It was mentioned briefly in one of the threads about the '08 contest that any video with gay content was bumped to "mature" no matter what the content *was*
If you're thinking of the 'judges' panel live blog' I did last year, then:
- at one point a couple of Utena fansubs which included a girl-girl kiss were eliminated
- I later inquired why, and the reason was due to POOR VIDEO QUALITY, (fansubs!)
- one other entry [Utena or Gravitation] was eliminated for being TOO-DARN-LONG; over 5 minutes iirc, and
- I mentioned that I had some space in the Off-Hours timeslot.
My fault possibly, was not writing on that thread at that same time, that:
- the off-hours show leads off with mature vids I collect throughout the year, mostly due to explicit lyrics or potty-mouth comedians
- the rest of that slot is overflow from the contest and the show playlists,
- therefore, being allocated to the off-hours playlist does not necessarily indicate 'mature' content for all selections all the time, so we can put to rest the 'he said steel is grey so he says all grey things are steel' fallacy used to perpetuate this sort of trolling, and
- the main show playlist was already quite over-full.
Since I didn't know how long the contest would end up being, once it came out close to TWO HOURS, I had to trim the show back even MORE - from an original ninety minutes to about sixty-five. Thus many of the general-fare entries ended up showing in the 10pm-2am slot and at other times during the con when I was out showing 'whatever' AMVs. Also, those Utena vids were Dramas, and in audience-driven playlists ("What do you guys want to see?") people just about NEVER ask to see Drama - they invariably prefer Comedy, Action, and Effects. These sorts of items dropped from the main show playlist further displace drama entries culled from the contest - in whatever timeslot they end up showing.
Also remember that culls from Action & Effects entries often get a second look as possible Drama entries. A pixellated-crud romance entry stands only a weak chance in this sort of storm.
Last note on Off-Hours, I do not explicitly solicit HMVs, but if they come my way or if people send me their suggestions for off-hours content, I'll definitely throw that in the hopper for consideration in the off-hours playlist. I tend to mix things up but generally lead off with the most explicit fare, then chunks of 'regular' and finish off the night slot with lighter, fun selections because most people are rather punchy by then anyways.
There is no restriction based on whether an anime character is gay. Or Buddhist. Or SD. Or anything like that. Much of the fun of AMVs comes from taking a character in the story (who may be mundane, or a total cold killer psychopath, or a loser-date) and using the musical lyrics or setting to re-cast the character. Ikari Shinji as a decisive, cunning military strategist! Belledandy as an ambitious financial stock trader / corporate attorney? Spike and Jet as two family guys trying to raise adopted Ed in a typical American sitcom suburb (ouch!) It's all fair game, aka, a 'target-rich environment.'
What we're mostly discussing now is that some categories like 'Old School' will have era-based selection criteria or any other rule or constraint which is the challenge of that category. But other than those kind of constraints, Strawberry Panic!, Kyo Kara MaOh, Nodame Cantabile, Saiunkoku Monogatari** are just as welcome as any other anime. As long as it *is* anime.
** have you seen the COSTUMING in that show?!?! Drop-dead gorgeous IMHO.
