Forum - View topicINTEREST: Manga Artist Criticizes Messages in Pop Culture Validating Mediocrity
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pikabot
Posts: 168 |
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Dude, you really have got to let your weird obsession with this series go. On a more general note, I'm not sure what series he's referring to with this, so it's kind of hard to comment on the validity of his position. |
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H. Guderian
Posts: 1255 |
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I myself was really tired of the trope when Hyouka aired. The student looking to just drift through school as uneventful possible. Characters purposely doing as little as possible and being as uninteresting as possible.
Also Kazuhiko Shimamoto is <3. Might have to rewatch Blue Blazes again just by hearing that name. |
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EricJ2
 Posts: 4016 |
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Think part of that is a double-sword of fans who rebelliously want to embrace the "Lazy otaku" stereotypes society puts on them, and those doing the stereotyping who want to find the humor in a "My Crazy NEET" sitcom about the Ultimate Slacker, like Tanaka-kun, and those frustrated "normal" people who have to put up with them. (Or even, like Welcome to the NHK or ReLife, the thinly disguised national fantasy to grab NEET's by the scruff of the shirt, throw them bodily back into high school/work and say "Now learn how to be productive, already!") Even Seki-Kun, the Master of Killing Time is about the character pursuing his own epic creativities, but told from the perspective of the girl thinking "How can he sit there and not pay attention to class like a responsible student?" "You don't have to succeed" was being pushed into a corner and made a fringe culture, and those who agreed with a few of the sentiments thought they had to adopt all of the fringe and drop out, or to join in the complete demonization and bullying of the fringe and express their love and validation of the success-ladder status quo. It's the proper Japanese spirit of not doing anything halfway. Last edited by EricJ2 on Tue Jun 28, 2016 6:59 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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ParaChomp
 Posts: 1018 |
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While I agree that you need to be content with who you are to an extent, we should always aim for higher. Watching characters do this is the charm of media. |
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belvadeer
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It should be perfectly logical for people to work hard and succeed at what they do. However, there's also that looming sense of dread that a person could work as hard as they can, but still never get rewarded for their effort, even if they spent their entire life doing it.
It's quite commonplace for people to be hired simply because they're related to the president or CEO of the company, not because they have any particularly outstanding work qualities; meaning other employees with the necessary and potential skills can get ignored or remain unpromoted. Artists could paint the most inspiring images and yet no one may ever purchase a single one of their works, no matter how many long days, weeks and months they spent making each of them. These situations don't exactly paint a positive image of doing your best. Manga may be nice to escape reality with, but let's face it: we're not all going to suddenly get charged up to tackle the day just because we read a story about the underdog beating up the world champion after giving it his all. I'm not being cynical mind you, just realistic. |
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Beatdigga
 Posts: 4392 Location: New York |
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It's a one off joke about a thematic issue the guy criticized. The problem is that the interview subject's words are a bit too vague for my tastes. Is it about showing the rewards of work or that life in general just sucks? What does he want to do?
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Alabaster Spectrum
Posts: 528 |
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He's preaching to the choir here as far as I'm concerned but yep I've been saying producers are lying through their teeth for a while and getting way too self congratulatory with their mediocre achievements, especially Aniplex's who act like every show they do is gods gift to the industry when they really haven't contributed much of anything to it in years. Just the other day a producer claimed that the upcoming Three Star Regalia mecha anime was the first ever anime with a heroine pilot which either means the person is lying through their teeth for publicity or just woefully ignorant. Other times producers just lie and oversell the crap out of what turn out to be really mediocre or not to special anime and it's really [expletive] with people's expectations and starting to piss them off in the long run.
I'm also noticing this weird trend in anime of late where there are these characters that are just idolized superstars right out of the gate with no room for improvement who can just kind of sit around and have everything in the world come to them and this is somehow supposed to be compelling or even interesting characterization with room for growth. It's particularly pronounced in a lot of popular light novel series and just makes things dull more than anything. I think he's taking a dig at that sort of thing too. It's kind of cynical and pure escapist fantasy yet it's sure not advertised that way hence the lying to make sales part. He also seems to be talking about what I call good job culture. Last edited by Alabaster Spectrum on Tue Jun 28, 2016 2:13 pm; edited 2 times in total |
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Mohawk52
 Posts: 8202 Location: England, UK |
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However on the other side of that coin it is because of that intensive gambaru dogma of the 70's and 80's is one of the major reasons their birth rate has continued to fall year on year since. So much recognised by social monitors, Trade Union, and Diet Members that legislation has been put forward to improve quality of life outside of the jobs and offices and put more emphasis on home and family concerns to try and put the brakes on the falling birth rate. This guy obviously isn't married, or even in any relationship because he's "Doing his best"
Last edited by Mohawk52 on Tue Jun 28, 2016 2:19 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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xifeng.hu
 SubscriberPosts: 103 Location: Oahu,Hawaii |
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As someone with clinical depression and Aspergers I am not sure how to feel about this. I have been looking for a job for half a year now with no luck but tons of interviews (due to my Aspergers I have trouble getting past the interviews). I slowly lost hope over the time and even though I have skills that could benefit others I feel that it is not enough. Due to my Aspergers I have trouble dealing with people and am trying to find work with less social interaction (but those ALWAYS require experience in that field) and I'm not the fastest worker (I tend to do a "too good job"). Yes life does suck but I don't feel hard work will always pay off. I've tried my best at things to only be middle of the pack or upper quarter.
Having an inferiority complex doesn't help things at all either. So many people like to say "suck it up" that I have come to hate humanity as a whole and sometimes wish to see the world burn (literally). People who say "your disability is just an excuse" infuriate me even more. I embrace the "everyone is special" message because it gives me hope that I am not worthless and I just didn't find my niche yet. I do believe that to get anywhere you need to put in effort, but when 100% isn't enough it is just depressing. When I try 100% I often get "be faster" and when I try to speed up I get "do it better". When I used to work (and I had to deal with jerks) I had nightmares and homicidal fantasies (yes I do see both a Psychologist and Psychiatrist to work on that). I don't know what to do really, life just sucks and I would love to see the world burn right about now. |
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Utsuro no Hako
Posts: 1035 |
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Yeah, nobody likes Watamote, Goodnight Punpun, Welcome to the NHK, Flowers of Evil, or 5 Centimeters Per Second. |
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Beatdigga
Posts: 4392 Location: New York |
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Actually Watamote was a massive flop in Japan. Cringe comedy is more popular in the West though.
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Fronzel
Posts: 1906 |
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I only saw the anime but isn't Flowers of Evil about not lodging your head in your rear-end? You can't "do your best" from up in there. And 5 Centimeters Per Second seems to be more "don't let one disappointment ruin your whole life". Neither of these seem particularly complacent. |
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Moroboshi-san
 Posts: 174 |
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Loser philosophy sells well to losers, we know that since Evangelion. There are what, few 100'000 hikikomori/chūnibyō in Japan who will steal their grandmom pension to buy entertainment which strengthens their raison d'être.
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BodaciousSpacePirate
 Subscriber Posts: 3017 |
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That must be why Volume 8 sold 50,000+ copies in Japan. 
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VoidWitch
 Posts: 157 |
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Sounds like a typical Japanese BS to me.
Has nothing to do with
There is a difference between "I want to be a manga artist" and "I want to be the best manga artist in the world/country". I don't think I need to explain which one of these is practically impossible to achieve. Sure you can waste your life trying to become something that you will never be or you can be just someone who works really hard for the sake of your passion and not for the sake of social validation. "Success" or being "Successful" means different things to different people. Work hard, but work hard for the sake of your happiness (another vague term) in the way that makes your life enjoyable or at least not painful. I don't know what this guy is specifically referring to though?
^This sounds more like a source of this quote. You can make diamonds using Japanese social pressure. |
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