Geek Out: Anime Reboots Galore

Hurray for 90’s kids. Earlier this week, news surfaced that a new Dragonball anime will be premiering this July in Japan. The news was met with excitement from fans with the general consensus being that it’s about time. Looking back at recent history, shows that when an old anime property gets a new show fans usually are happy. About two years ago a new Sailor Moon anime was announced and fans eagerly waited for its premiere. Before then, when the new Full Metal Alchemist anime was announced fans once again were happy. It’s interesting though that with anime when shows are rebooted fans are happy, but when Hollywood reboots anything people are suspicious at best. “The Fantastic Four” reboot was panned before a trailer was released and the reboot of the Spiderman franchise, “The Amazing Spiderman,” had fans calling it a failure. So the question I’m looking to answer is what’s the difference?

While both have passionate fan bases, the fan bases for movies and anime are vastly different. For starters anime fans don’t get as much of an anime that they love. Excluding anime like “Naruto,” “Dragonball Z,” “One Piece,” and “Case Closed,” which all have over 100 episodes, most anime have a limited number of episodes and that’s it. Animes usually run about 26 or 52 episodes long and that’s it. The production team then move on to a new show or property and rinse, wash, repeat.  Most anime don’t get sequels and if they do it’s because the original show was based on a manga and it strayed from the original story. Hollywood movies, especially summer blockbusters are released like clockwork. We’ve had seven (soon to be eight) “Fast and the Furious” movies, six “Star Wars” movies, and 25 official “James Bonds” movies. Unless a movie is completely horrible or meant to be just a single movie, then it’ll get a sequel and it will continue to do so until audiences’ tire of it. This is the difference. Anime fans know how to move on and they accept change and therefore are more appreciative of sequels and continuations of their beloved series.’ Movie fans while not being unappreciative have been spoiled with the numerous releases of their favorite franchises.

Another reason why the there is a difference in reactions can also be attributed to culture. From both a fans and creators standpoint anime is something entirely different from films. Yes both are visual and they both tell stories, but people view the two differently. At the end of the day Hollywood blockbuster movies are usually about money. Disney isn’t making Marvel movies because they like the stories, they make the movies because they make tons of money. Both “Iron Man 3” and “Avengers” made over $1 billion dollars. Anime however doesn’t make that much money by themselves. There are the exceptions such as “Dragonball” and “Naruto” which have become multimedia powerhouses, but most anime are just a tv show. The money that is made on anime comes from ads and dvd sales. Most anime creators do it because they have a passion and usually aren’t in it for the money.

I’m Out!!!