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The Summer 2011 Anime Preview Guide

The words ugly and bad are just subjective descriptions of taste.
The mouths in Usagi Drop are lower than other mouths in anime, true enough. But going the style of Usagi Drop is ugly because their mouths are too low is just a matter of opinion even when paired with a fact.

Suggesting that a typical Japanese man would keep a deadpan facade when faced with the situations around Daikchi is absurd stereotyping by treating Japanese men as some uniform group that must all act a certain way. There is no manual of how a Japanese man should move his face and there are men that will use their face as tools of expression.

If you don't have anything to say that is more than basically "I think it therefore it's fact." we have no reason to clog up this thread with your immovable opinion/truth.
Goodluck with your stereotyping.

MaxSouth wrote:

i am not trying superimpose anything, this is just fact of Japanese life, that emotions are constrained most of the time even within families...

へえ、マジ？ I'm not sure what families you've been spending time with, but I've gotta politely disagree with this statement. I'll give you that on a case by case basis, a Japanese person might be marginally more reserved than a westerner. But marginal is all it is. To assume that universally applies to all times and places really is just ridiculous stereotyping.

If you've ever seen a Japanese game show - pretty much any - then you've also seen the (admittedly goofy) huge, loud reactions the contestants and staff give. That isn't just TV. If you spend time with people in a casual situation, you can expect all kinds of loud outbursts, contorted facial expressions and animated gestures. Honestly, the shows of emotion I see from the Japanese are often much more dynamic and emphasized than what I see from foreigners.

"ugly" and "bad" is subjective, but lower than normal and a-harmonic, disproportional -- objective... there is nothing can be done about that, it is fact, which will not change no matter if how to describe it...

sorry, but it is funny to read that this is stereotypic since Usagi Drop's very own mangaka portrays traditional family reactions accurately, with no weird face expressions... and she is not stereotyping...

MaxSouth wrote:

"ugly" and "bad" is subjective, but lower than normal and a-harmonic, disproportional -- objective... there is nothing can be done about that, it is fact, which will not change no matter if how to describe it...

Sorry to get into this, but, wow. You do realize that we are talking about anime? Or is it normal to have eyes that are half your face, legs that are as long as both of your arms combined? It looks different. It looks unusual. In that setting it works.

MaxSouth wrote:

sorry, but it is funny to read that this is stereotypic since Usagi Drop's very own mangaka portrays traditional family reactions accurately, with no weird face expressions... and she is not stereotyping...

...? And you have interacted with Japanese people a lot, then? They aren't some robots, you know. Just a bit, a bit more reserved. Not to mention a family in mourning. And it is my understanding that he is younger than everyone else, not counting the children. And I don't remember seeing anything "outside the norm" except for his little outburst that he is adopting her.

And besides, people are different. One person has a right to be different from another, even if they are Japanese. Some values are different from one family to another. Relationships between people *gasp* can be different.

do you honestly not understand? i am talking about proportions and harmony, which are still very well realistic in anime/manga character design, and not off the wall... even if the eyes are huge, they are not misplaced/displaced... what character design in Usagi Drop, House of Five Leaves, Kekkaishi and Aoi no Exorcist is, however, is disporpotional, aharmonic, "originality for the sake of originality"... Character design style that actually created with talent, does not go into intentionally crippling characters...

MaxSouth wrote:

do you honestly not understand? i am talking about proportions and harmony, which are still very well realistic in anime/manga character design, and not off the wall... even if the eyes are huge, they are not misplaced/displaced... what character design in Usagi Drop, House of Five Leaves, Kekkaishi and Aoi no Exorcist is, however, is disporpotional, aharmonic, "originality for the sake of originality"... Character design style that actually created with talent, does not go into intentionally crippling characters...

Wow, you're going on about harmony enough, I expect you to be moonlighting as a feng shui guru.

Now, cartoons and animation live on over exaggeration of features. Some people don't like certain styles and ways they go about doing it, like Clamp and their atomically confusing noodle people, or Shojo series with their scary giant eyes, or the Simpsons with everyone having an overbite. Guess what: You don't have to like most, some, or even any of those styles. Your pejorative.

But stop pretending that Usagi Drop and all the other shows you mentioned are anything special. They use exaggeration in ways and create designs you don't like. Fine. You don't like the style. But they are not some great offender of some artistic laws, they are legitimate stylization choices, and for many people they look just fine.

Also and admittedly rather nitpicky: can you stop... typing with no real... endings or beginnings... of sentences... you just trail off...and don't capitalize... and it's kinda... annoying... and hard to get your... point...

Anyone who tries to argue objectivity in art automatically fails. Period.

Ausdoerrt wrote:

Anyone who tries to argue objectivity in art automatically fails. Period.

Thats debatable.