GAINAX producer resigns after slating otaku critics

Paul

Paul

Ghost of Animes
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Long time GAINAX producer, animator and character designer Takami Akai has resigned from the company under a storm of controversy following a series of comments he made about Japanese otaku on a public website. According to Animaxis, Akai stated "Taking 2channel seriously is like pressing your face to an anus and inhaling deeply." while another GAINAX employee revealed that "she wished the disgusting otaku ("kimo-ota") would drop dead."

2channel is a popular Japanese forum. Everything started when Japanese viewers voiced their displeasure about the animation quality seen in episode 4 of Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann. GAINAX's Takami Akai and another employee hit back via the web, dismissing the critics as "uninformed amateurs", ultimately igniting a flame war on GAINAX's blog that has now ended with Akai vacating his role at the company.
 
Paul said:
Akai stated "Taking 2channel seriously is like pressing your face to an anus and inhaling deeply."
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One of the best insults I've ever heard :lol:
It's strange that he would resign so suddenly over somethig like this though. I suppose 2Chan is so big nowadays that any negative bile directed at them is going to generate a huge backlash. A simple apology would suffice if they are taking the angle that he is insulting a large base of potential consumers. But as the Animaxis report says, its not one way. It can be offensive to work hard on something and be criticised by nobodies. In the end a 5 year prodcuer and animator has lost his job. Is that what the fans wanted?
 
I'm glad Gainax had the balls to stand up to the ignorant masses, and I wish the guy didn't have to resign. Fans often confuse so called "bad animation" with just a change in drawing style. I really hate how some people will outright refuse to watch say a Studio 4C production simply because the art is different to the classic "big eyes, no nose" stereotype.
 
Osamu Kobayashi is a fantastic director in my opinion, I adored his work on BECK and Paradise Kiss, I guess the otaku population are more interested in the bile that the characters of Lucky Star are spewing out rather than experimental animation.

GAINAX has never been one to be particularly quiet on the subject of otakudom (voicing his anger about otaku is pretty much all Hideaki Anno does these days isn't it?) and I commend them for it, its just a shame that it got so far and someone lost a job over it.

(Gainax being one of my favourite studios I couldn't resist posting something here, even if it has been allmost a year since I visited the AUKN forums :p)
 
What's also galling is that they've only reached four episodes for goodness sakes, after the first three were animated nicely. It's not like you can look back on the whole production and class the majority of it as poorly animated. It's also not impossible to adjust to something diffeernt form the mass, conventiona style of animation. Anonymous people can be extremely fussy, I can see why he and the other colleague got annoyed.
 
Paul said:
, Akai stated "Taking 2channel seriously is like pressing your face to an anus and inhaling deeply." while another GAINAX employee revealed that "she wished the disgusting otaku ("kimo-ota") would drop dead.".
Click to expand...
Isn't there a board for that on 2 chan? There is for everything else. While GL 4 wasn't the best animation i've ever seen for a dispoable series it isn't that bad. Prefer it to the reusing of footage as found in things like Gundam Seed.
 
I actually feel sorry for Akai and wish him all the best in the future. Views such as his are what the industry needs to remain fresh and creative - I would be just as indignant in his position and although I may have been a little more tactful, his indignation is understandable.

What's the alternative? Bow in to pressure from the audience and produce derivative tripe like all too many others? That's the really saddening thing: some talented individual has felt the need to resign over ignorant people who couldn't do the job any better than he could.
 
The problem here is that he is essentially biting the hand that feeds him. He may be right to be indignant but the ultimate critics of the show are the fans who watch it. Regardless of how much they do or do not know about animation itself, they do know what they like and what they do not. What was said to provoke him was probably quite hurtful but lashing back at them in such a way is liable to have instilled a deep-set resentment in the 2-chan/otaku community, which could prove hard to overcome.
 
Gawyn said:
The problem here is that he is essentially biting the hand that feeds him. He may be right to be indignant but the ultimate critics of the show are the fans who watch it. Regardless of how much they do or do not know about animation itself, they do know what they like and what they do not. What was said to provoke him was probably quite hurtful but lashing back at them in such a way is liable to have instilled a deep-set resentment in the 2-chan/otaku community, which could prove hard to overcome.
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To be frank the Otaku community on a whole needs to grow up, something like this will only do god knows what to thier egos and may give them the notion they have power.

But alas i could only predict the forum would have been filled with "did you see that quality, how crap was that? I agree that sucks, i'll never buy that now. Hay Guyz lets boycott this rubbish" Instead of actual constructive criticism because that's usually all Otaku's are good at. Buying and bitching like a 4 year old when something they don't like doesn't go thier way.

That doesn't dismiss what he said as mildly insulting, but hey atleast he had the guts to tell them where to shove it. If i was in his position i would have done the same thing, but would i have resigned? Should have stuck to his guns.
 
Sack him? The guy deserves a medal. That insult is great!

And he is right. You wouldn't expect anyone here to listen to the 'worst episode ever' criticisms of the net's various forums.
 
Just read a blog post about ep 5, looks like they're trying to appease the otaku with references to other Gainax anime. From left to right, Rei (NGE), Mahoro (I'm guessing from Mahoromatic, not seen it), Nono (Gunbuster 2), Asuka (NGE) and Lark (Gunbuster 2) as bunny girls.
 
Sounds good to me :D

Apparently they've had the majority of the episodes storyboarded for months though so I doubt it's because of the blacklash particularly.
 
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