Ever notice when you ask people what their favorite anime series is and they answer stuff like Cowboy Bebop and Ghost In The Shell SAC? Why is that the usual answer from Western fans? Is it that they're just good series? Well maybe, but personally I find stuff like that dull and too cerebral. IMO I feel that people say that those shows or stuff directed by Miyazaki, Satoshi Kon or Mamoru Oshii because they're afraid of what regular folk will think about their hobby so they feel the need to justify what they like by saying "No no, anime isn't just cartoons" so they'll pick the stuff that's usually the most serious and cerebral. What most folks don't realize is that anime like that isn't really all that popular in Japan. Sure it has its fans but generally what the otaku like is stuff that's cathartic like Lucky Star, K-On and Hidamari Sketch.
Now as for me, I love the ultra violent sci-fi anime of the 80's as well as the modern moe shows of now. I don't give a shit what others think of my hobby and don't need to justify it like other fans. I don't care if something isn't introspective at all. I don't have a problem with stuff being intelligent and even giving a commentary on society but I think that anime first and foremost should be fun and entertaining, not bore the viewer and thinking that if they don't "get it" that they're just aren't smart enough for the show.
Some people may disagree, but I like anime as being a medium of wish fulfillment. You might get a lucky break in life but generally the real world isn't going to grant all your wishes so why not there exist a medium that does so. Moe and fanservice anime shouldn't be feared just because most Westerners are generally prudish and feel that if stuff that's "perverted" gets out that it'll ruin their hobby. No, how about accept that stuff like that outnumbers your so called "intellectual" and "deep" anime by a large margin. I feel that people need to realize that the dark and mature anime has it's time and place and now it isn't the indicative trend of now and should just accept that. Tell me if you agree with me or not.
Rant over.
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11 comments:
No.
Right on man, right on!
Oh yeah. Excellent blog you've got here.
It's because GitS and Bebop are objectively better than say Hidamari Sketch.
It's not fucking rocket science.
But things like Hidamari Sketch are cathartic. GITS and Cowboy Bebop aren't.
Uhh...no offense bro, but you have a pretty strange definition of 'wish fulfillment.'
I mean, I've never wished to be a badass cyborg cop fighting tanks and power armors or a badass space bounty hunter! No, no, those concepts are far too stale and soporific. My one true wish was always to be a ten-year-old girl with a sketchbook!
Yeah, that's, uh...
What most folks don't realize is that anime like that isn't really all that popular in Japan.
Fair enough, except that western anime fans don't live in Japan. However the demographics play out there doesn't matter in the western world.
I don't give a shit what others think of my hobby and don't need to justify it like other fans.
Yes you do. Otherwise you wouldn't have written a blog entry about it. This is okay, there's nothing wrong with feeling the need to defend your opinions.
I think that anime first and foremost should be fun and entertaining, not bore the viewer and thinking that if they don't "get it" that they're just aren't smart enough for the show.
Why is your opinion that anime should be mindless more valid than the opinion that anime should be intellectual? Why should anime be first and foremost any specific thing?
but I like anime as being a medium of wish fulfillment. You might get a lucky break in life but generally the real world isn't going to grant all your wishes so why not there exist a medium that does so
Escapism is a bad thing, no matter how terrible your life is. Now, your life must kinda suck a bit for you to make this kind of comment and you have my sympathy. You're not alone in facing the horrible sucking void that is modern life in the United States. But you need to stop running away.
The more time you spend obsessing over fake worlds, the less time you're investing in making the real world better. Since the real world is where you must eat, sleep, breathe, mate, urinate, defecate, kill, be killed, etc, it is much more important to maintain and improve that than say, getting a WoW character to level 60.
Moe and fanservice anime shouldn't be feared just because most Westerners are generally prudish and feel that if stuff that's "perverted" gets out that it'll ruin their hobby.
I'm fairly sure that most people don't fear "moe"; they hate it. There's a difference. The stuff is aimed solely at a very specific breed of creepy anime otaku. It's really not made for most humans in general. I mean, Lucky Star isn't a family sitcom and you're deluding yourself if you think it's targeted at anyone except people shunned by society.
I feel that people need to realize that the dark and mature anime has it's time and place and now it isn't the indicative trend of now and should just accept that.
That kind of thinking is actually terrible for business. For example, let's take the recent Batman movies. Before them, Hollywood had developed a disdain for superhero movies. There's a reason Wanted had no costumes. Everyone thought it wasn't "time" for superheroes, that the "trends" showed people didn't like them. Then Nolan came out with his movies and made all those CEOs look like brain-damaged chimpanzees. If people "accepted" things, or assumed the markets are going to stay constant, then nothing would change until audiences stopped caring completely.
You enjoy these terrible shows, and come now, let's not have a fuss, admit they're terrible, and are trying to justify your taste by tearing down the things you perceive as the other. You're suffering from an "us or them" state of mind and it simply must stop. Anime, like all art, doesn't need to be anything in specific, nor should it stop being something. You're an adult and you should know better. Your personal tastes aren't indicative of any trends or how the world should be. Your personal issues are not the general populace's issues, and you really cannot convincingly argue that they exist in the general populace.
Your opinions are not objectively correct, nor do they represent anything except your own skewed feelings on the matter. You need to accept that most people in the west who are not fanatically devoted to the anime scene could care less about the extremely niche shows you like to watch, and will only turn their heads when something impressive appears.
I understand what you're saying. Yes, too much escapism is not good for anyone but I just like the fact that these shows are able to make me feel more at ease. Yes, some moe shows are terrible but not all of them. I legitimately enjoy them for what they are.
I know I'm not what's considered the casual anime fan. Whatever I'm into I can pretty obsessive because that's just way my brain works. It's more than just the fact that it has cute girls. I obsessively look at things like art styles, voice work, the music and so on that goes into shows like this. Most of these things people gloss over because they move on from one show to the next without much thought.
People like us, we just want to watch our anime and not be persecuted for our tastes. Other fans shouldn't feel ostracized for wanting to watch cute anime girls where in the real world it isn't possible to. No, I'm not that obsess as buy hugging pillows or plaster my car with decals of anime girls but I am willing the support things like DVDs and toys from shows like that if I happen to enjoy it.
IMO there's always an indicative style to many things and I feel that generally when you try to take a particular thing out of its time of creation, it just doesn't work for me. Best example I can give is Macross. Macross IMO is an indicative thing of the 80's to early 90's. I just don't feel the need to watch Macross Frontier just because it's part of something I think was good at one time. Transformers is probably the only thing I can continuously enjoy, mainly due to the fact that it's able to reinvent itself even though I will always enjoy the original the most just because G1 was the indicative thing of 80's where as today not as much.
I'm doing things to improve my life but at the same time this is what's keeping me happy. I'm not stating that my opinion is the correct one but it's still an opinion that I have the right to state.
I hope what I said made some sense and not just the rambling rant of a loony anime fan.
TTLA is right - whether you believe it or not, moe anime is an acquired taste. If you remove the disproportionate fascination with cartoon girls, moe anime tend not to be very good at all. It sounds like you're dismissing differing opinions as just being "in denial," which I'm sure you'll admit is completely off.
And as you cry persecution, I have to mention one thing: as one of those aforementioned people who stick mostly to the "staples" like Cowboy Bebop and Studio Ghibli, I've received my fair share of bile from the "true" anime fans, including (but not limited to) your suspicion that I'm lying to hide my more embarrassing watching habits, or I'm too insecure to watch something that isn't "cerebral" (sorry bud, I enjoy reading Yotsuba as much as the next guy). I'm sure you don't like being on the receiving end of generalizations; why should us "casuals" be any different?
You know, the real reason is just that those two shows were on Adult Swim. A TV broadcast means the show reaches a wider audience.
Most "regular folk" have never even heard of Miyazaki, Satoshi Kon, or Mamoru Oshii, in the United States. If I went to my retail job and asked who all these guys were, from customers to co- workers, almost no one would know. Many anime fans don't even know who these guys are by name (with the exception of Miyazaki)many anime fans don't even know what Astro Boy is, or that it was the first serialized Television anime. They all know what Naruto or Dragonball is though. I don't think any "regular folk" would have a different reaction if you said you liked some Moe show or Porco Rosso, dollars to donuts they wouldn't know what either was. Also, saying Miyazaki "isn't really all that popular in Japan." is not true in any respect. All of his films shatter box office records. Just thought those opening comments didn't ring true to me. Also Gits and Cowboy bebop are just great shows, thus people like them!
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