Forum - View topicHey, Answerman! [2009-11-20]
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Maryohki
 Posts: 526 |
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Erm, I'm a bit bothered by the question and answer both on the topic of Germany. In my opinion, Germany doesn't get nearly enough attention in anime, especially when compared to France. Spells are often in German and sometimes European settings look like Germany, but for the most part it's France France France, and me being someone who is completely in love with Germany, this makes me sad inside.
And the whole "touchy issue because of WWII" really, REALLY doesn't fly with me, guys. So because Japan was allied with Germany in WWII and the Nazis are infamous for having done horrible things, Japan shouldn't ever say good things about Germany? What? What's passed has passed, and Germany has bent over backwards to apologize for the Nazis. Why should they continue to be punished? Why should German people have to be ashamed of their country even today because they made a mistake (a huge one, but still) in a time of desperation? Move on, people. The war is over. |
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penguintruth
 Posts: 8501 Location: Penguinopolis |
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The best pen name belongs to Lupin III creator Kazuhiko Katō, who wrote under the name Monkey Punch.
As for the continuing debate on Western Animation vs Japanese: Well (and this should be obvious to anyone with eyesight), obviously Western animation, and by extension, American animation tends to have a far bigger budget, and therefore the animation itself tends to be far better than Japanese animation. This is only a technical advantage, but of course, animation is a visual medium, and it does have a lot of impact. However, as far as variety of stories, and the variety of ways they are told, Japanese animation seems to have the advantage over most Western animation I've seen. Even though even Japanese animated productions do tend to fall into similar categories as their American counterparts at times, especially in recent years, there is an infinite variety of stories that are just as available as your common comedy or action program that are far different. Obviously, not all American cartoons are superheroes and animals hitting each other with mallets. Nor are all American comics superhero comic books. But those exceptions are not made as accessible as most of the different Japanese cartoons. On the same channel you may find a period drama followed by a mystery crime drama, or maybe an kids action program in the same day, each with their own unique flavor, and complexities most American cartoons shy away from. I personally tend to enjoy Japanese animated features more than American animated features, because of the maturity of certain titles. However, I don't see myself as above American animation, and still enjoy it when it is exceptional. I find that while animation may be a visual medium, I expect the visuals to move forward a plot I find engaging and characters that have presence and depth. There's plenty of that both here and abroad, but there's also plenty of the alternative, the idiotic and inane. Some of that can be pretty good, too, I'll admit. As for next week's question, if my opinions on particular type of anime match that of a professional critics, it tends to give some weight to their other reviews. It's not the biggest factor in deciding what I watch or not, but it's a useful guide, and that's what reviews are for, not to tell us what to watch and what not to, but to guide us into making that decision with a little informed nudge. I can't say that I've never foolishly taken a negative review for an anime I've liked as a personal affront, but I think I'm probably mostly over that. |
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ReiClone88
 Posts: 187 Location: Inside a giant tank full of Tang |
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Ha ha, I lol'd at that Spanish language Spambot promoting its operator's amateur music video.
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Chesis
Posts: 27 |
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I think the answer to the German thing is probably a lot simpler than people think. Japan and Germany were allied during the war, so Japan had easier access and more exposure to German culture for a significant period of time. And so some of it remains embedded in the Japanese consciousness to this day.
The question about pro reviewers is impossible not to qualify. This is really only comes up with anime films, because the only pro I can think of from the mainstream media who looks at series at all is Charles Solomon. I'm seen some great pro reviews of anime films - Stephanie Zacharek from Salon did a great write-up of the Cowboy Bebop movie - but all too often critics use the column inches to dissect or categorize common anime tropes and that's never fun. Industry reviewers are usually much more helpful in any case. |
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The_Libertarian_Otaku
 Posts: 189 |
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I don't take stock in pro reviews. I just watch what I watch, and I like most of the anime I've seen. (Geisters and Dai-Guard can mostly walk, as can Air Gear, seeing as how that show ended.)
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GATSU
Posts: 15573 |
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I'd figure it'd be the part where they suggest Hitler was a misguided artist which would bother you more.  I can deal with it in the context of that club scene, or the Brockenman wrestler in Kinnikuman[It's a spoof of wrestlers around the world in general, so....], and even the blatantly offensive stuff in Kekko Kamen, but when they fetishize that shit, it does get a little disturbing for me. My feeling is that, since their military gear sucked ass back then, they compensate their war games by substituting their soldiers for those of the Germans. As for the regular German stuff, I'm guessing that was the country they did business with most at that point, so they have the most Western references from Germany.
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dormcat
Encyclopedia Editor
 Posts: 9902 Location: New Taipei City, Taiwan, ROC |
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Japan didn't start learning from Germany because of Tripartite Pact. Back in Meiji Era when Japan started building its modernized military power, it wanted to model the best army and navy: Prussian Army and (British) Royal Navy, respectively. Japan also learned its medical education system from Germany; today Japanese medical students have to learn medical terms in German. |
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outlawwolf
 Posts: 645 |
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First off, there are NO reasons to go see New Moon or any Twilight related movie other than 1: You are a 14 year old girl, 2: You are seriously disillusioned on what a relationship should be, 3: Have no concept of plot or character development, 4: are yourself Stephanie Myers.
Also, I would like to point out with the question of characters never dying in a Shonen series that you greatly missed out on an opportunity to bring up a criminally underrated series, Jojo's Bizzare Adventure. Not in any other series from Shonen Jump has tragedy ever been so central to the intensity of a series. spoiler[First off Jonathan Joestar, the main character of the first part of the series, Phantom Blood has to suffer the death of his dog, his father, his trainer William Antonio Zeppeli (all characters that we've known for several chapters) and then Jonathan himself dies ON HIS HONEYMOON! Next, Battle Tendancy was a lot lighter on the death toll, but Joseph's best friend Caesar dies in a very touching display. After that, part 3 brings about the death of 3 of it's main characters, one of them so sudden, you barely blink before you see his severed hand fly, and that hand is all that is left of him. Part 5 brings you the sudden death of other very likeable characters and in very tragic ways ] and this continues into parts 6spoiler[all main characters die and world gets reshaped!], and 7 where the emotion isn't brought on by the death of the good guys, but on the tragic pasts of the bad guys that are being killed off by the good guys! Jojo's Bizarre Adventure is a seriously underrated gem in Shonen Jump history that more people need to be made aware of due to it's unique art style, it's insane use of powers and abilities, and intensity that not every character, even the main character is safe from a death that is very much permanent. Last edited by outlawwolf on Fri Nov 20, 2009 1:49 am; edited 1 time in total |
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Zac
ANN Executive Editor
 Posts: 7912 Location: Anime News Network Technodrome |
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You forgot the most important one: "hoping to get laid by a girl with horrible taste" |
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Pandadice
 Posts: 182 |
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yeah, this is what I was thinking. I think there's ton more France in anime than any European country. Plus, I'd say there's just as much Russian as there is German in anime. and spells are cast in Latin sometimes. anyways, the only thing that matters is how there is no Poland or Sweden. and speaking of Germany, I think it's funny how in a show like Hetalia Axis Powers, where everyone is a walking stereotype, Germany is the only normal person. Everyone else is doing their countries thing, while Germany, in stead of being what Germans were at that time, is just an intelligent normal guy. |
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outlawwolf
Posts: 645 |
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Nope. Still not good enough. |
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Quark
 Posts: 710 Location: British Columbia, Canada |
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No, no, you go to see New Moon for the comedy. There's a trailer of New Moon showing Edward Cullen without a shirt and my friend and I laughed ourselves stupid. We've been debating going to see the movie and laughing loudly, but then realized that a) it's not fair to the people who are there because they genuinely do like Twilight and b) so far I've managed to get the first two books as presents (C'mon Santa, bring me Eclipse and Breaking Dawn and we'll be all set), and borrowed the second two, and want to keep the 'Not paying for Twilight' ball rolling. Stay away from my wallet, Myers. You can get my money when you learn to write. |
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CCSYueh
 Posts: 2707 Location: San Diego, CA |
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On the German issue, I've felt some of it is as bad as the Japanese were (& in some ways they were worse than the Gemans), the Germans were crucified after the war while a good number of Japanese got off fairly light. They're still hunting Nazis--not Japanese war criminals. A number of older Japanese artists, animators, etc, have made comments about how ashamed they felt growing up. But, considering the treatment, the Germans were far worse, right. As bad as the Japanese were, if one looks at their punishment, the Germans were the bigger monsters & thus using Germans in there with the baddies can make the Japanese come off as not so bad. (I'm thinking titles like Kishin Corps & Doomed Megapolis)
For the life of me, I cannot recall the dead shonen heroes (not the revived ones like DBZ or Yusuke), but I'm pretty good at latching onto that character when a title starts. Shall we do spoilers & start naming titles where the hero sacrifices himself for his buds? I loved Gai. I loved him for-what-4 eps? AD Police count? A Go Nagai hero or 2? Basilisk's a bloodbath. HOSHIN ENGI. Oh my god. How many perfectly good heroes can one author off? We lose regulars in Berserk, don't we? FMA...Pretty early, too, wasn't it? Death Note...Was it Code Geass commentary I was listening to where they said someone had to die in every battle? |
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Pandadice
Posts: 182 |
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thats because the American invasion of Japan was our own race war. we did to the Japanese what the Germans did to the jews. soldiers would collect skulls and send them home as trophies. sick stuff. plus, there's the whole a-bomb thing. Japan may have been on Germany's side, but Americans were savages in that part of the world. plus Japan turned around and gave us anime and manga. what has Germany done since then? |
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zgripţuroicǎ
 Posts: 140 Location: Newburgh, NY |
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They've given us quality cars, Jägermeister, schmalzlers, many people like their beer, and they provided a setting for Monster. They also do pretty well in the whole science thing. So, yeah, I like Germany. And I hardly think you can say we carried out a race war on the Japanese. The atomic bomb shouldn't have been used in my opinion, and definitely not the second one, but you're still comparing two vastly different things. Atomic bombs killed about 220,000 people together if we go with wikipedia's estimation of it (spare me the lecture on wiki not being a good source, I know. I imagine they can get this right, though), compared to 6,000,000 Jews and myriad other "undesirables" for Germany. Hell, Stalin killed more of his own people than Americans killed Japanese with the capturing of the mainland. |
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