Hey, Answerman!

My sincerest apologies for the unannounced hiatus last week; an email error made me suddenly lose 2 months worth of correspondence. If you mailed in a question between the first of August and the beginning of this month, resend it.

I've noticed anime fans seem to complain a lot about stuff on the internet, like nothing is ever good enough, or whatever. A lot of them seem like they don't really even like anime, they just like to complain about it. Is anime losing popularity or something? What's going on?

Eh, that isn't just anime fans. That's everyone on the internet.

By and large, discussion of media on the internet - ANY media, be it film or music or books or anything - tends to skew negative. It's much, much easier to be down on something than it is to be positive, and generally if you're making negative comments about something, then you're going to get more attention from other people in the discussion. I'm not saying that the negativity you read online is manufactured wholly from the need for attention, but that is a big part of why so much "discussion" on the internet about anything you see, watch, read or hear is negative.

Anime isn't any different; anime fans are just like fans of anything else (although anime fans as a whole strike me as being more polite and less obnoxiously demanding as, say, hardcore Star Wars toy collectors), in that when you read their discussion on the internet, most of it comes across as pretty negative. Even if someone likes something, they're way more likely to list the things they didn't like about the film/show/manga than they are to talk about what they did like. It's just the way discourse goes on the internet. It also has a lot to do with anonymity - people can be extremely negative and harsh and mean about whatever they like and suffer no consequences.

What's funny about this - and, in a sense, somewhat uplifting - is that if you go to a convention and talk to the fans or go to a company panel and hear what the fans have to say, by and large they're upbeat and positive about anime. It's obvious they love it; they're mostly polite and courteous when they ask questions, and if you ask them about the anime they like, they won't give you a play-by-play of everything they hate about the things they like. So while Goku298 wrote 2 pages bashing Funimation's DVD policies and called the staff names, when he shows up as Joe Smith at an anime con and goes to the panel, all that harshness and negativity magically disappears and he behaves like a rational, reasonable human being.

Which is good, because if you base your opinion of anime fans (or, hell, anyone in any fandom, really) based on what they say on the internet, they come across as harsh, hateful people who live to complain about things. But that isn't really the case; most anime fans I've met are generally upbeat, supportive, friendly and positive folks. I think the internet - or at least the anonymity it affords - just tends to bring the worst out in people, and you really see that on message forums. It's just how the world works; you have to learn to take what people say in message forums with a grain of salt, and maintain the knowledge that they might not actually be that vitrolic in real life.

This is kind of a "corporate" question, but I can't seem to find an answer on my own.  My husband and I love Naruto and One Piece but have been disappointed at no new One Piece episodes and the delaying of new Naruto episodes on Cartoon Network.  What happened to One Piece, and why is Naruto so shifty (i.e. recap episode or something not Naruto)?  Does it really take so long to translate a new episode?  Thanks a bunch!

Well, new Naruto episodes are out now, and are scheduled to premiere through November at least, so you should be satiated for now. As for One Piece, well, the show's still on the air but for whatever reason they've basically stopped airing new episodes, ending with #178. I have no idea when they're going to start airing new episodes again, but they are going to go ahead and show the filler arc that happened between Alabasta and Skypiea, so get ready for some non-manga-related fun when they do start up again!

To answer your second question there, yes, it does take a long time to dub enough episodes so that Cartoon Network can air them in a reasonable succession. Generally, American broadcasts of anime series tend to stop at the season break, go on hiatus for a while so new episodes can be produced, and then return. It does take a long time to translate and dub all those episodes, and the show's performance needs to be properly evaluated before they commit to airing more episodes. Besides which, everything else you watch on TV takes long season breaks; do you complain when Lost has no new episodes for 6 months? Of course not, that's just how American TV works.

Oh c'mon.

1. I am not interested in doing your homework for you
2. It's pretty clear this is just a copy/pasted form letter that you're sending to random anime sites regardless of what their actual content is
3. Thanks for giving me a deadline to write an essay for you!

Here's this week's rant, courtesy of "Kayt". The following is in no way representative of the opinions of Anime News Network, Zac Bertschy, or anyone else save the person who wrote it.

Whew. So what do you think? Does "Kayt" have a point? Sound off on our forums and let the discussion begin!

If you have a rant of your own and would like to see your work in this space, just follow the rules below and you could be the next featured fan in RANT RANT RANT!:

Welcome to the newest segment in Hey, Answerman: RANT RANT RANT!

What I'm looking for are your best and brightest rants: no shorter than 300 words, on any topic you like related to anime. I'm expecting decent writing, and a modicum of sensibility. Send me a well-written and thoughtful rant that's a decent length, and I'll print it in this space, regardless of whether or not I agree with it, with no further commentary from me. The goal is to provide a more visible and public space for those of you with intelligent things to say about anime, the industry, anything you like related to the subject; discussion in our forums will surely follow.

The rules? Well, here they are:

1. No excessive swearing. "Damn" and "Hell" are fine, anything stronger than that needs to be excluded or censored.
2. Personal attacks will not be tolerated.
3. The word "Rant" must be in your email subject line.
4. Your rant must be at least 300 words, and use proper spelling and grammar. Internet speak, like 'lol' or 'u' instead of 'you' will not be tolerated.

Remember, your editorial doesn't have to be negative at all - feel free to write whatever you like, so long as it's on-topic. We're looking for solid, well-stated opinions, not simply excessive negativity.

Send your rants to [email protected], and watch this space next week for our first installment!

We're still on hiatus, sipping Mai Tais and watching the sunset atop a giant pile of anime DVDs we refuse to give away. See you next week!