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NEWS: Director Miyazaki Criticizes Prime Minister Asō


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v1cious



Joined: 31 Dec 2002
Posts: 6199
Location: Houston, TX
PostPosted: Fri Nov 21, 2008 4:36 am Reply with quote
i don't get what's wrong with the guy saying he likes manga (although i dislike him for many other reasons), i do agree on the nationalism thing though.

Last edited by v1cious on Sat Nov 22, 2008 5:50 pm; edited 1 time in total
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_Earthwyrm_





PostPosted: Fri Nov 21, 2008 5:04 am Reply with quote
I don't know, I think I'd be pretty embarrased if our Prime Minister (I live in the UK) was constantly making everyone aware of his personal interests. It's fine for him to have his personal interests, but I can see the embarassing element of constantly bleating about them in public and trying to use them as gears of cultural exchange.
I can just imagine Gordon Brown standing on a podium in front of BBC HQ, saying "Yeah, guys, lets share our culture with the world through our television programming", and dropping hints about what his favourite shows are (hip, cool, happening shows, of course, because he's still in touch with the youth).

The only thing a lot of people know about Aso is "Hey, he likes comics." Embarassed
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Mohawk52



Joined: 16 Oct 2003
Posts: 8202
Location: England, UK
PostPosted: Fri Nov 21, 2008 5:20 am Reply with quote
One has to keep in mind that Hayao is a self professed Communist so it's no surprise he would fire one across Aso's broadside. However having said that, I can sympathise with his stance about "doing it in private" when there is such manga like Kodomo no Jikan being publicly announced to the outside world.

Quote:
The director warned of nationalism by noting, "We learned from the last war that the town we love or the country we love can always turn into something bad to the world. I believe we must not forget what we learned."
It's alright to be nationalistic, as long as you don't violently force other people to be the same, and brutally kill those that disagree. Wink

Earth_Wyrm wrote:
I can just imagine Gordon Brown standing on a podium in front of BBC HQ, saying "Yeah, guys, lets share our culture with the world through our television programming", and dropping hints about what his favourite shows are (hip, cool, happening shows, of course, because he's still in touch with the youth).
Yeah cause someone will have to whisper in his ear "We've been doing that for years now Prime Minister" BTW I would guess his idea of (hip, cool, happening) would be Strictly Come Dancing, and Newsnight. Wink
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SeiyuuOtaku



Joined: 31 Oct 2008
Posts: 16
PostPosted: Fri Nov 21, 2008 5:30 am Reply with quote
One keeps promoting manga.
One keeps making shitty anime.

You know who to listen to.

PS. If a Prime Minister says he's a [enter football/soccer/basketball team here] fan and attend the games, he's cool. Why being manga fan lame?
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Pirkaf



Joined: 14 Feb 2008
Posts: 156
PostPosted: Fri Nov 21, 2008 5:33 am Reply with quote
So exactly what anime made by Miyazaki is shitty?
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Mohawk52



Joined: 16 Oct 2003
Posts: 8202
Location: England, UK
PostPosted: Fri Nov 21, 2008 5:34 am Reply with quote
SeiyuuOtaku wrote:
One keeps promoting manga.
One keeps making shitty anime.

You know who to listen to.
Yeah, the one what won the Oscar for his "shitty "anime. Rolling Eyes
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bleuster



Joined: 22 Sep 2005
Posts: 455
Location: Orange County
PostPosted: Fri Nov 21, 2008 6:27 am Reply with quote
I don't think much of either opinions of each other, if I may be so bold and honest.
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angel_lover



Joined: 22 Apr 2005
Posts: 645
Location: UK
PostPosted: Fri Nov 21, 2008 6:41 am Reply with quote
Mohawk52 wrote:
SeiyuuOtaku wrote:
One keeps promoting manga.
One keeps making shitty anime.

You know who to listen to.
Yeah, the one what won the Oscar for his "shitty "anime. Rolling Eyes

An Oscar is not necessarily a guarantee of supreme quality - just look at Shakespeare in Love and Chicago - but in this case I'll gladly agree that it was deserved. Mind you, I don't think for a moment that the Oscar committee understood Spirited Away and so it probably won for all the wrong reasons. Nevertheless, it's a masterpiece of filmmaking and its position on the ANN rankings bears that out.

I think Miyazaki's problem is not his politics as such, but that the gap between his own beliefes and those of "mainstream Japan" has led to him becoming disenculturalised. I'm not saying that everything in mainstream Japanese culture is wonderful, but Miyazaki seems to have become so isolated from it that he's in danger of turning into whatever the inverse of a "weeaboo" is.
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ikillchicken



Joined: 12 Feb 2007
Posts: 7272
Location: Vancouver
PostPosted: Fri Nov 21, 2008 6:41 am Reply with quote
Pirkaf, Mohawk52,

I'm sorry to inform you that you have failed the "troll spotting" portion of your exam and will need to retake the course. Tips for next time: Trolls are most easily recognized by their one line attacks on anything popular with no supporting explanation. Just ignore them though. They are immune to all manner of conversation and will only continue to parrot out the same thing over and over.


Anyway...

I can sort of see what he is saying. We don't really need to know so much about his personal hobbies. However, "It's an embarrassment. That's something that should be done in private." He makes it sound like the guy is talking about his porn habit.
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angel_lover



Joined: 22 Apr 2005
Posts: 645
Location: UK
PostPosted: Fri Nov 21, 2008 6:46 am Reply with quote
ikillchicken wrote:
He makes it sound like the guy is talking about his porn habit.

But do we know exactly what manga it is he reads? Wink

And BTW, I think you failed the "backseat moderating" portion of your exam.
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Emerje



Joined: 10 Aug 2002
Posts: 7328
Location: Maine
PostPosted: Fri Nov 21, 2008 7:30 am Reply with quote
Is it just me or has Miyazaki become quite bitter about anime and manga fandom in his old age? Just seems like he's in the news for trashing some person, company, or type of fandom. He's spoken out about moe and lolicon, otaku life, his own son as a director, and now the Prime Minister. It's like he wants people to enjoy things without actually being fans of them.

Emerje
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BassKuroi





PostPosted: Fri Nov 21, 2008 7:37 am Reply with quote
If you take a look at some documents in nausicaa.net, you would see that Miyazaki is actually against anime (he said that he didn't make "anime" but "animation", meaning: 1, he make good quality animation and 2, 99% of anime production is bullshit).

So, I'm not really surprised about this declaration, in fact, I was expecting something like this.

ikillchicken: after all, a grown-up man reading shounen manga in Japan is still considered censorable.

Angel_lover: Aso likes "Rozen Maiden"...

Emerje: Yeah, I also think his age is a factor to take account.
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Rolando_jose



Joined: 04 Jan 2007
Posts: 240
Location: Ahhhh it's vacation time again!
PostPosted: Fri Nov 21, 2008 7:46 am Reply with quote
Is it me the only one that see Aso's "I love manga" remarks as a way to get a pool of votes from people so ostracised from society that will see him as a savior and forget all about his flaws?

BTW Im not saying that all manga fans are ostracised.



Rolando
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Sarkozy



Joined: 28 Feb 2006
Posts: 132
PostPosted: Fri Nov 21, 2008 8:53 am Reply with quote
Just a mistake I found...

In the article, in italics, it should be Russian President, not Russian Prime Minister.

Just thought I'd point that out. ;d
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Seraphim_Alchemist



Joined: 29 Apr 2006
Posts: 114
Location: Camuy, P.R. (US)
PostPosted: Fri Nov 21, 2008 8:53 am Reply with quote
Ahh Japan... such wacky convoluted mess you make yourself out to be. Anime smile

All kidding aside, I do agree with the statements here about being a little more private. However I do disagree with censoring manga and anime popularity, the times have changed and no matter how much you may hate your own medium, you have to realize that it's one of the main sources of income and cultural revenue that in the long run spreads around a "good" (whether you agree or not that's another thing Razz) image of you country.

Miyazaki is one of the best directors, that we know... but traditionalists views like those will only further away the globalization that takes place every day between modern Japan and the rest of the world for that matter.
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