Forum - View topicIs anime humor an acquired taste?
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theloudnes
Posts: 8 |
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Wow. Thank you so much for explaining.
I think it will help me a lot more understand anime comedy shows. Maybe with this information, an understanding of the culture and how it is presented, perhaps I can find a way to actually find these shows entertaining to watch. I think I went into it too much with an American mindset, due to it being something I am so accustomed to, and I had no idea why the shows did what they did. I was expecting American, and got something completely different. |
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ChibiKangaroo
 Posts: 2941 |
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Ughh I just couldn't get into Chobits myself. It's excessively moe. Also, the male lead is like the very essence of the stereotype that most annoys me in anime these days, the "innocent pervert." i.e., the guy who the writers try way way too hard to portray as a totally innocent good guy, who just wants to help girls and teach them things, but at the same time he gets to "accidentally" feel them up or voyeuristically oogle their bodies. But, we're told, it's totally okay because he is an innocent, good guy! It always seems so extremely phony to me. I'd rather they have a guy who is truly innocent and is teased by the girls, or a guy who is truly a pervert. This hybrid version that tries to have it both ways irks me. |
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Akane the Catgirl
Posts: 1091 Location: LA, Baby! |
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Well, if you didn't like it, I'm perfectly fine with that. Honestly, the fanservice and moe didn't bother me that much, since it wasn't shoved in my face like, say, Eiken or To-Love-Ru as far as I've heard. As with Hideki, I watched the series dubbed, and he was voiced by Crispin Freeman. I agree that he's not the most original lead, but to me, a good performance can bring out the best in a character I'd normally hate. (For example, I'd probably not like Maka from Soul Eater, but Laura Bailey's performance helped me like her.) If you didn't like Hideki, okay. In my opinion, Hideki wasn't the typical spineless lead most of the time. Sometimes he was, but for the most part, Crispin Freeman's performance gave me the impression that Hideki was a more naive man whose background was devoid of computers and women, and unknowingly threw himself into a world with both. That just might be me, though. I'd also recommend something like School Rumble, which I only saw a few episodes of, but did entertain me and make me laugh. (Basically, it's about a comedic love triangle that would make Rumiko Takahashi cry.) You? |
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EricJ2
 Posts: 4016 |
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It's certainly a step up from Heaven's Lost Property on the boundary between where the inhumanly objectified "Girl in a closet" becomes "Girl on a leash", but Chobits does have a certain....squicky feeling about where Chii develops compared to other series. Beldandi on Ah My Goddess certainly never wandered into a porn booth. Lum on UY was certainly the first girl ever to sleep in a horny teen's closet, but she was hardly a "pet" or an object, and the teen's horniness was "genuine" to add to the overall satirical tone of the show than to be just the whitewashed "hybrid" excuse to cater to fantasies of girl-terrified Japanese boys. |
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Akane the Catgirl
Posts: 1091 Location: LA, Baby! |
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Beep boop what r context. Last I remember, the porn booth scene wasn't being shown as sexy at all. The guy running the booth was portrayed as, well, a dirty b*****d. We never got any explicit cheesecake from Chii, and it was clear she was being manipulated into doing it. Not to mention that if Freya hadn't interfered, Chii would have basically reset herself. So basically, Chii being in the peep show booth was shown as a bad thing. And that's terrible. To address the character of Chii, to me, a lot of her behavior is justified by her having the mindset of a child. Her memories have been erased (spoiler[at her request]), so she literally doesn't know any better. For me, part of the reason the anime was so compelling was watching Chii develop and grow as a person. The anime wasn't always about moe moe fanservice; there is genuine plot in there. It just doesn't really show itself until two-thirds of the way in. I'm going to cut right to the chase; is Chobits sexist? Mildly; at the very least, it does have chivalrous undertones. Is Chobits squicky? Probably. It depends on how you look at it, and whether or not you can stay for the actually pretty smart final third. I certainly liked it. If you don't, that's perfectly okay with me. I'll just rewatch it to find my favorite parts. NOW STICK TO THE TOPIC. 
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EricJ2
Posts: 4016 |
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Well, the topic, once we got Loudness past:
"All Japanese humor is tsundere punching bags!" "Uh, here's a dozen examples why it isn't:" "But it's gotta be, that's what I saw! Okay, so why is it all about tsundere punching bags?" is that he may have finally gotten it...We hope:
Nnnnnn-no kiddin'! 
As we academically explored through several pages back, every country's humor reflects its own cultural pomposities and insecurities, and to know the country is to know the humor. And vicie-versie. That's not to say "you won't get it", but there are some things that cross borders, like public embarrassment, or male insecurity, or frustration of the rational with a world gone mad. Slipping on a banana peel is funny in any country, for example, even if you're Keroro on Sgt. Frog, and have that natural obsession we all have to try it with a real banana peel to see if it really works like in the cartoons. 
Americans aren't the only country who's ever wondered that. |
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ChibiKangaroo
Posts: 2941 |
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For me, it's never the problem that shows like Chobits will put a character into a situation like that and give a thumbs up of approval, forcing them to go "all the way" in some kind of pervy sex scene. Instead, the show's writers will simply throw the character into a situation and make a grand show of telling the audience, "Naughty naughty naughty, look at what situation poor [Chii] is in, isn't this so bad and naughty? How will poor [Chii] be able to get out of this terrible, awful, naughty, sexy predicament?" Then, the generic, insecure, indecisive, frightened-of-girls (but constantly fantasizing and "accidentally" groping/seeing them naked) boy shows up to help or teach her how to be a proper girl, in a totally innocent fashion of course... (even though he might accidentally cop a feel). It's that type of thing that annoys me. Heck, I would probably be more fine with them just having the girl go into a sexy situation, go all the way, and decide that she liked it and would do it again. That would feel less contrived and carefully cooked up for the audience of young guys who wants to be that one who "helps" her and shows her all the ways of the world (again, while innocently coping feels and peeking under her skirt and seeing her naked in the bathroom, etc...) I don't think this is too far off topic by the way, since this is really a staple of the rom-com genre. |
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HaruhiToy
 Posts: 4118 |
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I can't really disagree with anything specific ChibiKangaroo has said so far about Chobits, but I do think she is being a bit harsh. The show managed to deliver a few mildly amusing moments. The only one that comes to mind right now was when Chi was sent on a mission to buy underpants because the lead (of course) is to shy to do such a thing. His friend's mini persacom takes the lead with great seriousness. I suspected the whole scene was set up to prank the voice actress to see how many times they could get her to recite "pantsu" ("underpants" in the dub) before she goes WTF I ain't doing this anymore. On the overall premise of the show, to pretend that life-sized female shaped persacom things would ever not routinely serve at some point as a sex doll sort of strains credulity. They ignored that part -- not getting any closer than some maid costumes and stuff -- in favor of trying to make a cute and more wholesome story and they succeeded only to a certain extent. I have to side with CK when it comes to being adverse to the subsumed cheesiness of it. |
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EricJ2
Posts: 4016 |
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The premise of Chobits is playing off the idea that Japanese teens are more "in love" with their personal technology than they are with...y'know...those high-maintenance girl-things, and if you had a girl who really WAS a Wi-Fi computer you installed in your tiny apartment, that would be the ultimate sweetness. 
You'd need a LOT of personality for the girl-object to break out of a stereotypic objectified image like that, and the gimmick, of course, is that Chi doesn't have one for most of the early part of the series. (Until she develops a "pure" pitiable one later on.) Count the "Blank monotone" girl as yet another objectified fantasy of terrified male teens. |
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Akane the Catgirl
Posts: 1091 Location: LA, Baby! |
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Would everyone PLEASE stop talking about Chobits!? The topic is NOT about Chobits! I don't care what you think about Chobits! Since I'm the one who brought it up, I think it appropriate I END the discussion about Chobits! Anyone who brings it up from now on will be reported to the mods! END OF DISCUSSION. STICK TO THE G*****N TOPIC.
...phew. Glad that's over...or is it...I hope so... |
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sandracollin1985
Posts: 3 |
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Well, you've already made your piece but I guess Anime is an acquired taste. Probably whenever you see anime comedy you always compare it to your American comedy which is far from what Asian animes usually offer to the public. So it only means that their market is not American but Asian most particularly their countrymen. It just so happens that you are not used to Asian anime comedy and you like your own
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ChibiKangaroo
Posts: 2941 |
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Hey, relax. Like I said, the show is clearly on topic. It's anime rom-com. The topic is about whether anime comedy is an acquired taste. There's clearly grounds to talk about any anime comedy as part of the thread. Discussions about particular shows tend to end organically, so there's no need for you to try and play mod. |
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Touma
 Posts: 2651 Location: Colorado, USA |
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Not entirely. Chobits is only partly comedy. To me the underpants episode is definitely comedy. It is based mostly on misunderstandings and silly mistakes caused by Chi's innocence, and ignorance. The final punchline comes when Hideki realizes that he missed an easy solution to the problem. Whether on not it really is funny is subjective, but I believe that it was intended to be funny. However, in my opinion, the porn site episode was not comedy and was not supposed to be funny. If you think that it was comedy then discussing what you considered to be funny would be on topic, and I would be interested in reading that. And I am being serious, not sarcastic. |
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ChibiKangaroo
Posts: 2941 |
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I was talking about the show in general not a specific scene. It is a rom-com series. Akane was complaining about us discussing the show, saying that the show was not on topic. However, as a rom-com series (and particularly, a rom-com series that involves a lot of the "comedy" issues we have been discussing) it is open for discussion in a thread about anime comedy. That was the only point I was making there, thanks. |
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eyeresist
 Posts: 995 Location: a 320x240 resolution igloo (Sydney) |
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Girl punching out guy while screaming "Ecchi!" is a thing, but it's not the only thing, and indeed a great many anime fans (at least in the West) are sick of it. But somehow they are still able to find comedies they enjoy. My own faves include: Genshiken, Strawberry Marshmallow, Air Master, School Rumble, Baka & Test (s1), Fruits Basket, Bamboo Blade, Midori Days, Fumoffu, Squid Girl, and yes, Azumanga Daioh. I also recently enjoyed the 1st eps of Place to Place and Lovely Complex so much I ordered the DVDs. Note that most of these are not wall-to-wall gags, but have character development and a bit of drama too.
From your finding Azumanga Daioh incredibly boring, and the protagonist of Welcome to the NHK a "loser", I deduce that you are not much experienced at empathising with viewpoints different to your own. My different view of comedy may arise from our age difference, but I've eventually arrived at the conclusion that the comedy that lasts best is character-based; intellectual jokes lose their surprise value, and randomness is pointless by definition and eventually becomes predictable. But if you feel close to a character, or at least feel you know them as a "real" person, then jokes can actually seem to increase in value when they are repeated, because they make you feel closer to the character.
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