UKA post their annual anime awards

[ravenwood7040]

Perhaps, in retrospect, I was a little harsh. I just found it odd that a relatively small site such as UKA was producing so much content, when I'm not too sure how many would be willing to site through ~10 hours worth of podcasts over such a short period. I mean, I love Giant Bomb to death, but even I don't think I could possibly listen to their extensive GOTY podcasts. Perhaps I underestimate the amount of people who can sit through hours upon hours of podcasts. Seeing as you all have fun doing it, I guess there's no harm in doing so.

It's not really much of an issue to me, I'll keep the podcasts banked up and listen to them on my way to and from work over a few weeks in between other shows. I don't try and cram them all into five days, I just take my time and work through them as I feel like it. It's not compulsory to listen to them all as soon as they come out. I like the UKA podcasts style, so I don't mind extra content from them. I suspect I may be trying to strangle my phone when I get to the Worst Anime category though!

If there's one thing I'm doing a lot of thinking about after 2016's awards, it's exactly this. I want to celebrate amazing anime first and foremost, and December Sky, Your Name and A Silent Voice are all truly amazing, but I do appreciate your point, especially in Gundam Thunderbolt's case. Did we screw up? Maybe, but hot-damn is that film nigh-on perfection.

Your Name is less of an issue for me as it got a very wide theatrical run, sufficiently so to win the reader's choice award! We need to draw a line somewhere for what qualifies and what doesn't, and I suspect we'll draw that line differently in 2017.

I think it's important to allow films with only one or two screenings to be eligible for the awards though, because a lot of the time SLA and other festivals can precede a wider release the year after. It's useful to be able to discuss the merits of these films for future reference to users who may be interested in seeing them when they become more widely available. Some films which may never screen outside festivals are also reliant to a larger extent on how strong reception from people who did see the film was, and demand from people who have yet to see it to guide companies in whether they're worth taking a risk on bringing to DVD or Blu-ray. Audience discussion for those kinds of film, of any kind can help drive those decisions. Particularly for those kind of limited availability films, we should be encouraging audience engagement, not trying to suppress it.

 

[elliotpage]

I'll be honest, I think putting home videos in with streaming titles is dumb because it means a title like OPM or Erased, could in theory, win the same category two years in a row.

This is one of the reasons why we are looking at changing up the awards next year to cover this, as mentioned

Also, personally, I think the reason FMA/Death Note didn't win is because those titles are decidedly nostalgia titles

The main reason to my mind is that they both came out VERY close to the awards, and so people did not have time to watch them! I only got the FMA set a week before the awards, and we only had a single set of Check Disks for Death Note.
(Also to my mind Death Note is not that good, and we also discuss this in the podcasts.)

Really though, if you have space for inane diatribes about piracy, then you have the capacity to split streaming and home video releases into two seperate categories.

The discussion on piracy was within the category it was nominated for - Biggest Disappointment. The full discussion helps cover this.
Also as mentioned, the landscape of anime availability has changed greatly even in just the last year. It was not that long ago that availability via Streaming was not as comprehensive as it is now, heck, even last year it was very different.

Also, finally, how does A Silent Voice get the nod for "anime of the year" yet loses out to Your Name for "best film of the year"? Like, surely "anime of the year" insinuates that said title was better than everything else?

This is covered in the discussions - in short, Your Name was better when you look at just Theatrical and put bounds around it there.

Also, as a quick "look behind the curtain" - the podcasts were recorded in a single day over a 13-hour span (including breaks) so by the end we were a little punchdrunk!

 

[HdE]

Not to give Hanners a hard time here or anything (because, bloody HELL that is one titanic workload he's had to juggle!) but with regard to the point made about the Gundam Thunderbolt movie's price tag versus comments about piracy:

If there's one thing I'm doing a lot of thinking about after 2016's awards, it's exactly this. I want to celebrate amazing anime first and foremost, and December Sky, Your Name and A Silent Voice are all truly amazing, but I do appreciate your point, especially in Gundam Thunderbolt's case. Did we screw up? Maybe, but hot-damn is that film nigh-on perfection.

I have one issue here: December Sky was a rare case of one of these pricey import editions that I was able to find the money for. Had I not been given a VERY generous and unexpected bonus payout on some freelance work, I'd never have been able to do that. I enjoyed it a great deal. But it's nowhere near perfect. And nowhere near 'this was totally worth £75 of my money' quality. I'm not interested in all the extra stuff that came with it or the shiny packaging. All I wanted was the film, without having to wait a span of years for it to get a western release.

And right here is the rub. We're now smack bang in the middle of a very sticky time for anime consumers - as in, those folks who won't pirate anime on principle and spend their hard earned wages on it. I'll put this bluntly: there's a lot of mediocre **** on sale at premium prices. And those prices are only set to go higher as Japanese studios make stricter dictates and a certain section of the fanbase accept and support these prices while criticising others for complaining about them. Folks like Henry Goto at Aniplex can comment on 'undervaluing the product' all they like, but the opposite seems true. As one acquaintance of mine has said 'They want HOW MUCH? For CARTOONS?!'

Cheaper prices may not necessarily attract new consumers. But prices at the level they currently are will CERTAINLY deter them. How the market has come to accept RRPs of £50 - 70 for HALF a show on disc is beyond me. Why folks are still excited for collectors' edition packages is beyond me. That whole trend is actually - and this should hopefully speak to your point about celebrating great anime - diverting attention from the show's themselves onto the packages as actual items. Things. Products. What's the point of that? You only have to look across anime message boards to see that actual APPRECIATION of the shows themselves feels pretty rare.

Every time I post these sentiments here, they reliably draw exasperated comments from folks who think differently. But the fact is, the world economy is changing. Almost all of us on this forum buy physical copies of anime shows regularly. And we're all about to get poorer in the UK. The industry is heading quite determinedly down a path where folks supporting physical releases are paying too high a sum for the privilege. Why are folks getting behind and supporting marketing strategies that will basically prevent them from buying more of the stuff they love? That's the real kicker for me. I can't get my head around that.

The fans ultimately have the right to spend their money as they please. We all define worth on our own terms. But I really think we're at a point now where pricing is out of hand. Enough is enough. Value for money, accessibility and affordability are issues that are LONG overdue for being addressed in the current market climate. It shouldn't be a case of 'stream it if you can't afford to buy it.' And it's ludicrous to think that things should get to that point.

If I can suggest anything constructively here, it's that fan bases have always had a power to effect change to some degree. And those at the front of the fan base - those who write for magazines, websites, blogs, run Youtube channels or whatever, can play a significant part in that. Sound the call for a budget priced range of older shows. Criticise distasteful market trends when you see them. Consider value for money when reviewing material. When standard edition releases don't appear, ask the relevant people why not. Ask tough questions.

Part of the reason I'm saying all this is because I won't be buying ANY anime this year after April. That's when my business accounts are made up from, and I decided I need a year with minimal expenditure. I have some heavy costs on the horizon and my finances simply won't stretch far enough to indulge my lifelong love of anime. It's only temporary, most likely. But when I had to look forthings to cut back on or cut out entirely, this was a regettably easy decision.

That's my $0.02.

 

[Demelza]

The discussion on piracy was within the category it was nominated for - Biggest Disappointment. The full discussion helps cover this.
Also as mentioned, the landscape of anime availability has changed greatly even in just the last year. It was not that long ago that availability via Streaming was not as comprehensive as it is now, heck, even last year it was very different.

Confession: Have not reached this point in the podcast discussions yet, so some blind comments from me here but...

The problem with piracy winning is that it could so easily win every year. While I respect that the landscape has changed a lot this year, I also think piracy will continue anyway for a mountain of reasons and frankly it doesn't need to win an award for all of the community to be well aware of it being disappointing and the impact it's having. I would have said that the much bigger disappointment in 2016 was Funimation's utterly awful attempt to break into our market and then swiftly give up!

 

[Buzz201]

I listen to the Anime of the Year discussions but otherwise I do tend to find that UKA just puts out too much content for me to keep track of. That's more of a problem with me and podcasts rather than UKA though.

I personally don't think a movie should be ruled out if it's only shown at Scotland Love's Anime and perhaps at London/Leeds once afterwards because frankly it's still being shown and being given the chance to win an award like this might make it stick in people's minds. I really enjoyed A Silent Voice and I hope it does well when released in the next couple of months, so I'm not going to complain about it winning. I think if something like Kizu had won then it's probably equally important for its eventual home video release (although then again, it is Monogatari so it's going to be selling anyway!).

The issue I have is that A Silent Voice gets limited theatrical early this year, then potentially up to 12 months before it hits home video. It could potentially be 14 months before I can see it. Monogatari could feasibly be another 18 months with the way AoA are behaving right now and the choices Hanabee has made. Girls Und Panzer Der Film is closest to release, and even that has maybe 4 months or so, at least, until release.

None of these films are actually within anybody's grasp right now. All talking about them now does is make more people excited for the films. And the more people you excite, the more likely you are to hit the "but UKA is talking about it now, I don't want to wait that long" mindset, and sadly, I'm willing to bet I could find all of these if I were to go the way of the cat.

You do not know how excited I got at the realisation I might be able to watch Your Name on the plane whilst flying to Vietnam. I was bouncing off the ceiling. I know I'm going to end up with the one seat that has a broken entertainment system or something, so I'm not too set on it, but still. Not everyone is going to be as patient as I have (not) been, many will just give up and pirate...

Hello! I am Elliot Page, the host of the UK Anime Network Podcast, previously discussed.
I wanted to offer some answers to questions raised earlier on regarding the year end awards, and am happy to answer any additional questions you may have.

I know who you are, I like you. I enjoy following you on Twitter...

I can't speak for the rest of the judges but this is admittedly a miss on my part. I have at this point watched half of the show and have enjoyed it (its on backlog) and it should have gotten a nomination at least. That being said, I doubt this would have changed the overall results as I think only I watched it.

Yep, this is a miss. The day after recording two of the judges independently mentioned this and how it should have been considered.

None of the judges read any of the Ryogho Narita works released this year, I believe.

Individual members of the judges strongly disliked these shows and so included them in this category. They were rapidly struck off after those judges voiced their distaste - this is included on the podcast recordings.

I'm going to be honest and admit that I did kind of do the whole glancing at list, deliberately looking for omissions thing, which was rather arsey of me, but I figured summarising them might stop the feedback from just being "They missed this!" "They also missed this!" I also figured it might be interesting to highlight some of the more notable omissions. Though it was massively unfair on you guys to do it like that.

We comprehensively discuss these points during the deliberations podcast, and do wrestle with the availability of Gundam Thunderbolt whenever it comes up in an award. It was struck off of consideration for overall Best Anime for this very reason.

I made that comment from the text based lists. It seems like a lot of context was perhaps missing from doing it this way.

(RE: Gundam Thunderbolt) - This is the rule we have as well. We hashed this out in the awards discussions- as Thunderbolt was available via Anime Limited direct (and streamed to the UK via the Gundam Info Youtube Channel) we took this as a legitimate UK Release. Its not a comprehensive one, for sure, and as mentioned we do grapple with this a lot during the awards!

This is excessively nitpicky, but only the first two episodes of the miniseries version got officially streamed in the UK. I understand why you went the way you did, but I'd have probably gone the opposite way and argued that an import release and half-streaming didn't count as a UK release. It's tricky.

Yep, that's entirely right. This is admittedly something I have spent a lot of time thinking about and regretting - the site awards reflect the site staff, which is mostly 30 year old (ish) men. I'd love nothing to diversify the lineup and get some alternative voices. Contributors always welcome!

I think I regret choosing that phrasing. I think it comes across more critically than intended. I didn't necessarily intend it as an indictment, so much as perhaps to suggest that had something like Cute High Earth Defense Club Love! Love! been one of the best titles of the year, it probably wouldn't have stood a chance.

Glad you liked it! At the risk of pushing my luck I'd be honoured if you continued if only to justify the work it took to edit the podcasts, haha

I did want to continue, but I was listening on Soundcloud and lost my position, which threw me off.

 

[elliotpage]

Cute High Earth Defense Club Love! Love!

I mentioned season 1 of this in 2015's awards and got a lot of blank looks, haha. Also I still havent watched Season 2 despite supposedly being a big fan,oops!

I did want to continue, but I was listening on Soundcloud and lost my position, which threw me off.

Ooof, yea. If you have an Android device I'd recommend BeyondPod, which is a very good Podcast catcher.

Confession: Have not reached this point in the podcast discussions yet, so some blind comments from me here but...
The problem with piracy winning is that it could so easily win every year. While I respect that the landscape has changed a lot this year, I also think piracy will continue anyway for a mountain of reasons and frankly it doesn't need to win an award for all of the community to be well aware of it being disappointing and the impact it's having.

You are entirely correct with your points, but I disagree - I am slightly rehashing the (much more eloquent) comments from the recording, but:
Piracy will never go away, but given we now live in a time of ludicrous plenty in the streaming space the fact that we still get the same excuses trotted out time and again from certain corners of fandom when the landscape has evolved so much to meet people's wants and needs is getting absurd. Yes, it could win every year, but in this case we felt that it was justified.
Are things perfect in the legit space? Hellllllllllll no! And we spend most of the podcasts in the rest of the year moaning about this!
Again, the podcast puts it a lot better than I can here and I will leave that as a version of record rather than doing it further disservice in text .

I would have said that the much bigger disappointment in 2016 was Funimation's utterly awful attempt to break into our market and then swiftly give up!

This is mentioned and lamented, the main reason why it did not go much further is that Funimation did not so much give up as Pivot into Dub-Only, given the partnership with Crunchyroll (who already have lots of market penetration, apps, subscriptions, etc.).

 

[Hanners]

Really though, if you have space for inane diatribes about piracy, then you have the capacity to split streaming and home video releases into two seperate categories.

The problem with piracy winning is that it could so easily win every year. While I respect that the landscape has changed a lot this year, I also think piracy will continue anyway for a mountain of reasons and frankly it doesn't need to win an award for all of the community to be well aware of it being disappointing and the impact it's having. I would have said that the much bigger disappointment in 2016 was Funimation's utterly awful attempt to break into our market and then swiftly give up!

I'm honestly not sure what's inane about it? I think as fans we've all been comfortable with some level of piracy over the years, to fill the gaps left by geo-locking content for the UK and stuff simply not getting released. 2016 was the year when a lot of those arguments dried up almost entirely (although yes, the legal anime content ecosystem still isn't perfect by any regard), yet we're still seeing illegal streaming sites getting massive traffic.

Admittedly it wouldn't have been my personal number one choice to win that category (but that's mainly because I'm still so bloody angry about STUDIOCANAL's treatment of The Boy and the Beast!), but I think if ever there was a year to point at piracy as a continued trend and saying "stop that" then 2016 was. it.

Also, finally, how does A Silent Voice get the nod for "anime of the year" yet loses out to Your Name for "best film of the year"? Like, surely "anime of the year" insinuates that said title was better than everything else?

I feel like this at least got touched on during the deliberations, but Your Name won best movie for being a great cinema-going experience as a whole - it's an entertaining, funny and touching story that hits a lot of the right spots. It isn't necessarily a film you'll come out from in a contemplative mood, but you'll definitely walk out of it feeling like you've had a good time and seen something superb.

The Anime of the Year category (for me at least) runs deeper than that, as something that didn't just entertain me enormously but gave me something "more", however intangible that might be. For example, last year's winner was Shirobako, which I had a huge amount of fun watching but it also gave me more insight into the workings of the anime industry and also had something to say about working life which marked it out from other anime. Likewise, A Silent Voice this year speaks very personally on topics that isn't often (if ever) handled well by anime, and for that I (and other judges) felt it deserved to be rewarded.

Is that an arbitrary, subjective distinction? Yes it is... welcome to every awards system ever.

 

[Hanners]

So why would you assume that it's so simply to end piracy within the anime industry if literally no other industry has achieved such a thing thus far?

The winner of the category was the continued blight of anime piracy, not some magical and unrealistic demand that it should stop.

I mean, sure, I guess you are entitled to feel disappointed that there will always be people stealing anime but then, I hazard a guess that the people who aren't already paying for anime are people who would have never paid for it to begin with. So it doesn't even matter.

You can use Crunchyroll for free, so it isn't even a "paying versus not" argument.

 

[Rui]

This is a cool debate now it has some back and forth going on so I'm going to split the thread in a second. Please forgive disruption.

(I feel bad as I don't listen to any podcasts at all - our own included. All I get to see are the written articles ;_; )

I have one issue here: December Sky was a rare case of one of these pricey import editions that I was able to find the money for. Had I not been given a VERY generous and unexpected bonus payout on some freelance work, I'd never have been able to do that. I enjoyed it a great deal. But it's nowhere near perfect. And nowhere near 'this was totally worth £75 of my money' quality. I'm not interested in all the extra stuff that came with it or the shiny packaging. All I wanted was the film, without having to wait a span of years for it to get a western release.

I hate to be that guy but December Sky was available as a standard edition too (I bought it, and it was less than half of £75 before customs-free high-speed shipping - had various world affairs not destroyed our exchange rate it would be have been very good value indeed). Totally agree that the price is still very much outside 'standard edition' territory for the UK, but it was a region free BD and completely legit and there was no way I could have budgeted for the LE so that was what I went for. In this particular case, you opted for the fancy edition

R

 

[Buzz201]

And right here is the rub. We're now smack bang in the middle of a very sticky time for anime consumers - as in, those folks who won't pirate anime on principle and spend their hard earned wages on it. I'll put this bluntly: there's a lot of mediocre **** on sale at premium prices. And those prices are only set to go higher as Japanese studios make stricter dictates and a certain section of the fanbase accept and support these prices while criticising others for complaining about them. Folks like Henry Goto at Aniplex can comment on 'undervaluing the product' all they like, but the opposite seems true. As one acquaintance of mine has said 'They want HOW MUCH? For CARTOONS?!'

Cheaper prices may not necessarily attract new consumers. But prices at the level they currently are will CERTAINLY deter them. How the market has come to accept RRPs of £50 - 70 for HALF a show on disc is beyond me. Why folks are still excited for collectors' edition packages is beyond me. That whole trend is actually - and this should hopefully speak to your point about celebrating great anime - diverting attention from the show's themselves onto the packages as actual items. Things. Products. What's the point of that? You only have to look across anime message boards to see that actual APPRECIATION of the shows themselves feels pretty rare.

Every time I post these sentiments here, they reliably draw exasperated comments from folks who think differently. But the fact is, the world economy is changing. Almost all of us on this forum buy physical copies of anime shows regularly. And we're all about to get poorer in the UK. The industry is heading quite determinedly down a path where folks supporting physical releases are paying too high a sum for the privilege. Why are folks getting behind and supporting marketing strategies that will basically prevent them from buying more of the stuff they love? That's the real kicker for me. I can't get my head around that.

The fans ultimately have the right to spend their money as they please. We all define worth on our own terms. But I really think we're at a point now where pricing is out of hand. Enough is enough. Value for money, accessibility and affordability are issues that are LONG overdue for being addressed in the current market climate. It shouldn't be a case of 'stream it if you can't afford to buy it.' And it's ludicrous to think that things should get to that point.

If I can suggest anything constructively here, it's that fan bases have always had a power to effect change to some degree. And those at the front of the fan base - those who write for magazines, websites, blogs, run Youtube channels or whatever, can play a significant part in that. Sound the call for a budget priced range of older shows. Criticise distasteful market trends when you see them. Consider value for money when reviewing material. When standard edition releases don't appear, ask the relevant people why not. Ask tough questions.

Part of the reason I'm saying all this is because I won't be buying ANY anime this year after April. That's when my business accounts are made up from, and I decided I need a year with minimal expenditure. I have some heavy costs on the horizon and my finances simply won't stretch far enough to indulge my lifelong love of anime. It's only temporary, most likely. But when I had to look forthings to cut back on or cut out entirely, this was a regettably easy decision.

That's my $0.02.

I'm going to be honest and say I agree with most of what you've put, but there's a fine line between pushing for cheaper editions and just being a knob. I've gone so far into the latter territory that it's just probably not worth it anymore. I kept pushing and I kept pushing and I kept pushing and ultimately I have now pushed too far.

But, if I'm being completely honest, I now think it's reached the point where hardcore anime fans don't actually want poor anime fans in the community. You routinely get criticised for wanting lower prices than other people are willing to pay. I've been openly criticised for not wanting to pay £25 for an AL film standard edition, but I genuinely think that if I had paid that much. I've seen Madman get criticised for trying to put out standard edition BDs of AoA titles at cheap prices on a similar timescale to every other show, as if somehow Madman attempting to get the best possible value as soon as possible for it's customers is wrong, but apparently it's their own fault they keep running into hurdles and they should know better. Some fans have suggested that my campaigning for standard editions, hurts their desire for collector's editions. And some companies have justified their expensive prices with "Well if you want a booklet you have to pay more", but we've never really been asked if we wanted a booklet...

What winds me up most about this is that, literally nobody is asking you to give up fancy collector's editions. You can still buy AoA sets and criticise their behaviour with Madman and AL. You can still buy AL sets and criticise their lack of standard editions. The same way I could buy a Manga standard edition and criticise their lack of a CE. It shouldn't be one or the other, but ultimately hardcore anime fans seem to view as that, so don't hold your breath on things changing.

To make matters worse, these rich people, campaigning against standard editions and justifying AoA's behaviour, are also generally the ones smarmilly banging the drum about how piracy is evil. But I've already been off about that on Twitter once this week, nobody wants to hear that again.

Good luck with giving up anime. I said I'd do the same, but Seraph, Part 1 and Arslan, Part 2 later and here we are. I hope you fare better than I did. (And I hope I am able to do better at it this year.)

 

[ConanThe3rd]

Unless Toei and TMS are there to take the Rassy for "Biggest Disappointment" it's an empty gesture.

Given that not even Funimation getting into the UK Market and teaming up with CR has losten that obstruction I think the illiciat proliferation of Toei and TMS' content will continue no matter how hard the drum is beat against it.

It's one thing that Gundam costs and arm and a leg, you can at least say you can lob your arm off and give it to someone for exchange of goods and services.

 

[Professor Irony]

Re: December Sky, perhaps it's my fault for not rigorously researching things before buying them, but my interest in Gundam is moderate at best and I too was under the assumption that the only option for purchase was the fancy-pants edition, as at a glance, that was all I could see from known sellers, and I simply assumed anything else was a bootleg.

I don't completely blame the distros for focusing on expensive collectors editions, as I imagine much of the more casual, standard edition market must have been lost to streaming, but I do sympathise with those caught in the crossfire.

 

[Zin5ki]

Hello!

Someone from the Other Side? Here on AUKN turf? Let us proceed with caution here, chaps.

 

[Joshawott]

I won't pass any judgement on UK-Anime's choices or deliberation process because the very nature of annual awards is subjective; so Hanners et al can frankly do whatever they like. This discussion however, has made me think about the Tanuki Bridge Anime Awards that I oversaw.

Festival Titles Being Nominated
This is nothing new for the wider industry; look at how many movies only have the bare minimum runs to qualify for the Academy Awards (Your Name included). I sympathise with the frustrations of people who cannot see a movie (I have yet to see A Silent Voice or Girls und Panzer der Film!) but with a few, yet notable exceptions, the timescale of UK releases for theatrical home video is still very slow - given factors like home video hold-backs and cinema reluctance to even show most titles here. While they are limited in nature, small runs and theatrical screenings are legally accessible by the general public, so should be eligible during the year of their première - me not having the means to attend Scotland Loves Anime shouldn't disqualify people who were able to go from being able to praise what they saw.
For the Tanuki Bridge Anime Awards, I chose to give A Silent Voice the accolade for "Best Storytelling" based on Demelza's very strong praise for the title after seeing it at Leeds.

Home Video vs Streaming
This actually came up when the Tanuki Bridge team were deciding on our categories - as anime was only added to the site's remit last year. We decided to have a standalone category for "Local Anime Release of the Year" to specifically cover home video, with the criteria for other categories being that they must have made their original debut that year (theatrical/simulcast). Having the distinction also means less titles needing consideration .

 

[megalomaniac]

Just to stick my size 10s in...

Nominations
Others have covered the process but by way of example: Our nominations for 2017's awards are opened up to UKA contributors from, well, now. We do our best to cover what we can but we're all people with real lives that get in the way (for example I have a full time job, a family and other life things sapping my time) so we can't watch everything and with 60+ shows a season unfortunately stuff will get missed. This is even more of a problem for light novels/manga (and games, hence dropping the category this time), there's no-way even between us that we can (or want to) imbibe everything released in a year. If you don't like it then we always welcome new contributors...

We are consciously aware that things can and do get missed. That's a large part of why we have the Reader's Choice awards, it's very intentionally not up to us (UKA Contributors) what goes in there and sometimes readers highlight things we've missed. The call for nominations are open to anyone and are posted up a good while in advance of the vote on the UKA forum, Twitter, Facebook etc. so if something's missing from that list then it's simply because nobody has nominated it. In other words if you want to see something in there then nominate it, if you want to see it win then vote for it.

Pricing/Piracy
These have rather been conflated in the discussion above, but it was really (at least from my perspective) piracy of streaming series we were talking about. The reason we chose to highlight it this time is because we are in a situation now where almost everything is available to stream for free on the likes of Crunchyroll, DAISUKI, etc. So there really is no excuse for using <insert illegal streaming site here> any more, many of which just rip off the official streams anyway (and then make money for themselves from on site advertising...). There has been very very little that is not available legally and free to watch this year, yet you still hear people boasting of watching those shows on <insert illegal streaming site here>. Really the point of the discussion was getting the message out there that if you're watching something on <insert illegal streaming site here> and it's available legally for free you're denying the anime industry income for no good reason. Ok, it's not perfect (for the love of god Crunchy kill Flash already) but it isn't the over priced inferior product it once was.

Back to physical stuff: I've raised the pricing issue time and again myself over on UKA, both in reviews and in the podcasts. I seem to recall going on something of a rant about the exorbitant cost of the Gurren Lagann - Ultimate Edition in last year's awards podcast for example. Alas, that's the way the industry seems to be going. Expensive collectors editions for those who want such things and streaming for everyone else. I don't like it, but it seems that's where the money is for distributors. Give me reasonably priced std edition blu-rays any day of the week, or if you're doing an 'ultimate edition' make it special with soundtracks and such or don't bother. A pretty case and postcards doesn't make anything in any way 'special' and it shouldn't cost the earth either...

The thing that has a massive impact on pricing which we (anime fans) often fail to acknowledge or understand about the industry in the UK is that it's tiny. That £10 series of Game of Thrones you see in Sainsburys will probably sell more on it's own than the entire UK Anime industry's output combined. Comparing prices of anime in the UK to mainstream releases as we often do is somewhat unfair on what is virtually a cottage industry. Similarly putting out multiple SKU's (DVD, std BD, "Ultimate" etc.) just isn't financially viable for them on series that will likely only sell at best in the 100s. So naturally they choose the one that's most profitable.

 

[serpantino]

People always moan about piracy but companies are happy to withhold legal streaming from the UK or force overpriced collector's editions on us. I think piracy allows interest in shows that publishers/license holders are neglecting and it can be beneficial. I haven't pirated any anime in over a year but the last one that I did, I enjoyed so much that I went out and bought it. Companies love it when we all cry wolf on piracy because it detracts from them being lacklustre in providing the product.

Edit: as for Crunchyroll's free service, I hated it to the point I never considered it a valid option because it played the same damn advert every 3-5 minutes. I don't even bother with TV because there's too many adverts & CR takes it even further on the crappiness meter

 

[megalomaniac]

People always moan about piracy but companies are happy to withhold legal streaming from the UK or force overpriced collector's editions on us. I think piracy allows interest in shows that publishers/license holders are neglecting and it can be beneficial. I haven't pirated any anime in over a year but the last one that I did, I enjoyed so much that I went out and bought it. Companies love it when we all cry wolf on piracy because it detracts from them being lacklustre in providing the product.

That's something else we've banged on about time and again over in UKA land. If the product isn't at least as good/convenient/etc. as piracy then...well...the result is inevitable.

 

[serpantino]

I know it's always worth bringing up though. Bootlegs on the other hand... They tend to just be awful nowadays and give anime a bad name with their cramming of as much as possible on disk in archaic compression formats. It's a bit of a minefield for newer fans who aren't familiar with the prevalence of bootlegs and being put off as a result of inadvertently buying them.

The biggest disappointment for me though has got to be that poor quality & downright broken releases are still a fairly regular thing, even on major releases (studio canal ruining when marnie was there for instance)

 

[Buzz201]

Just to stick my size 10s in...

Nominations
Others have covered the process but by way of example: Our nominations for 2017's awards are opened up to UKA contributors from, well, now. We do our best to cover what we can but we're all people with real lives that get in the way (for example I have a full time job, a family and other life things sapping my time) so we can't watch everything and with 60+ shows a season unfortunately stuff will get missed. This is even more of a problem for light novels/manga (and games, hence dropping the category this time), there's no-way even between us that we can (or want to) imbibe everything released in a year. If you don't like it then we always welcome new contributors...

We are consciously aware that things can and do get missed. That's a large part of why we have the Reader's Choice awards, it's very intentionally not up to us (UKA Contributors) what goes in there and sometimes readers highlight things we've missed. The call for nominations are open to anyone and are posted up a good while in advance of the vote on the UKA forum, Twitter, Facebook etc. so if something's missing from that list then it's simply because nobody has nominated it. In other words if you want to see something in there then nominate it, if you want to see it win then vote for it.

I skimread that nominations page (and then stopped because I couldn't think of anything to nominated), maybe I missed it, but I don't think it necessarily highlighted the fact shows from the end of 2015 were eligible. Clearly other people realised, because Concrete Revolutio got a nomination, so maybe it's just me

Pricing/Piracy

The thing that has a massive impact on pricing which we (anime fans) often fail to acknowledge or understand about the industry in the UK is that it's tiny. That £10 series of Game of Thrones you see in Sainsburys will probably sell more on it's own than the entire UK Anime industry's output combined. Comparing prices of anime in the UK to mainstream releases as we often do is somewhat unfair on what is virtually a cottage industry. Similarly putting out multiple SKU's (DVD, std BD, "Ultimate" etc.) just isn't financially viable for them on series that will likely only sell at best in the 100s. So naturally they choose the one that's most profitable.

It doesn't even necessarily have to be physical, if they got the product right (DRM-free, HD, home video versions, incl. both dub and sub), they could probably find a viable digital alternative that doesn't cost them much to offer. Though, I appreciate it would probably take a lot to convince Japan to let them offer this and it would still annoy people who desperately wanted physical.

I don't think anybody's really saying it should be as cheasp as British or American TV, only that the price keeps going up and that's putting more and more people off. (Something which you yourself have basically just said.)

I know it's always worth bringing up though. Bootlegs on the other hand... They tend to just be awful nowadays and give anime a bad name with their cramming of as much as possible on disk in archaic compression formats. It's a bit of a minefield for newer fans who aren't familiar with the prevalence of bootlegs and being put off as a result of inadvertently buying them.

The biggest disappointment for me though has got to be that poor quality & downright broken releases are still a fairly regular thing, even on major releases (studio canal ruining when marnie was there for instance)

In all seriousness, how often do you see anime release bootlegs these days? I have never seen a bootleg anime release in the wild, only ever from shots posted on here and ANN. This whole "everyone owns a bootleg" thing seems bizarre to me, because I know for a fact that I have never even had the opportunity to buy one.

The only "anime" merch I've seen that's bootleg is some questionable Pokemon merchandise.

 

[Rui]

I really hate piracy (I never do it under any circumstances) but I have to agree that companies which deliberately withhold content from the UK to protect their own interests only stoke the flames by giving people an easy fallback excuse. We seem to get more and more access to simulcasting with every season yet there are still some glaring omissions (One Piece, when?) which continue to be withheld despite great availability in other English-speaking regions. We know our friends are watching these shows legally. We're not the audience of 1990 with no source of information beyond monthly magazines. It feels as though the industry is insulting our intelligence by splitting the English-speaking world up along traditional borders for digital content.

I won't pirate when I feel hard done by, but I'm still boycotting Manganimatsu UK over the Sakamoto fiasco and I'm going to continue mentioning it whenever the topic heads that way because it still outrages me as a fan and long term supporter of a small industry. I think we owe it to ourselves as consumers to keep giving feedback that this kind of treatment is not acceptable, just as the anti-CE crew will not (and indeed cannot) switch to buying CEs just because a standard edition isn't available yet. Completely agree that CEs are the natural progression for niche titles with the market in its current state, but when our own distributors work to ruin the availability of simulcasts to varying degrees neither model is going to work well.

On the actual awards, I'm sort of glad we just kept our wrap-up to a bunch of thoughts about each of our writers' most enjoyed series as I could never have invested the amount of time and passion as the UKA crew there. Our wrap up was also very biased to what the staff happened to be into that year - personal tastes and free time limitations being what they will - but I think why people get up in arms about awards in particular is that they feel everyone should be equally represented; sites with slanted demographics will never have anything that doesn't appeal outside of that demographic winning a popularity vote category, let alone the curated ones. Even the Crunchyroll awards came in for a lot of criticism for the narrow view they took of what the year had to offer. I appreciate Buzz calling out the best comedy of the last year (I'm not saying this with 100% seriousness) for being missed as whatever you think about Osomatsu-san (he hates it), the staggering sales figures and cultural penetration it's enjoyed for more than twelve months now does, to me, make it worthy of recognition even if it's just a 'nah, it's popular but we don't really get why' aside. Which is what I'd say about Re: Zero, which was a big viewing phenomenon even if it Wasn't For Me.

Maybe I should shut up. FMA completely steamrolled all other titles in our Character Battle, hahaha, so I'm not even slightly saying anyone is without bias here.

An official celebration of the best home video output each year would be ace though, UKA. Perhaps more interesting than a simulcast chart since there wouldn't be much risk of recency bias and a lot of the chaff would be naturally filtered out by the more limited pool of contenders. (Sadly.)

R