It has some very Apple-inspired aethestics.

I’ve written about the idea of digital distribution of comics before, but had only considered a web-based platform because that was what most companies seemed to be experimenting with at the time. And really, I think one of the other reasons I hadn’t considered the iTunes model before is because I couldn’t really see the comics (or manga) industry ever agreeing on a universal solution, especially considering how haphazard and all over the place everyone’s digital model is for anime and television streams and downloads. And yet, how convenient and elegant it would be if they could agree? If you could find all your comics in one place for the super cheap price of $0.99/issue? It’s just about perfect.

With all the comics inflation that’s been happening recently, the price point of the Longbox might be the most attractive feature for both consumers and companies. Marvel has raised its most popular titles from $2.99/issue to $3.99/issue. For me, the three bucks I’d save buying a digital version is well worth sacrificing the novelty of a hard copy, especially when those three bucks add up every Wednesday. I could use that extra money to buy more comics! For graphic novels, if we go by prices set by various current web-models, they might go for anywhere between $2.50 and $4.50 a volume — at least half the price of Viz’s new $9.99 standard and TOKYOPOP’s $10.99. And for companies, since there would be zero printing costs, and since the Longbox supports formats already being used, it isn’t unlikely that they’d see an even bigger profit margin from digital sales.

A lot of people already read comics digitally, whether legally or illegally, so I really don’t think that transition will be much of an issue here. With money tight in everyone’s pocket’s these days, it’s hard to argue tradition with cost, and the publishing industry in general has been declining for a while. When Amazon’s Kindle 2 released in February, my feed reader was bombarded with Slashdot and New York Times articles comparing its surging popularity with that of Apple’s iPod with further comparisons with the music industry in general. And indeed, there do seem to be a lot of similarities, including telltale mistakes. The Longbox does seek to interface with the Kindle, as well as the score of other experimental eReaders like the iPhone, WiiWare, DS, and Xbox Live. The graphic format of comics might make it more challenging to adapt than text, but at this point, I see its acceptance as inevitable, at the very least on computer screens.

The last thing is, of course, content. A few studios are already on board, but no one major yet (ie, no Marvel or DC or Dark Horse, no Viz or TOKYOPOP). I am hoping that this will change soon as news of the Longbox makes its way around. Really, I don’t see any reason for it to fail once the major players sign on — iTunes is a proven success, and I don’t think comics or comics consumers are all that different from music and music consumers. Such a dramatic shift to digital comics will be hard on a lot of people and there will be casualties in the process (comic stores that don’t host D&D games will be the first to go), but as Ron Richards over at iFanboy dramatically puts it, “Digital comics are inevitable.  Change or Die.”

On one hand, I’m always happy to see FUNimation take the initive and find new ways to get their products to their fans and their customers. On the other hand, it’s starting to feel kind of disorganized. Many of the titles are available across most of the streaming sources — YouTube, Hulu, FUNimation Video, and now ANN — but there still seem to be a number of series that are only available in one place or another; I think the FUNi video site has the most titles, which makes sense, but then I kind of wonder why they bother with everything else? Most video sites are pretty much the same to me; Hulu might have the best quality of the aforementioned, but I find myself using the FUNi site more than anything else because I perceive it to be more beneficial to them.

But they’re obviously finding all of these partnerships worthwhile if they keep on adding more. It’s curious to note then, that they’re still absent from the Crunchyroll chaos. For the DTO stuff, it makes sense that they should spread out as not everyone has Xbox or Playstation or iTunes or use Amazon and all of them use DRM (correct me if I’m wrong; I don’t use any of them). The DRM thing is another debate entirely, but as long as people have far, far too many options for DTO products, FUNimation doesn’t have much of a choice but to go where their customers go, even if they have their own site for it (also DRM’d? Not sure). Is it the same for streaming video?

Some sites work better for some people, and some sites are available to people in different countries. There are dozens of quirks that set each site apart from the others, but the question remains… why? If we can assume that the FUNimation video site works for everyone in their intended audience, why would spread everything out? (And if we can’t assume that, then FUNi should obviously be working to fix that.) Is their primary goal exposure or ad revenue from people bumming around the video sites? If the concern is exposure, why not place trailer videos on the other sites, directing everyone back to their own video site? If the concern is revenue, wouldn’t they make more money when they don’t need to deal with a contract and a middle man? Is that why they’ve avoided Crunchyroll?

Me, I’m obsessive-compulsive and want everything to be orderly. That’s probably the main reason it’s starting to bother me that FUNimation’s putting everything everywhere, but hey, if this is what’s most beneficial to them, then I guess that’s that. On the whole, I hope that eventually this Internet streaming thing starts to simmer down and settle into the status quo and then maybe slowly, everything will become more organized.

I’m really curious to see how many fansub groups this official stream deters. Since the stream is only available for those in the US and France, there will likely still be foreign language sub efforts. It’s probably presumptuous of me, but I feel at least a little confident in guessing that a significant portion of fansubbers and leechers reside in the US. I don’t usually keep up with these things, so I’m not sure if any major fansub groups have already announced FMA:Brotherhood as a project, but if there have been, I wonder if any will drop it out right following this announcement.

Dattebayo dropping Naruto when Viz started its simulcast was a big deal. It’s exciting to see FUNimation starting to do something similar with a new series — especially FMA, which is already wildly popular in the States.

As for this series… I’m still kind of pessimistic about it; its very existence right now annoys me. Even though I’m a little relieved that it isn’t a sequel after all, the fact that it’s a remake doesn’t help that much either. The bottom line I have to repeat is that the manga still isn’t finished; why are you remaking the series now? If you’re going to remake a series so it’s more faithful to its source, why don’t you wait until the source is actually complete so you aren’t inevitably forced to start making stuff up like you did the first time? What’s going to change in this remake? Seriously, what’s going to change?

Haha, honestly, I think I’m now more excited about FUNimation’s stream of the series than the series itself. There’s been a lot of experimentating with the digital streaming, and it’s been confusing because most companies will have a site stream in addition to a YouTube and Hulu channel. I actually really like FUNi’s video site though, so I definitely look forward to having a completely legitmate way of watching this series as it airs. I almost wish FUNi had more ads on its video site — I do want to support them, and if I can do it without actually buying anything (hey, we’re all struggling, y’know?), then all the better. These are still experiments — they are undoubtedly still messing around and seeing what works — but I want them to succeed.

I wonder why we do it.

Most replies will contain a list of things, but I find it a bit sad that the first response will almost always be “money.” At the moment, I think it might be the first on my list too. Part of it has to do with the current economy. None of us have had any luck finding regular jobs this quarter. No one is hiring. What’s the next best thing? Apparently hitting up the local cons and milking the weeaboos for all their worth. Or trying to, anyway. Because of various unfortunate conditions, I operated at a loss when I tabled at AWA this past September. Tabling at conventions is hard, even for the seasoned con-goers and artists. Most I talked to at AWA seemed to have had a pretty bad weekend in terms of sales and monetary profits. Barring certain controversial individuals, it’s hard to say that any of them are only doing it for the money. That’s the first argument in favor of fanart, right? No one’s getting rich off this.

And yet, it really seems like some try. It really bothers me when people go around asking, “What kind of fandoms are in at the moment? What should I fanart?” It seems like cheating if you’re not even involved in the community you want to profit off of. It definitely seems like cheating if you haven’t even seen the series you end up drawing from. I really think that takes away from it and tarnishes fanart’s “reputation” in general. It’s called fanart for a reason, y’know? If you’re not really a fan, why do you bother? Some say that it’s just marketing, and that part of marketing is knowing that sometimes you’ll have to draw things you don’t like. But this isn’t a job. No one is telling you to draw what you don’t like — just in it for the money? That seems almost like stepping on the toes of the companies that choose not to persecute us for borrowing their properties. Besides, marketing? What are you marketing? What kind of impression do you leave of yourself when you ask around for the current fandoms so you can try to profit off the associated fans?

For Otakon a year or two back, an artist I know took suggestions for fanart to make prints of. Among those she ended up with was Lelouch from Code Geass. I hadn’t seen the series at the time, but even then, I didn’t really take to the fanart she produced of him. It didn’t feel like most of her other work, which I’m a big fan of. It didn’t feel like her Bleach fanart (she’s a huge Bleach fanatic), and it didn’t feel like her Persona 4 fanart (same). Months later, when I finally saw (and loved) Code Geass, I went back to look at the picture she’d done. It looked terrible. With my newfound knowledge of the series, the art she’d produced looked ridiculously ill-fit. There was no love. It was obvious. I was actually really shocked at how obvious it was. Of course, this isn’t always the case. Some artists can pull of beautiful fanart from series they don’t know anything about, but the question is, should they? For the sake the fans who would want to buy it anyway?

I suppose companies, for the most part, see fanart as free promotion. It’s really no loss to them since there is no official equivilent of fanart that sales of fanart are taking away from. All it usually takes to justify the legality (or lack thereof) of selling fanart is to cite that fact, so maybe I’m being too idealistic when I get bothered by artists selling things they don’t love. I mean, I guess I’ve been guilty of it too (a pair of Naruto prints, but hey, at least I’ve seen/read the series? Silly self-justification?). Besides, as a friend points out — this sort of thing happens in every industry. Except this isn’t an industry. This is a niche community. Full of fans. Presumably. Yeah, customers are usually impartial — who cares as long as it looks good? Wouldn’t you feel awkward though, if a customer tried to strike up a conversation about a series featured on your table but that you know nothing about? And you, as a customer — wouldn’t you feel let down if your favorite artist fanarted your favorite series but somehow can’t remember the name of the character on the button you just bought?

Besides, even if money happens to be first on your list at a given time, it should never be the only thing on the list.

There are obviously other reasons to sell fanart at conventions though. A lot of people say “exposure.” Who are you trying to expose yourself to, and what do you want to gain from their attention? I find it interesting that many of the artists I saw at AWA had no personal website and a pretty minimal Internet presence in general. Having an occasionally-updated deviantART isn’t good enough. If you’re willing to invest the time and money in a table at a convention, if you’re really serious about your artwork and promoting yourself, in this day and age, I consider a website to be cruicial. But maybe that’s skewed by my heavy technophile background (ex-computer science major, represent?). If you aren’t just selling fanart for the cash, then not working hard in other areas is pretty inexcusable. Trying to make a name for yourself? It’d help if we could pick up a business card and look you up later. It’d help if you had some original stuff you’re trying to promote too.

Starting with fanart has led a lot of people into the industry they’ve long worked towards. Japan’s doujinshi scene is the obvious example. What did CLAMP start off doing? What did Maki Murakami start off doing? There are a few OEL artists that can also cite fanart as their claim to fame, like Nina Matsumoto. It’s possible, but really, just getting your art out there isn’t enough. You need to have original things for people to look at after you fanart gets your attention. For this year’s AWA, they’ve implemented a 50% fanart rule intended to encourage more original art — only 50% of your merchandise can be fanart-based. Most artists accepted this without argument and many praised the decision, and yet, a huge argument/discussion/stink started in the AWA forums anyway. Some people, apparently, have no interest in doing original art. This bewilders me.

Still, as far as the promotion thing goes. I’m not really sure what I’d be trying to promote either. I’ve got my (lameass) website (that’s in serious need of a remodel and major update), but I am ever webcomicless. My original characters float back and forth between standalone illustrations and school assignments, not fit for sale yet. Aside from money, what do I hope to gain from tabling at MomoCon? More watchers of my work? So that when I do eventually get off my ass and do something that warrants a fanbase, I’ll have more of an audience to tap from? Except that I’m not really sure that’s what I want my “career” to be, so maybe it’s just insurance?

A third reason to table is networking. You can meet a lot of neat people at conventions, many of them sitting behind tables. I should talk to them sometime. That’s how anyone gets hired for anything these days, right? You gotta know someone who knows someone who’s in a position to hire you or to influence a person who can hire you. To that end though, anime conventions are infinitely more useless than comic conventions. FUNimation’s PR guy probably can’t do much for you, though I wouldn’t say that he’d be completely useless to know. Same with Vic Mignogna. I’ve been told that attending comic book conventions is pretty much part of the job if you want to work in comics. I wouldn’t say the same is true for the manga or OEL scene though because there just aren’t as many editors or creative staff attention conventions (that OEL branches are getting slammed left and right now it seems, but that’s another post altogether).

Even if you don’t intend to work in comics or manga or whatever related fandom industry, I’m sure you could meet lots of interesting and useful people at conventions. Who knows, that guy dressed as Vash could be a creative director at some small business hiring freelancers. I guess if you don’t attend many other social events, an anime con is as good a place as any to meet people, and sitting behind a table full of art invites people to ask you about it, right? Maybe that’s what I convince myself I’m doing this for because sometimes, I really do lose sight of it all. The money helps, but it isn’t everything. I’ve got nothing I’m proud of enough to promote. So networking, right? That’s a kind of profit too. Maybe then I’ll actually have a job when I graduate.

So I found it a little interesting that some people are still optimistic, at least about the manga industry. Yen Press is doing well, but it did also just come out of a merger. Viz still has it’s super shounen bestsellers, but while Naruto is a more popular search term than Angelina Jolie, its place on that booklist is still as unpredictable as the price of oil. I suppose for the times, these companies are doing reasonably well. It doesn’t look like any more of them are on the verge of collapse, anyway, and even ADV had some good news to share a few months ago. I think the dwindling economy is forcing a lot of companies to reconsider just which titles they bring over whereas before, it seemed like they were grabbing just about everything that was halfway popular in Japan.

That seems to have led them to somehow skip out on series like Dennou Coil, which deserves much more recognition and attention than its gotten, despite winning significant awards. But considering that Viz has licensed DOGS of all things, I have hope that companies are looking further and harder for titles with underground appeal or popularity. Here’s to hoping we’ll be getting more of a mixed bag and that this will somehow stimulate readers and viewers? I’m not as worried about the anime side of things anymore since the digital distribution thing seems to have exploded to the point that prominent fansubbers are hanging up their hats, but manga online is a harder proposal to sell.

I’m optimistic in that the manga scene won’t be dropping further for the moment, but it remains to be seen whether things will actually pick up. There’s all this talk about that $500 billion stimulus package. I’m not sure how much water the idea of using taxpayer money to pay taxpayers holds, but the immediate affect would (hopefully) be more people spending money, which is good news for businesses, which in turn is good news for workers, which in turn is good news for the economy, including our little otaku industry. I dunno. This holiday season is already kind of scary. I lot of people scoff that the luxury goods industry, but things must be pretty damn bad if rich people can’t afford to be rich anymore.

Then again, poor people go out to see more movies in hard times, so who knows?

I really don’t have time to elaborate right now (lol, class in three hours, what?), but I just wanted to say that:

Viz, I’m so proud of you!

BELIEVE IT!

As Japanator says, this isn’t the first time it’s happened, but there’s never been anything of Naruto proportions, and now we’re going to have Naruto himself! I haven’t watched Naruto since around episode 114, so this doesn’t actually affect anything I do, but it’s still great news all around. I was already surprised that they got Code Geass R2 dubbed and ready to air just a month or so after it finished airing in Japan, but now I’m going to be counting the days until we get official subs a week or less aftering airing in Japan for new series. Sure, they’re new episodes of Naruto Shippudan, but Shippudan has been airing for a while now and they’ve got catch-up work to do. I want official subs for new season series’ episodes! I just almost feel it happening. I can imagine the press releases!

This is exciting.

But anyway, the news of the day is that in South Korea, Internet video has eclipsed the DVD. This is really far from surprising though; there’s been such a rise in the number of companies doing the digital distribution model that I skip out on mentioning most of it here because there’s news about it pretty much every day and who likes to be redundant? The fact that Internet models have officially outpaced DVDs is something noteworthy though, and another indication that Korea is ahead of the game. I imagine that Japan will be quick to follow, then Europe, and finally the States because we’re kind of slow about everything.

One thing in the article I found particular interesting though, was the fact that it’s easier to create illegal copies of DVDs than it is to create illegal copies of digital downloads. I suppose it makes sense that it’d be harder to crack a digital copy-projection mechanism just because it hasn’t been around as long, but I wonder if less people are inclined to bother because it’s already in a digital format. If HD quality movies only cost two bucks to download, then who really cares? It’s almost free already. I wonder how long it’ll take for the anime folk to follow suit and stop charging two bucks a normal quality episode?

Hulu.com’s been getting a lot of spotlight recently, what with FUNimation, Viz, and a ton of other companies adding tons of free, full episode content to it (omg, they have Firefly!). It’s beating out YouTube as the venue of choice for online streaming episodes, and there’s definitely a lot more that’s legal about it. Seems like this revolution’s well on its way to becoming the norm. I wonder if Blu-ray will even be relevant at this point? If DVD is getting beat out by the Internet and the digital model already, I can’t see that Blu-ray will fare much better, especially since the HD format is already available for cheaper online. I don’t think the new generation will be as attached to the physical item as the previous because they’ll always have had the digital option. Soon DVDs and Blu-ray will be 100% obsolete, like VHS… it’s an interesting time.

It’s been hard to get Geass out of my head. Today is the first Sunday in months where I won’t have any new episodes to watch! (I can’t watch the new season of 00 until I finish the first season, lol…) As such, I’m going to take this time to write about product placement and hilariously overt advertising in anime. My friend Andres recently wrote about it in the context of video games and lamented the fact that the American audience has been so keen on rejecting it. And I’m with him — why are people so against the idea of advertisement in their entertainment?

Most people seem to be against this whole idea of “selling out” and doing things “just for the money.” I can understand and will agree with that sentiment for things that take away from the value of the product, such as making unplanned sequels to popular series. Forcing a franchise usually only ends up hurting the property, but I’ve never found advertising to be intrusive or annoying? How distracting is it, really, to have a Coke on the table and Toyotas driving in the street? How distracting is it, really, to have a guy drive down the highway and pass a Samsung billboard. Do you really even notice?

In Japan, Pizza Hut is (obviously) a huge sponsor for Code Geass, among other series. There is a Pizza Hut logo in virtually every episode, and it becomes like a weekly Easter egg hunt to find it. Because it’s pretty much the only advertisement/logo in the series, it becomes pretty hilarious — Pizza Hut supporting the rebellion has become the butt of many, many jokes, but is anyone really distracted by it? Does it take away from the rest of the series, which is occasionally very serious? (I’m pretty sure a Pizza Hut logo never appears simultaneously with a heart or brain-wrenching scene, though pizza itself sometimes does.) Most people would probably answer “no,” and I find it hard to imagine that anyone would ragequit or refuse to watch the series just because, oh god, Pizza Hut wants you to know that they paid for it! Some people have other reasons for disliking the series, but Pizza Hut probably had nothing to do with it.

Like that whole thing about musicians promoting anime, this type of relationship can only benefit both parties. Pizza Hut obviously benefits from on-show screentime, and undoubtedly gets a slice (haha, pun) of the commercials as well. Meanwhile, Code Geass graces thousands of pizza boxes across the country and has merchandise available through some kind of points system at the pizza place. Fans of the show are directed to Pizza Hut. Fans of Pizza Hut are directed towards the show. Everybody wins. I also think the fact that some cosplayers pretty much have to go to Pizza Hut to complete their costumes is hilarious, though even those who aren’t cosplaying C.C. will probably go grab some pizza because it’s just so funny.

I wasn’t surprised when Bandai edited out most of the Pizza Hut logos from the overseas release (I say most because, hey, Bandai! You missed a spot), but I really wonder what their reasoning was when they decided that. They “don’t have permission” from the Pizza Hut of the US to advertise on their behalf, but seriously… why would Pizza Hut say, “No! You can’t have our logo plastered all over your silly cartoon!” Is it because Code Geass is about terrorism? Why would anyone refuse free advertising? And now I kind of wonder — would Code Geass have done any better on [adultswim] if they had left the Pizza Hut logos intact? Like I said, it’s so ridiculously overt, it’s amusing, and I wonder if the general [as] audience would have appreciated that kind of silliness long enough to consider the rest of the show. Maybe they would have been indifferent, but I really don’t think it would have hurt the series in any way.

So yeah. I don’t understand why people shy away from product placement because it’s probably one of the least distracting forms of advertisement out there, even when it’s as prominent as the Pizza Hut/Code Geass case. Most examples aren’t nearly as over-the-top, so I don’t even know why there’s an argument. It’s a fact that companies need money to deliever a product. It’s a fact that advertisers already contribute most of the money, whether it’s via advertisements at the broadcast or whatever, so why shun product placement? The world we walk through is plastered with logos and adverts; if anything, wouldn’t it only add to realism if our entertainment is the same?

Sure, it’s commercialism, but we survive on commercialism.

It’s a Catch-22, I suppose.

Code Geass was pulled for low ratings, but it will only continue to suffer low ratings in that 5:00 am deathslot. I find it hilarious that CN is claiming to keep anime on [adultswim] though, especially the “focus on new series” line. Hello? Did you not just sentence Moribito to death after premiering three fucking episodes? And for what? Fullmetal Alchemist reruns. New series my ass. Then again, I also find it a bit paradoxical that fans are indignant at such treatment of their new series… while giving those damned reruns the stronger ratings that put them there in the first place. Yes, yes, we all love FMA and Cowboy Bebop, but seriously — haven’t you seen them enough times already? STOP WATCHING IT. Then maybe they’ll stop showing it. WATCH THE PREMIERE SHOWS. Then maybe they won’t be sent off to die.

As for Toonami, I find it insulting that CN waited until the day of the final airing to announce that Toonami was going to die. AWA isn’t a small convention, but it isn’t the biggest, and I don’t see why they couldn’t have said something at AX or Otakon, give the kids a bit more time to accept the loss and all that. I really wonder what the death of Toonami will have on the anime community as a whole though — for years and years, it was the place to watch anime. It premiered dozens of series that went on to define the fandom and to catapult fans towards more obscure things. Toonami debuted Dragonball Z and Sailor Moon, two series that thousands of fans will cite as their gateway to greater things. Some older fans like to rail on Naruto and whine about how anime “isn’t what it used to be,” but Naruto, without a doubt, is the DBZ and Sailor Moon of the current generation. What’s going to be the gateway now that Toonami is gone? No other channel’s block ever really gave anime the attention that Toonami did, but really, anime programming has been disappearing bit by bit for a while now.

I also missed AWA’s “Is Anime Over?” panel on Sunday, but I kind of think the ending of Toonami can be taken as an indication that while not dead, the fandom is definitely in decline. Low ratings are low ratings. Low sales are low. Even though convention attendance for just about every con has only risen in recent years, a vast majority of artists I talked to, and even some dealers, are citing lower sales. I still think the economy is a huge factor (have I mentioned that Lehman Brothers just went bankrupt after 150-some years in business?), the biggest one, even, but it’s hard to deny that there are other factors as well, among them, oversaturation and piracy among the digital evolution.

Interestingly enough, Toonami Jetstream is still a go — another nod at the gradual dominance of the Internet over television broadcast as people’s primary means of obtaining anime. If kids these days really are so wired, then maybe it won’t be such a loss. Maybe they can still get their Naruto online. Maybe Shippuden will premiere there. Maybe.

Me? I’m just conflicted as to how I should feel about no longer having a reason to turn on a TV after Gurren Lagann finishes its run on Sci-fi. Oh, wait, Gundam 00 is airing after it. Nevermind! :P

But do we really have to put up with this anymore?

The Anime Network and the FUNimation channel are still far from perfect, but they’re there. More and more, companies are embracing the digital distribution model. These alternatives aren’t really mainstream yet, and all the Narutards will probably stick with CN for a few more years, but things are starting to change. Where TV was once the easiest way for people to get their dosage of anime, they now have the likes of YouTube and Veoh, amongst hundreds and hundreds of torrents. More kids are looking online for their fix. With the way things are going, I really don’t think it’ll take long for all the online methods to become the norm and the “mainstream.” And then [as]‘s treatment of anime will no longer be tolerated.

Personally, once again citing my lack of an actual TV, I’ve been watching my dub Geass episodes online from [as]‘s website, but Moribito hasn’t gotten the same treatment. I’ve had it with [as] though. After Code Geass and R2′s dub run (if they make good on their promise to air R2), I think I’m just going to stick to the online things for anime. Sci-Fi’s airing of Gurren Lagann has been all right, but their four-five commercials per episode is frustrating as hell and their mispronunciation of the series in commercials for it is just embarassing. I guess after this final run, I really won’t have a reason to ever get a TV. Oh well. That’s just more money in my pocket for con merch, right? ;3

Anyway, sorry for the sloppiness of this post. I really should be packing.