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samuelp
Industry Insider
Joined: 25 Nov 2007
Posts: 2231
Location: San Antonio, USA
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 Posted: Wed Sep 05, 2012 6:39 am
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Here's the thing, chances are very good that the agency for Ichiki DID know it was all a stunt.
In Japan talent is almost always arranged through the appropriate windows, in this case the agency. The production committee cannot simply go directly to the talent for favors.
And like you said, it would seem very weird if the agency wouldn't come in to defend one of its talents unless they were in on it. However there's no reason that they would necessarily inform Ichiki of it, especially if it was designed to be one of those "punked" style pranks. It's up the agency to tell him what's going on, and if they felt he'd give a better performance by being genuinely shocked, that's their decision. They probably did not expect the harshness of it, but by then it would be too late to stop it, as that would essentially be cancelling their gig.
This happens a lot on the more garden variety "Variety" shows with their celebrity talent. Those guys are frequently humiliated on TV, sometimes on a daily basis. It's part of their job though and they play those "roles" willingly. Here we're intersecting with the high pressure "celeb"-style seiyuu world and this is the result when you cross the line with the hard-core fans.
I think this was an attempt at a style of promotion that was mishandled massively and done by people not familiar with the light-touch necessary. I'm not sure I believe anyone was being purposefully cruel, but rather that they were playing their roles too seriously.
In other words, Ichiki's reaction was most likely real, but I don't believe that the people doing the bullying were doing anything more than playing their assigned parts in too realistic a fashion.
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Mohawk52
Joined: 16 Oct 2003
Posts: 8202
Location: England, UK
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Posted: Wed Sep 05, 2012 6:45 am
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| samuelp wrote: | | Here's the thing, chances are very good that the agency for Ichiki DID know it was all a stunt.
In Japan talent is almost always arranged through the appropriate windows, in this case the agency. The production committee cannot simply go directly to the talent for favors.
And like you said, it would seem very weird if the agency wouldn't come in to defend one of its talents unless they were in on it. However there's no reason that they would necessarily inform Ichiki of it, especially if it was designed to be one of those "punked" style pranks. It's up the agency to tell him what's going on, and if they felt he'd give a better performance by being genuinely shocked, that's their decision. They probably did not expect the harshness of it, but by then it would be too late to stop it, as that would essentially be cancelling their gig.
This happens a lot on the more garden variety "Variety" shows with their celebrity talent. Those guys are frequently humiliated on TV, sometimes on a daily basis. It's part of their job though and they play those "roles" willingly. Here we're intersecting with the high pressure "celeb"-style seiyuu world and this is the result when you cross the line with the hard-core fans.
I think this was an attempt at a style of promotion that was mishandled massively and done by people not familiar with the light-touch necessary. I'm not sure I believe anyone was being purposefully cruel, but rather that they were playing their roles too seriously.
In other words, Ichiki's reaction was most likely real, but I don't believe that the people doing the bullying were doing anything more than playing their assigned parts in too realistic a fashion. |
Or they took the bait hook, line, and sinker. 
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Mr. Oshawott
Joined: 12 Mar 2012
Posts: 6773
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Posted: Wed Sep 05, 2012 9:29 am
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Somehow, I'm having a feeling that this show, Kokoro Connect, will have a very hard time selling well, let alone being able to make to the U.S. and [possibly] beyond, due to this grand fallout between the anime staff and the voice actor that was presumably the victim of the staff's terrible publicity stunt. This is a performance the staff of Kokoro Connect should've never attempted from the start. 
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Polycell
Joined: 16 Jan 2012
Posts: 4623
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Posted: Wed Sep 05, 2012 10:07 am
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Sentai's already licensed it, so I don't think it'll affect any area they grabbed the rights for. If I had to guess, the loss of revenue on the Japanese release would probably push them to let licensees be more aggressive about their schedules and accept lower minimum guarantees since there's much less of the home market to cannibalize.
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Mohawk52
Joined: 16 Oct 2003
Posts: 8202
Location: England, UK
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Posted: Wed Sep 05, 2012 3:38 pm
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There's no such thing as bad publicity.
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RyanSaotome
Joined: 29 Mar 2011
Posts: 4210
Location: Towson, Maryland
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Posted: Wed Sep 05, 2012 3:47 pm
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| Mohawk52 wrote: | There's no such thing as bad publicity. |
There is a medium like anime, where the fans have a lot more power over what gets made. Simply 1000 fans being turned off by this can turn a moderately successful anime into a failure. That likely will happen with Kokoro Connect.
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Mohawk52
Joined: 16 Oct 2003
Posts: 8202
Location: England, UK
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Posted: Wed Sep 05, 2012 7:22 pm
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| RyanSaotome wrote: |
| Mohawk52 wrote: | There's no such thing as bad publicity. |
There is a medium like anime, where the fans have a lot more power over what gets made. Simply 1000 fans being turned off by this can turn a moderately successful anime into a failure. That likely will happen with Kokoro Connect. |
If that happens to this then it ain't about the anime, it's all about the VA's who acted for it. Those fans might throw their toys out of their prams, but the fans of the anime will still watch it. The other's will simple have to get over themselves.
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Fencedude5609
Joined: 09 Nov 2006
Posts: 5088
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Posted: Wed Sep 05, 2012 7:55 pm
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| Mohawk52 wrote: | There's no such thing as bad publicity. |
Yeah, except that in this case the publicity was, in fact, demonstrably bad.
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Mohawk52
Joined: 16 Oct 2003
Posts: 8202
Location: England, UK
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Posted: Wed Sep 05, 2012 10:04 pm
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| Fencedude5609 wrote: |
| Mohawk52 wrote: | There's no such thing as bad publicity. |
Yeah, except that in this case the publicity was, in fact, demonstrably bad. |
Yeah, but now lots more people know about kokoro connect.
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RyanSaotome
Joined: 29 Mar 2011
Posts: 4210
Location: Towson, Maryland
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Posted: Wed Sep 05, 2012 10:14 pm
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| Mohawk52 wrote: |
| Fencedude5609 wrote: |
| Mohawk52 wrote: | There's no such thing as bad publicity. |
Yeah, except that in this case the publicity was, in fact, demonstrably bad. |
Yeah, but now lots more people know about kokoro connect. |
Yeah, but they aren't buying it, which is all that matters for late night anime. Is just a commercial that nobody buys the product thats selling then.
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Mohawk52
Joined: 16 Oct 2003
Posts: 8202
Location: England, UK
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Posted: Wed Sep 05, 2012 10:32 pm
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| RyanSaotome wrote: |
| Mohawk52 wrote: |
| Fencedude5609 wrote: |
| Mohawk52 wrote: | There's no such thing as bad publicity. |
Yeah, except that in this case the publicity was, in fact, demonstrably bad. |
Yeah, but now lots more people know about kokoro connect. |
Yeah, but they aren't buying it, which is all that matters for late night anime. Is just a commercial that nobody buys the product thats selling then. |
That has yet to be determined. It's only being streamed at present so what's to buy with that? This is looking more like a storm in a tea cup.
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RyanSaotome
Joined: 29 Mar 2011
Posts: 4210
Location: Towson, Maryland
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Posted: Wed Sep 05, 2012 10:38 pm
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| Mohawk52 wrote: |
| RyanSaotome wrote: |
| Mohawk52 wrote: |
| Fencedude5609 wrote: |
| Mohawk52 wrote: | There's no such thing as bad publicity. |
Yeah, except that in this case the publicity was, in fact, demonstrably bad. |
Yeah, but now lots more people know about kokoro connect. |
Yeah, but they aren't buying it, which is all that matters for late night anime. Is just a commercial that nobody buys the product thats selling then. |
That has yet to be determined. It's only being streamed at present so what's to buy with that? This is looking more like a storm in a tea cup. |
I'm talking about in Japan. Its preorder rankings have tanked since the scandal began, and its dropped from about 3500 projected sales to down to 2300 now (and still falling). Thats a lot of lost money.
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Fencedude5609
Joined: 09 Nov 2006
Posts: 5088
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Posted: Wed Sep 05, 2012 10:39 pm
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| Mohawk52 wrote: | | That has yet to be determined. It's only being streamed at present so what's to buy with that? This is looking more like a storm in a tea cup. |
Are you talking about US sales? Thats completely and totally irrelevant.
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zeopower6
Joined: 01 Nov 2011
Posts: 191
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Posted: Thu Sep 06, 2012 4:01 am
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This scandal will likely not affect the US release.
However, in Japan...  Second season is so not happening.
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Mohawk52
Joined: 16 Oct 2003
Posts: 8202
Location: England, UK
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Posted: Thu Sep 06, 2012 8:37 am
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| RyanSaotome wrote: |
| Mohawk52 wrote: |
| RyanSaotome wrote: |
| Mohawk52 wrote: |
| Fencedude5609 wrote: |
| Mohawk52 wrote: | There's no such thing as bad publicity. |
Yeah, except that in this case the publicity was, in fact, demonstrably bad. |
Yeah, but now lots more people know about kokoro connect. |
Yeah, but they aren't buying it, which is all that matters for late night anime. Is just a commercial that nobody buys the product thats selling then. |
That has yet to be determined. It's only being streamed at present so what's to buy with that? This is looking more like a storm in a tea cup. |
I'm talking about in Japan. Its preorder rankings have tanked since the scandal began, and its dropped from about 3500 projected sales to down to 2300 now (and still falling). Thats a lot of lost money. |
Potentially yes, and so was I. It's still early doors yet. Preorders are much too fluid to take as concrete signs of potential profit, or loss and what goes down can just as well go up again after the initial feury blows clear and people return to their senses again. But then again the target audience does appear to be a stormy sea of angst, but with any potential it's no guarrantee it will actually happen. We have to wait and see. I agree though that should this get licensed outside of Japan it will still sell to those who desire it. A PR stunt that got misinterpreted? A flash in a pan really. The finished product is still the same. Again they just need to get over themselves.
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