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Chicks On Anime - Raining Men

I agree with you, CCSYueh. There's nothing wrong with discussing harem/reverse harem shows but there's just a little too much over-analysis here. As Freud once said, "Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar." I'm not a huge fan of such shows but to me, they're just entertainment.

Sometimes the monster under the bed is just a monster under the bed & not a representation of society's collective fears.

Frankly, Scarlet, I don't care if I'm the only one laughing. If it's funny, it's funny. When we saw Brothers Grimm in the theater, my daughter & I were the only ones laughing at some of the jokes. Doesn't bother me. When we saw Ring 2 in the theater the scene with the deer was funny so I laughed even though the people 2 rows up turned & stared. Who cares? That deer struck me as looking as though it were doing a DeNiro imitation "You lookin' at me?"
Soupy Sales died last week & I was sad because I remembered him fondly. Hadn't thought of him in years, but a pie in the face is a pie in the face. I laugh out loud at Colbert & the Daily Show all the time. I don't see humor as going anywhere.

Now in harem titles it is shifting toward moe which sucks because the saving grace of most fan service harem titles is the humor. That gone, it's just fantasy fulfulment & dull. Harem titles aren't meant to be Monster. This is Three's Company, Sabrina, whatever 30 minute fluff you want to pick. They aren't even up to the level of satire like Excel Saga. They are something one doesn't have to think about really. Did anyone doubt Miaka & Tamahome wouldn't get together? Come on, Ayeka & Tenchi is just icky even after they removed her being his great aunt or whatever from the plot. Ryoko's the coolest chick on the show & Tenchi's an idiot not to realize that.

There are anime specifically intended for analysis or philosophical interest, but not that many. I imagine every frame of a Miyazaki film to be painstakingly painted with message, and intentionally. Similarly with shows like Ghost in the Shell (movie), Texhnolyze, Haibane Renmei, Key the Metal Idol and Now and Then, Here and There. Sometimes they do cross, though. Neon Genesis Evangelion is the most analyzed anime of all time, and it's a harem show.

lebrel wrote:

Quote: Sara: I love how "I want to be surrounded by a slew of men who are all vaguely attracted to each other!" seems to be a thing. Bamboo: Right? I guess that makes them less sexually threatening or something. Nonono. Fanservice. Men making doe-eyes at each other is the girl-audience equivalent of panty shots.

Right, but I kind of wonder if there isn't some aspect of that that has to do with the fact that if these men are simpering at each other, they're less likely to push themselves on women, thus making it a "safe zone." The woman is free to admire him from afar, without worrying that he might make an unwanted pass at her without her first instigating it.

As for fantasy males, I never thought of Aizen as a character gals would go ga-ga over but he does have that I'm-too-cool attitude.

I also like yaoi but I just recently got into it. (I recently posted a thread about it in the manga section.) Mind if I pm you sometime?

You can analyze the audience for Love Hina from an anthropological/sociological viewpoint, as an interesting exercise, but analyzing the show itself or its author is pointless.

I am up to D, and watching Dual,

So what's the monster under the bed look like if not what we fear but something tangible?

I'd much rather try to keep my eyes open, then trying to desperately shut them.
I'd suggest finding some books on philosophy and fiction and comedy in this case.

All I know was it wanted my toes so I had to keep them under the covers.
Of course, it might have been inspired by having cats which maybe did grab my toes when I was drifting off sometime...

Can't do that with me. I remember being devastated when Cliff Burton got crushed by that bus way back when in Metallica history.
Alice Cooper has done way more with nightmares anyway. And he usually keeps a certain sense of humor about it.

I need to finish Comic Party Revolution so I can get to HunterXHunter pt 1, Gundam 00 Part 2, GitS 2nd Gig, & Solty Rei. not to mention finally picking up Evil Dead 2, Return to Horror High, Phantom of the Paradise, & Lost Boys. Don't even get me started on the manga I need to get thru, but I think Zoo needs to be read before I pick up any other fiction

Anything can be analyzed and anything can be questioned, entertainment, comedy, and genre can thus be analyzed and questioned. If what you said above was true then this article wouldn't be.

do people argue that this is because the male viewer doesn't feel threatened by them? If not, that whole girls-like-yaoi-because-it's-not-threatening argument is kind of insulting.

What interests me more about the yaoi phenomenon is that men buy lesbian 3D porn, but I'm pretty sure there's no female market for male homosexual porn. I can only conclude that it's the focus of yaoi on romance vs. sex, so it comes down to a Venus and Mars thing.

Thus proving the song I just referenced, listen to it but the section in particular:

Hush little darling don't say a word
and never mind that noise you heard
it's just the beasts under your bed,
in your closet, in your head.

All from fictions you wish to brush aside so easily.

Neon Genesis Evangelion is the most analyzed anime of all time, and it's a harem show .

pparker wrote:

Neon Genesis Evangelion is the most analyzed anime of all time, and it's a harem show .

How do you figure? Are you talking about Gendo's assorted women and girls?

The point of the story may not be harem, but I think you could view it as one, because of the needs of these women and how the protagonist fulfils them.

the dramatic strengths of Evangelion seemed somewhat extraneous to the female characters' strife, or Shinji's attempts to help them.

The actors (performers?) usually appeal to that aesthetic that one often sees in BL (i.e. not super-muscular, not hirsuite, sometimes downright "boyish"-looking). But as you noted, no matter how handsome (some) of the actors are, it obviously lacks the story (romance) that many BL fans find essential to their enjoyment...

The point of the story may not be harem, but I think you could view it as one, because of the needs of these women and how the protagonist fulfils them.