General Japanese Culture Thread

The conditions in the J-anime industry are emblematic of Japanese industry as a whole. Sclerotic is a very good word to describe Japan as a whole. Since Abe's re-election in 2012, there has been at least a spirit of revitalization in the country, but it still takes a lot of effort to get entrenched practices to change. So it will be with anime, which has been running an iffy business model for some time now.

I find the line about Japan being the center of animation laughable.

Hás Anno payed any attention to Warner Bros, Disney, Pixar and their ilk? Or heck, any part of the Western market?

"Please crush me with your heels Esdeath-sama!

Possibly not. And that is part of their problem. Catering to what is a small sub-section of the market, even in Japan. International sales are rarely thought about, let alone catered for at the production stage.

edited 25th May '15 9:53:36 AM by Greenmantle

Keep Rolling On

...that explains só much about Toei's handling of Saint Seiya.

"Please crush me with your heels Esdeath-sama!

Certainly the center for non-CG animation anymore, though. Good as Frozen was, it was originally going to be traditionally animated. The West keeps the art form in CG.

Yes, but even before the emergency of CG the Western market was dominated by the companies I brought up and several others.

And not just in movies but also in TV serieases.

"Please crush me with your heels Esdeath-sama!

Notice the source is AFP

But yeah, of all weird things Japan could do this is the most cringe worthy. Will this stop overwork, or make it even worse?

It has always been the prerogative of children and half-wits to point out that the emperor has no clothes

Probably the latter, considered how much their corporate culture depends on the appearance of work in addition to actual work.

I remember a story about how workers at a Western company were advised by their fellow workers to leave a coat on their office chairs to convince the roaming managers that they were merely someplace else when they had actually gone home at a reasonable hour. I wonder if that's been tried in Japan.

I have disagreed with her a lot, but comparing her to republicans and propagandists of dictatorships is really low. - An idiot

I am not sure if that might work considering Japan's work ethic but I could be wrong though.

"We are just like Irregular Data. And that applies to you too, Ri CO. And as for you, Player... your job is to correct Irregular Data."

Rather than eliminating overtime pay, they should make 150% overtime pay mandatory. Then you better believe corporations will do everything they can to limit their worker's hours.

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.

There we go. That's how it works in the US.

Japan has really good ethic.....sort of.

"We are just like Irregular Data. And that applies to you too, Ri CO. And as for you, Player... your job is to correct Irregular Data."

Japan has a very strong ethic. Too strong, in many cases.

I had to Google that, but holy shit, that's a thing. Just, wow.

Really from Jupiter, but not an alien.

People die when they work too hard, sleep too little, and have an unbalanced diet.

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.

That latter two describes me best while the hard work part is questionable.

"We are just like Irregular Data. And that applies to you too, Ri CO. And as for you, Player... your job is to correct Irregular Data."

It doesn't work with salaried employees in the U.S. One of the only benefits of being hourly is that you either get rewarded for working more than 40 hours, or your boss takes pains to make sure you don't have to work overtime. Win/win. With salaried workers, getting the job done is what counts, whether that takes 25 hours or 80 hours a week.

It does get results though. I doubt Blade of the Immortal, Vagabond, Vinland Saga, Pluto, and other such lushly illustrated and well-plotted comics would exist without that single-minded and almost spiritual devotion to craft some of these people have.

I notice the conspicuous absence of Berserk from that list. It's a pretty strong counterexample. Miura has the work ethics of a Dostoievski or a Balzac.

edited 27th May '15 6:10:23 AM by TheHandle

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.

Could you at least name something decent...

Anyway on the opposite end of the spectrum would be the scribbles of Hiatus x Hiatus.

edited 27th May '15 6:15:31 AM by Memers

I find it unlikely that anything revolutionary will come out of the anime industry for a while, unless they go into something that's an alien concept to the Japanese mind.

Si Vis Pacem, Para Perkele

Such as actually aiming for an international audience, the way Koreans do?

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.

As long as they don't put romantic sub-plots in everything. I despise them.

Si Vis Pacem, Para Perkele

I'm fine wtih those as long as they make sense and are done well.

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.