Personally I don't see any purpose for mainstreaming of anime in our half of the world -- only dangers. The only possible reason I could cite would be for increased availability (which I'd say with official and, ahem, unofficial channels is quite sufficient at this moment) or increased quality. I see no reason to believe increased American involvement or notice will significantly raise the quality of Japanese product, only lower it as it is catered to our perceived tastes. The Japanese already had the largest animation industry in the world before this most recent 'anime going mainstream' prediction (anybody else here remember the talk that anime would go mainstream after Macross : DYRL and Nausicaa?) The only remaining reason that I can think of would be the psychological factors, the "hey, my hobby's cool/ahead of its time rather than fanboyish so now you can understand me" factor. I don't care if it's 'understood' or whatever here in the states, only that the Japanese keep doing what they've been doing.
We seem to live in a pretty good area for that -- about eight or nine years ago I pulled in a VHF TV signal from Kansas City for a couple of hours in Wise. My physics professor at the time (Bill H., if you remember him) saw the same phenomenon that morning and was so worked up about it he devoted a good part of his lecture telling us why it was happening.
I find it highly ironic Nickelodeon is suddenly so self-righteously critical of anime (as the article mentions) when the network was built with such great shows as Noozles, Maya the Bee, and Mysterious Cities of Gold.
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Personally I don't see any purpose for mainstreaming of anime in our half of the world -- only dangers. The only possible reason I could cite would be for increased availability (which I'd say with official and, ahem, unofficial channels is quite sufficient at this moment) or increased quality. I see no reason to believe increased American involvement or notice will significantly raise the quality of Japanese product, only lower it as it is catered to our perceived tastes. The Japanese already had the largest animation industry in the world before this most recent 'anime going mainstream' prediction (anybody else here remember the talk that anime would go mainstream after Macross : DYRL and Nausicaa?) The only remaining reason that I can think of would be the psychological factors, the "hey, my hobby's cool/ahead of its time rather than fanboyish so now you can understand me" factor. I don't care if it's 'understood' or whatever here in the states, only that the Japanese keep doing what they've been doing.
They do. When you apply they ask you whether you want an alternate number, however.
We seem to live in a pretty good area for that -- about eight or nine years ago I pulled in a VHF TV signal from Kansas City for a couple of hours in Wise. My physics professor at the time (Bill H., if you remember him) saw the same phenomenon that morning and was so worked up about it he devoted a good part of his lecture telling us why it was happening.
See, that just totally ruined for me whatever credibility this review had.
I find it highly ironic Nickelodeon is suddenly so self-righteously critical of anime (as the article mentions) when the network was built with such great shows as Noozles, Maya the Bee, and Mysterious Cities of Gold.