Kadokawa Buys ANN
 

They were already pretty much a marketing operation anyway, but this certainly seals the deal.

If you don’t follow this stuff, Kadokawa is substantially responsible for a lot of the problems plaguing the industry and animators.

https://t.co/QXDe4yCWAa

First JP, now the world. Just buying everything up lol.

The article says "undisclosed" value, but I wonder how much ANN was worth. Their journalistic integrity is mixed, but there is no denying they have a considerable reach and sway over the opinions of English speaking anime fans. Of course, the question now is whether or not ANN benefits from working under Kadokawa: as memory serves, their finances haven’t been exactly the best, so if they’re under Kadokawa now, and they’re paying the writer's salaries, I wonder what the implications would be for their writers and editors.

ANN community gonna need to shed that image of hipsters if they are under Kadokawa's thumb. Their new overlords are not going to like gaijins constantly dunking on their isekai ranobe and CGDCT with twitter buzzwords.

I don't even understand what this odd mixture of words even mean, but knowing ANN, it's probably true anyway. :heh:

ANN has a history of harshly critiquing slice of life anime, and otherwise claims that anime need to do more to raise awareness of social and racial injustice in terms that Western activists can agree to, even if it comes at the expense of storytelling.

ANN have a VERY americacentric view of anime and the expectations that come with it. All while ignoring the rest of the world, who dont have the same anime history as they do (just in Europe alone, when you compare France, Spain, Italy and UK. I am not getting started about the countries of South-East Asia, Latin America and the Arab-speaking sphere).

I do not understand benefits Kadokawa got from this deal more than marketing to US through ANN reviewers.

I can see ANN agreed to this because they need an overlord to keep themselves relevant in current flow of information. Not expecting some kind of groundbreaking move from Kadokawa side, they've always been known for 'minimum expense for maximum profits', its not like there's any change to that considering their army of isekai and CGDCT titles so far.

It always felt like money at ANN was always tight for the full-time reviewers and columnists; I am very likely mistaken, but this deal seemed to be a way to maintain a more consistent revenue stream and retain the full-time writers they had.

No need to overthink it. Kadokawa could buy ANN a hundred times over and barely notice in their books - it was a lot of money and ANN grabbed it, surely.

If it was a lot of money for one acquisition, wouldn't they feel a noticeable impact if they bought ANN a hundred times over?

A lot of money for ANN. Couch cushion finds for Kadokawa.

Hmm, in...teresting? I use ANN as a database, but that's about it. Still better than Elon buying the site, but huh...
Kinda noticing rich people and company buying out competition these days (because monopolies are fun, eh), but well, as long as the world doesn't burn on fire until after I die


Wow, I don't spend much time on Western anime forums outside Animesuki (less I risk getting a headache), but you make them sound they have taste.

The issue is they don't. While they dump on some bad things anime medium have, they also dump on some good things while prising some bad things overpopulating US entertaiment industry.

Sounding like a broken record from twitter is not a mark of taste. By that, I mean I have seen some ANN reviewer objecting to the crossdressing serial killer from Golden Kamuy, stating it is a transphobic cliche. When this serial killer is clearly inspired by Norman Bates, and other serial killers.

They may dunk on isekai but they sure endear it too. And they already shill for popular titles anyway. Articles about 'Have you let Anya into your heart?' with the angle of making you sound like a terrible person if you haven't. Having 'academics' consider Maria The Virgin Witch to be a masterpiece.

Example: Having someone watch Fate/Stay Night: Unlimited Blade Works who had no familiarity with FSN at all then confess in their final episode review that they should have realised sooner it was a middle arc...Also, they are still refusing to even say anything about Summertime Rendering as a series. You'd think a shounen where the females were on equal standing with the males would have them engaged. Instead, they hone in on the one time Hizuru was referred to as 'the big-breasted woman' in a manga review. (That said, the review conceded it was well written.)

This is so ironic given all the bribery charges Kadokawa have copped lately. Or that Kadokawa said they would divert away from isekai 5 years ago but dropped that stance pretty darn quick. Maybe the two deserve each other. ANN can look forward to paid opinions in the tradition of Gigguk and Trash Taste. This is ANN effectively entering influencer mode.

Being inspired by Norman Bates or whoever doesn't stop it from being transphobic though.

I've had my issues with ANN, but they're still basically the only site doing consistent reviews of seasonal anime that aren't totally rubbish.

I only use ANN for news, so I don't really care. The few reviews I had read from them years ago were hilariously bad, you could tell they had no idea what they were talking about.

Seeing some phoby in everything like they do is not healthy and 'too US'. And there are a bunch of sites writing better reviews IMHO. But each their own.

They do a fair job when it comes to actual news like cast announcements and release dates. On the other hand, I completely concur that their reviews are an absolute joke when it comes to movies; one look at how they handle movie reviews, and it's clear there's no effort put in at all to even understand what the film was aiming to accomplish. There's too much academic jargon (as if that made anyone sound smarter and more credible) and it does come across as trying to criticise a movie for the sake of being critical.