Lots of stuff has been happening lately. Personally, I've been overwhelmed by a spate of even-more-real-than-usually-real life. I mean, if I'm planning to flee the country, it stands to reason that I should get my medical ducks in a row first, right? But that's all I have to say about that.
Anyway. ADV! It's no secret that
I never approved of them or their marketing philosophy.
News that they've closed up and ceased business doesn't exactly strike me as tragic.
But, you know, I'm not here to gloat, or otherwise take pleasure in their misfortune. ADV's gone, having made some terrible business moves that doubtless accelerated their demise, but even distributors that did everything perfectly have a great deal to worry about. Anime never did become mainstream, somehow, despite taking over our visual lexicon. We won in every sense that we could have expected, but we lost too, and I'm still not sure why.
Not, of course, that I care very much. I still enjoy the medium, and I was never happy with the idea of sending Japanese pop culture into the American mainstream. And as for ADV, they seem to have spun everything off into various Nordic-themed entities, and business as usual will continue.
But our ambitions will be smaller, and that makes me sad. Just a little.
words from chris, a time now past, los angeles
