Forum - View topicNEWS: New York Times on Mean Girls of Anime
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GATSU
Posts: 15604 |
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Yes, ADV really needs that kind of publicity after the GTA: San Andreas fiasco. Thanks a lot, Chuck. |
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jmays
ANN Past Staff
 Posts: 1390 Location: St. Louis, MO |
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I was about to quote that very same paragraph, but for the first part of it. "If sales and Internet chatter are any indication"--Internet chatter? What? We've been through this a million times: forum posts do NOT directly correlate to sales, or even audiences. From Utada to Princess Tutu, the examples are endless. What a ridiculous way to end an article, in the New York times of all places.
Last edited by jmays on Thu Jul 21, 2005 1:12 am; edited 1 time in total |
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SnowfairyX
 Posts: 438 |
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Well, Elfen Lied is selling well anyway, but any extra publicity will help because sex and violence sells. And how is the GTA: San Andreas fiasco related anyway? |
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jmays
ANN Past Staff
Posts: 1390 Location: St. Louis, MO |
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"Several recent Japanese television series released on DVD in the United States focus on innocent girls who have undergone deadly transformations."
And then he lists off Saikano (2002), Gunslinger Girl ('03), and Elfen Lied ('04). Anybody want to count how many, oh, mecha series have been released over that period? But of course, dig deep enough and you can find whatever "trend" you'd like. (In comparision, silly statements like "...an example of the gratuitous nudity called 'fan service'" are of expert quality.) What junk. |
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GATSU
Posts: 15604 |
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snowfairy: I just don't want Hillary and Lieberman to go on a re-election campaign-I mean moral crusade-against anime like they did with videogames.
J:Well he did trash Laputa, so waddya expect? |
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jmays
ANN Past Staff
Posts: 1390 Location: St. Louis, MO |
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Yeah, and this was quite a way to make his NY Times debut, too. But it's better rip on the article than the guy who wrote it; there's plenty enough in the former that nobody should have to resort to the latter. |
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Bell02
 Posts: 168 |
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Wow, I assume that guy has only seen a bit of anime or watches it casually because he can't tell the difference between sexual nudity and symbolic nudity.
Elfen Lied has a good amount of fanservice in it, but if any thing is fanservice, it's the "myu" talk. To be turned on in any since by the opening scene of eppisode one you must insane. It's basically 10 or so mins of her coldly killing everything in her path. It presses an idea in your head and the nudity has a purpose in it: >it shows her that she is treated as a thing >it gives a sense of purity or innoscence >it shows her as being more animalistic I mean, just the fact she is given the monster helmet shows it's not being sexual. Everyone knows the real reason why this title so much, it's the same as Saikuno, being a really big drama. On the original topic, I don't think 3 titles over 3 years is a trend, he should have sited more examples. It is kind of true what he said, but I'm not sure if it is recent. You can find examples of kill-machine women in 90s anime also |
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SnowfairyX
Posts: 438 |
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Lol.  That's what I thought you were trying to imply, but I don't think the politicians will be crusading against anime anytime soon. I'm pretty sure that anime is only a fraction as popular as videogames and I'd actually be glad if people such as the politicians gave the same type of free publicity for anime as well so that more people would get into anime.
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AL429
Posts: 11 Location: So. CA, USA |
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Well, that article will get spun twelve ways to Sunday when more anime fans get to read and sink in that article some more, but let me say this in defense of anime that was mentioned in that article.
Speaking as a actual Anime / Animation Fan, Part Time Movies and History Buff, and Television Watcher, most if not all of those animes that was mentioned in that article are "soft and light" compare to some of the other stuff (Anime and non-anime programs a like) the so called "average television viewers" have been exposed to. I mean I can't say too much about Elfen Lied or Saikano since I haven't seen those series myself, but Gunslinger Girl........I have to say, did the person that wrote the article even seen some of the animes that they just sort of criticize in that article? I mean once folks actually seen the 13 episodes of Gunslinger Girl they'll all see that there isn't much so called "Mindless Machine Gunning of Criminals" or even that much violence when one really gets down to it in that anime series. Heck, there's more violent and disturbing things shown on The Shield, CSI, South Park, Over There, stuff on The History Channel, or even the evening news, and some of them are on prime time Television Hours. Honestly, those Anime series aren't "as violent or disturbing" like that article make it out to be. Don't get me wrong, I am NOT saying that those anime series mentioned in that article aren't violent or disturbing in some way, but just not as severe or "bad" as they are trying to make it out to be. But, I guess it don't matter what I say or write either way, since "there's no news like bad news" and those marketing and promotional devils have done their jobs to promote every one of those anime series. Let's face it, how many more people, that have no real idea on what anime is really like, that have just read that article and have just convince themselves to check out those anime series mentioned? Think about that. I just love the way they spin everything in the "Mass Media" these days, so much for "actually reporting the news with a unbiased opinion and with integrity, which is why I DO NOT watch, read, or bother with the so called "News".......ANN not with standing of course. 
BTW, this is my personal two red cents here. |
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kusanagi-sama
 Posts: 1723 Location: Wichita Falls, TX |
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I always hate the articles that come out of the New York Times about anime. They don't know what they are talking about, they don't do enough research, and they make us (anime fans) look bad.
*Slaps face and drags hand down face* 
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mufurc
 Posts: 612 |
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And it caters to legions of moe fans who like their loli violent. I mean, one can talk about symbolism and art as much as one likes, but the fact still remains that the main pull of the show, the reason most people get interested in it is, in fact, brutal violence and naked girls - and Elfen Lied serves both of these in such excessively large helpings that I can only see it as fanservice. And while people are hopefully not turned on by the nudity, the facts that loli is such a huge trend today and that many otaku apparently find underage girls making innocently cute sounds and slaughtering people moe (cute/titillating) is enough to show that this wasn't primarily "symbolic" nudity but merely fanservice. If they wanted to emphasize innocence and vulnerability they could've done it without such excessive, in-your-face nudity and violence. As things are, it's mostly fanservice for loli and guro fans. (If you want even more blatant fanservice in Elfen Lied, just watch the special. I've only seen pictures from it, but damn, the series at least tried to be artsy.) |
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cyrax777
 Posts: 1825 Location: the desert |
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they didn't even bother to watch it
UM no she was born that way. There horns not cat ears and there is no severed hand in the opening. reason she shifts is she's got a 50 caliber bullet lodged her in brain. If they did bother to watch Elfin Lied it was on fast forward. |
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Onizuka666
Posts: 266 Location: U.K |
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Can someone put the link up please so I can read the article. We don't all live stateside.
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a_lonewolf
 Posts: 34 |
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The author of the article, Charles Solomon, is also a reviewer of anime on Amazon.com. I don't know why he bothers reviewing, writing, or viewing anime as he clearly has a difficult time appreciating it. His Amazon reviews are frequently and blatantly biased to his own very rigid world view. I'm surprised that he bothers with anime at all because after reading so many of his reviews, his disdain and abhorrence for it really come through. Whatever...there's no such thing as bad publicity I suppose. |
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cyrax777
Posts: 1825 Location: the desert |
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bugmenot.com has a password to get to it. |
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