Squigsquasher wrote:(because at the end of the day, the sad fact is that if there's one thing that's bound to sell, it's hentai)

Actually most hentai films/OVAs have pretty niche audiences and as for doujinshi unless you're really big name you probably won't make squat out of it.

Squigsquasher wrote:I know that Anno did some animation in Cream Lemon (which sounds more like a delicious iced desert), but he was just one of many animators rather than the guy in charge.

It's legendary Cream Lenon ep 4: Pop Chaser. It's pretty damn good watch and features some great animation by then-young generation making its breakthrough in 80s:

More remarkable is the fact that this OVA was the directorial debut of Hiroyuki Kitakubo who is known for anime like “Roujin Z”, “Golden Boy” and the “Blood” movie. Besides his responsibilities as director he also wrote the script, created the storyboard, supervised the animation and even did the key animation for some parts. Many involved key animators are just as famous with young talents (at that time) such as Toshiyuki Inoue, Masayuki, Mahiro Maeda, Hideaki Anno, Takeshi Honda and Katsuhiko Nishijima working under pen names. The animation quality is correspondingly very high, particularly the action parts stand out with some nice effects and punchy movements.

Xard wrote:Actually most hentai films/OVAs have pretty niche audiences and as for doujinshi unless you're really big name you probably won't make squat out of it.

Curious, at first i thought they just did it for fun if not profit, but considering how most animators don't seem fond of remembering their doujin days (at least that's the impression i got from very occasional interviews or similar readings) That doesn't seem to be the case, so it's for getting their name out there or something like that (Going by that Miyazaki comment)?

Also, i'm not entirely sure of this, but as far as i understand it, erotica and similars are viewed in a different way in Japan and other eastern countries (whether it's less stigma or a different one, i don't know) So they probably don't view production of doujins (which as far as i know isn't as constantly smut focused as it's commonly perceived) as... Degrading? as a western perspective would.

Turns out Carl Horn has (of course!) already written about Chosen Ame, as part of the 1999 Japan Edge anthology. I've scanned & transcribed it here: http://eva.onegeek.org/pipermail/evangelion/2015-March/007281.html