Immortallium's Blog

How Successful Have Anime Films Been At The US Box Office?

Published May 13, 2021

One of the more notable pieces of anime news recently was the announcement that “Demon Slayer: Mugen Train” had become the first anime film in decades to reach the top spot in the US box office. Having recently taken a look at how anime films perform in the Japanese box office, I found myself quite intrigued by this success and thought it might be interesting to take a look at anime films at the US box office and how successful they’ve been.

The first anime film to be released theatrically in the United States of America was Panda and the Magic Serpent, sometimes referred to as The Tale of the White Serpent. Originally released in Japan in 1958, Panda and the Magic Serpent was the first anime film to be released in colour and was later released in the US in 1961. The US release of this film, along with two other anime films that year, Magic Boy and Alakazam the Great, underperformed at the US box office, either being box office failures or mild successes at best.

A shot of Xu-Xian and Bai-Niang from Panda and the Magic Serpent. — A shot from Panda and the Magic Serpent.

Leave a Comment

The Amazing And Not So Amazing World of Don Bluth Part 2

Published May 10, 2021

Here is the conclusion of my article that began in The Amazing And Not So Amazing World of Don Bluth Part 1.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is Thumbelina-1994-Poster.jpg

Thumbelina, released in 1994, is an adaptation of the Hans Christian Anderson story of the same name. Interestingly, the character of Thumbelina was voiced by Jodi Benson, the same actress who voiced Ariel from The Little Mermaid, an adaptation of another Hans Christian Anderson story. The movie Thumbelina begins with a widow, who longs for a child, receiving a seed from a witch. This seed eventually produces a flower which reveals a tiny girl who is adopted by this old lady and named Thumbelina. Thumbelina feels isolated due to her size, despite the love of her adoptive mother, but eventually comes across a fairy prince called Cornelius and falls in love. However, a travelling show troupe leader called Mrs. Toad decides to kidnap Thumbelina and have her marry one of her sons. The film got only a more marginally positive reception than Rock-A-Doodle and grossed $17 million, well short of its $28 million budget.

Leave a Comment

The Amazing And Not So Amazing World of Don Bluth Part 1

Published May 6, 2021

I recently discussed the films of Warner Bros. Feature Animation as well as discussing the 2D films of Dreamworks Animation in the past. However, arguably more important than those when it comes to the legacy of animation are the films of the legendary animator Don Bluth. While his films are certainly not of even quality, I still think it worth looking at the various films he directed and examining the amazing and not so amazing world of Don Bluth.

First, it’s worth discussing who Don Bluth is and his work prior to directing films. Don Bluth first began working in the animation industry as an assistant animator on the 1959 Disney classic “Sleeping Beauty”. He would continue to work on many other Disney animated films such as The Jungle Book, Robin Hood, The Rescuers etc. as well as working on some TV animated series such as Fantastic Voyage, Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, Groovie Goolies etc. The last Disney film he worked on was The Fox and the Hound and, in 1979, he led a group of animators out of Disney to set up Don Bluth Productions, later renamed Sullivan Bluth Studios, due to his dissatisfaction with Disney’s attitude to animation at the time.

Leave a Comment

The Difference Between Video Game Remasters and Remakes

Published May 3, 2021

If you’ve been following the video game industry for the past few years, you’ve probably noticed the dramatic rise of video game remasters and remakes. While there is legitimate criticism for retreading old ground, I’ve personally been enjoying the chance to revisit video game classics whether they be remakes or remasters. However, with this rise, I’ve noticed that there’s been plenty of confusion between the two. Therefore, I thought it worth looking at the differences between video game remasters and remakes and where the confusion may stem from.

First, let’s start with what a video game remaster is. A remaster uses the original content of the game but might allow the game to run in a higher resolution, perhaps with higher frame-rates, improved textures and gameplay and UI tweaks. An excellent example is the upcoming Total War: Rome Remastered which has seen a variety of graphical and gameplay upgrades but is running on the original game engine with a lot of the original scripting.

Leave a Comment

What Are Manga Box Sets And How Affordable Are They?

Published April 29, 2021

I’ve been selling some items on eBay recently and one of the items I was going to sell was the first volume of the manga Battle Angel Alita. When talking to a friend about it, I mentioned that the reason I was getting rid of it wasn’t because I didn’t like it, it was because Kodansha released hardcover deluxe releases sometime ago. While looking it up, I learned that Kodansha have now released a box set containing all of these deluxe editions. However, when I mentioned how much the box set was, about €100, my friend recoiled at the price. Even though it represented a saving compared to buying the manga volumes individually, this experience made me consider how manga box sets, while seemingly affordable, can be quite off-putting to some people.

I should probably begin by explaining what a manga box set is. On occasion, a manga publishing company may choose to release either an entire series or a part of that series in a box set with a card/plastic case and sometimes an extra or two whether it be a small artbook, an unreleased chapter, stickers etc. They also tend to be priced so that the box set is a little cheaper than purchasing the series individually. For someone looking to fill up their manga collection, these box sets prove to be quite an affordable method to do so although that is not to say that there aren’t some issues.

Leave a Comment

What Are Anime Filler Episodes And Why Are They Made?

Published April 26, 2021

For those of you who watch various long running anime series such as Naruto, Dragon Ball, One Piece, etc., you’ve probably noticed that many of these series occasionally enter an arc which feels less substantial than many other arcs within the series, particularly in hindsight. These arcs may focus more on comedy and have little to no bearing on the overall story with seemingly throwaway villains and side characters. These are typically referred to as filler arcs and there are various reasons why these episodes exist and why anime continues to make these arcs.

I think one of the most important aspects to look at when it comes to why anime filler is made is the way Japanese shows are aired on television. If you take a look at the airdates for the episodes of any long running anime series such as Naruto, Dragon Ball, One Piece etc., something that might stand out to you is how, beyond the occasional one week break, the episodes air continuously throughout the year. This results in about 50 episodes per year, a very impressive number.

A promo image for Naruto. — Naruto’s 80 episode long string of filler episodes has become a thing of infamy.

Leave a Comment

The Fascinating World of Warner Bros. Feature Animation

Published April 22, 2021

The 1990s was the beginning of a new era for theatrical animation. The Disney Renaissance was in full swing, seeing a level of success both in the box office and amongst the critics that animation had never seen before. Other studios were eager to profit from this new demand for theatrical animated films and the era saw the establishment of Dreamworks Animation, Fox Animation and many others. However, to me, one of the more interesting studios that was established in this era was Warner Bros. Feature Animation. This studio created many fascinating feature animation films and I thought it would be worth taking a look at some of these films, the general apathy of the world towards this new studio and why Warner Bros. ended up shutting this studio down.

The first film that was produced by this studio was a live-action/animation hybrid à la Who Framed Roger Rabbit called Space Jam. Released in 1996, this film saw revered American basketballer Michael Jordan end up in the world of the Looney Tunes where they have to play and win a basketball match against Swackhammer, tycoon and owner of the intergalactic theme park Moron Mountain and his team of Monstars. The film was a big box office success and became the highest grossing basketball movie of all time. However, critical reception was mixed and, when I look back at it now, the film focuses too heavily on Michael Jordan himself to the detriment of the Looney Tunes cast although I do confess that I was quite a fan of the film as a child.

2 Comments

Intriguing Reasons Why Games Are Removed From Steam

Published April 19, 2021

The Steam store is known for becoming increasingly cluttered with an estimated 52,115 games available at the time that I’m writing this article. However, it’s interesting to note that not all games continue to exist indefinitely on the platform. Occasionally, games will be removed from the Steam store, although they typically continue to exist in the libraries of players who bought them, for a variety of intriguing reasons and I thought it might be worth looking at a few of these reasons as well as the games that have been affected.

First off, one of the more common reasons you will see a game removed from Steam is the expiration of a license. A pretty popular example would be the removal of the 2010 game, released on Steam in 2012, Alan Wake. In 2017, it was announced that Alan Wake would be removed from both Steam and the Xbox store due to expiring music licenses. It wasn’t until over a year later that Alan Wake returned to storefronts as the music rights were renegotiated. This also happened more recently to Alpha Protocol in 2019 when it was removed due to expired music rights and has yet to to be made available again on Steam.

Leave a Comment

The Interesting Use of Manga To Promote Public Awareness

Published April 15, 2021

The promotion of public awareness campaigns can be quite a tricky ordeal to run. I, and many others, have seen billboards, internet ads and the like promoting public health, safe driving, political awareness and many other causes. However, we tend to shrug them off, not even sparing them a second glance. This is not to say that they cannot be effective, perhaps working subliminally. However, any effort that can make someone pay more attention to a public awareness campaign will, of course, be highly desired. In that effort, there are plenty of Japanese organisations that use characters from manga series to promote their causes. Considering this, I thought it might be interesting to take a look at some of the uses of manga to promote public awareness.

I can distinctly remember the first time that I heard of a manga being used to promote some kind of public awareness campaign and how interesting I found the concept. It was back around 2010, not too long after I first started to get into anime, when I heard that the characters of K-On!, a 4-koma manga that was adapted into several anime media, were being used to promote the Japanese census in Kyoto. Since then, we have seen other series such as Inari, Konkon, Koi Iroha and Sound! Euphonium (originally a light novel rather than a manga) being used to promote the census within Kyoto. While I would love to see statistics of how effective these campaigns were, the fact that manga characters are continually being used seems to indicate that they have been successful enough to continue this cooperation.

Kyoto City National Census anime advertisements:
2010: K-On!!
2015: Inari, Konkon, Koi Iroha
2020: Sound! Euphonium pic.twitter.com/ZM5efflRGX
— ultimatemegax (@ultimatemegax) August 31, 2020

Leave a Comment

How Prominent Is Anime In the Japanese Box Office?

Published April 12, 2021

I was perusing Anime News Network some time ago and came across an interesting article called “Japan’s Box Office Dropped 45% in 2020, With Demon Slayer Accounting for 1/4 of Total“. While the article has a variety of information concerning box office grosses, percentage of Japanese movies revenue etc., what really stood out to me was the fact that five of the top ten highest-grossing Japanese movies were anime films. These were Demon Slayer – Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Movie: Mugen Train at first place, Doraemon the Movie: Nobita’s New Dinosaur at fourth place, Violet Evergarden: The Movie at seventh place, Fate/stay night: Heaven’s Feel III. spring song at ninth place and My Hero Academia: Heroes Rising at tenth place. This made me ponder the question of how prominent is anime in the Japanese box office.

Before I begin discussing this topic, there are a few facts that I wish to point out. First, it’s important to remember that 2020 has proven to be a highly unusual year given the fact that the world is, as of the writing of this article, facing a pandemic on a scale not seen in many decades. The quarantines in place throughout the world to slow the effect of this disease has also had a dramatic effect on many industries including the film industry and has seen box office grosses plunge dramatically. Secondly, it’s important to remember that the success of Demon Slayer was quite an anomaly with the article clearly pointing out that the Demon Slayer movie grossed a quarter of all revenue in the 2020 Japanese box office! For perspective, the second highest-grossing Japanese movie of the year, the live-action film Kyou Kara Ore Wa!! only grossed about a seventh of what Demon Slayer managed to gross. Finally, I’d like to mention that while I do intend to look at some of the highest-grossing anime films of all time, I also intend to look at how the average anime film performs in the box office and how they compare to Japanese live-action films.

The poster for the film “Demon Slayer – Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Movie: Mugen Train”.

Leave a Comment

Immortallium's Blog Posts