Comments on: AAC: Animation Asia Conference 2009

By: Anime Festival Asia 2009: Summarized in Ten Photos | Armchair Otaku

Anime Festival Asia 2009: Summarized in Ten Photos | Armchair Otaku — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 19:10:56 +0000

[...] reports compiled by The Banzai! Effect, DarkMirage, Magnetic Rose, Akibatan (Thai), Hontou Ni, Alafista (on AAC) and the gorgeous [...]

By: Alafista

Alafista — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 16:44:20 +0000

I usually just try to ask for it, but if that fails … blackmail and begging works too ^^

By: Sabekuji Kaneda

Sabekuji Kaneda — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 12:48:54 +0000

How do you go in as a member of the media? I’m always curious about that~

By: EliasEverlasting

EliasEverlasting — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 19:25:13 +0000

Yes, the trailers for the film were very inadequate; for my own part, I had vaguely heard of Astro Boy before I took a chance on seeing the film (and am I glad I did!) I think he was probably something of a mystery to many other Americans, however. I would also agree about the timing of the film’s release – very bad choice there. People go to Halloween haunted houses, and parties, here in the US starting the beginning of October! Weekends are pretty taken up with festivities, especially those for kids. The violence was a problem? That’s hard to believe; I’ve seen far worse on shows on Cartoon Network and Nickelodeon. As for Tenma rejecting Astro…I don’t think that scene could have been avoided, since it was part of the original manga, and one of the best parts of the movie was when Tenma finally accepted Astro as his son. Very touching and emotional (and that emotion is one of the best qualities of the film) I gota wonder how those same parents who objected to the rejection scene reacted to Simba’s father, Mufasa, getting killed in The Lion King, or Bambi’s mother getting shot, and then there’s Old Yeller… Walt Disney knew kids could take a bit of darkness in stories; it gave the stories a strength and a memorability they wouldn’t otherwise have had.

Anyway, I don’t suppose he said anything about a sequel?

By: Alafista

Alafista — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 15:59:59 +0000

He mentioned that the violence inside the show didn’t go down quite well with the US parents. They were objected to one of the scene whereby Astro Boy was rejected by Dr Tenma.

Another point he highlighted was that the movie was release on week before Halloween which is said to affect box office ratings.

And your theory on the advertising was also mentioned by Mr Phoon whereby they didn’t forsee that there was a portion of the audience that were not familiar with Astro Boy and the marketing was insufficient to introduce him to the US folks before the movie premiered.

By: EliasEverlasting

EliasEverlasting — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 15:46:50 +0000

Very interesting! Thanks for the info. Can you tell me what Mr. Phoon said about why he thought Astro Boy didn’t do well in the U.S.? My theory is the advertising – the movie trailers didn’t really tell us what Astro Boy was about, and they weren’t funny enough (comedy sells animation to the public better than superhero-type stuff). By the way, I have seen Astro Boy, and I loved it. Everyone I know who has seen it have loved it. Their kids ADORED it. I’ve actually seen it three times so far, and I haven’t cared to see a film more than once while it was still in the theaters since Kung Fu Panda. The film is really very very good, and it’s a great shame it was so ignored. I hope it does better in England and elsewhere when it expands its premieres to the rest of the world. It deserves more love than it got.