Forum - View topicINTEREST: Digimon Tamers 20th Anniversary Stage Show Features 'Cancel Culture' Villain
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Ming Yi
Posts: 213 |
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In case you didn't read the article, Konaka himself has been posting about his beliefs in dangerous conspiracy theories on his blog (such as misinformation about COVID-19) and that he trusts a conspiracy theorist YouTuber over professionals in the academic/scientific sphere. He literally admitted it on his blog. His views about "cancel culture" did not come out of nowhere. While boycotts do exist in Japan, the history and nuance behind "cancel culture" as a phrase was created from the West. The "cancel culture" stuff came from how his favorite conspiracy theorist YouTuber got banned (and rightfully so as he was spreading misinformation). It's not hard to notice how his views have bled into the script that he 100% wrote for this event. |
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Cardcaptor Takato
 Posts: 4958 |
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The article clearly quotes multiple points on Konaka's blog where he's gone on COVID conspiracy rants and vocally supports infamous alt right media personalities like James Corbett and he rants about "censorship" of alt right media figures. That might not be explicitly mentioned within the audio drama but it is clearly the context the script was written in. Nobody went "digging" through his blog for posts to use against him. Digimon fans have known about Konaka's views from reading his blog for months now. No one in Digimon fandom is shocked by his views. We're only shocked he actually put them in an official Bandai sanctioned audio drama event. It's the reactionary Internet weebs who are suddenly now finding out about it and being selective and cherry picking the evidence to defend Konaka while simultaneously trying to claim Konaka is the one correct about everything. All this information is in the ANN article you can read for yourself instead of jumping to the conclusion he must be 100% innocent of everything and trying to make the evidence confirm to your conclusion and acting like this is all some shadowy conspiracy against him. |
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BadNewsBlues
Posts: 6081 |
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Because when you reconcile the things that people consider to be bad with regards to political correctness such as not being able to refer to non binary or trans individuals by offensive terms or not utilizing tacky stereotypes towards ethnic groups. You're potentially opening a pandora's box of problems. That's not to say political correctness doesn't go overboard at times and shouldn't be addressed but what many consider to be Political Correctness gone mad is not actually Political Correctness Gone Mad.
In preschool stuff maybe but politics has been in kids media for decades both subtle and overt. Last edited by BadNewsBlues on Wed Aug 04, 2021 10:03 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Megumi Chisato
 Posts: 38 |
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Out of curiosity, has anyone actually watched the stage play? Perhaps it's not as bad in context?
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JoelBurger
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It's just as bad in context - but I don't know how you could make Political Correctness using its Cancel Culture attack good in context. The entire 30 minute production stops in its tracks for about a minute while Yamaki just goes on a rant. And just as an aside, it also just sweeps the Malice Bot (the big threat of Tamers 2018 that's infinitely more dangerous than the D-Reaper) completely under the rug to make way for Political Correctness, because Konaka got bored and decided that people who unironically believe in the New World Order being deplatformed is society's real problem. So there's also some old fashioned bad writing there as well. |
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taster of pork
 Posts: 594 Location: My House |
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He should have the right to speak his mind. But I would rather he not use a popular Franchise that's aimed at Kids to speak about his personal beliefs. Start a new series for that.
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all-tsun-and-no-dere
ANN Reviewer
Posts: 618 |
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Bro I've got some news for you there |
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Zeino
Posts: 1098 |
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I'd heard rumors about his current attitudes a few months back, but it's still gut-wrenching. I really did admire and adore Konaka as a writer and creator.
I don't know how the royalties shape up in terms of how much he gets for US releases of his work, but I feel better about having gotten my Blu-Rays of Lain and RahXephon (which were very much made before he appears to have gone down this particular rabbit hole) before learning about this. I'd feel uncomfortable about getting those otherwise, at least without some assurances in terms of how things shake up on the financial side of things. I'm certainly going to be more hesitant to pick up any works that he's been involved in since 2010 going forward. Considering Big-O was one of his most prominent works, it's just unnerving to see Konaka go the way of Schwarzwald, thankfully without the Big. But thinking it over even back in his Lain days, he was pretty into American conspiracy theories like Roswell (the bulk of episode 9 is basically a big rundown of mid-20th-century US conspiracy theory and fringe science), so I can see how he got here from there in the past couple of decades. He seems to be the kind of person who's always been attracted to the whole "secret knowledge" aspect of conspiracy theories, and right now that leads to some very bad places. When something about the world hurts, and you want to find a way to make it make sense, you latch on to conspiracy theories -- and I've heard it said that once you start believing one conspiracy theory, you'll soon enough believe them all, because the point isn't to have a single, consistent view of what the world is really like. The point is to think you know what other people don't, and every conspiracy theory is willing to make you feel good by telling you that. Which eventually sucks you in to the huge alt-right black hole that tells you you're special for believing them instead of the actual evidence. Last edited by Zeino on Thu Aug 05, 2021 2:10 am; edited 1 time in total |
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Ryuji-Dono
 Posts: 1222 |
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I heard that the blog post got mistranslated in regards to how James Corbett influenced him. From I heard, his ban didn’t actually influence his loss of faith on institutions in the 2020s, but just the chaotic nature of the year of 2020 with the pandemic.
But either way, all of this is a poor way in how he wrote such things and that his luster ran out. |
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Redbeard 101
Oscar the Grouch
Forums Superstar  Posts: 16941 |
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More cleanup has been done. Let's make 2 things clear please. Conspiracy theories and/or promoting them are not going to fly. That's already been said. Also, just because people disagree with someone or something does not mean that person or thing is automatically being canceled. Proving someone is spouting lies, conspiracy theories, or misinformation and stopping that is also not cancel culture. People really need to get a better grip on what that really is, along with the whole freedom of speech argument that's always seen.
As it pertains to this discussion do not add anymore conspiracy theories and keep it civil. |
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Hal14
 Posts: 693 Location: Heart of africa |
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Don't know who Konaka is, but my feelings towards Tamers have actually improved somewhat. This all gives the impression that Tamers is one of those shows, movies, or games that is the result of a good team rather than just one individual. Specifically, a competent team that is fighting back the worst impulses and indulgences of their lead writer or directors. If this guy had been giving full reign, then all that subtext that made Tamers such a mature show would've instead been loud soapboxing.
At least, that's the impression I've gotten from all this. |
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DavetheUsher
 Posts: 505 |
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I didn't mean the political correctness stuff in the show was specifically about the anime dub's edits, just that Digimon has had tons of content edited out in the west so it's not a politically correct show to begin with. Little wonder they wouldn't care about being perceived as politically correct or speaking out against it, I say.
It's pretty easy to find so you can watch it yourself. The whole thing is only like 22 minutes long and less than a minute of it is dedicated to Yamaki's comment that stemmed from a Government database being hacked and a bunch of people being doxxed and having their personal information leaked out onto the internet. "There's a scary increase in pressure to conform to a single value system where anyone who speaks out is removed. Censorship is rampant on the internet and information is being replaced with misinformation. People with different opinions have their online accounts terminated. Even different viewpoints are being erased by "fact checkers" so that only one accepted opinion can ever exist. Too many people's lives are being controlled by information on the internet these days." Then the Tamers agree it's a problem, but not really their business since they only deal with digital threats like the D Reaper or Malice Bot. But then it turns out a digital entity is using political correctness as a weapon against the real world so they have to fight it, but it ends on a cliffhanger so there's not much known after that. I suppose people can interpret that however they want, but I find it to be a pretty broad statement you can say about anything. Personally the first thing I thought of when I heard "conforming to a single value system" is the rising pressure to get Japan to conform to western sensibilities, or how Japanese artists often get harassed or banned from Twitter for what they draw. |
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ZephyrVayu
Posts: 79 |
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Unless whatever She-Ra punched was actually called "The Patriarchy" and its attack was "Wage Gap" I think you're being pretty disingenuous comparing it to how blatant and on-the-nose this recent Konaka project is with its messaging, which borders on propaganda. And in answer to your question, it depends on the context and what constitutes politics. Some people say the increase in LGBT characters in kids shows is "political" but I disagree with that sentiment. There are many examples of harmful left-wing politics being pushed in kids shows which I also abhor. I don't even necessarily disagree that Cancel Culture and Political Correctness are growing out of control and need to be discussed and critiqued more, but I'd be a hypocrite if I didn't acknowledge that a child-friendly franchise like Digimon is not the appropriate space for Konaka's beliefs to be pushed, at least not in such an unsubtle way. There are plenty of kids shows which explore controversial and dark themes but do it in a way where it flies completely over the young viewers' heads until they re-watch it as an adult. I guess I'm more annoyed by Konaka's crappy writing. |
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Haterater
 Posts: 1727 |
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Just disappointing to me. Yet another person on the list that makes good works but be like this.
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Touma55
Posts: 236 |
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That was the first thing I thought of as well. A good friend of mine shut down her Twitter account because people kept harassing her for posting art they didn't agree with. That kind of bs is really starting to piss me off and I really wish it would stop already. |
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