Forum - View topicHey, Answerman! [2009-11-20]
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ikillchicken
 Posts: 7272 Location: Vancouver |
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I don't really find it surprising to see a lot of German stuff in anime. Even if it was through WW2, the two countries do clearly have a connection. That isn't going to vanish just because it was during such a terrible time in these countries history. Actually the fact that these countries made these terrible mistakes and did these awful things together may actually sort of strengthen that connection.
No way. Off the top of my head I'd guess it's a ratio of about 7 to 1.
Nonsense. American Dad is hilarious. It's actually closer in style to the Simpsons than Family guy in that it's got a strong satirical undercurrent. It's really quite clever. It's also the only FOX animated show that's still funny.
It's a shame though. Comics have really grown out of that mindset and diversified over the last couple decades. I really wish there was more effort to get more intelligent, non-super hero comics adapted to animated TV series. There is obviously some interest in this, but it's all focused on getting them turned into live action movies which has actually turned out great for a few of the most mainstream super heroes like Batman, Spiderman and the X-Men as well as some stuff that's quite suited to live action such as 300 and Sin City. Wouldn't it be so much better to see relatively less well known stuff like Watchmen or Hellblazer get adaptations that truly do them justice? I think it's safe to say that there's an audience for these comics and they would be a lot more open minded towards animation than your average person.
Yeah for sure. As much as I liked The Dark Knight I definitely liked TAS origin story better.
Heh heh. I don't know though, that seems just a tad un-Brian-ly.
This is immensely offensive and sublimely moronic. The Jews are not a country and as such are incapable of being at war with another country and/or starting a war with another country by launching a surprise military strike on them. Obviously any time there is a war there is a tendency to vilify the race of the country you are fighting. However there is an immense difference between that and what the Nazis did. The US did not decide Japan and the Japanese people were their enemies purely by virtue of their being Japanese and they sure as hell never attempted to exterminate their entire race. Without a doubt, the use of the atomic bomb is fucked up. Even it can't compare to the Holocaust though. I know it's hip to bitch about the US these days but if you honestly think this you need to give your head a shake, grow up, go read something that's not the internet, and get some bloody perspective. |
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Ryo Hazuki
Posts: 365 Location: Finland |
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I blame US television standards and practice for kiddifying American animation. Tabacco, alcohol and death are big taboos in American tv animation for kids, even though literature allowed for all ages is less restricted. Candy Candy, Anne of Green Gables and Treasure Islan, of which two were based on western literature all have scenes that couldn't allowed for kids shows in the US even though these are very mild examples.
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Mohawk52
 Posts: 8202 Location: England, UK |
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Last edited by Mohawk52 on Fri Nov 20, 2009 6:45 am; edited 2 times in total |
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dormcat
Encyclopedia Editor
 Posts: 9902 Location: New Taipei City, Taiwan, ROC |
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USAMRIID gave them (led by Shirō Ishii) prosecution immunity in exchange of medical experiment data gathered by Unit 731. Later USAMRIID realized that they had made a poor deal because experiments designed by Unit 731 were very crude by scientific standards, therefore the data collected from those inhumane experiments were almost scientifically worthless, despite of costing numerous innocent lives. |
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Ai no Kareshi
 Posts: 561 Location: South Africa |
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I didn't have time to read all of them, but there were some very interesting replies in the Answerfans section this week. I especially liked the first one; very informative and rational. The only thing that bothers me is how everyone kisses Miyazaki's ass, but that's a personal gripe of mine that I've probably mentioned more times than I should have already.
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Charred Knight
 Posts: 3085 |
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Have your heard of some of the things the Japanese did? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_war_crimes http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bataan_Death_March http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banka_Island_massacre In comparison here's wikipedia's page on American atrocities commited in World War II. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_war_crimes#United_States_perpetrated_crimes http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allied_war_crimes_during_World_War_II Notice the percentage of Chinese pows that the Japanese left alive. Don't tell me of the atrocities commited by the Americans when the Japanese commited atrocity after atrocity. Theirs a reason why China and Korea hate the Japanese to this day. |
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Maryohki
 Posts: 526 |
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Uh...you missed the point of Hetalia and Hetalia's Germany. None of the characters are stereotypes of one time period and one time period only. Germany is a stereotype, too, but not a Nazi stereotype. He's your average German from just about any point in the history of the country--orderly, strict, clean, and loves his wurst. It's just that Germans really aren't really easy to exaggerate on in such a hilarious manner as, say, the Italians. |
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kuroraka
Posts: 7 |
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I've seen just as many anime using French, Italian, English or Russian terms/names. I guess it they sound cool and exotic to the Japanese? That people are only bothered by the German references (even if they are not Nazi-related) shows that they still equal Germans with Nazis which - more than sixty years after the war - is pretty sad....as is the discussion about which country's war atrocities have been worse...
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Mohawk52
Posts: 8202 Location: England, UK |
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Dudley
Posts: 29 |
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You mean, like, becoming one of the most powerful industry nation's of the world? Producing quality cars, household appliances, televisions and other electronics that are sold all over the world? But, hey, the Japanese gave you anime and manga! *gasp* This of course can't measure up to anything! 
Anyway, I find the whole way both the original question and Brian's answer are phrased a bit offensive. I mean sentences like:
I mean, what? What's so delicate about it? Are you thinking if some random anime character spurts random lines in German, the Germans and Japanese will team up again and start WWII all over? I really don't see any connection between, say, Princess Tutu - which is supposedly set in German, uses German words as names and has one of the protagonist reciting a spell in German - and the Nazis. The inspiration for this series more likely includes the Brothers Grimm, Beethoven, Mozart and so on. And besides the Grimms, Beethoven and Mozart, there is Goethe, Schiller, Hermann Hesse, Heinrich Boell and Thomas Mann, to name a few, all of which are as highly regarded in Japan as elsewhere in the world. Can't you even imagine that these person's works might have inspired Japanese to become interested in Germany? It's sad that Brian jumped the Nazi bandwagon as soon as WWII is mentioned and it leaves the impression on me, that he didn't really spent much time thinking about an answer. I mean, anime set in Germany = Urusei Yatsura (!) character's running around in Nazi uniforms? I usually really like his answers, but this just feels... lazy! |
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darcerin
Posts: 330 |
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I actually never thought about it, but there are a lot more German references in anime than I realized:
The Fullmetal Alchemist movie, set in Germany (I think it was pre-WWI?) Momoko (the Rabbit) in Fruits Basket is half-German. Sakura Wars - I believe at least one of the troupe members is German. That's just off the top of my head - I'm sure there are *tons* more that I either haven't seen, or can't remember right now. On the other hand, I've found a LOT more blatant references to the US. I'd like to know what their fascination is with America.  Is it just because we're a "foreign" country to them, and so very far removed from Japan?
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rabrek
 Posts: 188 |
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The American Civil War ended over 150 years ago, and as a History Geek I still come across people who are genuinely aggrieved that the belligerent, ill-mannered North stomped the noble, genteel South. No joke. There are people who not only nurture that flame of resentment, they pass it on to their children and grandchildren, as it was passed to them. A mere 60 years since WWII? It could be a while before Germany is able to "move on" in Western cultural memory. Remember that it wasn't just the Nazis that established Germany as a cultural trope. It took the WWI-WWII double whammy to ensure that certain responses were etched this deep, just as the American Civil War wouldn't have such lingering power if it hadn't been for the failures of Reconstruction. Now I have to go cleanse my brain before the "American Civil War, Hetalia style" tangent takes hold. Time of Eve should do it... |
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Shay Guy
 Posts: 2159 |
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I lost count -- just how many tropes did Deadwing name-drop?!
Ai no Kareshi: I didn't like Totoro. That good enough for you? I saw interesting point on another forum -- just comparing action scenes, American cartoons are probably superior on average from a strictly technical standpoint, and to some extent in choreography. |
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KrisEllieOphi
 Posts: 111 Location: Texas |
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I think, specifically, they mean the 100+ episode saga/fighting shows. The ones with a huge cast of characters, where the good guys virtually never, ever die (I'm somewhere around episode 140 of Bleach, and no one has really died yet except some useless villains, and maybe one or two minor characters). And also, I think the issue is them dying within the story, and not simply at the end (in which case, your list would grow quite a bit, too). The MAIN characters in Basilisk last through to the last 5 episodes or so. Everyone who is relatively insignificant gets cut out in the first 5-6. FMA...aside from their mother, I think it's about halfway through the series when someone major finally dies. I don't watch a lot of those drawn-out shonen shows, but in the second season of Yu Yu Hakusho, one of the main good guys bites it. So there's that. By the way, whoever mentioned it above me.... You're entitled to your opinion, but American Dad is awful. It's just Family Guy with Republicans. And Cleveland Show is Family Guy with black people. Family Guy was funny until I saw enough episodes to realize that there's really nothing there. The jokes are all entirely unrelated to the story of each episode, and after a while, it stops being funny.
But I have noted several mentions of the Venture Brothers, which is one of the best damn shows on TV period. Animated or otherwise. And as for the load of kiddie crap on TV these days, I've always been fond of Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends myself. |
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vashfanatic
 Posts: 3492 Location: Back stateside |
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*gasp!* How dare you forget: MONSTER!!!!!!! and PLUTO!!!! plus a brief moment in 20TH CENTURY BOYS!!! Urasawa clearly loves to set stories in Germany, and he's quite aware of Germany's history, both good and appalling. I'm waiting for the free-wheeling plot of Billy Bat to finally wind up back in Germany.
But you're forgetting that the reason we had the Comics Code in the first place was because comic books already were seen as "for children." The whole book that launched the censorship campaign was called "The Corruption of the Innocent." Comic books were read largely by young people, and the Moral Guardians (I can trope-drop too!) decided it was all too racy so they dumbed it down to what they thought was appropriate for minors. Moreover, the Code has been out of style for 30+ years by now, and even conventional comic books like Superman and Spiderman can have a lot more violence and adult content than, well, Naruto.
Nobuhiro Watsuki alleges that he had a certain amount of editorial pressure keeping him from killing off spoiler[Kaoru]. I don't know whether that's true or whether he's just trying to justify a somewhat lame plot twist, but there you have it. Naruto did a fantastic job with the death of spoiler[Asuma], which was probably the last part of that series I actually liked. But it too falls prey to "nobody dies" or "people can be brought back from the dead via magic." Much better example? Fullmetal Alchemist. Characters die and stay dead in that series - it's fundamental to the plot that they cannot be brought back. [Edit: misspelled an author's name, to the amusement of later posters. ]
Last edited by vashfanatic on Fri Nov 20, 2009 4:16 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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