Comments on: How Anime Comedy Has Changed

By: Yamcha

Yamcha — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 22:15:00 +0000

@IKnight: I’m aware that Sgt. Frog is also heavily referential but opted to leave it off because I’m not familiar enough with it. My personal measure of a show’s success is by the perceived number of fans and whether or not it still gets discussed after its run ends. When talking about funny comedy moments with others, I’m more inclinded to name drop referential comedies than regular comedies. You made me think too much on this comment. After posting this I’ll find myself unhappy with it and come back a couple hours later for an edit.

@Baka-Raptor: For your graph I’d start the red line higher than the blue line and make the slope steeper. Referential humor has higher highs and lower lows to me. I’ve been hearing some fuss over Krauser-tan moe in Detroit Metal City, so it will get added to my always expanding backlog.

By: Baka-Raptor

Baka-Raptor — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 20:57:33 +0000

It's easy to get a laugh out of referential humor, but there's a limit to the number of people who'd get it (inside jokes are a perfect example). The general form looks something like this. For an awesome non-"hardcore" comedy, check out Detroit Metal City.

By: IKnight

IKnight — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 20:30:41 +0000

How are we judging success? If we say that Hayate is successful among English-speaking anime fans who are present on the 'net, aren't we just saying 'comedy anime aimed at people who are likely to get obscure references is successful among people who are likely to get obscure references'? I'm thinking of Brack's comment here, in which he suggests that TTGL lost out to Pretty Cure and that Toradora is only popular among (bluntly) unpopular people. I've heard it suggested that anime companies have been moving towards producing more late-night content focused precisely at the slightly obsessive, merchandise-buying, fact-knowing crowd. If there has been a rise in the production rate, rather than success, of this kind of 'hardcore comedy', it might be part of that. I don't personally know anything about viewing figures or much about air times, so I'm guessing. (Actually, I'm pretty sure I heard that Hayate is broadcast during the morning?) If you asked me to point to a successful anime comedy, I'd think of Sgt Frog — which is indeed very referential. Or do we mean 'inherent' success — it's successful because it's funny? Anyway, don't let the questions above give you the impresson that I didn't like the post — I think it's a good post on an interesting subject, and one well worth poking with a stick to see what happens. You've also reminded me of some pretty funny moments from stuff I've seen, which is always good. IKnights last blog post...Detroit Metal City: Laughing on the Outside