Forum - View topicHey, Answerman! [2009-02-27]
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DomFortress
 Posts: 751 Location: Richmond BC, Canada |
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My perception on the next breakout anime hit is something that hasn't been done in the anime industry for a long time, completely original because it's something that only the anime industry can do, but with new creative elements that's gonna make it interesting. Anime fans, I'm talking about an original super robot anime series.
Anime fans, I like super robot. Anime fans, I love super robot. I like to crush. I like to smash. I like to fly. I like to dive. I like to combine. I like to transform. I like to breakthrough. Beyond the horizon. In-between the valley. Over the sky. Beneath the ocean. Wedge in a city. Stuck on a wasteland. Suspending in outer space. Falling through re-entry. Blasting away hyperspace. Racing across dimensions. I utterly love anything and everything that a super robot can do in the universe. I like the roaring blast of all its boosters, as a super robot soaring across the sky above. When a super robot smashes its foe into exploding pieces upon the sky with all its might, my heart flutters! I like how a super robot can shatter any enemy with its awesome power, and it warms my heart to see the sign of triumph, as a super robot reduces whatever remains of its enemy with an overkill finisher move. I like to see how a young hero struck down the enemy with a super robot, the scene of a trampling pilot commanding those mighty metallic fists to slam down on an already defeated enemy again and again is total ecstasy! It's a shame to see such a promising young hero gets defeated for the very first time, and how agonizing to see the hero blaming everyone for such failure, only to realize how childish all this is at the end. And that poor excuse of an evil organization, how they are hellbent on world domination through senseless destruction. To have such high hopes in pure malice and rage, then be reduced to ruination along with their monstrosity by a super robot is just utter disgrace. Anime fans, I desire a super robot anime series that's hell on earth. Anime fans, those who with childhood memories from our youth, which I held dear. Anime fans, just what do you desire? Do you desire super robot anime as well? Do you desire a towering metallic humanoid with Godlike power, a physical embodiment of justice that will eradicate evil without fail? Do you desire an adventure that will breakthrough every fabrics of space, time, reality, love and peace, hopes and dreams, one that will redefine the indomitable human spirits as we know it? Then without delay, let's have super robot! |
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pparker
 Posts: 1185 Location: Florida |
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Um... they already did Gurren Lagann. |
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vashfanatic
 Posts: 3489 Location: Back stateside |
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Actually, as the "dork" in question who has also READ THE BOOK, they are MUCH older than 15 in it! The age of the characters was lowered for the anime. And the typical age of marriage in the early 1800s was not that young, especially among the wealthy. Romeo and Juliet was written c. 1600, over two hundred years earlier, and set at a time period even earlier than that, they don't even compare. Besides, Gankutsuou isn't set in the 1800s, it's set in the distant future, post the creation of childhood and all that. I know what I'm talking about here. It really doesn't work. And don't call people names, it's incredibly rude and mean. We may use aliases, but I'm a real people you're insulting, okay? Last edited by vashfanatic on Fri Feb 27, 2009 5:35 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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DomFortress
Posts: 751 Location: Richmond BC, Canada |
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LordByronius
ANN Columnist
 Posts: 861 Location: Philippe for America! He is five. |
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well no, it's not about me misconstruing his statement about the "genres" of anime - i just ABSOLUTELY HATE IT when people refer to "genres" within anime or animation at all. it's unnecessary, because nobody ever says anything like "live-action film can cover a variety of genres!" because it's already widely understood that it can. anime and animation can do anything, because it's a MEDIUM. and the sooner people divorce the words "animation" and "genre" apart from each other, the better. |
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DomFortress
Posts: 751 Location: Richmond BC, Canada |
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JacobC
ANN Contributor
 Posts: 3728 Location: SoCal |
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The same (completely understandable and true) rant is often carried out by Brad Bird, who is probably the greatest forerunner for mature animated storytelling in the States, so I agree that your sentiment should be made clear to people in general if the States are EVER (maaaaaybe in the next thirty years?) going to broaden the breadth of our animation utilities to include more types of stories. Seriously, we have WAY more money than Japan does, but our animated productions (with the exception of Pixar, 2/3 of Disney's repertoire, and about 1/6th of Dreamworks') are piddling in comparison. The day the States can put out something like Michiko and Hatchin and people will actually watch it, I will be a happy happy girl. And so will Brad Bird, if he's still alive and all. 
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pparker
Posts: 1185 Location: Florida |
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Well, I agree there seem to be fewer "original" series, but now that I'm two years into it, I'm not surprised. One could say the same thing about any mature mass entertainment medium at almost any point in time. There just aren't that many stories. If that were the issue, no one over 25 would be going to the movies either. I also understand your dislike of fanservice anime. I consider that a cultural thing, and much less ignore it, I even enjoy it sometimes. It differentiates anime from U.S. cartoons, for one thing. The targeting, we must remember, is to Japanese, not to us. The titles you call niche are the bread and butter of a broad range of genres that appeal to the Japanese. Gonzo has been described as having aimed, unfortunately, at foreign markets to the detriment of its domestic sales. Strike Witches seemed to validate that idea. I'm not sure break-outs can even be planned. I believe they are more a happy accident than someone deciding to produce a hit for U.S. audiences. And yes, the odds of that hit being a mecha show, or a fighting show, or a show adapted from a popular kids game, are high. It ain't Clannad, I'll give you that.
Well, then you just took an opportunity to ride a hobby horse. That's fine. I'm not arguing. But live action movies do come in genres, just like anime comes in genres. We don't mention genre in relation to movies, just like I'm sure no one in Japan mentions genre casually in relation to anime. It's not a dirty word, just descriptive. (I so resisted the temptation to copy-paste "genre" here 50 times...  )
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Rin Tohsaka
Posts: 39 |
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TBH, I couldn't get into Avatar because it was regular shounen fluff covered with a thick layer of Hollywood-style Orientalism. This is the same reason why I hated that Jackie Chan show too. |
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vashfanatic
Posts: 3489 Location: Back stateside |
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Yes, but it was fun shounen fluff with Hollywood-style Orientalism! 
But seriously, I won't argue that it was pretty orientalist (the "exotic east"), but did you get to the part where everyone has an angsty back story? To me, that was what screamed "trying to be like anime" as much as anything. Always gotta have an angsty back story. 
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doctordoom85
 Posts: 2093 |
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I'm still shocked Avatar was even allowed to air, I mean, even if the deaths are bloodless, I figured Nick (which generally airs tamer content compared to Cartoon Network nowadays) would go nuts when the Avatar writers began killing characters. Then of course, you have the ultimate fate of spoiler[Azula], which was downright disturbing, and the fact that spoiler[Admiral Zhao pretty much committed suicide in a way.]
Though he makes a point about Batman TAS, it actually even aired on FOX's regular network time for a while (obviously, that didn't last for long). Since then, a non-comedy cartoon series hasn't been aired on regular TV until finally now that the new Clone Wars series is coming to TNT. That being said, while Batman TAS is the second best cartoon of the 90's IMHO (The Simpsons #1, of course), there have been cartoons that have come after it that have been close to its level. Avatar, as mentioned, and JL/JLU and Samurai Jack are almost just as good. |
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enurtsol
 Posts: 14761 |
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Yeah, anything by Greg Weisman too, who made Gargoyles and, among other things, the 2nd season of W.I.T.C.H. which is still the closest thing we have to shoujo in the West that nobody knows about. And do you know that Weisman was also involved in the New Generation 2nd dub of 3x3 Eyes, among others? So yes, he did anime!
Yes, Paul Dini too, who occasionally wrote DCAU episodes for his friend Timm and who later became the story producer for the reknowned Lost TV series that helped bring back dramatic serials to primetime. So, he's one of the few who could write for comics, cartoons, and live-action.
Nah, ya just wanna see Superman's cousin in a skimpy outfit!
Well, I prefer this explanation about animation and live-action: I like better this perspective from Maureen Furniss: "One way to think about animation is in relation to live-action media. The use of inanimate objects and certain frame-by-frame filming techniques suggest 'animation,' whereas the appearance of live objects and continuous filming suggest 'live-action.' However, there is an immense area in which the two tendencies overlap, especially when an individual is writing on the subject of aesthetics. Rather than conceiving of the two modes of production as existing in separate spheres, it is more accurate for the analyst to think of them as being on a continuum representing all possible image types under the broad category of 'motion picture production.' In construction this continuum, it is probably best to use more neutral terms than 'animation' and 'live-action' to constitue the ends of the spectrum. Although the terms 'mimesis' and 'abstraction' are not ideal, they are useful in suggesting opposing tendencies under which live-action and animated imagery can be juxtaposed. The term 'mimesis' represents the desire to reproduce natural reality (more like live-action work) while the term 'abstraction' describes the use of pure form - a suggestion of a concept rather than an attempt to explicate it in real life terms (more like animation). There is no one film that represents the ideal example of 'mimesis' or 'abstraction' - everything is relative.... Actually, placements suggested by this description are somewhat arbitrary. There is no exact spot where any one film should appear, and it is completely reasonable that various people might argue for different placements than the ones described here: position film 0 MIMESIS 5 Sleep (1963) 20 Jurassic Parck (1993) 50 The Three Caballeros (1943) 60 Snow White (1937) 75 Hen Hop (1942) 90 Circles (1933) 100 ABSTRACTION "Art in Motion: Animation Aesthetics"
Well, it's not supposed to be the real Orient anyways. The Avatar world societies are kinda what would happen if the Orient and the West combine. That's just how their world is.
Last edited by enurtsol on Sat Feb 28, 2009 12:05 am; edited 1 time in total |
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Elves
 Posts: 269 Location: USA |
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That's terrible! I totally missed that the cute animal pictures were no longer part of the column.
 Oops.
Though, on the plus side, I think the hand-drawn cartoons are cute and amusing. Nina better watch out - she may have some competition. lol
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vashfanatic
Posts: 3489 Location: Back stateside |
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Orientalism: There are two meanings to this term. The first is to an art movement in the 1800s that displayed a lot of themes and styles drawn from "the East," which included the Middle East, India, China, and Japan (all lumped together, of course). "The East" was seen as exotice, mystic, sexy, "cool." People would talk about the "wisdom of the East," as opposed to the crass materialism and science of the West. You still see this a LOT, especially if you look at non-scholarly trade paperbacks on anything "Eastern." The Dalai Lama has sure as heck made use of it... The other comes from the book of the same title by Edward Said, it refers to the idea that all "Eastern" cultures are not only different from "the West," but are somehow fundamentally all the same. "The East" becomes constructed as an Other to the West. Said also argues that Western studies of "the East," especially the Middle East, have always had an imperialist agenda, where "the East" is inferior to "the West," thus justifying its colonization. He's faced criticism for a lot of his claims, but it's hard to argue that he has a point about how we lump "the East" together in an opposition to "the West," even when they have nothing in common with each other. Hence, "Avatar" would be considered Orientalist because of how it depicts all the "eastern" religion/spirituality it references as all being sort of the same (ex. the Tibetan-inspired Avatar who uses a Chinese fighting style takes lessons from an Indian guru) as well as exotic and cool, with the most "Western" (i.e. industrial) nation being automatically evil. Now, I'd add that lots of stuff produced by actual "Eastern" countries actually does the same thing to their own culture and presents it against "the West," which is a phenomenon known as occidentalism... but this is turning into a lecture, so go read up on it on your own. |
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DuelLadyS
 Posts: 1705 Location: WA state |
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S'funny, I find it insulting you assume I've never read the book. (Although you are half-right, I'm not finished with it since I made it a point to read the unabridged version.) I did confer quickly with my boyfriend and his brother who've finished the book more than once, and they showed me were I screwed up my math on Albert's age. (Never was good at math...) You are right, and I apologize about that. |
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