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ANNCast - Operation Podcast Drop

Trust me it's not that exciting

Trolling equals dissent. Rude equals not nice.

Christ, some of you commenters.

First of all, the "Japtoon" thing. People read way too much into the self-flagellating angle "WE HATES ANIME BECAUSE WE HATES OURSELVES" on this, when really we just use it because it makes oversensitive people mad. Is that trolling? Well, duh. But we're not just doing it to get a rise out of you, we're doing it because HOPEFULLY you will see some aspect of the humor that we do in it.

I cannot speak for all of Colony Drop, but I view the "Japtoon" thing less as a cheap shot at anime, and more of a nod with a grim smile to those who went through "the struggle", as we say in hip-hop, to get where we are today. Kids these days have a sort of retarded (in the impaired sense, not in the cheap shot "you're a retard" sense) sense of history about the subculture, and we do what we can to snap people out of their reverie and start thinking critically about where their subculture came from.

The moral of that little story is that too many people scream out shrilly "OMG TROLL IGNORE" without making the distinction that certain forms of trolling, like ours, can actually have a productive intent (if not always a productive result...we have missed the mark occasionally). We're here to get you to lighten up and have a laugh about whatever sacred cows you may hold.

Doe-eyed nerdy kids watch some Naruto on their friend's laptop, are told the basic places to go on the Internet to find more, and are immediately indoctrinated into the false history of rape-by-localization, and the fallacy that the only valid translation is the most literal, because how else could something be compelling?

How can you can be a legitimate otaku without going as deep down the rabbit hole as you can? (Never mind that the rabbit hole is actually full of misanthropic snakes.)

How would you know if what you watched was compelling unless we told you?

Are you really that unable to read between the lines and think for yourself? (The extra-cynical Colony Drop rejoinder to that statement would be "Of course you are. You're watching anime, after all.")

Anime, we maintain, is on the whole pretty dumb. Not just intellectually, but thematically and culturally/subculturally. But as long as you're willing to admit when a thing you love is dumb, there's no shame in loving it anyway. Shit, none of us are ever going to pretend that BAOH and M.D. Geist are secretly a sophisticated satirical commentary on the pressing social issues of their time. But we still love them for what they are, animated labors of love. You don't get a lot of those in anime these days.

If you skipped every paragraph but this last one to see if I had a point, this is it: WATCH REDLINE. I may as well get SOMETHING out of this. (To those who actually read the whole thing...thank you. That's all we asked!)

People can be mislabeled as trolls but the meaning needs to stay clear.

We'll never get a chance to make another first impression. But we'll settle for a nice memorable bootprint in your front door.

We'll never get a chance to make another first impression. But we'll settle for a nice memorable bootprint in your front door.

snip

I remember that article Sean wrote. So little said in so many words and profanities. And that's just the content concerning the film itself...

Actually, now that I'm asking this, my BA Film Studies Sense detects that M.D. Geist does have an interesting commentary on the nature of war, the concept of the Perfect Soldier and one hell of a nihilistic streak...

As an occasional Colony Drop contributor (my name is Ben on CD, full disclosure to avoid any sockpuppetry scandal),

...we really are a nice bunch if you get to know us. ...

(That's not just smarmy sarcasm. Many of us ARE, in fact, much nicer and more eloquent in actual conversation, with YOU, than we may seem in a dumb little podcast. Yes, even Sean.)
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P.P.S. Watch Redline.