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Can a lifelong anime skeptic learn to love it?

Ratrat

Member
Really? I thought it was the other way around.
Okay, Im not sure. They dont even call it bara in Japan but the comics were from a gay magazine in the 80's. I think BL is a recent name but I dont know how far back yaoi goes.
Edit: seems like yaoi started late 70's. So maybe it was first. As far as serialized stuff. But not by much.
 

BocoDragon

or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Realize This Assgrab is Delicious
Imagine if we discussed Hollywood like we discuss anime.

"Maid in Manhattan is trash, try Watchmen instead"

"I like some Hollywood, but I can't stand its fans"

"I just can't get past all the brainless macho heroes, one liners, and all the sappy and empty platitudes"

This is the price anime pays for coming from a country that doesn't dominate world cultural norms.
 

openrob

Member
What? No. Anime is just cartoons made in Japan.

Hmmm..... You would think, but no.

I really really like this video on Anime definition. Long story short, you can't take the most literal idea of what a word means without considering the wider social use of that. Also, what about anime they is outsourced to Korea or China?

Anyway please watch it, the video is really cool.
https://youtu.be/uFtfDK39ZhI
 

BocoDragon

or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Realize This Assgrab is Delicious
Hmmm..... You would think, but no.

I really really like this video on Anime definition. Long story short, you can't take the most literal idea of what a word means without considering the wider social use of that. Also, what about anime they is outsourced to Korea or China?

Anyway please watch it, the video is really cool.
https://youtu.be/uFtfDK39ZhI

That's like saying The Simpsons is not an American cartoon. They animated that in Korea too.

Anime is the English word for "animation made in Japan". That's just a matter of convention.

Of course in Japanese, anime just means animation, so a Japanese person would say Frozen is anime.
 

Principate

Saint Titanfall
Hmmm..... You would think, but no.

I really really like this video on Anime definition. Long story short, you can't take the most literal idea of what a word means without considering the wider social use of that. Also, what about anime they is outsourced to Korea or China?

Anyway please watch it, the video is really cool.
https://youtu.be/uFtfDK39ZhI
Would you call American video games not American because it's many aspexcts of it is created in the rest of hrs world? This is true of the majority of products created by multinationals. The average user of the term doesn't care to note it a those aspects are implicit.

No-one refers to the iPhone as a Chinese product.

As long as the the key up owners and producers are Japanese it's Japanese.
 

Haly

One day I realized that sadness is just another word for not enough coffee.
"Man of Steel is trash, try Batman Begins instead"

"I like some superhero films, but I can't stand its fans"

"I just can't get past all the brainless macho heroes, one liners, and all the sappy and empty platitudes"

Does this really sound so unfamiliar?
 

Mulgrok

Member
The handling of female characters in anime is frustrating. Several pages back I asked for an anime that meets my definition of well-defined three-dimensional female characters and didn't receive any responses. I've also asked this question to other anime fans in the past and tend to get very lukewarm responses (if I'm not just called an SJW or some other slur).

Japan is basically stuck in the 1970s as far as female representation goes, and as far as I can tell it hasn't really improved at all in the twenty or so years that anime has been attempting to go mainstream outside Japan.

I am pretty sure all the shows I mentioned fit your criteria, but not completely sure.
 

BocoDragon

or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Realize This Assgrab is Delicious
Does this really sound so unfamiliar?
"Man of Steel is trash, try Batman Begins instead"


You changed my example from Maid in Manhattan/Watchmen, which changes my point. I was saying how the world of anime discussion pits completely different genres against each other as if they were remotely comparable. I'm sure someone would compare Man of Steel and Batman Begins.... but when discussing anime, people will mush together shounen, shojo and seinen stories as if they are remotely the same genre.

In general, I was saying that anime is seen as some monolithic whole because it's foreign. While I'm sure some people would impugn superhero films in specific.... people generally don't impugn Hollywood as a whole because they don't like the one romantic comedy or stoner film they accidentally saw first.

Anime has an uphill battle of perception to even get into it, while Hollywood is just "the water we swim in" as a global entertainment culture.
 

captainpat

Member
The handling of female characters in anime is frustrating. Several pages back I asked for an anime that meets my definition of well-defined three-dimensional female characters and didn't receive any responses. I've also asked this question to other anime fans in the past and tend to get very lukewarm responses (if I'm not just called an SJW or some other slur).

Japan is basically stuck in the 1970s as far as female representation goes, and as far as I can tell it hasn't really improved at all in the twenty or so years that anime has been attempting to go mainstream outside Japan.

Couldn't just search "feminist anime" on google?
 

Chuckie

Member
Another thing, as an addendum to my earlier post, is that on the rare occasion you do learn about an anime that is unanimously acclaimed with critics, anime fans start insisting it's overrated and take a shit all over it, because they're desperate to preserve the niche status of their hobby while simultaneously wondering why it's not popular.

I've seen that happening with both Neon Genesis Evangelion and Akira.
 

TDLink

Member
Like everything, most of anime is total garbage. However there seems to be a lot less gems that shine through the muck in this particular medium. I don't really know why.

Some very childish schlock (nearly all Shonen) is still loved by plenty of adults. Hell, I even still enjoy some. But that doesn't mean it isn't bad.

Cowboy Bebop is pretty good, but definitely overrated. That overrating stems from how much garbage is out there, so just by being not garbage, it stands out.

For the truly great stuff... the list is slim.

Anything by Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli is the very top of the list. Absolutely beautiful films expertly crafted. It's no surprised that for ages Disney was localizing all of their work, and Spirited Away even won an Academy Award.

Satoshi Kon's work is definitely something to check out. Really thought provoking stuff that goes to some crazy places.

Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex is, I think, the very best anime series out there. Two seasons of a really adult and interesting sci-fi show, that just happens to be anime.

Planetes is pretty good. It still, unfortunately, succumbs to some dumb typical anime bs in several episodes but overall is above much of the rest of the medium.

Jojo's Bizarre Adventure is great. Really hilarious and positively creative. It lampoons Shonen anime in general and finds a way to have a lot of heart to bring something extremely silly and fun to the table.

Lupin the 3rd is a fantastic series. Over 30 films and hundreds of TV episodes. Some great, some not so great, some simply outstanding. It's worth checking out. A fun and enjoyable adventure/heist show. I sort of think of it like the James Bond of Japan.



Those are my recommendations. I'd honestly stay away from almost any other recommendation. Especially "poppy"/popular anime like Sword Art, Attack on Titan, Naruto, etc.



Before a lot of other anime fans jump all over me, I do have a special place in my heart for vintage action anime. A lot of the old Tatsunoko stuff (love Gatchaman), Fist of the North Star, Saint Seiya -- and I enjoyed the hell out of Dragonball like many, but I'm never going to claim they're actually amazing shows or were even striving to be.
 

Pluto

Member
I think the people who chose the anime for the writer made some bad choices, there wasn't much variety.

Spirited Away wouldn't have been my first choice for a Miyazaki film but okay, it was perfectly fine to use it as an introduction but then ...

Cowboy Bebop
Akira
Bubblegum Crisis
Paprika

That's all sci fi. Why not include a comedy, a sports anime, a romance? What a stupid list.
 

JimmyRustler

Gold Member
Just started to find myself into anime a couple of months ago while searching for something to watch early in the morning before work during my breakfast. Since I didn't want to watch any sitcoms and normal series were too long I ended up with anime.

And holy crap what have I missed all these years? LOVING THAT SHIT!

So far I've been watching:

- One Punch Man (amazing)
- Attack on Titan Season 1 (one of the greatest series I've ever seen) and Season 2 (huge disappointment)
- Samurai Champloo (midway through now but loving it to bits so far)

Already have Fullmetal Alchemist, Cowboy Bepbob and Afro Samurai on my radar once I finish Samurai Champloo. Can't wait.
 
1. Breast Envy - I swear to all the gods at least 90% of anime will have at least one idiotic and insulting sequence of breast envy shoved somewhere in there and I fucking HATE it. Takes me out every time. (If it has it, it's usually not just once, either.) I especially hate how subversions of this stupid trope are so incredibly goddamn rare, because vulnerability and insecurity are "moe" or some shit, I dnno. All I know is I want to punch someone every time this happens. In the face. Because it's just plain rage-inducing.

This. Oh my god, I have no idea why this one is just everywhere. The other points I can sort of understand because boys need titillation and self-insertion or whatever. But this! How is it sexy/cute/funny? And it tends to randomly shows up in, too. If you thought watching through it is bad, wait until you have to actually read words narrating it in a murder mystery novel, during a scene where people are discussing potential culprits.
 
Like everything, most of anime is total garbage. However there seems to be a lot less gems that shine through the muck in this particular medium. I don't really know why.

Some very childish schlock (nearly all Shonen) is still loved by plenty of adults. Hell, I even still enjoy some. But that doesn't mean it isn't bad.

Cowboy Bebop is pretty good, but definitely overrated. That overrating stems from how much garbage is out there, so just by being not garbage, it stands out.

For the truly great stuff... the list is slim.

Anything by Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli is the very top of the list. Absolutely beautiful films expertly crafted. It's no surprised that for ages Disney was localizing all of their work, and Spirited Away even won an Academy Award.

Satoshi Kon's work is definitely something to check out. Really thought provoking stuff that goes to some crazy places.

Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex is, I think, the very best anime series out there. Two seasons of a really adult and interesting sci-fi show, that just happens to be anime.

Planetes is pretty good. It still, unfortunately, succumbs to some dumb typical anime bs in several episodes but overall is above much of the rest of the medium.

Jojo's Bizarre Adventure is great. Really hilarious and positively creative. It lampoons Shonen anime in general and finds a way to have a lot of heart to bring something extremely silly and fun to the table.

Lupin the 3rd is a fantastic series. Over 30 films and hundreds of TV episodes. Some great, some not so great, some simply outstanding. It's worth checking out. A fun and enjoyable adventure/heist show. I sort of think of it like the James Bond of Japan.



Those are my recommendations. I'd honestly stay away from almost any other recommendation. Especially "poppy"/popular anime like Sword Art, Attack on Titan, Naruto, etc.



Before a lot of other anime fans jump all over me, I do have a special place in my heart for vintage action anime. A lot of the old Tatsunoko stuff (love Gatchaman), Fist of the North Star, Saint Seiya -- and I enjoyed the hell out of Dragonball like many, but I'm never going to claim they're actually amazing shows or were even striving to be.

If this is a parody it's a pretty good one.
 

BocoDragon

or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Realize This Assgrab is Delicious
Since we're talking favs.... I think Evangelion 100% lives up to the hype. I've watched through the series 3x starting in my 20s and now most recently in my early 30s. No childhood nostalgia here... just my cold adult brain thinking it really is a work of art.

I guess its not for everyone. But for me it hits the essential two categories of "fun and cool adolescent fantasy" as well as "depressed introspective psychological thriller that has you reflect on the meaning of life". That's about as close to a perfect work of entertainment that I can imagine.
 

RM8

Member
"I just can't get past all the brainless macho heroes, one liners, and all the sappy and empty platitudes"
The difference is fans of, say, Fast and Furious, are aware of the kind of movies they are and wouldn't condescendingly try to convince you that they're deep meaningful art and that there's something wrong with you for finding them off putting.

On that note, those movies get exponentially more western criticism than anime by virtue of being available to the western market.
 

munchie64

Member
Those are my recommendations. I'd honestly stay away from almost any other recommendation. Especially "poppy"/popular anime like Sword Art, Attack on Titan, Naruto, etc.
What an odd thing to say. To say you're missing out on some constantly recommended amazing shows is an understatement.
Since we're talking favs.... I think Evangelion 100% lives up to the hype. I've watched through the series 3x starting in my 20s and now most recently in my early 30s. No childhood nostalgia here... just my cold adult brain thinking it really is a work of art.

I guess its not for everyone. But for me it hits the essential two categories of "fun and cool adolescent fantasy" as well as "depressed introspective psychological thriller that has you reflect on the meaning of life". That's about as close to a perfect work of entertainment that I can imagine.
159.gif
 

Haly

One day I realized that sadness is just another word for not enough coffee.
The difference is fans of, say, Fast and Furious, are aware of the kind of movies they are and wouldn't condescendingly try to convince you that they're deep meaningful art and that there's something wrong with you for finding them off putting.

On that note, those movies get exponentially more western criticism than anime by virtue of being available to the western market.

Rick and Morty fans....
 
Since we're talking favs.... I think Evangelion 100% lives up to the hype. I've watched through the series 3x starting in my 20s and now most recently in my early 30s. No childhood nostalgia here... just my cold adult brain thinking it really is a work of art.

I guess its not for everyone. But for me it hits the essential two categories of "fun and cool adolescent fantasy" as well as "depressed introspective psychological thriller that has you reflect on the meaning of life". That's about as close to a perfect work of entertainment that I can imagine.

you're absolutely 100% right. eva lives up to the hype and is definitely the strongest written anime ever made IMO. I love the way it handles everything, and never goes beyond your suspension of disbelief. All the characters have flaws, and everyone is shitty. Nobody is good at everything.

Really surprised by the lack of GAINAX recommendations here. Eva, FLCL, Gunbuster, and TTGL are fantastic shows.
 

Haly

One day I realized that sadness is just another word for not enough coffee.
...Are constantly shamed because of their dumb attitude, aren't they? :p

Yeah but they play the 2deep4u card all the time.

Also Nolanfans, god especially Nolanfans.

And Whedonites.
 

Haly

One day I realized that sadness is just another word for not enough coffee.
Bojack Horseman... is art, you filthy plebe.
 

Lunaray

Member
In general, I was saying that anime is seen as some monolithic whole because it's foreign. While I'm sure some people would impugn superhero films in specific.... people generally don't impugn Hollywood as a whole because they don't like the one romantic comedy or stoner film they accidentally saw first.

Anime has an uphill battle of perception to even get into it, while Hollywood is just "the water we swim in" as a global entertainment culture.

Granted, there is some truth in this, but I don't think Hollywood is immune to this brand of criticism either. Hollywood as a whole is often criticized for a lot of things (more often than not, rightfully so), and specific movies are often the flashpoint for these discussions. It's not that much different from criticisms of anime.
 

Chuckie

Member
Since we're talking favs.... I think Evangelion 100% lives up to the hype. I've watched through the series 3x starting in my 20s and now most recently in my early 30s. No childhood nostalgia here... just my cold adult brain thinking it really is a work of art.

I guess its not for everyone. But for me it hits the essential two categories of "fun and cool adolescent fantasy" as well as "depressed introspective psychological thriller that has you reflect on the meaning of life". That's about as close to a perfect work of entertainment that I can imagine.

I like you.
 

openrob

Member
Would you call American video games not American because it's many aspexcts of it is created in the rest of hrs world? This is true of the majority of products created by multinationals. The average user of the term doesn't care to note it a those aspects are implicit.


But I'm not calling anime a 'japanese cartoon' in the same vein that you would call Call of Duty an 'American game'. Because a game is a medium, no t a movement within a medium.

It's more like asking if an American studio could make a JRPG. Now you might say that JRPGs are just RPGs made in Japan, but when I say JRPG Vs Western RPG you know what I mean, and your definition is probably not based in the country of production.

.Anyway, let me know what you think of the video I posted because he describes it much better than I can.
 

klee123

Member
Doubt it, chances are if they are a skeptic for that long, nothing will make them change their minds.

Honestly I wouldn't waste my energy.
 

Moonkid

Member
It's part of animation, which is a medium. It's shorthand for the work of the medium of animation that comes out of Japan.

People refer to it a medium mostly to seperate it from a genre which it certainly is not. However it leads to some wonky comparisons at times, like the article comparing it to magazines.

No, not liking anime is not the same as not liking magazines. It'd be similar to not liking Japanese magazines even if they were wider in scale and scope than American ones. More than likely anime (or if we're still going with Japanese magazines as an anology) likely have tropes and cultural tie in that you're not a fan of and therefore can't enjoy the majority of the output.
The wonky comparisons is my main gripe with calling anime a medium really. I think these two labels are useful but leaping from "it's not a genre" to "it's a medium" isn't necessary, the former will suffice.
 
Absolutely and I would say start with.....

Death Note
Monster
FMA: Brotherhood

And see if you like it. Anyone saying anime is for kids has no idea what they're talking about, sadly you got quite a bit of these folks.
 
I know it's been said, but anime is just a medium at the end of the day. There's bound to be something in there for everybody.

Yeah but they play the 2deep4u card all the time.

Also Nolanfans, god especially Nolanfans.

And Whedonites.
To be fair you have to have a high IQ to understand Richard & Mortimer
 

Ratrat

Member
The wonky comparisons is my main gripe with calling anime a medium really. I think these two labels are useful but leaping from "it's not a genre" to "it's a medium" isn't necessary, the former will suffice.
You dont think its a bit stupid and fucked up, to say something that can range from a Christian cartoon for kids to straight up hentai are the same genre? All so you can try to justify your flimsy argument.
 

Moonkid

Member
You dont think its a bit stupid and fucked up, to say something that can range from a Christian cartoon for kids to straight up hentai are the same genre? All so you can try to justify your flimsy argument.
I'm not getting ya - I'm generally against putting either label on anime. What is it that you think my argument is?
 

Principate

Saint Titanfall
But I'm not calling anime a 'japanese cartoon' in the same vein that you would call Call of Duty an 'American game'. Because a game is a medium, no t a movement within a medium.

It's more like asking if an American studio could make a JRPG. Now you might say that JRPGs are just RPGs made in Japan, but when I say JRPG Vs Western RPG you know what I mean, and your definition is probably not based in the country of production.

.Anyway, let me know what you think of the video I posted because he describes it much better than I can.

Anime is Japanese cartoons that's the source and primary meaning of the term. It has replaced japanese cartoon. You don't see people say Japanese cartoons, you see people say anime. There's no subgenre or movement or anything. It's just Japanese cartoons and has always been just that. When people describe something as anime they mean something in the style or mimicking some of he tropes of Japanese cartoons. It's not some separate thing it exactly the same thing. Litterally exactly. The only difference is what someones interactions with Japanese cartoons is.

If all someone had seen of movies is Michael Bay movies they'll describe all movies as Michael Bay movies using that as a perspective for all their descriptions of the media. That doesn't change what the term movie means nor does it replace it. It simply means they're talking about the interaction with movies and is something part of a greater is.
 

Thud

Member
The majority of the media you consume is in fact trash.

Just seek out the stuff you like. If you don't know what you seek it's hard to just recommend stuff without getting some backfire.
 

Rad-

Member
Just started to find myself into anime a couple of months ago while searching for something to watch early in the morning before work during my breakfast. Since I didn't want to watch any sitcoms and normal series were too long I ended up with anime.

And holy crap what have I missed all these years? LOVING THAT SHIT!

So far I've been watching:

- One Punch Man (amazing)
- Attack on Titan Season 1 (one of the greatest series I've ever seen) and Season 2 (huge disappointment)
- Samurai Champloo (midway through now but loving it to bits so far)

Already have Fullmetal Alchemist, Cowboy Bepbob and Afro Samurai on my radar once I finish Samurai Champloo. Can't wait.

Watch Steins;Gate next. GOAT anime. It's also very different to what you started with so it delivers a nice change.
 
I've gone back and forth on anime. I'm kind of in a warming-back-up-to-it phase right now, but only because I've started to discover films out studios like Madhouse and reacquainted myself with Miyazaki/Ghibli films in recent years. I haven't felt truly invested in a series outside of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, but that's been an absolute joy to discover with the modern line of anime adaptations as well.

I was straight up one of those kids that proudly wore a Konoha headband to school for a couple of my high school years, so I did at some points in my life identify as an anime fan, much to my own social detriment -- luckily I didn't get bullied for it, but I think it was obvious a lot of people thought I was strange (and no beating around it, I totally was). A lot of my oldest-running friends are still diehard anime fans. Many of them attend several of the state-local conventions year-after-year (by contrast, I've gone less times than I can count on one hand over the years), and a big group of them made their way out to LA to attend Anime Expo this year.

My previous roommate (and also a long-time friend of mine) would host anime nights every Sunday and we'd vote on which series to work through each season, and seeing it as a great opportunity to hang out with a lot of my longest-running friends with increasingly demanding adult responsibilities, I attended regularly. This was all after I had been gone off to and finished college and came back to my hometown, so there was a gap in time where I didn't see them much. I honestly would not have really grown up to be liberal without my college experience -- if I hadn't gone to college and gained some broader perspective from where I was, I'd probably naturally be more-than-a-little sexist, probably still think of my "nerdy" interests as some sort of shelter from a corrupt world, and despite some of those aforementioned friends being black, I'd probably even hold a few racist notions -- not hateful, violently racist shit like the KKK, but certainly the kind of white-privilege-looking-down-type. I'm not proud of all of that shit, but I have to accept that that was who I was probably destined to be if I hadn't moved away and been taught by people who thought differently than I was raised to in that general environment. In any case, it was never ever standard in that social circle to ever see a skimpy girl in an anime basically being sexually assaulted for silly factor/laughs by the protag and not think it was funny. I used to legitimately think that that was charmingly hilarious behavior in anime before I left for college. I used to think seeing videos of a Kakashi cosplayer going around a con sticking his fingers up people's butts without their permission was goddamn funny stuff, including women and girls. When anime nights started rolling, I used to get put on blast for my new-found "SJW" perspectives and even got into a few shouting matches about how fucked up I felt it was. It wasn't enough to break my friendships or anything, as eventually I just started staying quiet during anime nights, but it was not something anyone wanted me to be talking about in a critical manner. I'll still play games with them from time to time and they'll act passive aggressive about how some skimpy armor in, say, Final Fantasy XIV, is probably triggering my SJW senses. I usually just chuckle shit like that off.

It's certainly a type of perspective and defensive strategy I see play out outside of that long-running social circle. A lot of those friends didn't leave my hometown and didn't finish college. None of them actually got an opportunity to really get a fresh perspective in life. But, at the same time, none of them are pro-Trump, none of them are actually racially white (some black, some various Asian/Pacific Islander), but they still find the idea of criticizing harmful tropes in anime as kind of foreign and dangerous to their passion medium. It's similar to how the fighting game community/FGC kicks back at those sorts of things in places like r/kappa and r/salty, by outing "white knights" elsewhere on the net or posting up lewd waifu pictures. They kind of embrace it and hold it dear, and seem to be completely oblivious to the toxic perspective it can create when dealing with real people. In fact, FGC is so endearing to me despite my constant disagreements with its negativity because it is so much like the social environment I grew up in.

Regardless, and I say this with ambivalence as I do dearly miss some of them, I moved back to my college town after I landed a job up here and haven't seen many of those old friends in person for years now, though I still play games and chat with them online from time to time. Some of them have come around and started to just accept that I'm changed of mind and don't give me shit, some like to throw passive aggressive jokes around to try and goad me into an aggressive answer.

I mean, it's very, very anecdotal experiences, I'll admit, but those experiences a large part of the reason I just can't do anime as an open anime fan. I still appreciate some works as I mentioned before, and still kind of hold a level of fondness for classics I was into when I was a teenager (mostly shonen style). It's similar, however, to the reason I can't really proudly take on a title like "gamer" publicly these days: there's a lot of toxic attitudes around both mediums all the time, it feels, and not a whole lot of people that seem to be able to grasp with why its toxic -- or denying the toxicity outright because it benefits them with privilege.

bit of a ramble-out post, didn't take much time to edit, sorry for sloppiness
 
bit of a ramble-out post, didn't take much time to edit, sorry for sloppiness

Like I said several pages ago. The most obnoxious fans are also the most loudest. Heck. I have over 1000 volumes of manga here, watched anime since the 90s, worked with an anime publishing company for some years and sadly the western fanbase, while it was more mature in the end of the 90s/beginning of 00s, fell down the cliff, when the "boom" happened around 2003/2004. Conventions were flooded with "kids", younger folks. Genres which were popular before are now niche.

And people tried to recommend Elfenlied as a mature anime, because it was gory.

Sadly the fanbase is actually imo what drives a lot of people away from anime and can give people, like the one in the OP, a wrong image of what it can actually offer. You still have stuff like Tatami Galaxy, Kaiba, Uchouten Kazoku, Shinsekai Yori, Ping Pong, Aku no Hana etc.
It is just that those are not talked about them as much as SAO, AoT or (before) ToLoveRu are. And so, even old anime/manga-fans, who were into anime before assume thats all that the medium has to offer.

You could check out the biggest manga message board in Germany where every publisher is present and see what is talked about in those specific boards and which manga are popular or not. I mean even then, check out a thread and you see that people love to talk about the seme-uke relationships of a BL manga, discuss which pairing would be better etc.
You can then compare it to the same boards on the same message boards of franco-belgian publishers.
 

Spuck-uk

Banned
Anime is a medium.

We have a winner.

Just like comics, film, TV, most of it is horrible horrible shit, but there's some good stuff regardless of your tastes.

As always, watch everything Satoshi Kon has ever made, starting with Tokyo Godfathers, if you think everythng in Anme is just juvenile Dragonball kids screaming matches crap
 

./revy

Banned
I very much disagree with this assessment. A lot of media has made their name on being about subject matter that a lot of people would be uncomfortable with. Hell the current trend in western media are protagonists who're terrible human beings but are empathetic enough to slightly excuse the things they do.

Those are things we think we should be uncomfortable about. Not actual polemics. For an insight into this, look at Milo Yiannopoulos' rise to political figurehead and terminal velocity breaking fall. Milo made a career of saying "controversial" things that most of his party was already saying. He thinks Islam is "sinister," feminism is stupid, and the world revolves around him. In actuality, he was one of the most boring people on this Earth desperately trying to hide that fact. He was saying things that were "controversial" but they were a comforting, familiar kind of controversial. Topics we are used to.

Speaking the forbidden truth will only get you on all the TV channels if your forbidden truth is actually just the boring old conventional wisdom (or what ignorant people believe is wisdom). And then he mentions the big no-no. And voila, he is, for one second, the thing he has been trying to be all this time. He started a real controversy. Audiences are fine with racism or misogyny; people were prepared to forgive him for throwing a big online tantrum over a film he didn't like; plenty of stuffy columnists didn't mind him encouraging American college students to inform the immigration authorities on any suspiciously Mexican-seeming classmates. But appearing to be relaxed about fucking kids is a step too far.

And that's where anime tends to toe the line and black itself out. When you start leaving controversial topics and go anywhere near true polemics, it's game over. That's why anime is uncomfortable, because the shady parts of it approach something we don't even discuss in our most academic circles. Really. Suggest that article to your editor and they will ask you if you ever want to publish a paper for the rest of your life. Parts of anime approach a gnawing abyss that sucks the greatest bastions of art along with it - Nobakov is the only one who has ever escaped this abyss. It is an unfortunate aspect of the industry. I am drunk. Cut to credits.
 

Celine

Member
For me, the only anime I've consumed in recent years is Cowboy Bebop, Space Dandy, and Goldenboy, in the 90's and early 2000's I used to watch those films (OVA? never could follow the terminology) and maybe the dark and brrody nature of them were overkill, but jesus, they had style.

All 3 are excellent by the way, as tv shows in general, not as animes.
Bebop drips atmosphere, Space Dandy has some truly excellent and unusual modern animation and surprising themes. And Goldenboy was just fucking hilarious, some amazing slapstick animation.
Try One-Punch Man and Mob Psycho 100.
 

Macka

Member
Got is overrated but even at it's worst it's still better than any anime show.

The only people who think anime shows are anywhere near the level of western live action are complete irredeemable weebs.
Ridiculous. There are many anime series that are better than Game of Thrones at its best, let alone its worst. And I say that as a massive fan of the first four seasons of GoT.
 

Nightbird

Member
Cause 4chan represents the bulk of anime fans. Definitely not people in, you know,Japan

Not even outside of Japan does 4chan represent the bulk of Anime fans.

There are tons of animé fans who simply do not go on the internet to heavily invest their time in this medium.

But since 4chaners are the loudest and most toxic group out there you will associate the thing they identify the most with with them, which is anime.

Its like pepe the frog: It doesn't exist because of them, nor is it representative of them, but they sure put in their best effort to make you think of them first when you see it.
 

Aiustis

Member
Anime can be good but anime fans are the worst and they largely give you terrible recommendations that will make anime more off putting. If you want good recommendations, you have to dig deep and probably look at people that are film enthusiasts.

Last one I caught snippets of was My Hero Academia and I thought it was terrible.
 
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