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Hey, Answerman! [2007-02-16]


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Knightmare213



Joined: 16 Feb 2007
Posts: 1
PostPosted: Fri Feb 16, 2007 12:45 am Reply with quote
First of all, that's some awesome banner. And as being a Gundam SEED fan, my fanboy within me is screaming in the most giddy-est way. How a sound of "giddy-est" would be like, I leave it up to the imaginations of those who would read this.


And about the entire "I was an Anime Character in my past life" BS, it's nearly impossible for anyone to take that seriously unless they were:

A) Extremely gullible.
or
B) A victim of schizophrenia
or
C) Both.

Able to "believe" that you have this power of magic and whatnot is kiddy stuff. I'll admit it, I used to believe that by firing this special gun that I could summon this kick-ass mecha and kill the bad guys. That's me when I was 6, and whenever I remember going around the neighborhood shouting magical enchantments such as "insert random magic spells here" and "insert a different kind of magic spells here", I just shake my head and then laugh about it.

For the people who take that they were Kira Yamato or Lacus Clyne in their past life is just...yeesh. It's fiction! It's not real! And yes...none of the characters actually exist!

When you're on the internet, declaring that you were this certain character before you started to live your "miserable human life", it's extra hard for the sane majority of the anime fans to judge whether these people, and the featured people of the Flake of the Week for the last three weeks, are actually serious about it or not. You have to read their words, not listen to them and detect whether they have a tone of sarcasm or not. You really don't know whether these Otakukin need either a slap on the back of the head for their overactive imagination (unless they are just kids) or a straitjacket and take two pills every hour.
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MorwenLaicoriel



Joined: 26 Feb 2006
Posts: 1617
Location: Colorado
PostPosted: Fri Feb 16, 2007 12:56 am Reply with quote
...Uh, wow. This week's Answerman made my brain numb.

The Otakukin really, REALLY scare me. I had no idea people like this actually exists. It reminds me of a writing seminar I went to once where the teacher seemed to literally believe that the characters in fiction were...real. o.o;

Here's another gem from the LJ community:

Quote:
I was just wondering if I was the only one with this particular problem...

I've seen people talk plenty about their "facets", past lives, whatever you want to call it. You all talk about some of the things you remember. See, thing is, I don't remember a damn thing. It's all in pieces and not in any order whatsoever. The most I have is a vague knowing of how things went.

Am I the only one here who can't remember? At least not anything real clear...


Shouldn't this be this kid's first hint that he's NOT an anime character reborn???

And..."Luna Starbright" is just mind boggling. First of all, I want to know if that's just what she calls herself, or if she legally changed it to that.
Secondly...did she just compare Zac to Hitler?!?!? This is making me tempted to break out my FMA movie DVD and take a screencap of anime!Hitler and turn that into a banner for the contest.

Zac's response to her was definately harsh, but she TOTALLY deserved it. Comparing being made fun of in an internet column to the holocaust? How wrapped-up in yourself can you get?

Also, I REALLY would like to see the 'proof' these kids claim to have.
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LilacShadow



Joined: 27 Sep 2005
Posts: 165
Location: Kentucky
PostPosted: Fri Feb 16, 2007 12:58 am Reply with quote
Oh my god, there's actually more of this people that think they have anime powers?! Shocked How many of these people do you think are out there? This is seriously creeping me out... I don't want to believe these people are serious, but I'm totally thinking they are now. I thought those people that have been on WifeSwap that believe they can talk to fairies and stuff were weird, but these "Otakukin" make them seem somewhat normal.

Anyway, that is definitely another great banner. If Sandra McMullen keeps making uber-cool banners, other people may not have much of a chance.

Geez, I don't even know what else to say about anything in the column now. I'm just so disturbed by those Otakukin people... Confused I usually try to be somewhat tolerant of people's beliefs, but I really do not understand how anyone can truly think they are a reincarnation of an anime character when anime is obviously fictional.


Last edited by LilacShadow on Fri Feb 16, 2007 9:52 pm; edited 1 time in total
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LadySage



Joined: 06 Aug 2004
Posts: 8
Location: Los Angeles
PostPosted: Fri Feb 16, 2007 12:59 am Reply with quote
Cowboy Cadenza has it pretty much on the nose. I write for Anime Secrets (www.animesecrets.org - check it out!), and I watch a LOT of anime. I openly acknowledge that even the best shows have few original elements. It's all about combining them in a new way.

It's ironic that the rant said to judge series on what they "bring to the table." When I rant about a series being cliche, it's because they don't bring anything to the table. They're not adding anything that was lacking. It's like when there's a potluck, instead of bringing in something tasty made of the same ingredients as most of the other things, it's just yet another green bean casserole, when there are already other, tastier green bean casseroles. But still, you eat them all, and just get sicker with every bite.

About objective reviews...don't make me laugh. Reviews are subjective by definition. Reviewers are human, and there's no mathematical equation by which you can judge the elements of a series. As a reviewer, I have to justify my opinion, and take all the different elements into account, but it's an opinion nonetheless. For example, I loved Honey and Clover. I could relate to it, it made me laugh, and found the art gorgeous. I had colleagues who hated it. The didn't like the humor, they thought the characters were dumb as all hell, and found the artwork is hideous. We're both biased by our personal tastes and experiences, because that is how people look at art.[/i]
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Craeyst Raygal



Joined: 30 Apr 2002
Posts: 1383
Location: In the garage, beneath a 1970 MGB GT.
PostPosted: Fri Feb 16, 2007 1:00 am Reply with quote
Dear God.......

Okay. I admit to growing my hair down to the middle of my back because of anime (wanted to cosplay as Millardo Peacecraft, and wigs make me itch) but folks, this is a brand new low in fandom.

What the HELL happened? Did I go to sleep while the convention staff was passing out LSD or something? Where in the world did we go from a group of geeks sitting around mom's dining room table debating whether or not 08th MS Team defies canon by introducing another production Gundam RX-78 during the One Year War, to these fruit loops who believe they're tossing around Love Love Beams and what not?

People, it's INK. You hear me? INK!
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Ryvius213



Joined: 03 Aug 2006
Posts: 291
PostPosted: Fri Feb 16, 2007 1:08 am Reply with quote
I agree with Cowboy Cadenza. It's not really about whether a show is cliche or not; it actually depends more on the writing quality and planning of a show. For example, Code Geass, a show I'm following right now, is, at first glance, just another "teenager gets super powers and fights an evil empire" anime. But the creators knew what they were doing. They added in some brilliant writing and threw in plot twists left and right, which made it shine above most other series of the genre. It's that kind of thing that keeps me interested in a series. I don't really notice cliches, but if a show is just cliche and doesn't really stand out in any department, then I tend to get bored easily, even if I don't know how generic the show really is.
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RDespair



Joined: 24 Apr 2006
Posts: 244
Location: California
PostPosted: Fri Feb 16, 2007 1:10 am Reply with quote
As for the question of whether or not any videogames have turned into quality anime series, the only one that I can think of off the top of my head that you could make a case for is Pokemon. Yeah, it's ranking here is pretty mediocre, but I imagine that's because its target audience (young children) aren't the kind of people who would be on this site, much less submitting rankings of series. Now admittedly, I've only seen a couple hours worth of it (bits and pieces of episodes plus one of the movies was shown at my school's anime club), but what I saw made it seem like a pretty good series as far as kid's shows go.

Oh and as for connections between anime & videogames, I have two words - Akira Toriyama. Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z, Dragon Quest, Chrono Trigger, the recent Blue Dragon - yeah, he's a giant in both worlds.

As for the rant, the reason why people call them cliche is because the elements are done poorly. If they're done well, people use phrases and words like "archetypes," "traditional elements," and the like. There's really nothing completely new - even unusual things like Kino's Journey & Spirited Away can be described as "Well, it's kind of like Gulliver's Travels/Alice in Wonderland." The key is to do something interesting with those familiar elements.


Last edited by RDespair on Fri Feb 16, 2007 1:15 am; edited 1 time in total
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dormcat
Encyclopedia Editor


Joined: 08 Dec 2003
Posts: 9902
Location: New Taipei City, Taiwan, ROC
PostPosted: Fri Feb 16, 2007 1:10 am Reply with quote
Deltakiral wrote:
I don't know why people think anime should be free like air.

OT: the latter isn't as free as you might think. Don't take clean and breathable air as granted; it is "borrowed" from our future generation. We've already lost clean water for free and I don't want air to be the next.
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FlamingPinecone



Joined: 22 Nov 2005
Posts: 131
PostPosted: Fri Feb 16, 2007 1:12 am Reply with quote
So Zac do we have a tally of how many poor disillusioned kids who think they have super powers you've made cry since this flake?

Class A burns by the way.

i am still waiting for the Family Guy fanbase to discover it's hidden powers of altering time and space to create a poorly executed Mister T joke. I mean, is it just crap like inu and naruto that attract these kid of people?

the closest i've come to sharing an anime characters powers is a dream in which I was Maniwa battling against Little Slugger who was hitting all my friends.


fawhooosh!


Last edited by FlamingPinecone on Fri Feb 16, 2007 1:14 am; edited 1 time in total
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Sweet Lou



Joined: 20 Jun 2005
Posts: 14
PostPosted: Fri Feb 16, 2007 1:13 am Reply with quote
Props to the person who did that Gundam Seed banner, it was cool. These kids that think they are anime characters are just hilarious, the last few Answermans have been gut-busting hilarious. I mean, me and my brother used to play Dragonball Z in the pool...but that was like...12 years ago almost when we were in middle school and ordering VHS fansubs off the internet. I'd really like to see these kids try and prove they are Naruto. Might not be a bad investment to fly them out, videotape it, and win the 100,000 dollar grand prize after you send it into America's Funniest Videos (if that show is still running...).
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Someone_II



Joined: 02 Jan 2006
Posts: 167
Location: Right behind you, watching you as you type...
PostPosted: Fri Feb 16, 2007 1:19 am Reply with quote
JustSomeguy wrote:
As the greatest philosopher of our time, Bender, said:

"I guess reality is what you make of it..."

Isn't he the greatest philosopher of our great^20 grandchildren's time?

Knightmare213 wrote:
And yes...none of the characters actually exist!


Well, technaclly Charles-Geneviève-Louis-Auguste-André-Timothée Éon de Beaumont (d'Éon de Beaumont) was real, but, given the liberties they [presumably] took in the series with him (no, I'm not one of *THEM*, I'm just assuming the guy was never attacked by zombies or the rest of the lot), and how scary/scaring some of that stuff today was, I'm not going to open that can of worms.


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RDespair



Joined: 24 Apr 2006
Posts: 244
Location: California
PostPosted: Fri Feb 16, 2007 1:19 am Reply with quote
Hm...I had a dream a while ago where I went back and forth between being Xander & Buffy from the Buffy the Vampire Slayer series. Obviously, this must mean that in a past life I was not just one, but two different characters from an alternate dimension that just happened to have a TV series in our dimension based on it. Rolling Eyes

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cardcaptormanda



Joined: 30 Jun 2002
Posts: 237
Location: United States
PostPosted: Fri Feb 16, 2007 1:19 am Reply with quote
First, doesn't the rant basically apply to any use of the word "cliche" ever? Movie and book reviews use the word all the time as well. Heck, you could use it to describe anything from roller coasters to food to music. Of course, whether or not something seems cliche will always depend on your personal experience with that something. That's just the nature of the word.

Very few reviewers are going to be out to bash a show just for the sake of it. These "overly harsh statements" you mention are often the reviewers' genuine feelings towards whatever they are reviewing. If a reviewer glosses over or minimizes an anime's flaws, then he/she isn't a very good reviewer. Ranter, you yourself say that you are easy to please, so maybe you never have any strong negative feelings about the anime you see. Also, the fact that you could watch dozens of extremely similar harem series and not be tired of them indicates that you probably don't feel the same way about cliches as the average person. You're definitely in the minority, and you've got to recognize that most reviews aren't going to seem fair to you.

Personally, I like when the word is used. If I'm reading a review of what I already know is a harem series, and the word cliche is used, then that lets me know I most likely shouldn't waste my time watching a series that is probably pretty darn similar to other anime I have watched and didn't enjoy (although I rarely if ever base my decision to watch something on a single review). It kind of works the other way, too. If someone calls a shoujo "cliche," then, as a fan of shoujo, I might decide it's something I'll enjoy anyway. Everyone probably has a certain kind of anime they wouldn't mind seeing over and over.

As for the "not everyone has seen the same things" argument, of course, that's true. You have to take your personal experience into account here. If someone is new to anime, or has had limited experience with it, and they see the word "cliche" in a review, they probably know they can ignore it, since they haven't seen enough anime to even recognize what is cliche or what is not. However, if your experience is not so limited and you're reaching the point where it feels like very few things are original, then the word cliche is going to be helpful to you.

There is no way for a review to be truly unbiased regarding all things. Even if the reviewer tries to keep all of his/her experience with the medium and personal feelings out of it, it's likely that they will only partially succeed. You have to keep this in mind while reading reviews and decide for yourself how seriously to take them.


Last edited by cardcaptormanda on Fri Feb 16, 2007 3:06 am; edited 3 times in total
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penguintruth



Joined: 08 Dec 2004
Posts: 8458
Location: Penguinopolis
PostPosted: Fri Feb 16, 2007 1:24 am Reply with quote
Despite my disliking of the shallowness that is Gundam SEED, that is a pretty awesome banner.

Anyway, I don't see what's wrong with the use of "cliche" to describe such in a review of an anime. However, one cannot simply bandy the term about without explaining why something is a cliche or demonstrating its detrimental effect on the reviewed media.

As for the otakukin folk - I still refuse to believe there are people that delusionally stupid in the world. I'm just going to pretend the whole thing (including the LJ community) is a joke. (Now who's delusional?) I need to in order to live in this world.
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FlamingPinecone



Joined: 22 Nov 2005
Posts: 131
PostPosted: Fri Feb 16, 2007 1:27 am Reply with quote
RDespair wrote:
Hm...I had a dream a while ago where I went back and forth between being Xander & Buffy from the Buffy the Vampire Slayer series. Obviously, this must mean that in a past life I was not just one, but two different characters from an alternate dimension that just happened to have a TV series in our dimension based on it. :roll:


Haha. What color is your chi? Fox Flake's is red, Sailor Flake is blue.

Even in my dream I am merely guessing i was maniwa, i was largely just a witness of little slugger's carnage.

fawhoooosh!
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