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[BGBW]

Isn't part of Alan's complaints that the characters that were designed for young children are still around today being written for those same children grown up instead of being written for the new generation of young children?

Anime and manga for me seems to push new stories (well the same old stories with a new lick of paint) all the time so the problem of recycling the same old faces and making them grittier doesn't seem to be as prevalent a problem. Aren't shounen mangas still be written for the shounen audience and seinen for the seinen demographic or am I wrong in that understanding? Or has Anpanman started sporting a stubble and lamenting that his parents are dead when I wasn't looking?

 

[hosannainexcelsis]

It might not be a serious social problem that there are generations of manchildren now who continue to enjoy the childish things originally targeted at young children.

I think you could connect it to a social issue, namely the continuing extension of adolescence, but this isn't the right place to get into a discussion on that.

In American comics this has led to more anti-heroes, dark heroes, and basically twisted versions of innocent characters created for kids now encountering and dealing with more violent and sexual storylines. For anime and manga though, what we're definitely seeing is that with more older audiences spending money in an industry originally intended for children, there is content which is more sexual and/or dark/violent, but they happen to characters and settings which are still relatable to kids - highschoolers, etc.

I will say I often prefer straightforward, innocent children's stories to the exaggerated testosterone-fueled teenage fantasies that sometimes pass for "mature". Why is being "adult" associated with being darker and edgier? That's a pretty twisted way of looking at things.

 

[BGBW]

I will say I often prefer straightforward, innocent children's stories to the exaggerated testosterone-fueled teenage fantasies that sometimes pass for "mature". Why is being "adult" associated with being darker and edgier? That's a pretty twisted way of looking at things.

I personally hold all of the American States that have been United accountable for the age rating of M for Mature which is to blame for this line of thinking.

 

[Jarmel]

It might not be a serious social problem that there are generations of manchildren now who continue to enjoy the childish things originally targeted at young children. But I think there is an interesting effect on industries in general when that happens because the demographic changes, and with that the expectation of content as well, but the core appeal of the product does not change.

In American comics this has led to more anti-heroes, dark heroes, and basically twisted versions of innocent characters created for kids now encountering and dealing with more violent and sexual storylines. For anime and manga though, what we're definitely seeing is that with more older audiences spending money in an industry originally intended for children, there is content which is more sexual and/or dark/violent, but they happen to characters and settings which are still relatable to kids - highschoolers, etc.

It's really pretty weird when you think about it, and certainly abnormal. I guess Moore has a point after all!

I think Yozakura Quartet is a perfect example of this. The show might be oriented towards kids if there weren't the random panty shots that serve no purporse other than marketing itself towards that older otaku audience. There is no social commentary or anything remotely enlightening about the way the show handles fanservice. It's sad that the director feels the need to do this in the first place. It's a show about a bunch of teenagers yet somewhere, someone gets a kick about seeing an animated girl's panties as if hentai or porn didn't exist. It doesn't fit the tone of the work at all and is shoe horned in, in such a half-assed manner.

I could expand on this and start talking about Kill La Kill as well in that so much of the fanservice in KLK doesn't do anything other than let the audience jerk themselves off. It's a juvenile show in every way imaginable but due to the overt sexual overtones, no kid should watch it.

I will say I often prefer straightforward, innocent children's stories to the exaggerated testosterone-fueled teenage fantasies that sometimes pass for "mature". Why is being "adult" associated with being darker and edgier? That's a pretty twisted way of looking at things.

I wouldn't say adult is so much edgier but it's more complicated and reflecting the morally gray aspect of the world. I would say Fate/Zero is mature but not necessarily Kill La Kill for example.

 

[OceanBlue]

Isn't part of Alan's complaints that the characters that were designed for young children are still around today being written for those same children grown up instead of being written for the new generation of young children?

Anime and manga for me seems to push new stories (well the same old stories with a new lick of paint) all the time so the problem of recycling the same old faces and making them grittier doesn't seem to be as prevalent a problem. Aren't shounen mangas still be written for the shounen audience and seinen for the seinen demographic or am I wrong in that understanding? Or has Anpanman started sporting a stubble and lamenting that his parents are dead when I wasn't looking?

Maybe focusing too much on how each medium recycles characters is missing the forest for the trees. I'm not too certain on the point myself, but I wonder if he's trying to say that these audiences who need a mature story to be framed through the characters they were attached when they were children suggests a lack of maturity and inability to relate to characters written for adults. The strangeness is in the fact that these stories with extreme content need to appeal to what the audience liked as children in the first place.

I personally am interested in how the difference in audience between manga and American comics affects the content in manga and anime for older audiences. I don't know much about these things, but I'd imagine that the younger audience for American audiences is pretty much gone, while the younger audience for manga still exists. I wonder if it's because of an environment like this that shows like Kuroko no Basket exist and are successful, and how that changes the types of stories being told.

 

[R_thanatos]

Gundam Build Fighters episode 1
Well I think im already out.
No interest in the plot or characters and absolutely hate that design style on the kids.

Noooooo.jpg

Gundam Build Fighters 8
Jeez, this was jam packed full of hype.

Spoiler

Greco seems pretty cool, it's too bad that he lost. Kinda want someone to destroy Nils =/

This episode had too many cameos and so much hype it shouldn't have been allowed.

I really like the higher level of play they've been exploring lately. Reiji beating up on the locals was fun but you've got this really nice thinggoing where he keeps getting stonewalled by the world class competition. He'd have lost to Yuuki if he'd stayed in the tournament, just draws with Fellini nonstop, and couldn't do shit against Apsalus which required another world class fighter to beat. Just neat to have this great sense of him not being able to roll over everyone.

Yeah , they carefully displayed reiji skill , but didn't make him godlike , both characters have room for improvement.
I just hope they won't do a "dragon drive" twist with gundam build fighters
For those who don't know dragon drive

Spoiler

started with a classic , card collecting premise in a virtual world and the twist that this other world was real( in another dimension ) and that the card manufacturers were just trying to conquer it to gain acccess to thier ressources. Given that reiji is from another world i'm hoping they won't follow that route

Just noticed this earlier. Google knows what's up:

Google understands.

Araragi is the greatest harem protagonist of all time. He chooses his girl within the first five episodes (admittedly she's not even close to best girl, but props for actually making a choice) but the harem refuses to ever let him go. And he gets away with it despite the fact that the girl he chose is borderline yandere. Araragi for ultibro.

Well the other girls ( despite all of them knowing that he choose one ) still are continuing are because all of them are crazy on some points.

Also I'm pretty sure Kanbaru is bisexual (though she definitely prefers girls). She seems to identify more as a "pervert" in general than just as a lesbian. After all, she's also very into reading BL.

Can confirm that. she like both. Araragi is more like an exception.

Spoiler

Araragi felt strongly that she was serious when she didn't mind for a threesome with senjougahara

 

[Basileus777]

I think he's reaching mightily when he tries to bring the Avengers film into this. It's the sort of light entertainment that has had a large appeal to mass audiences forever, there's little connection there to the change within the industry and comic fans.

 

[OceanBlue]

I think he's reaching mightily when he tries to bring the Avengers film into this. It's the sort of light entertainment that has had a large appeal to mass audiences forever, there's little connection there to the change within the industry and comic fans.

I was thinking the same thing. To me, the mainstream success of the Avengers movie kinda goes against his point, because I find it hard to believe that the movie was popular because everyone grew up with and knew those characters. Rather, I think the Avengers movie speaks to how accessible the concept of heroes who save the day is for the average adult. If I think about it that way, I don't find it too strange that people might continue to enjoy comic books into adulthood.

 

[7Th]

Urobutcher's teenager moral dilemmas as presented Fate/Zero are way more immature than even the most childish Precure season.

 

[BGBW]

I missed that bit. The movies based on super heroes are designed to appeal to everyone. They're usually a good ol' fashioned American feel good movie with a cape. If he stuck with the example of graphic novels taking cheery ol Superman and making him a brooding husk of emotional muscle (I don't read them, but I did see that render where they gave Batman stubble for his latest game, but I could still be talking out of my ass) he'd have a point but the films usually appeal to those whose only exposure to super heroes are other super hero films not those who grew up in the 50s reading the comics.

 

[Jarmel]

Urobutcher's teenager moral dilemmas as presented Fate/Zero are way more immature than even the most childish Precure season.

If you want to argue it's not well done, that's different than arguing that it doesn't exist. Urobuchi at least tried to present morally complex characters.

If he stuck with the example of graphic novels taking cheery ol Superman and making him a brooding husk of emotional muscle (I don't read them, but I did see that render where they gave Batman stubble for his latest game, but I could still be talking out of my ass) he'd have a point but the films usually appeal to those whose only exposure to super heroes are other super hero films not those who grew up in the 50s reading the comics.

Man of Steel

 

[duckroll]

I think he's reaching mightily when he tries to bring the Avengers film into this. It's the sort of light entertainment that has had a large appeal to mass audiences forever, there's little connection there to the change within the industry and comic fans.

Yes well, it IS Alan Moore. His thoughts are interesting at times, but it is always filtered through this annoying AlanMooreism. Lol.

 

[7Th]

If you want to argue it's not well done, that's different than arguing that it doesn't exist. Urobuchi at least tried to present morally complex characters.

As morally complex as most modern comic book villains, yes.

 

[BGBW]

Man of Steel

Haven't seen it. Not really into super heroes outside of Batman and even then my exposure to him is limited to the animated series, the films and brave and the bold.

 

[Jarmel]

As morally complex as most modern comic book villains, yes.

Considering the demographics and how some comic book villains are actually pretty good, that's fine. And what would be the gold standard in the past few years? It's not like we're getting amazingly deep characters in general.

 

[Basileus777]

As morally complex as most modern comic book villains, yes.

Who wins in a fight, Superman or Gilgamesh? Batman or Kotomine?

 

[BGBW]

Akari could beat up Dr Doom. I mean I don't know much about Dr Doom apart from the fact he has a PhD, a mask and he can play a horn whenever he likes, but that's no match for being able to stop time, become invisible and invincible at the same time and shooting bun and breast bazookas.

 

[Jex]

"This is no Zaku" shoul have been higher.

The power of Gundam Build Fighters!

 

[Turin Turambar]

I read this interview with Alan Moore today, and it's pretty interesting how his criticism also applies strongly to anime and manga: http://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/nov/22/alan-moore-comic-books-interview



Now, first off, we know that Alan Moore is a super hipster and an inane ass. The fact that he looks down on his own audience is kinda laughable, and he loves shitting on anything popular because he's well... a hipster (epic beard though). But having said that, there's a really interesting psychology here being discussed, which I think should not be waved away with "Lol Alan Moore".

It might not be a serious social problem that there are generations of manchildren now who continue to enjoy the childish things originally targeted at young children. But I think there is an interesting effect on industries in general when that happens because the demographic changes, and with that the expectation of content as well, but the core appeal of the product does not change.

In American comics this has led to more anti-heroes, dark heroes, and basically twisted versions of innocent characters created for kids now encountering and dealing with more violent and sexual storylines. For anime and manga though, what we're definitely seeing is that with more older audiences spending money in an industry originally intended for children, there is content which is more sexual and/or dark/violent, but they happen to characters and settings which are still relatable to kids - highschoolers, etc.

It's really pretty weird when you think about it, and certainly abnormal. I guess Moore has a point after all!

Well, I kind of agree with him. I never particularly liked the superhero comics, and more importantly, never understood how it got so big in first place. It seems a weird anomaly to me.

I'm not saying they shouldn't exist. But it's something incredibly specific right, if you think about it. It's not a genre like "adventure" or "drama" or "romance" are genres, but (in very general terms, of course there are exceptions) a very specific sub-genre: about good heroes that dress on costumes and have fake names that evil fight villains with some kind of super powers .
Something that specific should be a 10% of less of a entire medium like American Comics, but somehow it expanded to be the 90% and the rest of genres is the 10%.

No genre dominates like that other mediums like fiction books or films, and much less something that sounds so niche, but in western comic they get away with it.


A good time ago, I read an article about Stan Lee creating 3 novel comics, totally new. And the three descriptions were about superheroes. It's like in his mind the possibility of doing a story that didn't involve people with superheroes didn't even occur.

edit: BTW, I doubt the Alan Moore's audience in the last 15 years is the same public he is looking down here.

 

[dimb]

I read this interview with Alan Moore today, and it's pretty interesting how his criticism also applies strongly to anime and manga: http://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/nov/22/alan-moore-comic-books-interview

What a childish, shortsighted, and self-centered point of view. I don't like super heroes either, but over half of the audience for The Avengers was below the age of twenty-five, and at least forty percent of the audience was female.

 

[hosannainexcelsis]

There is no social commentary or anything remotely enlightening about the way the show handles fanservice.

Out of curiosity, could you give me an example of fanservice you find enlightening?

I wouldn't say adult is so much edgier but it's more complicated and reflecting the morally gray aspect of the world. I would say Fate/Zero is mature but not necessarily Kill La Kill for example.

Being obsessed with "gray" morality - as with the anti-heroes and dark heroes that duckroll mentions - is something I would describe as trying to be edgy.

 

[Jarmel]

Out of curiosity, could you give me an example of fanservice you find enlightening?

Maybe not enlightening but the nudity in Blue Gender for example reflected the militaristic viewpoint of their society and how social qualms over that had been forgotten, similar to another mecha anime with a blonde female pilot but I can't for the life of me remember the name of it. You could also use the rape scene in Kara no Kyoukai in that the nudity isn't supposed to be desirable per say. I suppose you can argue that when it becomes a part of the story or justified in the social context it doesn't become fanservice. Like some of the stuff in Kill La Kill I wouldn't call fanservice and other stuff I would. What I meant by that statement is that based on the tone of the rest of the show, it doesn't fit, it's just there. Kill La Kill at least does something with it.

Being obsessed with "gray" morality - as with the anti-heroes and dark heroes that duckroll mentions - is something I would describe as trying to be edgy.

Well if the story is normally happy or idealistic, like Superman, and you tried to make Superman into some wife beater, then yea that might be considered edgy. It obviously depends on execution inside the work itself. However the real world is full of gray and complicated moralities and trying to depict that, isn't something I would necessarily view as edgy. It depends on what the author's goal is.

I suppose a good way of looking at it is that realism is viewed as being more 'adult' like, such as there are realistic aspects to it such as consequence, complicated personalities, and other such elements.

 

[Save 'N Quit]

I just had the sudden urge to play Catherine just by looking at this.

 

[duckroll]

What an Alan Moore point of view.

Yup.

 

[R_thanatos]

Doki Doki Precure - 41

Alice episodes are a way to show how broken she is , and this episode was no exception , problem is that this was one of the MOST DISAPOINTING space battle i've ever seen.
I know this is a magical girl show , but this episode had a complete disregard on physics even by magical girls show standards.

It's like the writter said " screw it , it's magic ! " and just did whatever he wanted.

As for mana , i recall when i started doki doki precure , i was worried on what they'll do with her character , but after 41 episodes it's s shame that it hasn't evolved on bit. She was pretty high spec from the start but it's getting ridiculous.

 

[Owwari]

I kinda hate digipacks, but damn it, Perfect Blue. Hey Sinthetic, if you got a bluray drive could you post bdinfo for the disc?

Edit: oh, more Nisekoi anime designs, I'll post a better scan later since I guess it'll pop up on weibo, watermarked but what the hell.

Favorite manga besides The World Only Knows? Favorite manga besides The World Only Knows.
Anime here we go.

 

[Dedication Through Light]

Miss Monochrome Episode 9

Storywise probably the most shocking and interesting for it so far.

Spoiler

how it tied in back to the start at episode one was a bit chilling, and really sad to see Miss Monochrome go through eons of waiting

 

[hipbabboom]

WOW... now here's something old <3 I think this was the first time I saw pubic hair in an anime (I was like 15 at the time) and I felt so mature! I knew what was going on in the scene and all but looking back on it, I probably didn't appreciate the gravity of it.

 

[Admiral Woofington]

Alan Moore is still alive?

If there has ever been a case of brilliant works but douchiest fucking artist, it's Alan Moore. The guy wants to live in a perfect world where everybody is a Shakesperian genius with the morality of a saint. Fuck off Alan Moore.

 

[Shard]

Coppelion Episode 9:

Damnation, I knew it would have to happen at some point, but I am not happy about it. Yes, Aoi has finally been extracted from the closet because, well, everybody else is leaving this sumbitch as well. She indeed wastes no time in going back to being useless comic relief. Takeo surprisingly gains of some much needed character development since I often times forget she exists. All and all this is just the set up to the big climax coming next week. Also, the filters, so many filters, too many filters.

 

[Jarmel]

Yozakura Quartet- Hoshi no Umi

If you really don't want to watch this, you seemingly could get away with it. It's not bad though so I don't see why you would skip it. Yea there isn't really a reason for them to go over this twice. Also they don't seem so squeamish about killing in the TV show(Hana no Uta). I'm really hoping this doesn't become a big issue in the TV series proper as I was already getting somewhat annoyed in the OVAs about it. The animation quality is about on par with Hana no Uta which is to say the combat is pretty good.

 

[Vito]

5 Tylor sets appeared at TRSI

http://www.rightstuf.com/1-800-338-6827/catalogmgr/QGhF1NBuzg3OOMMx9K/browse/item/100667/4/0/0

and 20 copies of Time of Eve left at half off.

http://www.rightstuf.com/1-800-338-6827/catalogmgr/QGhF1NBuzg3OOMMx9K/browse/item/98111/4/0/0

I really love Time of Eve and suggest getting it at that price. There's plenty of other stuff to stuff an order with.

 

[Dead]

Oh my god, Nadia Blu-ray is getting a domestic release

 

[BGBW]

The secret to blue water is that the red wavelengths of light get absorbed by it,

 

[Vito]

Announced about two weeks ago actually, I hope they keep the Japanese boxset artwork, Sentai being Sentai, I doubt they'll bundle it with an artbook like the French:

Though I hate digipacks, just use standard bluray cases and a chipboard box. Do a reversible cover if inclined to include more artwork.

 

[Dead]

Unfortunately, the expectation for most American anime blu-rays at this point consists of shit packaging, awful cover design and groan worthy tag lines

Nadia aired on TV on France and thus is more likely to have a bigger fanbase as well as more nostalgia value, so it makes sense that theyd spend the money on a set like that.

 

[Theonik]

Announced about two weeks ago actually, I hope they keep the Japanese boxset artwork, Sentai being Sentai, I doubt they'll bundle it with an artbook like the French:

Though I hate digipacks, just use standard bluray cases and a chipboard box. Do a reversible cover if inclined to include more artwork.

This is sentai. I think it's almost certain it will be a normal BD case with some trailers and the series crammed into 4 disks.

 

[JCG]

This is sentai. I think it's almost certain it will be a normal BD case with some trailers and the series crammed into 4 disks.

Sentai has a lot of bare bones releases but does occasionally get to include a couple of additional extras from time to time, for whatever it's worth.

I guess it depends on either how cheap they were when signing the contracts or how much the Japanese were actually charging for extras.

 

[Jex]

Unfortunately, the expectation for most American anime blu-rays at this point consists of shit packaging, awful cover design and groan worthy tag lines

Nadia aired on TV on France and thus is more likely to have a bigger fanbase as well as more nostalgia value, so it makes sense that theyd spend the money on a set like that.

Also France is, of course, the largest anime market in the world outside of Japan. Those lucky devils.

 

[BGBW]

France got the Mitsudomoe manga.

 

[Deputy Dangle]

I've owned Nadia on DVD for a few years now, but I've still yet to finally sit down and watch it. Waiting on a rainy day etc etc.

That BD boxart looks absolutely gorgeous and really tempting, though. Curse my desire to impulse buy!

 

[Vito]

Oh just wait for a sale, you can get Sentai stuff for 50%+ off. Seriously, every holiday I feel like a moron looking at TRSI's sale, trying to figure out why I bought stuff without huge discounts.

 

[jbug617]

Oh just wait for a sale, you can get Sentai stuff for 50%+ off. Seriously, every holiday I feel like a moron looking at TRSI's sale, trying to figure out why I bought stuff without huge discounts.

Yeah I expect to take the hit from buying anime all year.

 

[cnet128]

Yozakura Quartet- Hoshi no Umi

If you really don't want to watch this, you seemingly could get away with it. It's not bad though so I don't see why you would skip it. Yea there isn't really a reason for them to go over this twice. Also they don't seem so squeamish about killing in the TV show(Hana no Uta). I'm really hoping this doesn't become a big issue in the TV series proper as I was already getting somewhat annoyed in the OVAs about it. The animation quality is about on par with Hana no Uta which is to say the combat is pretty good.

If the combat animation in this is just "pretty good", then 90% of anime is weeping right now.

 

[Jarmel]

Kyoukai no Kanata - 9

No way they had the balls to do that. But that line in the preview...

If the combat animation in this is just "pretty good", then 90% of anime is weeping right now.

It's not spectacular. It's about on par with the TV series which doesn't even have the best action this season. Actually the action in the TV series has been better now that I think about it. That said, 90% of anime is garbage.

 

[Bombless]

Oh my god, Nadia Blu-ray is getting a domestic release

Want. Oh my god, want so much.

 

[Dedication Through Light]

Beyond the Boundary Episode 9 - Silver Bamboo

Pretty awesome episode with actually compelling and interesting action for once. Personally enjoyed Hiromi's fighting the best but megane and such fighting was also still good. Confused on the larger plot at hand or either I was too busy paying attention to other things, but I feel like I missed it and its importance

Spoiler

why they would want to use Akkey for example and why they are targetting the Nase family

 

[fertygo]

Kyoukai no Kanata - 9

No way they had the balls to do that. But that line in the preview...



It's not spectacular. It's about on par with the TV series which doesn't even have the best action this season. Actually the action in the TV series has been better now that I think about it. That said, 90% of anime is garbage.

You know this just because there's some toy show that goes batshit with 2D mech action, aside that its totally better than show like KnK or KLK (lulz) which people drooling about of its supposed good action.

And the 2nd bold is totally correct.

 

[jediyoshi]

Beyond the Boundary 9

Better paced than normal. Hiroomi playing detective was a nice touch. For some reason before he pointed out that Izumi was the one to muck with Akkey leading up to the Calm, I never connected the two things. I just assumed it was wtf writing to justify that the Calm alone would somehow make his youmu half overpower the human side. Also, up until the point where Mirai said she already knew Akkey was a youmu back during their first meet, I never understood why she immediately attacked him.

 

[duckroll]

Kyoanus no Kanata - Episode 9

Such twist.

Much action.

So drama.

Wow.