Forum - View topicEP. REVIEW: SHIMONETA: A Boring World Where the Concept of Dirty Jokes Doesn't Exist
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Hellsoldier
 Posts: 754 Location: Porto,Portugal,Europe,Earth,Sol |
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That is correct. I have not watched the show. I will repeat this again and again, as much as I have to. The topic of (fundamentalist) religious education and its impact on children was brought (and not by me, by the way). I followed after that point. To be clear, barely any anime has religious mentions (that are not Shinto, a religion that has no sexual norms). As such, I did not mention Shimoneta as having a refference to Religious Puritanical Education. It makes reference to Puritanical Education however. In other words, the topic branched from there. I admit blame in the sense that I led the conversation further away. However, contrary to what that comment may imply, I do not feel that my intervention was a non-sequitur. |
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Hellsoldier
Posts: 754 Location: Porto,Portugal,Europe,Earth,Sol |
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Understood. I'm gonna try and let the conversation die out. |
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CaRoss
 Posts: 457 |
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I am not usually one to stick with raunchy comedies, save for a select few like B Gata H Kei, but this one has a certain charm to it that makes it worth watching. Mainly, I think it stems from the setting and how perfectly Tanukichi works as a straight man to all of the jokes being thrown his way.
Actually, most of the characters were really driving this series quite well for me, but once Anna started her lusting after our hapless protagonist I found that Ayame started to lose her charm, she sure can talk-the-talk but not walk-the-walk, and drag the series down alongside her. This was honestly my second favourite series of the season, after Rokka, until then. It's still an enjoyable series, and I'm definitely sticking it out to the end. Hopefully the "climax" (I couldn't resist) is a worthwhile end to the season. Granted, seeing as it's coming from J.C. Staff I have immense faith in their abilities. I'll be eager to see the rest of the reviews that are put up for the series. On one more side note, has anyone noticed that J.C. Staff knocks it out of the park opening and closing wise since Witchcraft Works? I mean these are some very fun to watch and visually appealing openings and endings they've had recently. |
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Tenchi
 Posts: 4469 Location: Ottawa... now I'm an ex-Anglo Montrealer. |
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^ Personally, I find Ayame more appealing after Anna's true nature was revealed, how she's the most mentally balanced female character on the show despite her over-the-top theatrics as "Blue Snow".
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CaRoss
Posts: 457 |
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That's a fair view. Personally, I find that it came out of nowhere, and really clashes with all the stuff that she keeps trying to force on Tanukichi outside of when he's with Anna. I feel like they missed something, whether the original source material (which I cannot find a translation for) or the anime, on why she gets after Tanukichi when it comes to Anna, but is always trying to get him into lewd stuff when the president is not present. To make things even more confusing, she openly tells him that he should have some fun with Anna (although I believe she knew that he would turn her down) in episode 5, but then distances herself when the vibrator incident happens in the next episode (beyond her "public image"). It feels two-faced, and while many people are actually like that, I feel like there's something missing to justify her reactions. Granted, there is plenty of amusement to be derived from her being the most level headed female character in the series. It could lead to some real fun as the series progresses. |
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HelloBucket
 Posts: 477 Location: Upstate New York |
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That Anna recognizes her desire for Tanukichi as love (erroneously) but Goriki does not seem to would imply that alternate sexual preferences are considered unhealthy and information about them censored. Likewise, the way the Ayame describes what the girls were saying about Tanukichi and Goriki's relationship makes it seem like that concept is missing and the only publicly acceptable examples of relationships are heterosexual. This is all reading between the lines a bit, but it's the impression I get. If there was anything more concrete I missed it.
I find it kind of hard to read those scenes as being pro-rape unless the argument here is that any depiction is inherently a glamorization. And what other perversity would those scenes possibly promote? |
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HeeroTX
Posts: 2046 Location: Austin, TX |
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I don't think there's anything concrete, but: a) Goriki "fell in love" with Tanukichi in drag, so things there are probably kinda "complicated" b) Obviously details are completely lacking and the kids don't have explanation, but the fact DOES remain that simply for procreation you've gotta have a heterosexual pairing, so it stands to reason that most people would have at least a tiny connection to the "love" of their parents. |
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HelloBucket
Posts: 477 Location: Upstate New York |
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I think the gag is pretty simple (and makes sense to me, anyway): She's a bot. Not literally, but figuratively. It's mocking the inability of things like automated image filters which block pictures of pigs (thinking they're sexy nudes) to adequately handle ideas like lewdness since the lewdness of a thing exists in its interpretation of a thing, not within the thing itself. It doesn't even feel like a stretch when out here in IRL we have people intentionally tricking Instagram in to blocking a picture that doesn't violate their policies in order to prove a point. Just like in the show, we have something banned because someone said it was lewd and then unbanned because someone said it wasn't. |
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Key
Moderator
 Posts: 18182 Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley) |
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^
Hadn't considered that that was the angle the show was going for, but it makes perfect sense now. In fact, I must admit that, if looked at in that light, her use as such is actually pretty clever. Will try to make a point of bringing that up next week. |
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DuskyPredator
 Posts: 15458 Location: Brisbane, Australia |
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I had the thought that her mind was so dirty7 that she required other people telling her what wasn't. If you need to catch the obscene, you need someone who can recognise it, only she is too far in that direction. Usually such a character would be unflappable, but like the pure Anna becoming the biggest pervert, she is surprisingly easy to kind of lead in a direction. I found the twist to the character funny.
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HaruhiToy
 Posts: 4118 |
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Actually I thought that Tanukichi was quite up-front in his dialog about how he has come to regard Ayame. He wants to "be like her some day." That hardly took any special insight on the part of Kosuri. Tanukichi might not recognize it as attraction (yet) but he seems pretty self aware. And I really question how much at this point he has any yearnings for Anna. He would have to be either suicidal or even more off the deep end than she is. We sure don't have to sit through any soliloquies anymore about her "purity" at least. On a different topic: has anyone else noticed that the character artwork in this anime is a cut above normal? The animation maybe is ordinary but there seems to be a lot of care in drawing the figures. Maybe that's just me. |
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HeeroTX
Posts: 2046 Location: Austin, TX |
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I'm getting put off by the Ayame+Tanukichi pairing. I'm not "surprised" by it since they are the two primaries, but it feels really forced and kind of "out of left field". We're presented with Tanukichi who initially is in love with Anna. And while I get that she's gone so far into creeper realm that that has triggered every alarm he has, I don't see why he has "suddenly" recalibrated to Ayame. (even to the point that he's basically giving the exact same reason as he had for Anna for why he likes her)
At present, ALL the main girls in the show have serious issues, and it seems like Tanukichi shouldn't be attracted to ANY of them. Really, if not for the threats to life she represents, I'd think he SHOULD be going for Anna, since he seems to be into "bullying" from the other girls. (I admit, I agree with CaRoss that Ayame also bugs me for seeming to enjoy throwing out innuendo almost entirely to watch Tanukichi squirm, since she gets really taken aback by lewd things from any source OTHER than herself (not counting drawings of course)). |
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BassKuroi
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@Neko-sensei (to everything): No.
Just joking. Great show/Lots of laugh. |
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Agent355
 Posts: 5113 Location: Crackberry in hand, thumbs at the ready... |
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I brought up religious communities as a real-life example to prove that teens can be kept ignorant of sexual matters even in modern times. It was an argument against posters who were claiming that Shimoneta's very premise was too preposterous or unrealistic to even suspend disbelief for. I still think it's a pretty good example. I don't think the degree of ignorance in Shimoneta is preposterous at all, because ignorance and misinformation about sex is quite common when adults don't educate kids and don't allow them to be exposed to any media with even mild sexual content (including TV, movies, books, music and the internet). It just so happens that the motivations behind this lack of education is often religious. |
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Gistradagis
Posts: 96 |
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I must say I'm really put off by how they are making Okuma into an a**. He idealizes Anna so much, then discovers her "true" nature and instantly dismisses the new Anna, one that has mainly awakened because of him? It was pretty obvious he was going for a relationship with her, both due to love and respect (although it's seen that he really didn't respect her "purity" that much anyway), but the moment Anna awakens, he's all "no no no no".
Don't misunderstand me. Anna is way over the line, and what she does is not only creepy, but right into the illegal side of stalking and assault. But we should remember that she is, in the end, the product of her circumstances, family, and the idealized figure everyone has of her. Anna herself keeps insisting that she's doing all this so keep and further the purity and love with Okuma and, while this is not what she's doing, she clearly thinks she's doing the right thing. She doesn't understand she's confusing lust with love and obsession with attraction, because noone has told her, ever. And Okuma, having awakened that beast, and after realizing it's no joke and coming to terms with it, is trying to wash his hands off the matter instead of facing the music. Yes, he's an evil maniac that has made Anna into who she is. He is not to be blamed, but he does hold part of responsibility for what has happened. He has created a Frankenstein yet he no longer cares for Anna. As a further example, I think it's funny how we see this in the latest episode (https://i.gyazo.com/ced97aed643342f9da77dd5cb91af8d0.gif). She once again declares that she's doing all this (while wrong) to show him her love and passion, and that she only wants to be recognized. Okuma's reaction? To immediately dismiss her and ask the prefect why she isn't arresting Anna for her lewd conduct. It seems just a gag at first, but this has been what he has done these past interactions. Sorry for the long post, kinda venting on how hateful the main character is looking lately to me =X |
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