over expensive blurays.

Anime is in a dangerous spiral right now I fear. I guess its the fate of all "niche" entertainment really.

I suppose we could link it back to the other otaku problem. The further removed from reality, the further anime cuts itself off from other mediums and audiences.

But that's quite tangential to what he's saying.

"Nullius addictus iurare in verba magistri, quo me cumque rapit tempestas, deferor hospes."

While a master film maker, I'm afraid he's also a grumpy old fart.

Right, but the problem is not only is it difficult to bring a niche genre out into the public to begin with, you also have a culture that is raised to just go "Eh, oh well." and keep it going instead of doing something about it.

Incidentally it's more illuminating to read an article closer to the source.

So it's kind of like he was drawing and giving a running commentary that his way of drawing is more true to life than the way all those other plebs animate.

edited 30th Jan '14 11:40:06 PM by UltimatelySubjective

"Nullius addictus iurare in verba magistri, quo me cumque rapit tempestas, deferor hospes."

From what I'm reading here and other comments from older people in genreal, I'm starting to learn that when you get older you start to no longer give a fuck about what other people think about what you say and just go out and speak your mind.

Great news everyone, your social anxiety problems will be over one day!

Why did I post that last link? Meant to post this one.

"Nullius addictus iurare in verba magistri, quo me cumque rapit tempestas, deferor hospes."

That's kind of what I meant, though. The style is too much based on itself, because they don't have enough outside references, that if you don't like the style to begin with you're not going to enjoy it as much. Not sure what you thought I meant.

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As much as I agree with him. I dont like the man himself.

A fundamental part of a good story is making the characters relatable on some level. If artists don't spend much time around people, they are going to have a certain degree of difficulty in making characters their audience can connect to outside of a very narrow range.

Taking notes and learning from the world around you is taught as one of the most basic and fundamental creative-writing skills for a reason, and by neglecting it, you tend to end up with loose-knit bundles of second-hand tropes rather than people your audience can empathise with.

edited 31st Jan '14 5:48:41 AM by Iaculus

What's precedent ever done for us?

It's funny that I'm hearing now that realism is supposedly a messy artistic subject, or that few expect realism in any medium, let alone anime. I always figured it was the other way around. Some of the animes I hold in high regard attract me because of how level the style is.

The Cowboy Bebop film came to mind reading this. That film was about four bounty hunters intervening in a terrorist plot. Unlike the series, which is episodic, the film has the main characters spend a large amount of time walking around in a single, grand location, talking to people, gathering information, while maybe 30-40 percent of the film is spent actually shooting and punching people.

The opening sequence is a 2-3 minute montage of people walking around doing things, dressed like and acting like NORMAL people, despite the fact that the series takes place in a future where space travel is common mass transit. It's not adorable or heartwarming. It's not too extravagant either. The whole film has this incredibly grounded tone, painting together typical ordinary scenes you would find in an ordinary city. Scenes like these feel very realistic to me. I could go downtown and see them. The film was a replication. The people are moving, talking. Not screeching or doing that stupid "stand on one leg and point arms away" pose anime characters do when they're surprised.

I'm no art major, but I think he's partially right. I don't know if the entire industry is like that, but how many Spirited Away's and Kamichu's and Bebop's do you see versus the number of K-On's and Sword Art's?

edited 31st Jan '14 7:15:58 AM by FOFD

Akira Toriyama (April 5 1955 - March 1, 2024).

Miyazaki stuff isn't probably the first anime I ever saw, but Nausicaa is most likely the first anime which made quite an impression on me. That or Legend of the White Serpent, which I'm not 100% certain was made in Japan.

Then, since I tend to only watch stuff which a lot of people are talking about OR which are readily available where I am, I got a "censored" fairly positive outlook of anime, which err... kinda got ripped to pieces when I (out of boredom I think) decided to try watching all the latest anime in a season a couple of years ago, maybe 3 years ago.

Then, because I had such a low low low opinion of anime in general, Attack On Titan struck a harpoon into my wallet. -censored-

Now... I'm acting just like those waifu and husbando fans, so (stupid stupidly) desperate for the sort of "anime entertainment" that appeals to me that I'm throwing hundreds of dollars at Shingeki.

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Well. It's kinda believable. But it's not cold, hard facts.