Forum - View topicBebop vs. Champloo, Rah vs. Eva,etc.-Why such comparisons?
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wanderer
 Posts: 77 |
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I've noticed some discussions (on the internet)about Samurai Champloo often have people's opinions of it being based on comparisions between it and Cowboy Bebop. I don't understand this. The shows seem to be about completely different things; the setting, time period, characters, and story (from what I've read) are entirely different. Is it because they're by the same director? Did the same studio produce it? There has to be more than that, but if that's the case I don't think that's really fair. Not everything that has similar or like origins will always be good or always be bad, right?
Rahxephon and Evangelion also get compared a lot for more obvious reasons. But Rahxephon often gets crucified as being a ripoff of Evangelion and therefore opinions on it's quality, or recommendations of it, end up being based on people's opinons of a completely different series. I think that its obvious and unavoidable that similarities between series occur, and I'm sure that some shows are ripoffs of other shows. But my purpose isn't to debate why Rahxephon is a ripoff of Evangelion or how Samurai Champloo is trying to be Cowboy Bebop, those were just examples so please don't do that. Because discussions like that tend to get so intense, I am curious to find out why people judge, and sometimes pre-judge, anime to the degree that they do based on other series. I don't think people who compare are wrong; but when it comes to forming an opinion, wouldn't it be better to be more objective and judge a series on its own merits rather than dismissing it based on the merits of something else? |
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ShellBullet
 Posts: 1051 Location: I hit things, with my fist. |
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Not everyone has the time to view each and every anime that comes out. If I've seen two anime from the same people and they both sucked, why watch a third? Maybe this hypothetical third anime is actually great, but I have no reason to expect it to be. Therefore, I will spend my time/money elsewhere on more promising pursuits.
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Tony K.
 SubscriberModerator  Posts: 11435 Location: Frisco, TX |
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Yeah, the whole subjective comparison thing happens a lot. But I think it's because if we happen to like a show, we tend to hold that title in memory and use it as sort of a reference in case someone wants a recommendation or some feedback. With that said, I think it makes other titles that are being recommended a lot easier to think about because the aforementioned title will give others a general idea of what they might expect, should they feel the urge to check it out.
I usually try to be objective on spinoffs, though, like movies, OAVs that don't have any particular continuity, or things like that. A good example for me would be both the Escaflowne TV series and movie. The movie has just about no continuity whatsoever, but I still like it as a stand alone title. I'm not too picky on anime that do this (except for Rurouni Kenshin's 3rd season and Seisouhen OAV), but it probably also depends on the person's own tastes. |
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Kruszer
 Posts: 7992 Location: Minnesota, USA |
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I've offen seen people compare Cowboy Bebop to Trigun, two series in my mind that are completely different. Or Bebop and Outlaw Star, which I can understand, but in both cases the two are definitely different enough not to be clones. As long as the two series are fudementally different in characters and storylines it doesn't matter to me, they can distinguish themselves. I wouldn't pass over a title just because it was simmiliar to another, that could be a good thing sometimes.
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Laruto
Posts: 287 |
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There are alot of comparisons and I believe the reason why people choose to compare is because 1. They might already like a certain show like Pokemon and then a show by the name of Digimon comes out they don't take the chance to get to see what is like and begin to state pokemon is better than Digimon and the ones who actually watched Digimon state that Digimon is better than Pokemon and the comparison of the shows comes into play. I think its health sporting to do this to hold ground for your show you like but at the same time bad because your judging a show off its appearance and not its storyline. Alot of comparisons have been made and some of them tend to do with rivaling popularity Like One Piece and Naruto asking which ones better?Gundam and Robotech which one has better robots and are more powerful? Also comparison to see if the show can live up to the success of another show before it like Champloo and Bebop!
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benbboy
Posts: 66 |
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And...if i'm not mistaken a lot of the same people that made cowboy bebop made samurai champloo as well....so when you see "from the creators of cowboy bebop" that sticks in your mind and you want to use it as a comparison to samurai champloo as opposed to others that may have a more similiar story. The reviews say....fans of Cowboy Bebop will not be dissapointed....so that is used as a way for people to buy more....they think if Cowboy Bebop was so great (in their opinion) and this title is supposed to be better....i must get this.
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matticans
 Posts: 192 Location: Lewisville, Texas. |
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I totally agree. Also people have this kind of defense mechanism that goes off when ever an anime they really like is being jepordized in popularity or in any other way, and so they respond by calling it a copycat of some sort. I have so many friends that pulled the whole rah is a copycat of eva because i was saying that rah gave eva a run for its money. People just need to become more open-minded and watch something before they judge it just as wanderer had pointed out. |
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annomandaris
Posts: 18 Location: Exeter |
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The real probllem is that there being so mant titles it is almost impossible to create something without it being at least vaguely similar to something that has gone on before. A different setting or timeframe does not make it completely original it still has ideas taken from others.
but as long as they are done well it doesnt matter who they ripped off or who they copied. |
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Bruce Lee
 Posts: 715 Location: Seattle, Washington |
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Samurai Champloo is a great, stylish action show - from the few eps I've seen at least. And even though it has no relation character or story wise to Cowboy Bebop, this (CB) is the gold standard measuring stick for action shows. It has great music, Wonderfull likeable characters, and a style all its own. There have been other good action shows before and since Bebop, like the ones mentioned - Trigun and Outlaw Star. But in North American mainstream Anime fandom, I believe that CB is widly considered the best and most successfull one. IMO, that's why every action show is compared to it.
The same holds true for the RahXephon and EVA comparisons. Sure, there's been Giant Robot shows on since the beginning of (Anime) time. There's also been dramatic, "thinking man's" cerebral shows. However, EVA was the first and best show to weave these genres together so successfully. In this case, EVA is the gold standard, and every confusing/mind-warping robot show is unfortunately going to be compared to it. Weather that's fair or not (In RahXephons's case not, but that's another arguement  ), unfortunately, that's the way our society works. I'm sure every director wants their work to be judged on it's own merits, but after 50+ years, how many completely original stories are there left to do? Everything copies from something, just a little bit. I could write a whole essay on the similarities between RahXephon and Oh, My Goddess - don't tempt me. But at the end of the day, every boxer will be compared to Muhamad Ali, and every Basketball player will be compared to Michael Jordan. They did it best, how do you stack up?
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matticans
Posts: 192 Location: Lewisville, Texas. |
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WORD 
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ShellBullet
Posts: 1051 Location: I hit things, with my fist. |
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Well put. No anime exists in a creative vacuum. Shows are divided up into a variety of genres and sub-genres because of the relations between them. When I view The Twelve Kingdoms of coarse I am going to compare it to the series that have come before, like Escaflowne and Fushigi Yugi. I will make a decision whether the new show stacks up against the older classics or even surpasses them. Either way, it's not about one show "copying" another; the themes expressed in all these related shows have been present in human experiance for thousands of years and will probably be with us a long time. |
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Gecko Zero
 Posts: 18 |
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That's pretty much what the comparison between Bebop and Champloo is based on--same director, a couple of same writers. I think if they weren't both by Shinichiro Watanabe no one would be comparing them at all. I believe in treating them as totally different animals--for the most part. There are a couple of spots in SC where it's completely valid to compare them to similar scenes in CB--kind of as an exercise in how a director can return to a key idea, and redo it after having thought about the first one for several years. There's not many of those moments, but there are a couple.
Well, yes and no. Something from the same director, or with the same creative minds behind it stands a better chance of being like a previous work in quality than something from a totally random source. Just like regular movies, just like books--a director or writer's previous track record has a certain amount of bearing on how good (or bad) their latest will be. And, it seems to be human nature to want to go for the easy comparison between what's come before, and the new thing from x person than to actually look and realize the two projects have little or nothing in common other than they sprang from the same individual. |
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El Oso
 Posts: 105 Location: Rummaging through camp sites. |
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Aside from some other similarities Mugen = Spike with a sword, or at least thats what I think. Now dont get me wrong, thats a good thing cause I looove Spike! |
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