Why are there no audio dramas and image songs for western properties

There are audiobook version of some comics but that's it
In japan they have original audio dramas because radio dramas are still a thing there and they have radio dramas because cable TV hasn't penetrated much

In the West we lost audio dramas however many shows instead opt to have youtube vlogs of their characters

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I would definitely buy a CD with character songs with cartoon characters.

Because western animation doesn't have to rely as much on merchandising to be profitable.

That said I'd totally dig concept albums that are only slightly related to the show they're based on.

PPG had a couple of albums like that. City of Soundsville was orchestral dnb with show samples, and the other albums were unrelated pop tunes.

There was a justice league one that tied in with the total justice toy line. I own it but remember nothing about it. Darkseid was the villain.

no thanks

We had audio dramas when I was a kid, but they were packaged with storybooks as "read-alongs". Hell, Teddy Ruxpin was built around that concept.

Japanese media is big on "media mixing." Series can exist in manga, anime, live action, game, novel, audio drama and stage play forms. The anime and music industries are best friends forever, and some series are built around music. But music is pretty much irrelevant in American animation.

There must be big differences in how entertainment companies and industries operate in Japan vs. America that makes media mixing so common and easy in Japan, but not in America.

>>90772192
>but music is pretty much irrelevant in American animation.

Which explains why you can still sell anime OSTs. In anime the background tracks really standout to the point of being recognizable. In the West while we do have good music they really push it into the background

>>90773119
>In the West while we do have good music they really push it into the background
Reminds me that people are still waiting for the AtLA soundtrack.
I, along with many others, would purchase it, but it's treated as not important enough to warrant an official release.

>>90770065
The west doesn't have a voice acting culture.

>>90773119
The music in American animation just isn't good, and it isn't good because it's not considered important and because there's little incentive for talented composers to work on most animation. Live action shows don't have strong soundtracks either (although they are much better).

People have seriously recommended stuff like this as great animation music:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yHY9USNC_Fk

Meanwhile in video games:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1n-uWmgOm9g

>>90771674
Because western animation doesn't have to rely as much on merchandising to be profitable.

Isn't this the reason action cartoons aren't common anymore? They're expensive to make and don't make much profit w/o toy sales.

>>90773276
I disagree

You have VAs with huge amount of fans, panels filled with them, voice actors interacting with each other not to mention "watching VAs read movie scripts as their characters" is a really popular genre on Youtube.

We have a culture but not in the areas that you can sell tons of money

>>90773507
It's on a whole other level in Japan.

>>90770065
>Why are there no audio dramas and image songs for western properties as opposed to Japanese media?

We call them "audio books". They're reasonably popular, really.

>>90773690
How so

>>90774413
For the most part audio books is a professional actor reading the narration and is meant to be a word for word representation of the book being read (I know super indepth definition). While there are some that use background music and SFX, it's not the norm.

Audio dramas are meant to be actual story productions so the script was written with dialogue first. SFX and background tracks are heavily used too.

The key difference is that audio books are usually for their own IPs while Audio dramas are always made to give the existing series more content

Because the western losers supporting the comic industry aren't as creepy and obsessive as the otaku keeping the manga and anime industry in life support.

>>90774594
>aren't as creepy and obsessive as the otaku keeping the manga and anime industry in life support.

How does that tie into the Japanese market being more experimental with mixed media projects?

>>90774413
Audio dramas are usually original stories, and if they're based on a game or anime they'll have the same voice actors and use the same music (if they're produced before an anime adaptation the voice actors will likely be the same ones in the anime). So they aren't the same thing as audio books.

>>90774514
There's many many schools for voice acting, there's magazines dedicated to voice acting, voice actors hold concerts and other live events (not just panels), some voice actors double as idols or launch singing careers, popular enough voice actors star in commercials, and there's generally a lot more attention paid to voice actors and voice acting. The voice acting industry is also more regimented, there's training periods and rankings (to determine pay).

Amateur voice acting is also a pretty big scene.

>>90774594
>life support
The anime industry was worth $18 billion in 2015, and manga is a mass media. And what exactly is "creepy" and "obsessive" about listening to audio dramas?

>>90774765
It's just more collectible fanservice trash for same no life losers that buy the ridiculously overpriced BDs, multiple tankobons, and care about VA gossip and virginity status (lol) keeping the anime industry afloat, don't get me wrong, good on them for keeping things going so western fans can freeload off their back, but that sadly distorts the anime and Manga production to for maximum greasy sexually repressed loser marketability.

>>90774766
Oh nothing, everyone listened to Superman radio dramas back in the day. :^)

>>90774984
Most merchandise is not "fanservice," and sex-obsessed people who don't watch anime (e.g. you) grossly overestimate the amount and importance of fanservice in anime. And not every VA is an idol.

The anime industry is also not limited to just certain kinds of late night anime, and manga is a thoroughly mainstream thing, even more than anime.

>Oh nothing, everyone listened to Superman radio dramas back in the day. :^)
?

>>90775134
Unless you're talking about family oriented stuff like Doraemon or Sazae-san, the anime industry relies VERY heavily on fanservice, you're just fucking wrong there, and though you can call Manga mainstream, a lot of that is about selling to kids and diversifying the output eg the enormous female oriented romance industry. Most big crossmedia franchises like Fate rely on greasy obsessive otaku, and any anime that's not kid oriented or on NHK relies on peddling trash to these losers. Please dude, wrap up your first 6 months on /a/, go on /jp/ for a bit, then comeback to crossboard shitpost, you're clearly a clueless Cunchyroll buying MAL using tier newfaggot.

The rights for the songs would be a nightmare, same reason for the very different kinds of openings between east and west.

>>90775423
>the anime industry relies VERY heavily on fanservice
It doesn't. Again, people who don't watch anime overstate this. Fanservice is not as prevalent and important as you think, nor does it sell as well as you think.

>Most big crossmedia franchises like Fate rely on greasy obsessive otaku, and any anime that's not kid oriented or on NHK relies on peddling trash to these losers.
"Otaku," as Westerners understand them, do not exist. They are a bogeyman. A figment of the imagination. You're also obviously completely unaware of what late night anime is actually like. Kemono Friends right now is a good example, it's so innocent that many Western viewers, unaware of its timeslot, assumed it's a children's show. And it's probably going to be the biggest hit of the season.

>Please dude, wrap up your first 6 months on /a/, go on /jp/ for a bit, then comeback to crossboard shitpost, you're clearly a clueless Cunchyroll buying MAL using tier newfaggot.
Why are you putting on this show? Why are you acting like you're some know-it-all anime veteran when you clearly don't even watch it and know nothing about it and have no respect for it? Why are you acting as if you're a paid shill?

>>90775602
It is. You're wrong.
They do. You're wrong.
I literally know it all and do not respect it, as any halfway decent 4chan veteran would.

You're right, I am a paid shill.

>>90775740
No, it is not as prevalent as you people think it is. You exaggerate it based on fragmentary glimpses of anime and stories you've heard. As for sales, out of the top 50 best selling anime of the century, I can only identify two as having significant amounts of fanservice: the Monogatari series and Strike Witches. And in Monogatari it's very sporadic, many arcs have none. Fanservice-heavy shows like Valkyrie Drive, Shinmai Maou, Masou Gakuen, Seikon no Qwaser, Mangaka-san, Keijo and Okusama ga Seitokaichou have sales ranging from abysmal to decent. Japanese viewers just don't give a shit nearly as much as you do. It's not some amazing thing to them, there's tons of porn manga and anime and doujinshi and games out there. They aren't going to storm Akihabara on release day because there were some jiggling breasts in the show.

>They do.
They do not. You people have collaboratively invented them in your echo chambers and just think they are real.

>I literally know it all
You have made it abundantly clear that this is a complete lie. You know nothing.

>>90776126
Stop shitposting please. Namedrops do nothing.

>>90776214
I wasn't shitposting or namedropping you retard. Those were all examples of fanservice-oriented shows that didn't have the amazing sales you think they did.

>>90776284
>no sources

>>90776332
http://www.someanithing.com/series-data-quick-view

>>90776359
You have very different (dumb) definitions of fanservice. Literally 90% fanservice.

>>90776434
You literally have no idea what you're talking about, and that's because you don't watch anime and don't know anything about it.

Many shows (but not as many as you think) have minor amounts of fanservice, but that's completely different from being a show that revolves around or strongly emphasizes it. If fanservice is such a big deal, why did Masou Gakuen average 3,629 while Love Live Sunshine averaged 44,897 the same season?

>>90776584
Are you autistic? Without fanservice neither of those series would be made in the first place. Obviously Masou has nothing going for it besides badly animated boobs, but fanservice as codeword for tits and ass is a post 2010 nu/a/ semi-ironic meme.

>>90776727
I can recall no fanservice in LLS. Maybe there were minor amounts, but if fanservice equals sales then shows that have heavy amounts of it should have great sales. Except they don't. Because you are just projecting your sex obsession onto Japanese viewers. And yeah I guess I am suddenly "autistic" because I'm right and you're wrong.

>>90776786
Fanservice isn't just the jiggling jello tits shot that allow fringe anime like Qwaser or Masou to exist. Not all shows are pure fanservice, and sales don't equate 1:1 to ratio of fanservice, you binary thinking idiot, but all of them have to put large amounts of fanservice to sucker in the creepy japs, if Love Live doesn't have fanservice, you might as well argue that Idolmaster doesn't have fanservice. And if you can't see the stupid in that, you're just on the spectrum. Sorry!

>>90777060
Again, I recall no fanservice in LLS. I also recall no fanservice in iMAS. Shows that do have large amounts of it almost never have strong sales.

>sucker in the creepy japs
Nobody is being "suckered," and there's nothing "creepy" about it. You are projecting that since you don't like fanservice it must mean creators don't like it either and are merely trying to "sucker" people into buying it, which is nothing but a narcissistic delusion. You claim people are creepy even though you're the one with the (repressed) sex obsession.

>>90777220
Yep, autistic. Go watch some Idolmaster and don't forget to do the little wotagei dance, you creep,

>>90777060
Next thing you know you'll be telling him that girls wearing skirts is fanservice

Rob Paulsen does it all the time.

http://techjives.net/category/talkin-toons-with-rob-paulsen/

>>90777277
The fact that you are wrong and clueless does not make me autistic, or a creep.

You must have some kind of mental deficiency.

>>90777277
The west gives a rat's ass about Idolmaster, they want Pac-Man

The west only care about Love Live if it contains Flintstones in it (or the one with Nozomi in other words).

Voice actors in the West have better unions, so it'd cost more just to get everyone together than you'd ever get back in sales.

Then again, you'll occasionally get amazing stuff from Britain; the BBC has done radio plays for Modesty Blaise and Secret Agent X-9, of all things, and there's always Big Finish.

https://www.bigfinish.com/ranges/released/2000-ad---judge-dredd
https://www.bigfinish.com/ranges/coming_soon_reverse/captain-scarlet-and-the-mysterons
https://www.bigfinish.com/ranges/released/dalek-empire
https://www.bigfinish.com/ranges/v/dan-dare
https://www.bigfinish.com/ranges/v/terrahawks

>>90779766
Shit, this all looks pretty damn sweet. I mean, some variety with the 2000AD stuff would be nice, maybe some Slaine or Nikolai Dante, and I'm not sure why you included Doctor Who stuff, but otherwise HOLY SHIT CAPTAIN SCARLET

>>90780905
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dalek_comic_strips,_illustrated_annuals_and_graphic_novels

>>90777343
The guy that you're talking to is a lost cause but I think I understand what he was trying to say if it's what he was implying at all? I think what he means by "fanservice" is moe. Making things overwhelmingly moe and how well moe sells. It's a genre that barely has to try to actually be impressive in order to garner some fans. And the overwhelming popularity of moe amongst way men can come off as creepy since it's usually sparkly, bubbly, teenage girls like in LLS.

Source: Kyoani (though their shows are animated and drawn beautifully).

>>90773390
I hope you're talking about television animation because there are some good soundtracks for movies.

Bump.
I want more obscure audio comic stuff.

>>90784851
Well the Homestuck and MLP community constantly puts out new audio dramas and fan animations.

Let's you know thekind of people that like this sort of thing

>>90781481
Moe is a feeling you have, it's not a concerete thing that exists independently. Not a genre, not a style, not a character type or trait.

>Source: Kyoani
Source: meme.

>>90783170
Movies are better off, at least some modern ones, but it's very rare to see anyone bring them up. 9 times out of 10, when people talk about music in animation, it's always the songs.