Part of why anime is such an interesting artform is how many subsidiary forms of art it spawns. From things like fan fiction, socially intense chat boards, or conventions full of artists, anime lays the foundation for all kinds of creators to adapt a series they love into a new form. Similarly, other industries do the same toward anime. Toy companies mass produce figures, video game publishers let fans control their favorite characters…and Hollywood tries to make things live action.
If you’ve been following anime and its inspired content, you definitely are familiar with the countless horrible and terrible adaptations of some of the most popular anime. All of these projects are pumped with funding but still flop immediately. In contrast, RDCWorld posts a video on YouTube and racks up millions of views within a day.
While RDCWorld lacks the capital and known actors of formal production companies, they more than make up for it by working constantly to produce content that resonates with fans. Unlike a room full of Hollywood writers trying to adapt something into an industry template, RDCWorld creates what feels like a natural arrangement of different characters and memorable qualities. They are fans and make content that appeals to them, meaning it appeals to fans too. And that’s just one reason why they sit at the top.
The Landscape of Anime Content
Anime has always had plenty of content in terms of written work, drawings, or projects like anime music videos (“AMVs”) where someone throws music over their favorite Naruto fight. As smartphones became more commonplace, recording videos became easy, and consuming videos became even easier, plenty of anime skits and discussion videos started popping up, especially on YouTube. Around 2013, when Vine started becoming incredibly popular, anime content creation experienced a sort of a Renaissance. Vine revolutionized the way people consumed videos online. Even more, with its short-form content, it massively lowered the barrier to content creation. For me personally, this was the first time I really started seeking out specific creators — and when I saw the most anime content pop up. I found myself looking to Vine for content. Despite that, I always stuck around for whenever RDCWorld dropped something new on YouTube. They resisted even trends in common platforms.
RDCWorld makes far more than just anime content. But, the video that put them on another tier was When People Take Anime Too Far. This video is genuinely still one of the funniest videos I’ve ever seen on YouTube. It stuck out to me back then as a video that spread around as fast as a viral vine, but stuck around much after. RDCWorld has tons of skits that iterate, create their own plots, and mix characters from different shows. Their own innovative take on “live action” is incredibly versatile; not only do they reference the anime people love, but they blend shows in ways that make them more than the sum of their parts.
Spotlighting Black Content
This is another one of many reasons RDCWorld is amazing. Their videos and group-focused dynamic was revolutionary in terms of Black (and POC in general) content creators collaborating. The group even has their own anime convention, Dream Con, which brings other Black creators from all over the country to one place. So much fantastic content comes every year from Dream Con and it brings out a lot of creators unlikely to get picked up by typical conventions or platforms. Even then, this built-from-the-ground-up convention has the attention of mainstream anime sites and news outlets. The same platforms that Dream Con was created to supersede have no choice but to acknowledge how powerful RDCWorld’s platform is.
While this may seem like too limited an accomplishment to warrant calling RDCWorld the best, we’ve got to put into context exactly how impressive a feat building something like Dream Con is. RDCWorld managed to rival in quality conventions that have been around for decades. They deal with the virulent racism that is unfortunately quite common to many anime watchers and gaming communications. Even their production quality has seen noticeable improvements over the years. Their content has always been hilarious, but the group has gotten better and better at proper filming, picked up proper mics, and paired their strong concepts with improved visuals. They’ve become an enterprise with an impact far beyond the entertainment value of their videos.
RDCWorld’s Incredible Potential
More than almost anything else, RDCWorld just keeps putting out top tier work. Influencers and creators constantly fall off or experience lulls; RDCWorld just continuously adds fresh short and long form content to their impressive video portfolio. Anime is unlikely to stop coming out any time soon. For that reason alone, I imagine RDCWorld is going to continue making some amazing stuff. Even more, anime is just one type of content they put out; this article isn’t even diving into the gaming content or non-anime skits. In any case, as they scale larger and larger, they’re only likely to get better. Because, again, they are the best anime content creators.
Check out RDCworld1 on YouTube.
