Letters

First, the letters on the Company A/Company Z debate. Although I'm sure everyone knows to whom I was referring, I will edit out company-specific remarks, since the debate is intended to be between two business philosophies rather than the companies themselves.

I agree with what you said. I remembered Company A's dedication to putting out long anime series on video. I remember them releasing all sorts of shows - and then they stopped. Whereas Company Z is producing all sorts of way-cool shows, and still some more of the more 'rounded' features.

Way to go, Company Z. If they were to get the rights to translate some 39-episode TV series that came out while I was back in college, then I could expect them to finish it, unless it turned out that there wasn't enough of an audience for it. And if so, I wouldn't blame them for stopping.

It's a similar problem in the Roleplaying Game Industry. There's a heck of a lot of hobbyist businessmen, who are only in it to see their name on a published book, or to do something 'right'. And there's very few businessmen, who can start a company and keep it going because they know what they're doing.

Company Z knows what to do to stay in business and continue to translate anime. And as much as I may like the idea of idealists providing all the detail you might want, it's businesses like Company Z that will keep turning up new series at the local video store.

-john
{jcfiala@cssltd.com|jcfiala@earthlink.net}

When it comes to anime companies, flavours and preferences will come and go; I've written several filks in the past that were critical of Streamline Pictures, and many folk, new and old fans alike, took me to task for it. Even I myself have come to accept many of Macek's dubs and think "you know, he really didn't do it *that* badly...". Hey, Beta was better than VHS and came first, and we all know who won that battle. Opportunity and timing matter more than quality and choice.

All we fans can do it vote with our dollars and tell the companies how to satisfy us. I recently got the head office of a chain store in my city to remove their craniums from their rectums and charge reasonable prices for anime video rentals (they were charging 3x what other stores charged locally; the only reason I want to rent from them is their better selection).

As for the computer links, a big *THANK*YOU*THANK*YOU* is in order. Lotsa goodies here, especially stuff near and dear to my own heart: Anchella's Bishonen Backgrounds is one I've not seen before and I'll definitely be linking on my page. Anyway, what's wrong with themes? Can't you just imagine booting up your PC with a background image of the Magi and Gendo saying "I have a use for you" when you start an application? ^_^

Even though it's old news, I hope I can weigh in with an opinion on the "to JS or not to JS" debate: do both. JS has more power, but excludes users of browsers that don't support it. Expecting users to have JS/frames capable browsers or specific configurations is (pardon my saying it) slightly fascist and rather dumb. It's a big sign saying "you're not welcome" to anyone who doesn't use the same computer. Most people when they design pages don't test on any system other than their own; they _say_ "requires Netscrape 10.2", but what it really means is "N10.2 with Lose 98, 800X600, 64MB RAM, this and that plug in, etc." Unless someone has the exact same machine, these types of pages rarely work. My way is to make pure HTML pages that work on several browsers, (and when I use JS or Java, provide HTML navigation links) or I make multiple page versions. Some might see it as dumbing down the machine, but until *everybody* uses the same computer setup, I'll make pages that work on *any* computer. (Sorry if I'm making myself sound morally superior. ^_^) Try this site, it changed my attitude: http://www.anybrowser.org

(Name and address withheld by request)

I do have to agree with you. I feel that "Company Z" is treated quite harshly simply because of their dominant position among anime companies. I feel that they put out a wide selection of titles, those titles are generally fairly priced, and the translations they provide are quite acceptable.

But - and here's an important point - I don't have any particular fondness for "Company Z." They're a company, I buy product they release, that's pretty much the end of it. If they went out of business tomorrow, I'd probably just shrug and wonder who would be buying up the licenses.

On the other hand, there's "Company A", which doesn't release a whole lot of anime and has its own problems with release schedules. I tend to like most of the products they release and the way they release it, so I buy just about everything they release.

If "Company A" went out of business tomorrow, I'd probably be very depressed about it.

Why? Because "Company A" needs its fans to survive, they know they need their fans to survive, and they treat their fans almost like a great extended family. When I email "Company A", I get a personal response from a human. When I buy an expensive box set of "Show K" from "Company A", the names of everyone who preordered it are on the discs. When "Company A" is trying to decide how to release something, they ask for fan input. They do their level best to release things in a way that caters to the people who buy their products.

This results in an emotional reaction: Buying a "Company A" release gives me a good feeling, buying a "Company Z" release just feels like I'm buying a videotape.

That's my reason for liking "Company A" better than "Company Z", anyway.

On the second point in your rant - you know, the bit where you complain about anime fans not wanting to have to pay for anime - I find myself in agreement with you. Be shocked - I think this is the second time in the last seven years or so that I have agreed with an opinion you've espoused. Some fans do seem to have the opinion that a fansub can be a replacement for a commercial product, and this is one of the things that annoys me most in fandom. I feel that it's quite acceptable to prefer a fan translation to a commercial translation - but you should own the commercial product if it exists, even if you don't watch it.

Best,
Gus ericg@efn.org

While I understand your feeling towards Company A, and don't disagree with any of your points, I can't say that any company gives me the warm, fuzzy feeling you describe. My relationship with anime companies is that of a customer, not a friend, and I can't continue to have positive feelings towards a company that has ceased providing me with things to buy.

I just wanted to comment that when I buy anime I look at the cost-per-episode rather than the cost-per-tape. The rationale behind this is that I only buy series that I like (I usually rent a few episodes of each series first), and there are quite a few series that I would like to buy-- I have limited funds however. So given my current financial situation I'd like to buy as much anime as possible... if a series is cheaper for one tape, but more expensive over the entire series, chances are I'll buy something from Company A.

... about the "average guy buying a video at Suncoast", I don't know what Suncoast is. I assume you can buy lots of non-anime, American *movies* at Suncoast. If that is the case, then comparing "the average guy buying a tape" to anime fans who are trying to buy an **entire series** that they can't casually go out to Blockbuster and rent (or watch on TV) is unfair. Anime is rarely on TV, (except for Pokemon currently and previously: Sailor Moon, Galaxy Express 999, DragonBall Z), and not much is available at large video rental chains, and even less at the single-outlet rental places.

-Arjun melchior@canada.com
http://allocation.cjb.net
(Arjun's Anime Allocation: Images, Music, and Movies!)

My comment about "the average guy at Suncoast" was in reference to the fact that an anime company can only truly thrive if it markets outside the otaku fanbase. Yes, fans make decisions to buy entire series. But the ordinary Joe, whose dollars the anime companies so highly desire and need, is a lot more likely to pick up a $20 tape than a $30 tape, regardless of the length.

Hello! I'm a fan of the Last Exit before Toll column, and loved the article on 'Company A' vs. 'Company Z' It's a sad but true fact of the business world that money makes right. Now if everyone stopped buying 'Company Z' tapes they would no longer have the money to buy fan-popular titles, but what fan would do without? No matter how much we complain about outrageous pricing, we are, for lack of a better word, addicted.

A related topic to this (okay, more like a personal peeve of mine) is the slaughtering of anime to suit a public opinion. Look at DBZ and *especially* Sailor Moon. In the mainstream, anime is considered either 'for kids' or 'stupid stories about half-naked girls with overly large breasts being raped by tentacles' (a quote from a worker from a local unnamed chain of video stores) If the companies can't make it fit into one or the other, it becomes very difficult to come by. I thank god everyday for Suncoast. Okay, this has really turned into a small rant and I'll leave the column writing to you. Keep up the good work!

Kate Lilykitten@aol.com

http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Courtyard/4549

You are absolutely right - no one likes to pay for anything and everyone would rather have everything for free if it weren't for the fact that no one would bother making anything if they didn't get *something* for it.

Anime fans, being included in "everyone", naturally don't like to pay. But the very existence of company A and company Z indicates that while no one likes to pay, many commit it anyway - so the reluctance to part with one's money doesn't seem to be a problem. At all.

Now for the second issue - which company do fans love. Company A is liked and close to extinction. Company Z is disliked and going strong. The conclusion is inevitably that while the fans may make a lot of noise about what they want and don't want, the real world - which is the world companies exist in - doesn't listen. So there's really no reason to care about that debate.

The fansubbers have had more than ten years to bring down a company with their illegal copies. The fact that they have failed so utterly renders them the grade F-, and leads to the conclusion that while they may be parasites, it is no *big deal*.

---
Leo Sutic | leo@sutic.nu | ICQ #12971703
http://www.sutic.nu/

A secondary debate was ignited on the subject of fansubs.

I'd just like to say that you have glossed over what I consider the main point/problem with professional vs. fan subtitling. You mention the cost factor, but you also say that we fans don't like to pay for a product when a product of similar or superior quality is available for much less.

I don't mind paying $25-30 a tape for a good quality show. But when I can get the same show, at a higher quality, for $5, I will not pay the $25, and that's it. If the $25 one was better, I'd pay the $25; if they're exactly the same, I'll pay the $25. But I won't pay $20 extra for a licence when the licenced product is less than what I've already got.

Legalizing the anime industry isn't easy, I know, but putting out products that are worse than the illegal ones is no way to get people to play nice with the law, and almost guaranteed to ensure they won't.

Raye Johnsen earnest@one.net.au

Sadly, that's the attitude of many fans. It's an attitude that would kill licensed anime altogether, if it weren't for the unwritten Fansubber's Code cutting off distribution once a title is acquired, and for the fact the attitude in question is only shared by a minority.

And finally, some letters on the column content!

I just wanted to thank you for mentioning my site in your Last Exit column. I only started the site a little over a month ago and I thought it ate feet. Imagine my joy when I was reading your article and saw my site listed. Arigato!

Amel
a.k.a. Holy Knight Ukyo RNK
a.k.a. Otaku Spike
a.k.a. Sailor Nuku

Visit me at Ukyo's Cafe: http://rei.animenetwork.com/ukyoscafe

Plus, visit my Winamp skins page: http://rei.animenetwork.com/ukyoscafe/skins

P.S. I'm glad you think my site is so cute. 8^B

In a previous letters page, a reader asked for a resource for learning how to draw manga.

I have a pretty comprehensive list of the tutorials that have helped most for people who are interested in making art. Most of these tutorials are for CG's (computer generated, computer graphics) but I'll give you the direct link to my page that has descriptions, to save you space.

http://animage.anime-manga.net/howto.html
http://animage.anime-manga.net/howtow.html (if you don't like the black background for some reason)

Hope that helps your reader.

--
-Thunder Empress Arshes Nei-
AniMage Homepage
http://animage.anime-manga.net/sjanibannr.gif
http://animage.anime-manga.net
Administrator of Anime-Manga.Net
http://www.anime-manga.net

Here are some sites that deal with How to Draw Anime and Manga characters.

http://www.artlair.com/artlair_tech.asp
http://members.tripod.com/~evangelista/hta/tut1.html
http://members.tripod.com/~NuGraphite/tutorial.htm
http://cybermanga.com/college/
http://www.ip.pt/~ip226883/aw_techni01.htm
http://tnt.anime-manga.net/

Forsteen Forsteen@hotmail.com

My "Anime Icons for the Macintosh" page was mentioned in your "Last Exit Before Toll"'s July column, and I'd like to thank you for the exposure! My hits went up by an amazing amount. I guess there are a lot of Macintosh-using anime fans who didn't know that someone out there was making icons for them... ^_^

That being said, it's kind of unfortunate that I chose to update my anime page at the end of June, and that the Anipike has recently been so swamped with updates that my own haven't been processed yet. My icons page moved to a different address and got quite a makeover, and I got rid of a bunch of old icons and added almost 20 new ones; people visiting my page from the Anipike or from your column won't see any of that unless they follow the link to the new page.... Well, them's the breaks. ^_^;;

-Megan not@idirect.com

in your list of things anime to do to one's computer, you mentioned a linux customization page. i didnt click through, but i believe it's probably a set of customizations for the x-windows/enlightenment world of linux.

well, i just wanted to tell you that there's a very similar tool for Win9x/nt boxes called Litestep. Litestep is a shell replacement for the buggy, crashprone, evil Explorer shell. It basically allows for the creation of custom icons, tools, graphs and pictures on the desktop, in any way you want it, and is more stable and much more customizable at that.

it also has a slight learning curve ;), but then again so did win 95 first time i upgraded from dosshell.

altough i dont believe there is a full blown anime litestep theme site, but these subpages of litestep.net have anime themes in them (theres more, but i didnt want to send you a list of a few hundred pages, none of which being officially anime)
http://www.litestep.net/themes/new.html - 'lum step', 'project-9'
http://www.litestep.net/themes/24m-r9.html - 'ranma step'

if not anything else, they're downright pretty.

oh, and theres the theme closest to my heart:

http://www.skinz.org/skins.php3?login=&id=
&skin=Now+Evangel%3F&area=litestep

the reason for this bond should be obvious when you see the mailto form of the author ;)

tho i dont recomend using that one, unless you want to spend a day or two customizing the links... but it's almost worth the download for the background itself.

edgar emilik@san.rr.com