And, I’m always glad to get a comment from anyone, so I certainly don’t mind. I’ve just been kind of remiss about responding to all of the comments.

“People of the same trade seldom meet together, even for merriment and diversion, but the conversation ends in a conspiracy against the public.”

I think this also ties into with the whole journalism thing you’ve had going in the last month (man I’m so late to this party)–what journalism/journalists are suppose to do. I think there’s room where someone can stand and dispense useful and helpful information about this industry (which is, I guess, different than any other media industry that people commonly think of) in a way that helps fans understand whatever they want to know.

Or as I said in my own blog–that’s why people run seminars, go to school, etc.

Learning anything about the Japanese studios, on the other hand, is a rather forlorn hope.

To “them” (whoever “they” are), we should all just be content with watching the cartoons, reading the comicbooks that are provided to us, and talking about just those things. Once upon a time, I was more than happy to comply with this line of thinking. But then one day I noticed that the TYPES of stories I like weren’t getting released in the US very much. In fact, they weren’t even getting made very much. It’s only natural that I ask “why?” And even though the best I can offer is quasi-educated guesses, I think this ties into your question:

“Why are so many series so similar to one another, regardless of studio? Are they being forced to make this stuff?”

Here’s my take: studios are completely free to make whatever they see fit. However, anime studios are not exactly rich. It’s not like if a show is successful on TV that they get a portion of the ad revenue. Heck, they have to pay the channels to air their stuff, like how infomercials do. Their main source of income comes from stuff like merchandise, DVD sales, and licensing.

The implication of this is that they have to make shows which allow for merchandise to be generated that people would buy, AND are likely to be licensed. This is a gamble. You could do something different and risk nobody caring–which is what happens 98% of the time–or you could hedge the bet and minimize the risk by doing something that’s kinda similar to things that were proven to be popular in the past. The more established popular elements you include, the lesser the risk.

The implication of this is that if enough people do this for long enough, all opting to minimize the chances of their titles flopping by not being TOO different from what came before, eventually their output all starts to feel REALLY similar to one another. Anime studios like BONES and Gonzo seem to live and die by the tastes of US anime fans more so than other studios, so they’re more likely to say “hmm, Evangelion/Trigun sure was a mega-hit in America; what can we make that’s a lot like those such that the people who bought those will buy our thing? Aha, RahXephon/Hellsing!” Of course, they’re looking at what each other are doing too.

So when you see that similarity between BONES and Gonzo, I think it’s because of factors such as this. It’s not like someone is going to them and saying “you MUST make a show like this!” the way that say, US TV network executives would say “that other station has a mega-popular show and we need a show a lot like that! Pitch us something that’s like that, but better!” Internal forces within the studios are probably the ones responsible.

Or I could just have no clue what I’m talking about. That happens a lot.