Oh, Digibro... *sigh*. I really wish I shouldn't have to talk about him, but it's been annoying me all day and I need to get this out of my system...
I don't know if it was the alcohol influencing him, but this video is a prime example of how not to make a video on Youtube. This is Youtuber drama at its finest (or worst, depending on our point of view). He tried to convey feedback to other anime Youtubers on how to improve their content, but does it in such a way he either undermines almost every point he tries to make, or just starts dissing everybody around him.
In general, the video makes him look like a Hyrulean Sword who can't handle feedback and and a selfish asshole who thinks that only his video's are good and the rest sucks. In short, he makes the entire Anime Creator community look bad...
I know Digi has his share of fans that'll try to defend him to hell, so I'll try to stay as calm and complete as possible on this. But his rant has too many missteps and only a handful of points that stick to the end. Let me list them for clarity's sake.
Misstep 1: 2-minute (or more) introductions to video's should be cut? Should it really?
The first point that Digi tries to make is that he's sick and tired of introduction stories to video's that last 2-3 minutes, using Gigguk's latest video of Konosuba as an example.
Personally I don't really mind introductions to an analysis/discussion video, since it helps set the mood and context of said video. I find mood + context necessary when watching 15+ minute video's. And yes, this applies to all Youtube video's, not just anime-related content.
But I can understand that if you have tons of video's in your feed to watch, you want to skip to the actual meat of the video as soon as possible and skip the introduction bs. And there are lots of people who think this way, because lots of comment sections in Youtube video's have comments like: "Actual review starts at 2:30" (with timelink).
Skipping to the point of the story is something that I've seen Digi do in past video's. He doesn't do minute-long introductions or stagnates between segments. And getting to the point as fast as possible may be one of the reasons why he has so many followers.
But to be honest... it doesn't make his video's any better than the ones he's criticizing. In the end, it's just a directional choice. Heck, in most cases Digi removes the introduction segment, yet keeps rambling to fill his required timeslot of 15+ minutes on most of his video's (keep that in mind, it'll return later).
So by forcing his own editing choices onto other content creators he's not not giving constructive feedback, he's just being selfish and arrogant.
Misstep 2: Nobody in the anime community is looking at their writing or trying to improve
Do I even need to comment on this? It's baseless bashing. He again uses Gigguk as an example to say his writing sucks (it's no Pulitzer price certainly, but it's not bad), his microphone sucks (just as much as Digi's mic in this video tbh) and his music is too loud (maybe if you listen with headphones? I had no real issue with it) and that he focuses on the wrong things to improve (his forced opinion, Gigguk clearly thinks differently).
All in all, Digi is once again trying to push his own choices onto other people, which is quite arrogant and selfish.
Misstep 3: "I can't talk to these f**king people, because none of them are watching my shit"
Baseless assumptions much? I think most anime creators have seen a Digibro video at this point. He spreads them like wildfire, so they're kind of hard to ignore.
Also, did he try contacting "those people"? From what I've personally noticed, a lot of anime youtubers are open to feedback and collaboration videos. But if they don't reply, it may be because of the negative tone and hating/bashing Digi uses.
Here's a golden tip for all of you: "Constructive feedback helps to get communication started".
In this case, I can only point to Digibro's lack of experience in communicating with real people. I'm just guessing here, but I assume his youtubing career has resulted in him never really getting an actual job where communicative skills are tested.
To give an example, just listen to Digi's response to Geoff (Mother's basement) after Geoff said he met Arcada IRL and said that he's a nice guy. "Doesn't make his [Arcada's] video's good. His video's are not entertaining. Why should I respect him as an entertainer if I don't find his video's entertaining?"
Sentences like that have multiple problems.
- A: Arcada (GlassReflection) is one of the creators who is constantly trying to improve himself and is slowly getting better at it. In short: Arcada is the type of guy that Digi says doesn't exist in the anime youtuber community, safe himself.
- B: he's bashing baseless again. Digi calls himself a drunk, American asshole later on in the video. And he's not exactly wrong about that. But admitting that, doesn't necessarily prove his point, nor does it excuse his negative behavior.
Misstep 3.5 (kinda subrant on the previous one): "All of these youtubers hang in cliques, but don't venture outside".
Pot calling the kettle black, imho.
Misstep 4: His issue with CanipaEffect in general (it returns a few times in Digi's video)
Digi has a point that Canipa takes a certain stance towards him, although Canipa sure isn't the only one taking that stance (just sayin'). Canipa isn't really hiding it that he isn't a fan of Digibro, but he doesn't outright say it (which gives him the label passive aggressive). Although this is probably because he doesn't want to spread hate like someone else (just sayin').
But it's also clear that Digibro has not yet directly contacted Canipa to clear out this "conflict". In other words, refer to the golden tip from misstep 3 once again.Misstep 5: Digi's rant on RCAnime (#ThisPunkBitchMotherfuckerRCAnime)
I've seen RCAnime's video on Konosuba. Yes, the audio mixing wasn't great (it made me click away before the end). Yes, he has a voice that hasn't fully matured. But come on? Dissing on how people sound? There's many people making content on Youtube whose voice isn't that great. Heck, personally I don't even like Digi's voice. But again, that's just me. I'm not dissing him for it. It's not like he can change that!
But what this rant quickly boils down to is the podcast on which #ThisPunkBitchMotherfuckerRCAnime "made fun" of Digibro's 24-part series on the Asterisk War...
Yes, I know it's not a 24-episode rant on the Asterisk War itself, but a 24-episode on how not to suck at making anime, using each episode of the Asterisk War as an point of view... But the point remains. At the end of the day people will remember it as the 24 episodes on how the Asterisk War sucks... and make references about it. Because that's what this is.
If you listen to the referenced podcast, the diss is actually just a simple reference joke. But apparently Digi didn't get the joke and got annoyed by it, assuming it to be bullying.
Valid point #1: Teach people about sound mixing
Yes, you may be surprised to see this in here. But there is a point that remains valid at the end of the video (it needs to be said). Digi talks about sound mixing and says he's going to do a full tutorial video on that.
My thoughts: Good! Do that! In fact, I'm even interested in that and curious as to what you have to say!
Misstep 6: He makes a 15+ minute video on why people should stop making 15+ minute video's
Another one of Digi's rants is how he finds it annoying that so many people talk too much about the same thing, thus causing the video to be 9, 15 or even 30+ minutes. He even calls certain youtubers out on abusing Youtube's search algorithm (which is true).
But there's no better way to undermine that point if you know that Digibro does EXACTLY the SAME thing. For somebody who claims he watches his own video's all the time (which I doubt - most creaters hate re-watching the stuff they make), it's very off-putting to see him acting so... did I mention the words selfish and arrogant already?
Misstep 7: Dissing other creators for accepting sponsorship deals
Okay, so you either like or dislike sponsored video's. I don't care personally. But content creators need to live. Sponsorship deals helps give that little extra above Patreon and Youtube ads and Geoff mentioned not too long ago that he kinda needs the money since he's moving out of his mother's basement (which I remember well, because the pun made it stick).
But Digi shouldn't be jealous about people who do accept these deals after he refuses the same deals (to each his own, seriously).
Would people like Goeff and Gigguk have made said sponsored videos they did without said deal? Maybe / maybe not. Maybe Geoff had ideas about it, but didn't want to push it too hard because it's only frigging Naruto.
Valid point #2: Youtubers stealing lines / ideas from others
I think it happens to most people. We all get our information from somewhere, but don't always remember where we got said info from. Most YouTube creators use advanced copy-pasting to create a video in the first place. Though, admittingly, Geoff should've referenced Digi at least. This is one of the things that Digibro does right. When he re-uses lines or opinions from other people, he actually bothers to say WHO said it and provides a link to them.
Misstep 8: "If I can get the info from literally going to Sakuga booru, then what's the point?"
If I can get information from Wikipedia, ANN and other sites, what's the point of watching anime Youtubers?
Answer: Because only a minority does visit those mentioned sites. The majority of people rather click on a YouTube video explaining them stuff. Most content creators are part of the minority that needs to look up stuff in order to make video's. And yes, this IS a reference to my earlier quote about advanced copy-pasting.
Misstep 9: Blaming youtubers for not being anything different, while not understanding content that dares to be different
Digi has a point that many anime youtubers make similar content or don't try to be different from the rest. But once again, he undermines his point when he attacks YouTubers that dare to freshen up this homogeneous mess.
Animat's video (while being a little too long for my taste) had an original intro. I genuinely liked it and I'm kind of jealous of not coming up with that idea first. But then again, Digi hates 2-3 minute introductions (see misstep 1). So I can understand why he doesn't like this video.
But then came his comment on Pause and Select: "I literally cannot understand most of Pause & Select's video's".
Seriously? Pause and Select's video on the theme of Death in Rakugo Shinjuu is one of the best anime related YouTube video I've seen in 2016! His content is deeper and more thought-provoking than your average anime reviewer.
If anything: He makes thé videos Digibro claims he wants to see. But Digi's "I don't understand" response says more about him, than about Pause & Select's video's.
And the last misstep: "I'm going to make so many people f**king angry with this video".
So, let's see. how did the crowd react to Digi's meltdown?
If you follow the targeted people on twitter, you might've noticed most of them just had a: "Lol, wut?" response, mostly laughing at the video; celarly knowing better than the ranter himself.
Some even made sarcastic comments. RCAnime for example will now forever be known as "ThisPunkBitchMotherfuckerRCAnime".
Gigguk on the other end responded by addressing the anime community in general rather than hating back on Digibro (*sigh of relief*). Because let's face it. The people who were the most angry about Digibro's video was the angry pitchfork-wielding anime community.
And if I'm annoyed about anything, it's that there really is too much hate going around in the anime community in general and Digibro really didn't help with his video.
So let's keep it as it is. Let's laugh at Digibro's drunken rant video and move on. He finally got this rant out of his system (and so do I now) and maybe something good will come out of it (I doubt it, but I can hope).
And yes, now I'm going back on finishing my damn pt 2 of my Erased review. I Really, really want to get THAT out of my system and focus on regular reviews again.
Until next time, V out.
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