Anime Sex Sells
Ryo-oh-ki Lee
A.D. Vision pamphlet from the recent A-Kon 5 was rather ironic.
Notice the trend...
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Plastic Little - The Adventures of Captain Tita
...CONTAINS NUDITY, GRAPHIC VIOLENCE and ADULT SITUATIONS.
Battle Angel
...Contains Graphic Violence, Nudity and Adult Situations.
Guy: Awakening of the Devil
...WARNING! Although BOTH VERSIONS contain GRAPHIC DEPICTIONS OF
SEX, VIOLENCE and NUDITY, the UNCUT VERSION contains SEXUALLY
EXPLICIT FOOTAGE THAT MAY OFFEND SOME PEOPLE. MUST BE OVER 18 TO
ORDER!!!
Guy II: Second Target
...CONTAINS GRAPHIC DEPICTIONS OF SEX, VIOLENCE and NUDITY.
Magical Twilight
...CONTAINS NUDITY, GRAPHIC VIOLENCE and ADULT SITUATIONS.
Dragon Pink
...CONTAINS NUDITY, GRAPHIC VIOLENCE and ADULT SITUATIONS.
F^3
...CONTAINS NUDITY, GRAPHIC VIOLENCE and ADULT SITUATIONS.
Devil Hunter Yohko
...Contains Nudity, Graphic Violence and ADULT situations.
Sol Bianca
...Contains graphic violence and brief nudity.
Burn Up!
...Contains Graphic Violence, Nudity and Adult Situations.
The Girl From Fantasia
...Contains Adult Situations.
Rei Rei
...Contains EXPLICIT Sex, Graphic Violence, Nudity and other Adult
Situations.
Dragon Knight
...CONTAINS GRAPHIC DEPICTIONS OF SEX, VIOLENCE and NUDITY.
End of Summer
...CONTAINS SEXUALLY EXPLICIT FOOTAGE, NUDITY AND ADULT SITUATIONS
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Other interesting "phrases" that pop up in the pamphlet...
"Animation that dares to be different"
"...we were voted North America's most outstanding subbing/dubbing
company by the nation's anime fans...." (Society For
Promotion of Japanese Animation Awards, Anime Expo, 1993)
"...'The Best Little Anime House In Texas'..."
"A.D. Vision gets GRAPHIC!!!" (reference to their new manga line)
___/@_@\___ Eugene Lee ryo-...@tamu.edu
Roadbuster
>In light of the recent "Prejudice" discussion, I thought that this
>A.D. Vision pamphlet from the recent A-Kon 5 was rather ironic.
>
>Notice the trend...
>
>---------------------------------------------------------------------------
I've been meaning to write an article about this for a long time,
so here goes!
I talked with Matt Greenfield about this Sunday night, and what
he said was kind of amusing. AD Vision has really been a lot more
interested in acquiring titles that have not been released or have
just made it into the Japanese market--more so, it seems, than other
subtitling companies. The other major companies seem more interested
in seeing what fans have liked, and many of their titles are a couple
of years old or more. (This is my observation, NOT what he said.)
I do know, though, that while Sol Bianca made money and was well
received, since it had been around in the fan community for some
time, most of the initial buyers were probably hardcore fans and
newbies. Therefore, it didn't make as much money as most of their
other titles--"saturated?" I don't know, it just worked out that way.
Anyway, given AD Vision's propensity towards newer titles over older
titles, according to Matt "80% of the new titles in Japan are hentai."
Please give a LOT of slack towards hyperbole, but I take this into
account when I see a new AD Vision title. Of course, my guess is
that the major anime magazines likely give a much larger share of
coverage to less hentai, perhaps higher budget anime OAVs.
(True enough?)
If the statistic is true (enough), I can see how some studios
could drop into a formula that doesn't require a large budget
to satisfy its customers. Of course, this adds to the bad
image we're seeing of anime just being for males.
And, of course, when talking about "hentai" titles, are we talking
about just having nudity/bounce? I guess it's better stated as
being "gratuitous" nudity/bounce. I was talking to a guy a couple
of days ago who runs anime meetings at his high school. My thought
was "Outside of Miyazaki, what can you show that doesn't have any
nudity in it??" When I look over my (pretty average) anime
collection, the vast majority of it has at least some brief nudity
in it. However, he said that they don't really care what he shows,
though he did get into BIG trouble when he showed a censored
version of Devil Hunter Yohko. ^_^;
Another factor in this is that, according to Matt, it takes about
3 months for an average title to really hit the market. After
about 3 months pass, the distributors finally decide the title
is doing well enough, and then they start really pressing for
more orders of the title. However, (like it or not), the hentai
titles result in an immediate boom in sales, taking off from the
start. These types of tapes have their own market that guarantee
sales up front.
About some of those titles in particular, there is something called
the package deal. When AD Vision wanted Rei Rei (VERY funny, very
hentai) and End of Summer (serious story with no spaceships, swords,
or psychic powers), they had to buy it as a package with 3 other,
lesser titles: Dragon Pink, Magical Twilight, and F^3 (a title
that couldn't be translated properly and still be sold ;).
However, AD Vision will make a mint of money on these Pink Pineapple
titles, if I know them. As I've said, the market is there.
One reason why the market is there, is that other subtitling
companies have restricted themselves to either PG-13 anime, or
have gone overboard and released gore and rapefests (okay, too
harsh) to sell anime. I think this leaves a big gap in an
expanding market that is being taken up by ADV--the R rated
market. This doesn't mean that they haven't released a couple
of the harder anime--Guy, and the upcoming Legend of Lyonflare.
Guy's not too bad, but Matt said that if they wanted Guy, they'd
have to buy Lyonflare, too. They've been sitting on that title
for about a year, it seems. Now that they will have a Soft Cel
line, it'll finally hit the market.
The Soft Cel line I just mentioned is there for the benefit of
the distributors, so they'll know if they have a title like
Girl from Phantasia, or one like Guy. "Oh, this one has sex
in it--I'll take it!" was Matt's joke about it, though it's
also for the benefit of buyers like Blockbuster. Just like
Central Park Media, and (I think LA Hero) they've created an
adult line to better classify their future releases to their market.
Just because it says that it has some nudity on it doesn't necessarily
make it hentai, of course. I think the best titles AD Vision has
released have been Sol Bianca, Battle Angel, and Plastic Little.
However, each of them has nudity (SB: slight, BA: brief, PL:
long and gratuitous ;). Okay, that makes PL somewhat hentai, but it
doesn't detract from it being great entertainment. :-)
I did ask Matt what their next release was that didn't have any
nudity in it. He thought about it and I stupidly said "Something
that hasn't been announced yet?" He said "yeah, but this title
may change what some people think AD Vision is about." I think
Matt's problem occasionally is to overstate things, but I'd love
for whatever this title is to prove him right. Hey, now, remember
that was just a quote to me, and he maybe he didn't mean for that
to be taken up, but this seems an innocent enough thing to quote.
Hmmm...well, I think I may add more later, and I'm afraid a long
enough article like this will receive some flames. *sigh*
Maybe C-ko's right, I tend to look towards the best in an anime
or in a person, but I don't think that's a bad thing. :-)
Anyway, my preordered Plastic Little got in my hands an hour
ago, and I can't wait to watch it!!
Ja ne!
Roooooooooadbuster!
Bill McBee
rsch...@cl.uh.edu
Roadbuster
>Hmmm...well, I think I may add more later, and I'm afraid a long
>enough article like this will receive some flames. *sigh*
What I failed to mention as a factor that positions ADV as heavily
hentai, is Matt Greenfield's WAY over-the-top ad copy for new
releases. To any of you who've read it, you know what I'm talking
about. The thing is, that when I read new ad copy by him, I usually
wince, shake my head, and then laugh out loud. A friend of mine
doesn't even wince, he just says "That's great!" and has a big
laugh about it. I'm afraid that to a lot of anime fans, they
just wince, groan, and say "That's AD Vision." Of course, to
those who don't like the hentai type of anime ADV's been putting
out may get upset about it. However, I think that the more serious
anime that ADV puts out gets a more serious treatment in their
ad copy (serious? well, as serious as Matt gets ;).
Once again, despite over-the-top ad campaigns, ADV attracts more
people than it turns away. :-)
"Hey! They never taught *this* is marketing class!!"
Roooooooooooadbuster!
Bill McBee
rsch...@cl.uh.edu
C-ko Kotobuki
notice? We see most of these things twice too...once as a SAMPLE, the
other as an early-version subtitle. *sigh* Why can't I belong to a
normal club?
C-ko
Roadbuster
>In article <2vv9b8$b...@news.tamu.edu>, eug...@cs.tamu.edu (Ryo-oh-ki Lee) writes...
>>Notice the trend...
>>
>>---------------------------------------------------------------------------
[List deleted. C-ko, can't you learn to trim other people's posts?!?]
>Looks like a typical Anime NASA club meeting. :) Do you think we didn't
>notice? We see most of these things twice too...once as a SAMPLE, the
>other as an early-version subtitle. *sigh* Why can't I belong to a
>normal club?
>C-ko
Heheheh, you belong to this club? I can't remember you ever paying
any dues whatsoever, though you've won the drawing a few times! *bonk*
Besides there are two other "normal" clubs in Houston, but you
haven't bothered to attend those meetings. I'm going to start going
to the Univ. of Houston meetings, too, so I can watch 2 to 10 year
old anime classics as well. ^_^ Besides, the typical Club Anime
NASA meetings shows stuff you can never even find anywhere else,
so there's no chance of duplication with a "normal" club. ^_^;
Rooooooooadbuster!
Bill McBee
rsch...@cl.uh.edu
CSCI1B07
>> *sigh* Why can't I belong to a
>>normal club?
>>C-ko
>
>Heheheh, you belong to this club? I can't remember you ever paying
>any dues whatsoever, though you've won the drawing a few times! *bonk*
>Besides there are two other "normal" clubs in Houston, but you
>haven't bothered to attend those meetings. I'm going to start going
Well, yeah, but they were always showing things I'd seen before.
>to the Univ. of Houston meetings, too, so I can watch 2 to 10 year
>old anime classics as well. ^_^ Besides, the typical Club Anime
>NASA meetings shows stuff you can never even find anywhere else,
>so there's no chance of duplication with a "normal" club. ^_^;
Thank god. Don't think anime newbies need to start off with "Pink
Pineapple" ttles...
C-ko
as...@orion.alaska.edu
> In light of the recent "Prejudice" discussion, I thought that this
> A.D. Vision pamphlet from the recent A-Kon 5 was rather ironic.
>
> Notice the trend...
>
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Plastic Little - The Adventures of Captain Tita
> ...CONTAINS NUDITY, GRAPHIC VIOLENCE and ADULT SITUATIONS.
> Battle Angel
> ...Contains Graphic Violence, Nudity and Adult Situations.
> Guy: Awakening of the Devil
> ...WARNING! Although BOTH VERSIONS contain GRAPHIC DEPICTIONS OF
> SEX, VIOLENCE and NUDITY, the UNCUT VERSION contains SEXUALLY
> EXPLICIT FOOTAGE THAT MAY OFFEND SOME PEOPLE. MUST BE OVER 18 TO
> ORDER!!!
[Lotsa Stuff Deleted]
I really believe that AD Vision listens to their single consumer market..
I marked down that I liked the "naughty bits" and so the trend goes...
H is the game and in the game the more you sell the better you do.
Mind you, that I am not saying H is the only thing that sells cause that
is not true.. Although it has some "advantages" over other anime. Sex
sells... and that goes for male and female consumers.
Case in Point:
In my local theater Legend of the Overfiend did exceptionaly well, in
comparison to Macross II. The "Fiend" shows were very full and the Macross
II (attened at 3 different times) had only a handfull of people.
--
|--Anime, it's not just a hobby. It's a lifelong dedication to poverty--|
| | |
| | Anime Watching Checklist |
| Fernando Lopez | [x] Case of beer |
| IRC: Ackerman | [x] Pillow/Big Chair |
| as...@orion.alaska.edu | [x] Remote Control |
| Acke...@fred.com | [x] A stack of Anime to watch |
| | |
|---------Do your part to help promote Japanese animation today----------|
Glenn M. Saunders
: Mind you, that I am not saying H is the only thing that sells cause that
: is not true.. Although it has some "advantages" over other anime. Sex
: sells... and that goes for male and female consumers.
The sex in Anime is absolutely based around male gratification,
and would probably appeal very little to women. I am referring to the
usual cliche of the "shower scene" for instance which sets up either the
viewer (camera) as the voyuer or has some kid or guy peeking his head
through a window or crack in the door.
It's essentially "porky's" style sex. A lot of T&A but usually
no hard sex and if there is sex it is pretty watered down. Much more anime
has this kind of material than any serious "relationship" style Anime.
That sells for guys but not for women. I'm not knocking it, but
let's call a spade a spade here.
Ryan P. Gavigan
>In article <2vv9b8$b...@news.tamu.edu>, eug...@cs.tamu.edu (Ryo-oh-ki Lee) writes...
>>In light of the recent "Prejudice" discussion, I thought that this
>>A.D. Vision pamphlet from the recent A-Kon 5 was rather ironic.
>>
>>Notice the trend...
>>
>>---------------------------------------------------------------------------
>[Trend of hentai titles deleted.]
>
>I've been meaning to write an article about this for a long time,
>so here goes!
>
>I talked with Matt Greenfield about this Sunday night, and what
>he said was kind of amusing. AD Vision has really been a lot more
>interested in acquiring titles that have not been released or have
>just made it into the Japanese market--more so, it seems, than other
>subtitling companies. The other major companies seem more interested
>in seeing what fans have liked, and many of their titles are a couple
>of years old or more. (This is my observation, NOT what he said.)
>I do know, though, that while Sol Bianca made money and was well
>received, since it had been around in the fan community for some
>time, most of the initial buyers were probably hardcore fans and
>newbies. Therefore, it didn't make as much money as most of their
>other titles--"saturated?" I don't know, it just worked out that way.
>
probably didn't help its sales situation either.
[here is what I have observed an my opinions on the various companies.]
Through the evolving market, most of the companies appeared to have
in one way or another, gotten involved with good relations with particular
companies, with ocassional "cross-border" titles.
CPM-USMC/Sony, AnimEigo/Artmic&Youmex,
Viz/Shogakukan (natch), LAH-USR/Bandai, Streamline/Kodansha , and now
ADVision has seemed to find itself in a similiar situation, just happens that
so far tha majority of the companies they deal with produce H titles...And
just like the us market has already influenced the creation of anime titles
(Macross Plus, Tenchi Muyou TV, etc), ADVision's reported outstanding sales
no doubt will serve to create a self-perpetuating cycle of more of "said
product",and Mr. Greenfield's reporting of future "co-productions" is most
likely an indication of this.
It almost says something that there seems to be a very limited number of titles
that couldn't be considered "already spoken for", and 'new' titles seem to
be even less available. Nail me to the barn and call me Hector if I'm wrong,
but Mr. Greenfield's statements about the other companies is a bit over-stated
as some have used a 'what the fans would like', though most seem to be
more 'what can we get and for how much', and in one case 'what would *WE* like
to do or see done'. As to doing "saturated" titles, you have a different
dynamic for say, a television series like KOR or MI than you would have for
an oav like Sol Bianca because of natural sales decline of a series of videos
in this country over about 6 volumes (save something like Star Trek) and
*that* has a lot more to do with AnimEigo's reluctance to take the KOR TV
plunge than market saturation by fan subtitles.
>Anyway, given AD Vision's propensity towards newer titles over older
>titles, according to Matt "80% of the new titles in Japan are hentai."
>Please give a LOT of slack towards hyperbole, but I take this into
>account when I see a new AD Vision title.
If there is one thing Mr. Greenfield seems to have little lack of,
it's hyperbole ^_^...
>If the statistic is true (enough), I can see how some studios
>could drop into a formula that doesn't require a large budget
>to satisfy its customers. Of course, this adds to the bad
>image we're seeing of anime just being for males.
And of course, unless they would all of a sudden feel some inner
conscience voice that they need to make themselves 'look better', cashing
in on that 'image' don't make bad business sense.
>About some of those titles in particular, there is something called
>the package deal. When AD Vision wanted Rei Rei (VERY funny, very
>hentai) and End of Summer (serious story with no spaceships, swords,
>or psychic powers), they had to buy it as a package with 3 other,
>lesser titles: Dragon Pink, Magical Twilight, and F^3 (a title
>that couldn't be translated properly and still be sold ;).
>However, AD Vision will make a mint of money on these Pink Pineapple
>titles, if I know them. As I've said, the market is there.
>
Package deals have been around since just about when the market
started, if they were available as separate deals I doubt you would have
had to sit through titles like Dog Soldier, the Humanoid, et al...
(though those two for slightly different reasons)
>One reason why the market is there, is that other subtitling
>companies have restricted themselves to either PG-13 anime, or
>have gone overboard and released gore and rapefests (okay, too
>harsh) to sell anime. I think this leaves a big gap in an
>expanding market that is being taken up by ADV--the R rated
>market.
Don't want to get picky, but what he thinks is "R" should be isn't
quite what I would agree with, as ther is imho, quite a large number of "R"
films around, but I will grant him that ADVision titles go toward the
gratuitous nudity level R rather than violence in most cases.
>
>The Soft Cel line I just mentioned is there for the benefit of
>the distributors, so they'll know if they have a title like
>Girl from Phantasia, or one like Guy. "Oh, this one has sex
>in it--I'll take it!" was Matt's joke about it, though it's
>also for the benefit of buyers like Blockbuster.
I'm just surprised they didn't start it earlier.
>I did ask Matt what their next release was that didn't have any
>nudity in it. He thought about it and I stupidly said "Something
>that hasn't been announced yet?" He said "yeah, but this title
>may change what some people think AD Vision is about." I think
>Matt's problem occasionally is to overstate things, but I'd love
>for whatever this title is to prove him right.
Captain Hyperbole? ^_^....oh, btw, Ryan M. decided it would be cool
to copyright "but I can't say anything at this time" and all similiar
phrases so commonly heard at cons. ^_^...
Ryan Gavigan
gav...@venice.mps.ohio-state.edu
as...@orion.alaska.edu
> as...@orion.alaska.edu wrote:
> : Mind you, that I am not saying H is the only thing that sells cause that
> : is not true.. Although it has some "advantages" over other anime. Sex
> : sells... and that goes for male and female consumers.
>
> The sex in Anime is absolutely based around male gratification,
> and would probably appeal very little to women. I am referring to the
> usual cliche of the "shower scene" for instance which sets up either the
> viewer (camera) as the voyuer or has some kid or guy peeking his head
> through a window or crack in the door.
>
> It's essentially "porky's" style sex. A lot of T&A but usually
> no hard sex and if there is sex it is pretty watered down. Much more anime
> has this kind of material than any serious "relationship" style Anime.
Actually I think that "relationship" romance, friends, etc... does
much better than "adult" anime. KOR, MI, im sure sells much more
units than the "adult" genre.
I personally have no problem with women oriented merchandising of the
adult variety. If they want Vampire Hunter D on a T shirt nekkid, or
Bean Bandit doing a little pose on a pillow cover, more power to ya!
Or is this a bad idea? We wouldn't want women to have a product
that is based on female gratifacation, now would we. They might
turn out like us males. (wink, wink)
SO HERE'S A MESSAGE TO ALL WOMEN OFFENDED BY ADULT MERCHANDISING THAT
IS GEARED TO MALES.
Make your own! I believe in fair play. If we males can make merchandise
that is for "us". Then you can make products that are for you!
I think guys have the tendency to glorify the female body. On the
other hand many women are convinced that all males exploit the female body.
[End Message]
Fact of the matter is that I am male and heterosexual, and "H" merchandise
is what I like. I am sure that there are many other males that feel the
same way. We like looking at nekkid anime women. But seeing in how
Politically incorrect I am I feel that I am speaking out for many other
people that may be a bit shy to admit it.
"Honesty is my only excuse"..... (Metalica)
Great joke about men that I heard from a woman.
Q. Why do men have 2 brain cells????
A. So they don't hump your leg at parties!
Christina Teresa
sexy anime art and I don't find it offensive at all. Most lesbians I know are
too PC to admit they like stuff usually geared towards men, but I for one, find
the female body a great subject to glorify and I hope the anime artists keep it
up (I never wanted to get out of debt anyway:).
Christina <-has had a crush on Lum for years