>>18904
>This report was prepared with a sense of crisis as to the current lack of scholarship, methodology, and appreciation of Japanese robot anime culture in its home country, and it is my sincere hope those who share this interest and concern will not hesitate to share their opinions and comments.

An impressive start, but:
The executive summary is not properly labeled, the executive summary and list of contributors was not listed in the table of contents, neither the executive summary nor the table of contents are numbered (page), and there is no list of tables (it would be put after the table of contents, before the list of contributors).

What the hell kind of shitty government allows such low quality works to be released under their name?

Post edited on 18th Mar 2014, 3:54pm

My thoughts, Chapter 1:
>Our aim is to develop this metholodogical foothold here so that it can be applied for use in investigating other subgenres (such as “magical girl anime”) in the future,

ETA on that report!?

>Japanese anime can be subdivided into a wide variety of genres, including sports and comedy. Robot anime is one of these genres

I strongly disagree with this. The robot is an element at best. To illustrate this, Mahoromatic and RahXephon both share the robot element, but are entirely different when it comes to both genre and demographic. Similarly, Geneshaft and Evangellion share the same demographic, but are very different in genre; Kannazuki no Miko and Mazinger Z share the same genre, but the demographic is quite different.

Chapter 2:
more or less nothing too disagreeable there, with one exception
>There are many reasons for this decision, but one looms above the rest. The majority of the first generation of TV anime fans (a.k.a. the first generation of otaku) had grown up and began spending their disposable income on things other than anime

It's not the producer's fault for making shitty shows aimed at niche audiences too small to recoup costs, it's the fan's fault for not buying them is some terrible logic, the fans should feel insulted that an "objective" view of the production failing in the market is the fans losing interest when the production values and quality fall through the floor.

>(Chapter3)*Chapter 3 is not translated.

QUALITY TRANSLATION RELEASE BY QUALITY PROFESSIONAL TRANSLATOR.

>>18909

>I strongly disagree with this.

I strongly disagree with you in turn. What you said holds true for every genre. There are always anime from the same genre that take an approach that differs from the norm and thus one that's meant to capture a new demographic. You've got comedy shows for kids and adults, romance shows for kids and adults, mahou shoujo for kids and adults. Saying mecha is not a genre because both Mazinger and Evangelion exist is like saying mahou shoujo is not a genre beause PreCure and Madoka exist. Anime from the same genre can tackle completely different topics and target various demographics; this doesn't discredit them as a genre.

>It's not the producer's fault for making shitty shows aimed at niche audiences too small to recoup costs, it's the fan's fault for not buying them is some terrible logic, the fans should feel insulted that an "objective" view of the production failing in the market is the fans losing interest when the production values and quality fall through the floor.

Personally I didn't feel the author tried to suggest that it's the fans' fault; I felt he stated a simple fact - that the old fans grew out of anime - without any further implications. He said their expectations were bigger and they got tired of the monster of the week formula but that's about it, I didn't feel he blamed them for that, in fact you can argue he was grateful as he said that anime had to evolve and adapt to survive - and it was a positive change in this case.

Personally I find it kinda amusing how he states that mecha is the biggest, most important and most successful genre. Historically it might be true depending on what crtieria you use but if you look at the state of the industry over last ~5 years I can only say he must have fun living in the past. It's not like it's completely dead but when you get ~3-5 mecha shows a year (when there are more than 150 series that debut each year) you simply can't close your eyes and put hands on your ears and pretend it's still 1983.

>>18911

>I strongly disagree with you in turn. What you said holds true for every genre. There are always anime from the same genre that take an approach that differs from the norm and thus one that's meant to capture a new demographic. You've got comedy shows for kids and adults, romance shows for kids and adults, mahou shoujo for kids and adults. Saying mecha is not a genre because both Mazinger and Evangelion exist is like saying mahou shoujo is not a genre beause PreCure and Madoka exist. Anime from the same genre can tackle completely different topics and target various demographics; this doesn't discredit them as a genre.

A genre best represents the narrative's type, things like Action, Romance, Drama, Comedy, Mystery, Thriller, or Documentary.
Elements of the story, such as setting, plot device, plot structure, should really be considered their own thing, and are better represented as an element, NOT a genre. Examples would be Mecha, Mahou shojo, harem, fantasy, Noir, three kingdoms, and Sengoku period.
For good measure, let me add that neither elements nor genres are Demographics.

Please understand that this is more of a semantic point, as the word 'genre' is so nonspecific that there are currently several "genres" that both overlap and conflict with each other at the same time such that the name of the "genre" doesn't tell you anything as far as whether or not one will enjoy the show. For example, magical girl.

Even 20 years before Madoka, there was a strong disconnect caused by calling mahou shojo a genre. Magical Angel Creamy Mami and Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon demonstrate this quite well. One is Action with fights and beams, the other is a drama involving idols and singing. They both share transformation scenes and magic, but aside from that they are as different as can possibly be; a person who enjoys one generally won't enjoy the other (to the same extent), as their narratives are so different.

My comment wasn't so much that the report was grammatically incorrect when they referred to robot as a genre as the way the current use of 'genre' is flawed and the concept is much better conveyed as an element.

http://www.alamut.com/subj/artiface/language/johnWilkins.html

>>18916

>A genre best represents the narrative's type, things like Action, Romance, Drama, Comedy, Mystery, Thriller, or Documentary.
>Elements of the story, such as setting, plot device, plot structure, should really be considered their own thing, and are better represented as an element, NOT a genre. Examples would be Mecha, Mahou shojo, harem, fantasy, Noir, three kingdoms, and Sengoku period.
>My comment wasn't so much that the report was grammatically incorrect when they referred to robot as a genre as the way the current use of 'genre' is flawed and the concept is much better conveyed as an element.

I disagree completely and that's about all I have to say. At this point it's just you saying 'I think that's wrong because that's how I feel' versus me saying 'I think it's right because that's how I feel'. Fantasy/sci-fi was considered a genre long before I was born and it will be seen as such long after I'll die; this system has worked pretty well for us for a couple of decades by now and I see nothing wrong with it.

>It also shows how connected at the hip mecha anime and tokusatsu are
strangely enough, despite having always loved Godzilla and similar tokusatsu stuff, I never did like mecha anime, the only exceptions being a handful of shows such as Evangelion where the mecha stuff isn't really the main draw to the show.