Anime Thread #2

[Tenofovir]

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I’m just saying, that’s what a lot of the shows Tenofovir is recommending sound like- lots of lesbian subtext, no spelled-out lesbianism, and all aimed at guys for fanservice purposes. I could be misunderstanding him, though.

As said I think it depends on how you approach the show. But despite the motives of the producers, I think the shows are fun and draw you in and make you care, in a superficial way at least, as most animes can, about these characters. They’re underdogs. They face incredible odds. They are down to earth. And they are very pure hearted. Want everyone to get along and want to be friends. And since this is anime, they could die in the show. So one can get nervous during a really bad battle. One never knows what to expect in anime.

 

[Crescentinus]

I don’t think incest has a genre yet, unless the world became much more terrible when I wasn’t looking.

I’m just saying, that’s what a lot of the shows Tenofovir is recommending sound like- lots of lesbian subtext, no spelled-out lesbianism, and all aimed at guys for fanservice purposes. I could be misunderstanding him, though.

…Aaaand we’re back on yuri, aren’t we.:doh2:

You know what’s a good show? Kino’s Journey. There is no romance, and the two main characters are a gender-ambiguous girl and a talking motorcycle. They discuss philosophy a lot and run into a bunch of city states that try and fail to solve some of the fundamental problems of humanity. No yaoi or yuri subtext. Just a character, many settings, the occasional action scene, and a lot of thought.

Sadly, it had become a genre. Anime and manga such as KissxSis had become quite popular these days.

I’m not a fan of lesbian fanservice, because it reduces things into oversexualizations. For example, a woman giving another woman a mouth-to-mouth resuscitation to save the latter’s life is now seen as yuri fodder instead of what it is - an act of saving a life. For those who had seen Ah! My Goddess Sorezore no Tsubasa, guess which scene I was referring to.

I’ll try watching that.

 

[Tenofovir]

It does sound kind of creepy, but it’s hard to explain why. Like innocence is becoming a commodity to be bought, sold, gazed upon, and consumed.

Sure that could be iffy. I get what you mean.

But I think the innocence goes more with the goodness of these characters. They’re not girls who sleep around. They don’t do anything immoral.
They don’t betray each other or at least if they do, they feel bad about it until they can repent/forgive.

What also strikes one about these shows is that often they try to solve problems non violently. They try to get the enemy to change by being nice to them and seem to care about them. It’s a Christian, thing.

 

[Crescentinus]

What also strikes one about these shows is that often they try to solve problems non violently. They try to get the enemy to change by being nice to them and seem to care about them. It’s a Christian, thing.

Reminds me of Father Brown for some reason.

 

[Tenofovir]

Sadly, it had become a genre. Anime and manga such as KissxSis had become quite popular these days.

I’m not a fan of lesbian fanservice, because it reduces things into oversexualizations. For example, a woman giving another woman a mouth-to-mouth resuscitation to save the latter’s life is now seen as yuri fodder instead of what it is - an act of saving a life. For those who had seen Ah! My Goddess Sorezore no Tsubasa, guess which scene I was referring to.

I’ll try watching that.

I really don’t see what the problem is unless it becomes overt. Yes maybe it’s a yuri joke, but it’s what you make of the show. A person can look at a Rembrandt and get sexually turned on and fantasize sexually about it. A person can look at a Hollywood movie where
cleavage is shown or an anime where girls blush, and be oblivious to it, focusing on the story at hand. I think it’s what you make of it my friend.

 

[Crescentinus]

I really don’t see what the problem is unless it becomes overt. Yes maybe it’s a yuri joke, but it’s what you make of the show. A person can look at a Rembrandt and get sexually turned on and fantasize sexually about it. A person can look at a Hollywood movie where
cleavage is shown or an anime where girls blush, and be oblivious to it, focusing on the story at hand. I think it’s what you make of it my friend.

This is me reacting to the rise of yuri, yaoi and incest especially here in the Far East.

 

[Kamaduck]

As said I think it depends on how you approach the show. But despite the motives of the producers, I think the shows are fun and draw you in and make you care, in a superficial way at least, as most animes can, about these characters. They’re underdogs. They face incredible odds. They are down to earth. And they are very pure hearted. Want everyone to get along and want to be friends. And since this is anime, they could die in the show. So one can get nervous during a really bad battle. One never knows what to expect in anime.

Now they sound just like magical girl shows, and there’s nothing wrong with watching those.

I guess I think that as long as you’re respecting the characters and not viewing them as objects, it’s OK. I realize of course that they are objects in the sense that they’re not alive and don’t have free will. Perhaps they’re more ideas than anything. But if you don’t treat characters with respect, I’m going to think it’s kind of creepy.

I’ll try watching that.

I actually have no idea how to watch it, it was one of the shows I watched before I stopped watching anime illegally. I can’t say it’s Christian, but it does ponder a lot of rather deep questions- and since it never offers any answers, I don’t know if it really endorses any particular ideology.

And I have an irrational love for the main character. I think she’s really cool.

 

[Tenofovir]

It does sound kind of creepy, but it’s hard to explain why. Like innocence is becoming a commodity to be bought, sold, gazed upon, and consumed.

But I write about dystopias for fun, so my thoughts do tend to the disturbing side.

This is why I dislike Madoka Magica. I never watched more than 5 min. When it has innocent girls fighting and dying, I think it exploits that aspect and exploits us. Madoka Magica = no thank you. Hopefully Vividred won’t kill people off.

Vividred on the other hand has the selfish girl actually realise that maybe her wish of helping aliens destroy the world in exchange for a return to her parents is not such a good wish after all. The lead even tells her unknowingly, that she herself would do everything she could to save her family and friends, but she would not do something immoral.

 

[Tenofovir]

This is me reacting to the rise of yuri, yaoi and incest especially here in the Far East.

Sure. But Far East has a bigger problem with lolicon though, no?

 

[Kamaduck]

This is why I dislike Madoka Magica. I never watched more than 5 min. When it has innocent girls fighting and dying, I think it exploits that aspect and exploits us. Madoka Magica = no thank you. Hopefully Vividred won’t kill people off.

I was actually thinking of watching Madoka Magica someday. Death doesn’t really bother me if it’s in service to the tale and isn’t pushed as “entertainment” or overly graphic.

I guess we’re just bothered by very different things.

 

[Crescentinus]

Sure. But Far East has a bigger problem with lolicon though, no?

Don’t forget shotacon.

As far as anime are concerned, may I recommend Gundam AGE?

 

[Tenofovir]

I was actually thinking of watching Madoka Magica someday. Death doesn’t really bother me if it’s in service to the tale and isn’t pushed as “entertainment” or overly graphic.

I guess we’re just bothered by very different things.

Well not just death but it goes even beyond that. I think the anime goes sado-masochistic. People start to revel in seeing characters fight each other and die off. It’s as if they enjoy their own suffering. Not for me.

I’m too sensitive when it comes to innocent characters. In such anime I usually end up in a bad mood.

 

[Tenofovir]

Don’t forget shotacon.

As far as anime are concerned, may I recommend Gundam AGE?

Oh yes, anything sexual with kids in it. It’s also outside of anime. What’s with all these Korean films about enjo kousai?

 

[Crescentinus]

Oh yes, anything sexual with kids in it. It’s also outside of anime. What’s with all these Korean films about enjo kousai?

What Korean films with enjo kousai? O:

 

[Tenofovir]

What Korean films with enjo kousai? O:

“My Little Bride” for example.

And enjo kousai appears in other Korean films too.

In Japanese:
Bounce Kogals
All About Lily Chou-chou

 

[MatsudaBerry]

Well not just death but it goes even beyond that. I think the anime goes sado-masochistic. People start to revel in seeing characters fight each other and die off. It’s as if they enjoy their own suffering. Not for me.

I’m too sensitive when it comes to innocent characters. In such anime I usually end up in a bad mood.

I’m pretty sensitive, too, but I actually really liked Madoka Magica. It’s tragedy, but I found it to be ultimately hopeful. The show’s main message seems to be “There’s no such thing as a free lunch, even for magical girls.” The show’s creator, Gen Urobuchi, has a reputation for really sad stories where a lot of important characters die. However, I think that it works in Madoka Magica’s case because the magical girl genre is a place of miracles, where the very laws of nature can be broken, even if that has serious consequences. To avoid spoiling too much, I actually see Madoka as a Christ figure. Even after all the bad things that happen, even though it appears to the audience that nothing she does will change the cycle of despair and destruction, she actually maintains her optimism and tries to change it anyway.

P. S. Because I seem to have been the one who started the yuri discussion, I think I should mention an interesting mech anime called Gasaraki, which has nothing to do with yuri at all. I have the entire series on DVD now, and I have seen the first five episodes. It is pretty good, though it has the small problem of a large cast that I can’t remember a lot of the names of. Also, I have recently finished Blood+, which is an excellent addition to the vampire genre, if anyone here is into that. You should still be able to watch it on Netflix in English. Between this and Madoka, I seem to like dark stories with hopeful endings.

 

[Tenofovir]

I’m pretty sensitive, too, but I actually really liked Madoka Magica. It’s tragedy, but I found it to be ultimately hopeful. The show’s main message seems to be “There’s no such thing as a free lunch, even for magical girls.” The show’s creator, Gen Urobuchi, has a reputation for really sad stories where a lot of important characters die. However, I think that it works in Madoka Magica’s case because the magical girl genre is a place of miracles, where the very laws of nature can be broken, even if that has serious consequences. To avoid spoiling too much, I actually see Madoka as a Christ figure. Even after all the bad things that happen, even though it appears to the audience that nothing she does will change the cycle of despair and destruction, she actually maintains her optimism and tries to change it anyway.

Yes but why little kids? It’s not a realistic burden and I don’t think a realistic scenario. It’s unnecessary and I think exploits this innocence aspect. But you got a positive vibe from it, so good for you and you also prove my point that beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

 

[jilly4ski]

P. S. Because I seem to have been the one who started the yuri discussion, I think I should mention an interesting mech anime called Gasaraki, which has nothing to do with yuri at all. I have the entire series on DVD now, and I have seen the first five episodes. It is pretty good, though it has the small problem of a large cast that I can’t remember a lot of the names of. Also, I have recently finished Blood+, which is an excellent addition to the vampire genre, if anyone here is into that. You should still be able to watch it on Netflix in English. Between this and Madoka, I seem to like dark stories with hopeful endings.

I have seen some Blood+, I was on Cartoon network, several years ago when I was on my anime kick. It is still on Netflix, (I wish Netflix had the subbed versions instead of the dubbed versions). I didn’t see all of it, so maybe I should go back and watch.

 

[MatsudaBerry]

Yes but why little kids? It’s not a realistic burden and I don’t think a realistic scenario. It’s unnecessary and I think exploits this innocence aspect. But you got a positive vibe from it, so good for you and you also prove my point that beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

You have a point there. The characters are supposed to be teenagers, but they don’t really look like it for the most part. But then again, this is a magical girl show done by Studio Shaft, so maybe this shouldn’t come as a huge shock. It deconstructs a lot of the conceits behind magical girl shows, but I can understand why the whole “be careful what you wish for” thing might not be enough to temper the moe stuff.

 

[MatsudaBerry]

I have seen some Blood+, I was on Cartoon network, several years ago when I was on my anime kick. It is still on Netflix, (I wish Netflix had the subbed versions instead of the dubbed versions). I didn’t see all of it, so maybe I should go back and watch.

I actually thought the dub was pretty good overall. I didn’t like how many characters Steve Blum voiced, though. It made things kind of confusing for me. I’m also not sure that I liked David’s voice actor, but that’s just a nitpick. For a fifty-episode series, the pacing is pretty good, and I loved how there were different kinds of vampires, and the creators didn’t stick to the stereotypical “vampire as Byronic hero” thing. There were plenty of brooding bishies, but there were other vampires, too, and the fact that they basically turned into werebats kind of kills the whole Edward Cullen thing it could have fallen into. You really got the impression that you were dealing with a new species.