Outlaw wrote:ShadowCell wrote:This Gundam series has been a disappointment, and a joy to complain about.
and that pretty much sums up the soul of the western
Gundam fandom
Uh, not to sidetrack or anything but replace the phrase "Gundam series" with a fill in your own blank and you've pretty much summed up the soul of the internet.
Yep, it's something I can't help but comment on and notice a lot lately. For me I started noticing it during Gundam 00 when I'd watch an episode and think, "okay surely people will find this enjoyable and I'll go have a nice fun discussion on the usual forums" only to look on in horror as people would through what must have been a good bit of detective work find one incidental flaw or what could possibly be construed as a flaw amidst what I felt were pretty tight episodes and nitpick the ever loving crap out of it for an entire week while ignoring all other positive factors.
I used to think it was just an inexplicable heavy deep seated hatred for Gundam and Sunrise following Seed Destiny, but nope, really it's just raging fandoms and it's become far more common place since. Sci-Fi fans are definitely the worst for this, but admittedly the genre, at least on TV, is really struggling of late with entries from pretty much every major mecha story developer (Sunrise, BONES, I.G, Satelight) failing to live up to even modest standards and expectations. Though I still think for it's narrative incongruities AGE is the closest to a decent space opera style mecha TV series I've seen since Gundam 00.
I really wish TV mecha anime would try to go more back to it's roots though instead of seemingly going further and further down this route of trying to merge with the newer trends of the anime industry like pandering to moe/idol/shipping fans and I think the success of Gundam Unicorn, even if it's an OVA, should be sending the message that fans will bite on that particular traditional tone and more mature focus more than say Gundam AGE or Eureka Seven Ao. If somebody would at least damn well try while this fanbase is somewhat willing and has at least a few people that aren't completely jaded and cynical left...even if it fails to pan out it can't hurt and I just want to see somebody try again to at least put this theory to the test because I can't say I've seen an attempt at either a classic style gar super robot show or Space Opera since that glorious season of 00, Code Geass and Gurren Lagann. I honestly can only name one mecha TV series since 2007 that doesn't feel like it's actually being targeted at moe otaku and kids with the mecha more as a smokescreen to try to lure the mecha fandom in for a little while to boost ratings before they figure out it's a sham. That would of couse be Shin Mazinger - Chapter of Z in 2009.
As for the fandom side of the issue, the way I see it there's only a few ways around this and none of them really have anything to do with the quality of the show. One is to build pre-airing hype by either picking popular directors/actors/writers/source material and having a clever advertising campaign. From what I've been able to tell with shows like Sword Art Online and I dunno, Monogatari I guess this sort of thing leads to people being MUCH more forgiving and prone to if not positive thought at least a tendency not to nitpick the every loving crap out of every issue that crops up big or small. AGE had none of these. From what I can tell Akihiro Hino was utterly reviled in Japan long before AGE was ever announced and the advertising campaign was spoiled by leaked pictures of character scans which led to mass speculation and dismissal of the premise before it was even formally announced.
Another is to spark a meme in the community to distract them from their innate tendency to bitch and complain. Gundam AGE sort of managed this a little during the second arc with things like Arisa's butt slap and the whole disregard women thing, but by the time it hit the 3rd arc there really wasn't much of anything like this and of course we have the whole Vagan sympathy issue plaguing the narrative. The last one would be just to throw as much blood, gore and sex at the camera as possible or as I like to call it the Go Nagai theory of mecha anime production since nobody ever seems to have a problem with that sort of thing.
Anyway sorry for the meta-talk again, but it's something I've been turning over in my head again and again, the issue of what's to be done with TV mecha anime since it's stock is clearly falling of late. It's not just Gundam (I still think Gundam is one of the best off at the moment) but mecha TV series in general that are in this rut right now and I think it's as much an issue of creativity as it is production teams just being completely unsure of how to appeal to a fanbase that looks to be so cynical and difficult to please and frankly not even sure of what it wants and what would qualify as a "good" show other than something with moar grimdark, which I don't think can be done on TV anymore the way it was in the 80's and 90's. I mean even now I can totally see why Sunrise wanted to try to aim Gundam at a different audience this time and it's a shame it didn't work out cause Gundam either needs to return to it's roots (Unicorn) or needs a fresh start with newer fans that are at least still willing to give it a chance.
I still think TV mecha anime can pull itself out of this rut it's in but a lot of factors on both the fandom and production side of the fence need to come together in order for it to happen and I simply cannot see it happening this current generation the way things are going with the cynicism in the fandom and producers having their heads up their asses as to how to make mecha anime appealing again in it's own right. Without a doubt the Gundam AGE route is not an answer though and I'm glad they tried and failed so that hopefully everyone will at least see that and the lesson will hopefully be learned going forward.
tl;dr for folks: TV mecha anime needs to get serious again on the production side and mecha anime fans need to get serious about trying to enjoy it and conveying to producers what they want out of it instead of sending mixed messages by just bitching no matter what.
Outlaw wrote:Kei Katsuragi wrote:
You know, I had a weird feeling that this show might actually turn out better if it gets the movie trilogy treatment. Cutting out all the superfluous characters and arcs could lend it a lot more focus, not to mention the opportunity to go back and edit, revise, and add new scenes.
At this point I would wholeheartedly agree if based on nothing else than recent personal experience that any and all sci-fi/mecha related productions would turn out better as a movie or OVA series than as a TV series. I simply cannot stress enough how I think the TV format seems to be the factor that's tripping everything up right now. The difference in quality between Movie/OVA sci-fi series and their TV contemporaries is staggering right now, mind-blowing even.
