Forum - View topicIs anime humor an acquired taste?
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yuna49
 Posts: 3804 |
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I guess by "pop-ref" you mean references in anime to other anime? If we're talking about parodies of other types of popular culture, my first experience with that is GAINAX's Abenobashi Mahou Shoutengai from 2003. The first half of the show consists of parodies of Final Fantasy, Hong Kong fighting films, and 1930s film noir, among others. That made the humor quite accessible to a foreigner like me. I'll readily admit my anime viewing does not extend much past shows made after 2000. Many of the shows I watch include references to other anime, but I don't see many references to shows like Doraemon. Late-night shows seem largely to include references to other late-night shows, since that's the relevant audience. I doubt many Japanese viewers of Kill la Kill spend much of their time watching Sazae-san. But they probably have seen Tengan Toppa Gurenn Lagann and can recognize the references to that show. |
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EricJ2
 Posts: 4016 |
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In Nodame Cantabile, for ex., we know Nodame has a childish looney streak because of her emotional addiction to a kiddy anime series that bears a suspicious resemblance to Doraemon, Nobita and the gang. That's because she's not supposed to watch anime as an adult, y'see, but those who did watch Doraemon growing up are thinking "Shut up, shut up!" 
(Also, on Sgt. Frog, we might see Keroro or Kururu pull out an alien invention with the same trademark closeup and fanfare that appeared when Doraemon pulled a gadget out of his pocket: "Instant Problem-Solving Gun!" Like they say on MST3K, "The right people will get it.") |
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Touma
 Posts: 2651 Location: Colorado, USA |
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I remember one time on Sgt. Frog when Keroro was not able to do something that Fuyuki wanted he said "I'm not some cat sent from the future by your grandson!" Even though I have never seen any of Doraemon I knew what he was talking about because I have seen so many references to it in other anime and manga. |
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Mister Ryan Andrews
 Posts: 219 |
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Nah, you're just strawmanning things by lumping Japanese humor like that.  That's like saying all American comedy is dropping anvils on peoples heads. Most comedy anime I watch doesn't do anything like that.
The way you described characters being desperately loud, zany, and overreacting can totally be applied to a lot of western stuff like most kids shows today like Adventure Time so I don't see the problem. That's not exclusive to Japan or anything. People call modern cartoon humor for the "ADD generation" with short attention spans for a reason. Comedy's a case of you either like it or you don't because of culture differences. If you do, great, if you don't, oh well. Me, I can't stand a lot of American comedy like laughtrack filled sitcoms like Big Bang Theory or soapbox strawman cartoons like Family Guy. Learning to like Japanese humor requires knowledge of certain things. Watching Doraemon helps, because so many shows borrow from it, especially the Nobita/Suneo/Gian/Shizuka quartet who you see in a lot of other shows which borrow the four person group archetype with a talking animal mascot. Learning about manzai helps. For shows that rely on pop-culture humor it helps to be well versed in anime to get the jokes. Knowing certain cultural things helps, like kuroko which gets used in quite a few anime. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kuroko It's the whole point of the comedy series Sumire 16 Sai which is about a middle aged man controlling a human-sized puppet and goes to high school with it, though the joke is they DO notice the old man but eventually just accept it and go about as normal. |
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theloudnes
Posts: 8 |
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Maybe someone can elaborate on this point for me then -
Why is the majority of what is put out that style of comedy then? It's either fanservice based or "man gets punched by tsundere" based. I'm not saying that is all that is put out, but that is definitely what grabs the spotlight and what gets the attention of the mainstream. I feel like there's only so much you can do joking about boobs or getting punched in the face walking into a girl showering by accident. To me, it feels so... adolescent. Perhaps my lack of overall knowledge on their culture leads me to this conclusion, but it's almost like Japan enjoys portraying women in this sort of "superficial" light with their constant obsession with fanservice. Or with their portrayal of men being weak and incompetent. Because when you notice, the majority of tsundere will target these senile male characters, and frankly I don't understand why. I could be over-thinking this. I really don't know. But due to the fact that I live in the United States, our humor is so satire oriented, so I have become accustomed to that. And then when I try to understand Japanese culture, all I see is jokes about boobs and physical humor. And I feel like that was stuff that I was laughing at when I was in High School. But I am no longer in High School. A friend of mine, who is an American by the way, tried to show me "B Gata H Kei Yamada's First Time" today, and I found it absolutely idiotic. Who would find - a 15 year old girl trying to get laid, and then a male character who is scared to even touch her breasts - funny? I don't know. But there are people who do. My friend finds it hilarious, and I for the life of me cannot understand why. Is it a culture thing? Do I just not "get it" because I live in the United States and I'm just not that "in touch with Japan" or something? I don't know. |
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Megiddo
 Posts: 8360 Location: IL |
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Has nothing to do with your country of origin and everything to do with your tastes. People like different kind of comedy, regardless of where they are from. Fanservice harems get the most "attention" because that is the sort of show that otaku in Japan will buy with regularity. And the otaku buying BDs in Japan and the various anime merchandise are the main source of income that keeps the late-night anime industry alive.
Luckily there are a ton of anime comedies that do not focus on fanservice or contain the standard harem tropes. You've already been suggested quite a few shows in this thread alone. I'd advise looking into those and simply avoid the sort of shows that you don't like. Just like how I avoid brainless generic Holly wood action movies that contain pretty much the exact same formula and set pieces repeated over and over that a lot of people will still pay to see. It's all a matter of personal preference. |
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EricJ2
Posts: 4016 |
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Unless you're trolling--which is a likely possibility, given that your third post ever is a brick-wall word-for-word horse-beating of your second post ever, and digging up old stereotypes at that--it's clearly what you're watching. You've had a hundred suggestions for OTHER comedies to watch that don't involve fan service or punches (look for the ones in bold or italics, they're easy to spot in the posts), and yet you keep coming back to the one examples Somebody Showed You as proof of an entire country. As Mister Ryan says, it's a straw-man argument, and to quote the old saying "The definition of a 'Straw-man argument' is, 'If I only had a brain....'" 
Simply put, it's YOU. You just haven't gotten out much before making sweeping pronouncements, jumped on most of what's out there at the moment (and it's not a good time), and wondered why nobody's adopting your point of view. Welp, maybe we just know a little more, and if you read the previous posts in your thread, you might find that out. Last edited by EricJ2 on Sun Mar 16, 2014 10:30 am; edited 1 time in total |
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Touma
Posts: 2651 Location: Colorado, USA |
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There is no answer to the question of why the majority is like that because the majority is not like that. Other people have provided a lot of examples to show you that it is not like that. Maybe you are just trolling. You started a conversation, people are joining the conversation and talking to you, and you are ignoring them. If you are not trolling then you need to respond to the others posts, not just copy and paste your own post again. Have you tried any of the shows that have been mentioned? If so, what do you think of them? If not, do you intend to watch some of them to see what they are like? This is your thread. You started the discussion. You should join it. |
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ikillchicken
 Posts: 7272 Location: Vancouver |
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Yeah...you clearly haven't actually seen Adventure Time. It's certainly a weird and quirky show. But it's never really been exceptionally high energy. It's not even remotely accurate to describe it as that sort of "lets be as loud and frantic as possible" entertainment. And in general, it seems like a lot of American kids shows have moved away from that quite a bit. Now, if you want to talk back in, oh roughly the late 90s, you'd have a point. I think perhaps it is because today we seem to have shifted toward a lot more action/comedy blends. But back then, shows tended to be a bit more clearly defined as action or comedy. And the comedies were a ton of those super frantic, super loud shows. I guess though, I'm not exactly sure what your point is. If what you're saying here is essentially "A lot of anime comedies are just doing what awful, obnoxious shows aimed at children from the ADD generation do"...er, yeah. Perhaps you can see why I'm not a fan. |
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Key
Moderator
 Posts: 18200 Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley) |
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If by "mainstream" you mean "otakudom" then you would be correct because it's made specifically for that audience.
No more adolescent than the humor of something like the American Pie series, or whatever other gross-out, sex-joke-related comedy is popular in the States at any given time. While the exact specifics of the jokes may vary between nationalities, that kind of humor has a plenty prominent enough presence in the States, too.
Oh, there are definitely distinct elements of sexism still prevailing in Japanese culture, and they do sometimes creep into anime. Even so, anime is actually typically more progressive on such things than Japanese society in general usually is. What you're referring to is just the entertainment that panders specifically to male audiences, with the "weak, incompetent around girls" guy meant to be a stand-in for socially-inept otaku. A fair amount of anime also exists which panders to female audiences in a similarly degrading fashion; the heroines of reverse harem series usually aren't any more competent than their male counterparts in regular harem series, for instance. Now, as for the rest of it, the others have a point about how you're just rehashing your original position and making no effort to respond to comments offered on it. Your next post in this thread will be expected to do that. EDIT: Fixed busted tag. Last edited by Key on Sun Mar 16, 2014 11:00 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Guile
Posts: 595 |
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I am neither American nor Japanese, but I do prefer comedy anime over cartoons as well. They seem a bit more earnest and higher quality, though that perhaps might just be the anime nature of the shows rather than the comedy nature. |
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HaruhiToy
 Posts: 4118 |
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If you are thinking that this category of joke is overused, then you are right. They have wrung it out to death to the extent that if you have been watching for a while you can't even remember if it was ever funny, let alone the 9,347th time they did it. It may be just my impression, but over the last couple of years the smacked-down-guy humor seems to be common than it was in the 2004-2011 era? I really would like to hear from others if that is the case. I just don't seem to see much like Girls Bravo or Love Hina anymore. The male character held in contempt by the females are still there but they seem to be suffering less violence. Maybe a washtub thrown at them. The comedy seems to have gone a different direction, and in my view for the better. |
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Key
Moderator
Posts: 18200 Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley) |
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I might agree with "starting to go in a different direction," HaruhiToy, but I am much less than convinced that there is a full shift away from it. There wasn't as much of it this past season (although Noragami certainly has no shortage of the male lead getting clobbered!), but I'll need to see a couple more seasons like that before I'm willing to call it a distinct trend.
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ikillchicken
Posts: 7272 Location: Vancouver |
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"Here are a handful of counterexamples that aren't like you described" - Everybody
"I'm not saying that is all that is put out, but that is definitely what grabs the spotlight and what gets the attention of the mainstream." - theloudnes "OMG. Why don't you actually respond to our points? You're a troll" "Yeah! You better do that our else" - Key
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EricJ2
Posts: 4016 |
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"Uh, hello, here are twenty other diverse examples from the last twenty years that you haven't seen." "Yeah, but I'm still right, because the guy showed me ONE ecchi comedy!" "So, why don't you respond to the actual discussion?" "Here's my first post again, in case you haven't read it: Did I mention the guy showed me ONE ecchi comedy?" |
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