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The Spring 2009 Anime Preview Guide

I can certainly understand why people do not like/veer away from sports anime. I did myself. I was a person who was never good at sports, picked last for teams, and just find most sports on TV boring (unless I'm in a pool), or maybe the occasional basketball game or the Superbowl. I had absolutely no interest in sports anime.

since when has Zac Bertschy been allowed to review anime, much less own a computer and access the internet?

Just wondering cause i always thought that reviewers had to be qualified to do so, not just some joe off the corner.

I'm going to follow Shangri-La more closely, though. "MEN!"

since when has Zac Bertschy been allowed to review anime, much less own a computer and access the internet?

Just wondering cause i always thought that reviewers had to be qualified to do so, not just some joe off the corner.

@kadian1364

Quote:

I'm of the understanding that for many, playing sports was a normal part of growing up. That discipline, work ethic, teamwork, emotional escape, friendship, courage, and personal growth are some of the things people find in these things called sports. For a lot of people, a sports story done right can mean much more than "just a game".

Yes, but there are a ton of people who had the exact opposite experience with sports. The humiliation, the mocking for trying, the lack of team support, the emotional trauma, finding out just how evil other children can be to you, and personal mental anguish/anxiety that ended up carrying with you into adulthood. You may have been one of those jocks who was on the football team and got the cheerleaders, but you seem to forget about the other side of that spectrum.

Karisu wrote:

@kadian1364 Quote: I'm of the understanding that for many, playing sports was a normal part of growing up. That discipline, work ethic, teamwork, emotional escape, friendship, courage, and personal growth are some of the things people find in these things called sports. For a lot of people, a sports story done right can mean much more than "just a game". Yes, but there are a ton of people who had the exact opposite experience with sports. The humiliation, the mocking for trying, the lack of team support, the emotional trauma, finding out just how evil other children can be to you, and personal mental anguish/anxiety that ended up carrying with you into adulthood. You may have been one of those jocks who was on the football team and got the cheerleaders, but you seem to forget about the other side of that spectrum.

I'm going to go on a bit of a rant, so ignore this deluded kook on his soapbox if you want.

To first clear any misconceptions people might have about me, I've never played competitive football, I never even (knowingly) approached a cheerleader. I wasn't particularly talented at any sport, or was the popular type, though I hold no disdain for those who were. But lack of natural talent or skill didn't prevent me from taking away valuable life lessons from it, playing sports that is.

Humiliation, trauma, distrust of those that support you, all these things happen in every arena of life. So what are you gonna do about it? Constantly avoid every last form of competition that might arise? Hide from all the challenges life confronts you with, just to deflect conflict or pain? Life is about experiencing pain. Life is about working hard for the things you want, despite that pain.

If there's one lesson above all that sports teaches is that, when your abilities are most lacking, when you are ousted at every turn by an opponent of superior strength, skill, and knowledge, and any hope of success you may have harbored is stripped from you, there will still be something left in you. Something that has always been there, and will always be there as long as you are human, and that is, the will to fight. To never give up, to spend yourself, to exhaust yourself in a cause. That is something only you control, and can be taken by no one, not even yourself. "Man is not made for defeat. A man can be destroyed, but not defeated."

What makes sports such a great teaching tool is precisely because it is just a game. One can practice working hard, exercise their will to fight on when nothing more is at stake besides the game's outcome. So that one day, when a real challenge comes, you don't just run away or accept failure, but respond with the earnest effort and determination of an indomitable will.

So again, I am disappointed when people bypass a story about youth and growing up just because it involves sports, because sports is exactly about those things, and a perfect vehicle from which to tell such a story.

kyomagi wrote:

since when has Zac Bertschy been allowed to review anime, much less own a computer and access the internet? Just wondering cause i always thought that reviewers had to be qualified to do so, not just some joe off the corner.

I don't know, since when were you allowed to post in my forums?

I'll fix that little problem!

Well i do agree with kyo even tho he's banned. How do you get those scores. Thank God the anime metric system has nothing to do with half the reviews on this board, as bad as ign reviews at times.

I keep finding what you have to say more and more amusing. It's like you keep proving my point, but in reverse. I'm not going to necessarily attribute all of my life's problems to sports, but I'm sure it had large effect. But everything you described about being human is the exact opposite of who I am.

I mean, going by your post, I'm not human at all.

I've experienced more than my fair share of pain in my life, which is exactly why I run away from things at the drop of a hat. All life has taught me is pain, so the only intelligent thing to do is to avoid it all.

I have no desire to "win" at anything anymore. I know that nothing I want to achieve is even possible for me at this point. I have no friends and have never hard a girlfriend (I'm in my late 20's btw), because life has only taught me to avoid such things. I preformed horribly at sports, academics, and anything else life has thrown at me (so no, I'm no "nerd", nerds did well at school, i was more concerned wit getting through the day without being harassed. Hard to learn in that environment), because all life has taught me is that these are things that will only give me pain.

Which brings me to why I love anime and video game. They allow me to experience the life I will never have through their stories. I have a particular aversion to sports because it was one of the earliest life lessons I learned: that it's something that can only bring pain and suffering.

Anyway, I find it amusing how you romanticize such a terrible thing as sports. I mean I get it, life has taught you that they are positive, but life has taught me the opposite lesson.

Which brings me to why I love anime and video game. They allow me to experience the life I will never have through their stories. I have a particular aversion to sports because it was one of the earliest life lessons I learned: that it's something that can only bring pain and suffering.

Anyway, I find it amusing how you romanticize such a terrible thing as sports. I mean I get it, life has taught you that they are positive, but life has taught me the opposite lesson.

/end psychiatric rant

Ouch.

Well i do agree with kyo even tho he's banned. How do you get those scores. Thank God the anime metric system has nothing to do with half the reviews on this board, as bad as ign reviews at times.

EDIT: Sorry Key! And others.

Ouch.

Well i do agree with kyo even tho he's banned. How do you get those scores. Thank God the anime metric system has nothing to do with half the reviews on this board, as bad as ign reviews at times.