KYOTO, Japan — The year has not started well for “powerhouse” studios Kyoto Animation and P.A. Works. Last year both studios produced widely successful shows in Hibike! Euphonium and Shirobako, respectively, but 2 months into their currently airing shows of Musaigen No Phantom World and Haruta to Chika wa Seishun Suru have not yielded much appreciation from their fans.
This is hardly a new occurrence, as both studios have a history of being very hit-or-miss with their productions. It wasn’t until this weekend, when a production assistant at KyoAni leaked to Anime Maru that the two studios have actually been in a competition for some time now to see who can disappoint their fans more. We’ve decided not to release any more information about the source in order to protect the worker’s identity, but they had this to say:
This all started when things started falling into patterns that we couldn’t ignore anymore… People didn’t like the ending of Kyoukai no Kanata or Chuunibyou Season 2, from us, and then P.A. Works goes and releases stuff like Tari Tari and Red Data Girl. It became a running joke for the people between the two studios who know each other to place bets on who would disappoint the fans more, but then the joke caught wind towards the higher-ups both here and there… and before we know it things have gotten out of hand. It’s become a matter of company strategy: how many crappy shows can we spit out before we have to put actual effort into high school yuri bait to make our fans think we’re ‘back’?
Our informant also had some things to say about P.A. Works’ strategy.
They’re trying to take this competition to a new level by making disappointing anime that mimic our successes, as if to provoke us. We received a bunch of fans by adapting Jun Maeda visual novels, so they released Charlotte. We make a successful high school band show to build false hope in our fans, and they make HaruChika. Truly, they are formidable opponents.
Now that the truth is out, it’s unsure how fans will perceive the two studios from now on. P.A. Works denied any allegations to the competition, but we noted some audible discomfort from the secretary we spoke to over the phone when we inquired.
Moving into the future, it seems as though KyoAni plans to play the game safe by producing a second season of the aforementioned Hibike! Euphonium, while fans are uneasy about the upcoming original production from P.A. Works: Kuromukuro.
Not really sure what’s up with the reaction to Phantom World personally. It’s just a harmless anime comedy, similar to Konosuba and Dagashi Kashi.
People are being harsher because they expect more of Kyoani or something. If it was made by another studio no one would be talking about it.
Aaand because KyoAni decided to cut out completely the Gakkou Gurashi-style plot twist and focus on SoL and fanservice.
w/e, i just want to see Mai’s tits
Was there a crazy twist in LN of Phantom World?
Like Konosuba? lol not even close, I would say just Dagashi Kashi.
Konosuba was hilarious and I can’t say the same of Musaigen No Phantom World … it’s not funny at all I had to drop after the 3rd episode coz it bored me -.-
How do you know they cut it?
Everything I heard about it was that the twist was revealed at the end of volume 1 (Which is what the whole show is adapting, so the plot twist should show up at the end of the show)
It tries to have a plot when it clearly shouldn’t. Also, yeah, people expect more from KyoAni, not generic weeb-pandering shit like girl groping her tits for power ups (even if it does have some cultural link, it was still clearly done as fanservice shit)
PA Works being disappointing this season? Sorry, but I personally and honestly find Haruchika to be an underrated gem of the season. Yes, it’s neither Hyouka nor Hibike despite the similar themes, but it still delivers what I wanted as a PA Works school life anime that doesn’t rely on Jun Maeda’s constantly-overlooked terrible writing and forced drama.
Why do people even like Maeda’s works that much? They’re almost all the same, with forced ‘muh feels’ every now and then when the pacing gets slow.
Charlotte! was pretty good…