Bringing you the latest in the anime and gaming worlds, RB Weekly News is here, with word on a rather perilous situation for Japanese animators, and some more lighthearted coverage of Google’s April Fools Day!
Anime News:
Attack on Titan’s 12 Episode Season, and An Animating Crisis
I didn’t want to believe it either, but as it turns out, Attack on Titan’s second season is only going to be 12 episodes, rather than the standard 25. It was announced on the series’ official Twitter account, that they are planning to release two Blu-ray and DVD disc sets for the new season, consisting of six episodes each. Animator Thomas Romain has commented on this, stating that there is a shortage of staff, and that their budget simply wouldn’t allow for a full 24-26 episode anime.
Despite disappointing the huge fanbase of the series, it’s interesting to note how even the hype of Attack on Titan couldn’t save it from production hell. Just goes to show that a lot goes on behind the scenes, to get an anime out there, even if it does suck, having to wait years for only 12 episodes. It also points to a rather sad truth of animation, that is only really coming to light thanks to this whole situation: that, simply speaking, there aren’t enough animators.
With Thomas Romain’s words on the subject, a rather new situation has been thrust into the limelight: the conditions under which animators work. According to goboiano.com, the people just getting into the industry: the “Inbetweeners,” on average, make only $862 a month. Even the average salary of the series director, is only $60,000 a year, and that’s the HIGHEST paid position. Everything is just downhill from there. In regards to what anime fans, like you and I could do, Romain had just this to say:
“Watch anime legally, buy official products, share your passion with your friends.”
Gaming News:
Mrs. Pacman on Google Maps!
Perhaps a more obvious, fun, thing to write of, but still interesting nonetheless! For April Fools Day, Google has done many different pranks, ranging from a career opening searching for a “Dogengineer,” the ability to catch Pokemon through Google Maps, and even an NES-esque, Google Maps “Quest”. For this year, the fine programmers up at Google made it possible to play Mrs. Pacman on Google Maps! By looking at any section of the globe, Google turned the roads and streets into pathways for the game, complete with ghosts, levels, power pellets, and everything else from the original game!
However, this wasn’t the first time something like this happened- in 2015, actually, the same prank was done, except for the original Pacman game. It remained online for 10 days before being taken down, an indicator of how long Mrs. Pacman might remain. Go online and enjoy it, while it lasts!
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