How will Rebuild "reshape the anime industry"?

zeaven · Sachiel Joined: 22 Aug 2006

A lot of people believe that the original Evangelion series changed the shape of anime for years to come, and Anno has expressed that, just as the original series did, Rebuild should do the same. He wants to "...connect today's exhausted Japanese animation [industry] to the future..." (courtesy NewType article translation).

So, is this just Anno being crazy or egotistical as usual, or does he really mean it? How could Rebuild change anime, just as Evangelion did 12 years ago? How will Rebuild be "different" from the anime of today?

I, for one, have no idea. That's why I'm asking. I personally don't see any standard practice in today's anime, except maybe for massive commercialization and the push to improve graphics instead of story/character development. But the time when character development was prized (acting as devil's advocate, I'll say that Eva spurred this time period forward) was in the past, not the future, so that can't be it.

Thoughts?

(I apologize if this thread is redundant, but I didn't see anything like it in this forum.)

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THE Hal E. Burton 9000 · Posted: Wed Jun 20, 2007 10:21 pm Post subject:

Honestly, I am really not certain at this point in time. I would have to wait to see what Rebuild completely entails before I could comment with an informed opinion. Though I can still speculate...

Maybe in how the story is told (a nonlinear or stream-of-consciousness-driven storyline, a bent toward the more emotional or even intellectual rather than psychological, etc.)...

Or how about an Eva that does not take itself seriously and takes a comedic approach, a la Excel Saga, Narima Daikon Brothers or Pani Poni Dash!

Other than the other possibilities that have been mentioned, I haven't got a clue how.

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TriLink

zeaven wrote:

So, is this just Anno being crazy or egotistical as usual, or does he really mean it? How could Rebuild change anime, just as Evangelion did 12 years ago?

I think this is just Old Man Anno having an over inflated opinion of himself. I'll give him credit; EVA really did break new ground for anime in ways too numerous to mention, but to say that anime is still stale? Sorry Hideaki, but the millions of people who watch Dragonball, and buy Bleach DVD's say otherwise. It's no more stale than any other art form out there. Some of them suck, some of them don't.

Rebuild will be good, sure. But I doubt it will be "groundbreaking".

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NAveryW · Posted: Wed Jun 20, 2007 11:43 pm Post subject:

Yes, I completely disagree that anime is currently stagnant.

Now, Gainax, however... while I love Diebuster and Gurren-Lagann, and Mahoromatic was pretty good except for... you know... Gainax just has yet to make something as good as the majority what they made in the 20th century. Despite how good their current animations may be, they're just not as progressive. I hope that Weva will fix this. How? Well, if it is truly something that has never been done before, we can't really judge based on anything that's happened in the past, right? :o

zeaven · Sachiel Joined: 22 Aug 2006

THE Hal E. Burton 9000 wrote:

Honestly, I am really not certain at this point in time. I would have to wait to see what Rebuild completely entails before I could comment with an informed opinion. Though I can still speculate...

Yeah, speculation is what this thread is for. It's just, what do *you* think Anno is referencing here? There must be some kind of mechanic of it that is new or refreshing, and this thread is meant to house predictions as to what it may be, based on the previous Evangelion.

TriLink12 wrote:

Rebuild will be good, sure. But I doubt it will be "groundbreaking".

I agree, but it's nearly impossible to be "groundbreaking" anymore in any form of media. However, it's very possible to be good and popular enough that future books/music/films will try to emulate it. I'd say it's more "trendsetting" than "groundbreaking".

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BrikHaus · Posted: Wed Jun 20, 2007 11:56 pm Post subject:

zeaven wrote:

It's just, what do *you* think Anno is referencing here? There must be some kind of mechanic of it that is new or refreshing, and this thread is meant to house predictions as to what it may be, based on the previous Evangelion.

I think Anno is referencing how awesome he thinks he is. I mean look at all the amazing things he's made since Evangelion. There's... um... and... uh... oh yes, and who could forget......... He must be insane to think that a remake could somehow be groundbreaking. It's already not groundbreaking in the sense that it's retelling a story that has already been told. Sure, a lot of things are going to be different, but how can you claim this will remove stagnation in the industry by rehashing old ideas? If anything he's adding to the stagnation of the industry.

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Defectron · Elder God Joined: 09 Apr 2005 Location: 5th dimension

Quote:

but to say that anime is still stale? Sorry Hideaki, but the millions of people who watch Dragonball, and buy Bleach DVD's say otherwise

I think your misunderstanding what he means by stale, I don't think he's saying anime fandom itself has gornw stale, I think he's talking about anime being taken in new directions like how eva took the giant robot genre in a new direction, and that sort of thing isn't done that often. Lets face it there's not a whole lot of uniqueness in most mainstream anime like bleach and dragonball.

Now there are unique anime that come out each year, this is only around 3-5% of what comes out yearly (rough estimation, for those who don't know a whole lot of series come out yearly), most anime that comes out recently is treading ground that's already been well explored. I think this is what he means by growing stale. Although I suppose that isn't all that bad from a personal standpoint. If more anime took chances and more really good anime came out I'd be in trouble trying to watch all the new series. With things "stale" its easy for me to keep track of things that are actually good while ignoring the mediocre anime.

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chiefen · Sachiel Joined: 07 Jun 2005 Location: Stockholm, Sweden

THE Hal E. Burton 9000 wrote:

Or how about an Eva that does not take itself seriously and takes a comedic approach, a la Excel Saga, .

Haha, that would rule. Think about it, everyone walks into the cinema to watch new and cool NGE, but instead they get a fucked up PARODY that just mocks the shit out of original NGE. Haha, oh wow. That would be the ultimate "fuck you" from Anno!

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Kaysow · Arael Joined: 13 Jul 2006 Location: Stockholm, Sweden

A project has to be brave and entrepreneuring to reshape the industry, and from what I'm hearing of Rebuild, it won't be that. I still hope so, but only time can tell.

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Gendo'sPapa · Seed Joined: 24 Oct 2006 Location: The World

The word my friend is HYPERBOLE.

Anno is just being Anno and frankly I wouldn't want him any other way.

As for him not contributing anything worthwhile since Eva on that I disagree. I stand by that when "His and Her Circumstances" was under his direction (til about episode 16) it was and is the best portrayal of the insanity of love in an animated format. It was weird, it was wild, it was funny, and damnit, it was fun. The last episode he directed- Ep 16 where it goes back to explain the backstory of the mom and dad is just a beautfiully directed love story that definitly outdoes anything recent anime has offered as far as emotions are concerned. Then he left the show for artisitic reasons and it...well it became an Anno imitator without the soul.

As for his live action, you can't really put it on his fault. Two of his three live action films reject any kind of popular mainstream success (tell me, would EVA be as powerful and well loved if the series had been mind-fuckery from episode 1? Nah, he needed those first 15 episodes to set up the characters and make you like them). Love & Pop was a movie about child prostitution basically and had a dirty hentai make a teengirl give him a handjob in public. Shiki-Jitsu was just fucking out there (and I liked it). Haven't seen Cutie Honey yet but it sounds like he just went for zanyness.

Now if Anno had continued doing mainstream titles after Eva that were meant to grab a mainstream audience then sure, the critiques are justified. But since the guy went off into his own narcissitic world and decided to tell stories about smelly hentais and girls so fucked up they make Paris Hilton look normal I cut him slack. And give him respect.

As for stangation in anime- eh, its just like cinema. 60% is shit or barely watchable. 35% is fun and forgettable. 5% or less is actually high quality genius (and its the same everywhere. Asian cinema has a lot of shit, but its only greats like Oldboy or others that reach a mainstream western audience).
I don't actually watch too much anime myself because most is stupid and forgetable. A lot just seems to be based on how cute and sugary they can make their young female characters look. I like GAINAX cause they're wacky but even I think a good portion of their stuff is crap.

But REBUILD actually REBUILDING anime? Never happen. Evangelion was a success that came out of nowhere with little real anticipation and nobody knew what to expect. With REBUILD it's a case of people expecting too much and too high anticipation.

If anything I expect the REBUILD films will be critiqued too hardly by the anime crowd and people in general and it will ultimatly be derided for simply being kickass entertainment.
Meanwhile the same people will appraise shit like "Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya" even though it's more flawed than the films.
Come on, Haruhi had two good episodes. Little else.

Trigger's Elysium · Donor Joined: 19 Nov 2006 Location: Under the Crimson Air

Kaysow wrote:

A project has to be brave and entrepreneuring to reshape the industry, and from what I'm hearing of Rebuild, it won't be that. I still hope so, but only time can tell.

Thank you.

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Gendo'sPapa · Seed Joined: 24 Oct 2006 Location: The World

Motherfucker...do i ever rant....i need to find meself a soap box or some kind of folks to argue with this about.

Trigger's Elysium · Donor Joined: 19 Nov 2006 Location: Under the Crimson Air

All things considering, he did say this in a poster thing that was meant for advertising purposes (and what a poster it was, sheeze).

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THE Hal E. Burton 9000 · Posted: Thu Jun 21, 2007 9:56 am Post subject:

Gendo'sPapa wrote:

WORDS

I agree with all that you ranted on there. He he, "smelly" hentais/"fcuked-up girls who make (a certain hotel heiress who is currently incarcerated) look normal"! WOW!

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NAveryW · Posted: Thu Jun 21, 2007 11:29 am Post subject:

The truth is that if something already has a huge fanbase, if you make a remake, somebody is going to end up disappointed no matter what. People who liked EoTV's ending sometimes hated EoE, and I'm sure Anno knew that there would be people who wouldn't like it. And I'm sure he knows that there will be people who won't like Rebuild.

As for reshaping the anime industry, it's way too early to tell. It's entirely possible that he has some new idea that we can't possibly think of because it's never been done before and we have nothing to compare it to, and it's also possible that it was a huge exaggeration. Either way, it will definitely be critiqued much more harshly than something without a fanbase yet. This is why I think that M. Night Shyamalan should have released his recent, different movies under pseudonyms, and they wouldn't have been considered crappy.

By the way, Gendo's Papa, which two episodes of Melancholy did you think were good?

Szmitten · Israfel Joined: 06 Sep 2006

Trigger's Elysium wrote:

All things considering, he did say this in a poster thing that was meant for advertising purposes (and what a poster it was, sheeze).

Emphasised for truth.

From what I recall, even RahXephon had a similar quote in it's pre-release statement:
(checked)
"We want to close out the old era of robot anime, and on that foundation, we would like to set the standard for the new era."

Therefore, no. Rebuild probably won't affect the future of anime.

CorporalChaos · Posted: Thu Jun 21, 2007 11:47 am Post subject:

Perhaps Webuild will be mostly live action?

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Opteron-O3 · Lilin Joined: 19 Feb 2007 Location: Texas

As long as it still kicks ass and has mind fuck in it. I'll be happy.

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BrikHaus · Posted: Thu Jun 21, 2007 11:59 am Post subject:

Gendo'sPapa wrote:

Meanwhile the same people will appraise shit like "Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya" even though it's more flawed than the films.
Come on, Haruhi had two good episodes. Little else.

This is blasphemy.

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Annihilator · Adam Joined: 30 Apr 2007 Location: Pittsburgh, PA

I have no idea if it will pull off what they did when they released eva or not.. I can see them doing it but i can also see them .. well not doing it.

I know (i hope)the movie will be good and (hopefully) kick ass but he said he was dumbing it down so people can understand that more, and im fine with that but i dont think it will be as complicated as it was. and i think that is what made eva. and i dont think there will be anymore flashing words and stuff.. i liked that... Im not really sure what im saying im just kinda going on, i knew what i was going to post but not anymore..