Diversity touted as a virtue in animation is hurting diverse creators.

[Dreiko]

So I just came across this cool show on a twitter thread that the person who pitched it made, explaining why they were denied serialization.


Long story short, because of other people abusing diversity and using it as a marketing tool to sell hollow content that has no redeeming qualities outside of diversity, there was a reaction against such material, so now the studio is skittish about giving anything diverse a chance, hurting this animator and her seemingly-awesome project. They don't say who it is but by the look of the show, I believe they're talking about crunchyroll and that guardian spice fiasco of a couple years back. Ah well, if anything it's good to know that people are listening.


Here's the whole story if you wanna see more:

Thoughts? Personally, I find that show pretty cool, it gives me that classic teen titans or avatar vibe, like american made anime. Very sad it didn't get a chance when other much less cool-looking stuff do.

 

[Bob_McMillan]

Sounds about right. Diversity is less about characters and settings and more about an aesthetic these days.

That said, her story sounds so vague its hard to take it seriously, especially since she didn't drop any names. A single company's practices doesn't necessarily reflect the whole industry.

Also, I feel like a dick for saying this, but her art for her show looks pretty amateur. Reminds me of Flash-based browser games from 10 years ago.

 

[Dreiko]

The art when put next to anime is definitely nothing special but compared to the modern day american crap it's wayyyyy better. Also the story seems to be interesting, not as much design-wise but more personality-wise. All these chars outside of the main girl in the center look interesting to me.

 

[Palindromemordnilap]

The same kind of logic people used against women led superhero movies. "Oh this example of a thing didn't do well and its clearly because that thing had a female lead/diverse cast and not because it was shit regardless, so we won't do any more of them."

 

[Bob_McMillan]

The art when put next to anime is definitely nothing special but compared to the modern day american crap it's wayyyyy better. Also the story seems to be interesting, not as much design-wise but more personality-wise. All these chars outside of the main girl in the center look interesting to me.

That's a very good point. I've been binging Avatar videos so that was my point of comparison, but the cartoons on Netflix these days all look exactly the fucking same. All waddling along in the dust trail that Rick and Morty left behind.