summercomfort | (no subject)

no, I haven't outgrown anime. It's anime that's outgrown me. With bitTorrent and the speed that new series get snapped up, everything now revolves around getting the newest thing out there. No time/patience to see old stuff! Give us the new, the shiny, the moe! Or something. Good fansites are harder to find because who needs a site that tells them everything when they can just watch on their own? Anime is no longer organized corporately, but universally. Sites to only one anime vs. sites that collect certain aspects of everything. Anime wallpaper sites, anime review sites, universal anime forums. Animesuki. Remember when anipike was just about the only thing out there that had everything on it? Hi no Tori is "underrated" and "overshadowed". Maybe we need to start showing those types. Is anime club obsolete? How do we re-tailor the club for these new fans who are used to getting anime in 20 minutes, have built everything around getting the newest and coolest. No time to go through old stuff! Onwards to bad 3-D! Is it wrong of me to be not horribly supportive of these people? Maybe there needs to be a split, a schism. People who worship the current, the new, and the swanky, they can meet every Saturday and watch the newest Naruto together. And then the people who just want to chill and watch some old fashioned entertainment...
::sigh:: I'm not a terribly old school anime fan. In fact, I barely count as an anime fan. But I'm feeling really really outgrown right now.

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I'd like to note that a) you sound far too much like Alexis here (except for the "I'm not a real anime fan" bit and...

Yeah. It's a natural progression of the fandom and a schism will have to take place between the true believers and the fetishists of the new and shiny. There's isn't necessarily an inherent contradiction there, but the breadth/depth issue has always been around, no matter what field you're working in...two distinct pleasures, and I admit that in places like music where I'm not quite such a bluff traditionalist I slip back and forth between the two. (Although I can't understand people who find it sufficient to be current, when the real pleasure is finding the new gems peeking through the vast plain of dross.)

Speaking of music, good god, is it really 3:40 in the morning? I remember starting working on this mix cd a few hours ago, and then there's sort of a blur and I have this ringing in my ears...

) you sound far too much like Alexis here

...is that a problem?

Don't feel bad about this, or like you're not a real anime fan. You've been reading (and sometimes writing) Kenshin fanfic since highschool. Anyway, the shiny fans seem to be enjoying BeruBara and Giant Robo despite the lack of newness and cg. Because they'e good. That's why we have anime club- to show people stuff that's good, that they might nit bother downloading, or that they can't download. And then we throw in a new thing or two just to draw people in.

yeah, I just had a semi-frustrating conversation with Wayne last night. Frustrating because I felt no connection with him at all, and semi because he is a nice guy, and it's not his fault that he likes the new stuff and doesn't have time to look through older stuff.

a) this is an attack of fangirl dislocation after chatting with an amicable but definitely *new* fan. I usually don't care enough about anime to really rant about old-school/new-school-ness, especially given that I'm neither. But it makes me feel old and limping when I can't and don't want to keep up with the young'uns.

b) yes, schisms must happen, I'm just startled to find that what used to be fringe-anime vs. disney/cartoons has now become new vs. traditionalist anime fans. (Cartoon network has absorbed anime, and that distinction no longer matters). And I feel the need to sneer back.

I havent been able to pinpoint what it is that has dulled my interest in anime, but I think you nailed it right there. In reality, my interest hasnt dulled at all, I just feel very overwhelmed! Im never sure where to go next and I dont have the time nor the computer power to download everything and watch hours of it each day, just to keep up with the crap that is spreading like a disease! Everything now is just who can get what out faster, what has better marketing appeal, etc. Forget quality production time, slowly developing plot twists, etc. Its just explosion, flashing lights, quick - and cliched - plot device. I still love seeing old series that I havent experienced, reliving the ones I have, and learning new series that are actually WORTH my time. So yeah. Thats my 2 cents

Yeah, same here. I mean, I'm not actually old school, because I mostly watched anime that my friends were watching in the late-90's, and I admit to having watched my fair share of mediocre new things, and it's not like nothing new out is good. I'm just complaining about the fetishism of the new, and the casual dismissal of the old. I was chatting with a new club member last night who essentially sticks to the top 3-4 rankings and can't find time to watch other things. True, no one really has time to watch anime, which makes the selection process even more important. Of course, he's on a campus network, so he can essentially get episodes faster than he can watch them. What happened to just sitting down and enjoying a good series with friends? Must half the campus all individually bitTorrent the next Naruto episode when it comes out? Hanging out with Jono this year, I've been getting introduced to some really nice old stuff... solid art, good characterization and plot... the year of production doesn't matter...

But anyway, I'm trying to think through a theory about how the changing production/industry is changing fandom. Back when anime was hard to get (before digi-subs and bitTorrent), the entire fandom was different. People would watch one series, fall deeply in love and devote time to making a detailed resource site. When getting tapes took money and time, you'd do some research first to decide whether you'd actually want to get it. Analog subbing was difficult, and so fansubbers had to be truly enjoying the series to sub it. Nowadays, there's so many digisubbers of varying qualities, but turnout is always quick. (Ease of subbing is not altogether a bad thing, for there are also some old stuff that get turned up). The wonders of php and databasing means that conglomerate sites no longer require a filter control (people) on the other end. When you're watching a bunch of series at the same time, many of which haven't finished subbing, the fandom changes. There are still great comprehensive sites out there, which, thanks to new technology, looks snazzier than ever. But there's also the looming spectre of licensing and official English sites. And how many people actually devote the time to make one for a specific series? Manpower is spread thin over the flood of anime coming in. It's like changing from a corporate guild system to an industry class-based system, where you have the suppliers and buyer on opposite ends of the means of production. Simplification and mechanization occurs.

haha sorry but naruto *hearts*
i can pretty much say i am not an animé fan persay though.
i only like things that amuse me and well, naruto did. :D

I'm not saying naruto = teh evil. It's actually quite good. I'm just saying that some people just watch because it's the "top 3", and the fetishism of the new. :)

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Here Here!

Re: Hear! Hear!

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