First of all, sorry for this being out a bit late. I’ve already learned two things: (1) either Blogger is going through growing pains, or my computer is doing something odd that's preventing me from signing in at times and (2) don’t promise that you’ll do something over the weekend. I’m far too lazy for that.
But, considering that my future career is at stake here, I am going to get better. If I don’t stick to this, my dear (and hopefully not imaginary) reader, you can feel free to leave me nasty comments in the blog telling me to get my lazy rear in gear. ^_~ (Anime-style emoticons are so professional!)
So, on to my opinion on how the American Anime Awards are going.
For those who don’t know, a few months back there was a press release stating that the New York Comic Con was hosting the first ever “American Anime Awards”, which are being streamed live on IGN in February, and also being shown on ADV’s Anime Network. The nominees were decided by asking all of the major distributors of anime for their nominees, as well as a few independent sources. However, the winners are being decided by a fan vote.
Unfortunately, the voting process hasn’t been exactly smooth. For instance, Johnny Young Bosch was nominated as “Best Actor in a Comedy” for his performance in…Akira. Now, I haven’t seen Akira yet (I know, I should), but…Akira isn’t really known for being side-splittingly funny. To top it off, the dub Bosch was in has been out for half a decade. The movie itself has been available in the US since 1990. That’s right folks—anything readily available in the past year was eligible, even if it’s been out for years.
Also, I really want to know how the awards will handle non-union dubs. Cowboy Bebop, for example, is known as one of the best dubs ever created—but it’d be difficult to nominate it for something like this because, well, most of the actors were listed under pseudonyms. What happens if we get a non-union dub like that again? Ignore it in the awards?
And, of course, there’s the problem of the fans voting. For example, I’m a huge fan of Princess Tutu, one of the anime that’s nominated in several categories for this year’s awards. Of course, while I hope it does well, I wouldn’t be surprised if it loses out to something like Fullmetal Alchemist (which, for the record, is another favorite of mine). It’s not to say that FMA doesn’t deserve an award—I’d be thrilled if it got one—it’s just frustrating that I’ll probably get an award because of it’s popularity, not because of it’s quality.
To be fair, most of these issues were covered in an interview with Milton Griepp, who is one of the people in charge of the awards. For example, whoever nominated Bosch put him on the ballot as an actor in Akira--the Awards themselves didn't do that. Still, Griepp's answers fail to satisfy me. They're obviously working on things, but it's still a mess, no matter how you look at it.
Overall, I’m in favor of supporting the awards. It’d be a great, great thing if these awards did well, and I encourage everyone to vote in it. It’s just disappointing that this year has had so many issues. Here’s hoping that next year the awards will go much more smoothly.
…And that this doesn't become the fiasco that is Spike’s Video Game Awards.
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