SFX Anime Special 30th July+ Free FMA Brotherhood 2 Ep DVD

I can't help but think that articles like the ones in SFX are only going to be more useful in raising awareness of quality anime if they focus outside of the same clutch of titles we ALL know are dependably going to appear. Anime is bigger than Mamoru Oshii and his love-it-or-hate-it output, or Akira, or Bleach and Naruto.

Maybe that way, there's a possibility of the article reaching out to more than the 'not seen any / much anime yet, but kinda curious' crowd that this sort of thing seems intended for.
 
ilmaestro said:
Why am I still tempted to get this, even though it sounds so crappy relative to the price tag? :-/
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The only article which sounds original and potentially controversial?

sfxanimeTOC.jpg


HdE said:
...Maybe that way, there's a possibility of the article reaching out to more than the 'not seen any / much anime yet, but kinda curious' crowd that this sort of thing seems intended for.
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Except I'm sure that's exactly the audience this is intended for and probably, no-one else besides. You just have to look at Manga's obvious involvement; their primary goal is to sell more DVDs after all. There are always new kids to reel in, but nowhere near enough of a hardcore anime fanbase to aim a physical magazine at. It would have the same problem as niche DVD releases in that as soon as you start to delve any deeper you lose a large swathe of the casual audience. we might love to read oh, I dunno, say, in depth analyses of popular anime films... But how many of us are there, a few dozen in the entire country? And are we all gonna fork out the best part of a tenner for that every month? Except it would probably have to cost about £30 a copy in order to make any kind of financial sense. Frankly I think that kind of thing moved beyond the realm of physical media long ago. I say leave the "anime specials" for their intended audience and enjoy the vast, infinite net where people write their hearts out for the hell of it...
 
I think we are just going through a major transition period at the moment. It used to be magazines that ruled. They were cheap to make, there was a big audience as the Internet didn't exist, and therefore even a niche publication picked up quite a healthy readership.

Now paper and printing costs a fortune, no one buys mags anymore, and the Internet has taught us all to expect free content. It looks as though it is going to stay that way for the Internet as a general hub of information. But tablets and e-readers will bring something new and different.

The best example of this so far is Flipboard. I'm focusing on the presentation here more than sourced content:

<object width="640" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/v2vpvEDS00o&amp;hl=en_GB&amp;fs=1?rel=0"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/v2vpvEDS00o&amp;hl=en_GB&amp;fs=1?rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="640" height="385"></embed></object>

We now have services like Crunchyroll bringing us media, then lots of publications with disparate info about anime and manga. Producing content in digital form is very inexpensive, even compared to old magazine production costs. So factor in cheap tablets, a digital magazine that combines video, up-to-date information, social features, and a small price tag (say £4.99 a month) and I think you have a compelling publication again for the hardcore anime crowd.

It would need some good hooks, like a Shonen Jump-style manga preview section every month, early access to first episodes of anime, but that's very doable and something publishers would be open to if it was streamed content. I would certainly pay for something like that.
 
ayase said:
ilmaestro said:
Why am I still tempted to get this, even though it sounds so crappy relative to the price tag? :-/
Click to expand...
The only article which sounds original and potentially controversial?

sfxanimeTOC.jpg
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Maybe. My guess is that there's f-all chance of it actually being controversial though, and just being about "Cool Japan" (not that the idea of Cool Japan hasn't had its own controversies, of course).
 
It's a 3-page piece written by Jonathan Collis looking at a few titles highlighting the culture wars between Japan and the West
 
I have yet to read it, but it's 3 pages half of which are images. A quick scan reveals references to WWII, paranoia, racism, and cooking.

Angel Cop is referenced under racism, Gasaraki in an inner conflict discussion. There's also Code Geass mentioned.

It sums up by saying Japan is split between the outward facing tourist friendly cool Japan, and the inward facing ultra-right wing politics and tourists being stopped and arrested.
 
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