Forum - View topicNEWS: Dragon Quest Composer Koichi Sugiyama Passes Away at 90
|
Goto page Previous 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 Note: this is the discussion thread for this article |
| Author | Message | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Guile
Posts: 595 |
|
|||
|
I cant believe it. Im speechless. This can't be happening. No way he's gone..
|
||||
|
||||
#Neothegreenland
 Posts: 42 |
|
|||
i don't know why posts in this site needs hours to appear, but i just wanted to say that it's not about miyazaki, it's japan in general as they tend to whitewash their hands from their imperial past. there is a shrine iirc for all japanese soliders who lost their lives and it triggers korea and china that japan still pays tribute to ones that china and korea consider war criminals. Last edited by #Neothegreenland on Fri Oct 08, 2021 8:17 pm; edited 1 time in total |
||||
|
||||
|
Errinundra
Moderator
 Posts: 6535 Location: Melbourne, Oz |
|
|||
It was a technical issue with your new account. I've fixed the problem. |
||||
|
||||
|
#Neothegreenland
Posts: 42 |
|
|||
Thank you. |
||||
|
||||
|
Egan Loo
Posts: 1324 |
|
|||
Miyazaki did draw a short manga about German World War II tank commander Otto Carius (before he met Carius). He also created a movie, The Wind Rises, loosely based on the Japanese World War II Zero fighter's chief designer Jiro Horikoshi. In that movie though, he does make clear his belief that Axis Forces waged the war for the wrong reasons. He has also said in a Ghibli publication when the movie opened in 2013 that Japan must confront its past and not whitewash it. He specifically said that Japan should apologize and make reparations to the "comfort women." He acknowledged the Imperial Japanese Army did "terrible things" overseas during the war. https://www.ghibli.jp/docs/0718kenpo.pdf https://www.japantimes.co.jp/culture/2013/10/08/general/backlash-against-miyazaki-is-generational/ These stances are polar opposites from denying the Nanking Massacre or claiming that the Imperial Japanese Army did not force women to become "comfort women." |
||||
|
||||
|
SenpaiDuckie
ANN Community Manager
 Posts: 472 Location: PH |
|
|||
I think the point of BonusStage is that the non-Japanese community who consume anime and/or manga do not usually talk about the political views of the Japanese anime/manga creators. What you said is a fact -- manga and anime were used ever since pre-WWII for political campaigns; however, it is not like everyone who are into anime do research on these things. When anime/manga was exported to non-Japanese countries, Japan created two marketing strategies -- one for the Western and another for their neighboring countries. Together with their national branding, "Cool Japan", their market on Western countries was carefully and economically strategized. They did not include their political views when marketing their cultural goods at all. They were focused on being able to economically compete with the Western societies, and they did. The political views of Japanese creators will only came to light if an individual does his/her research, and that's why non-Japanese communities wouldn't really talk about it that much. And if it so happens that it did, it is best to be treated as a kind of an enlightenment 
We also need to take note that most of the anime/manga consumers are pre-teens/teens. They do not have an interest with such heavy topic. If they do, then awesome for them! |
||||
|
||||
BonusStage
 Posts: 307 |
|
|||
Being against war or fascism is not a political statement. Nobody reads a story like Lord of the Rings and says Sauron was in the right and the Freefolk of Middle Earth were being stubborn and should have let themselves be subjugated by the evil overlord. They're all universally agreed upon bad things. When I say politics I mean actual politics. Pressuring people to reveal how they voted or what their beliefs are, and then ostracizing them if they're different from yours. Of course creators get publicly involved in some politics. It's almost unanimous every creator will stand up against bills that would threaten freedom of expression for manga and anime, but that's different. Despite all his views, Sugiyama was never made a martyr like someone like J.K Rowling was. Nobody talked or cared about his politics or let them affect the conversation or business relationship with him. It was his opinion and the professional thing to do was to let him have it That's a very night and day difference in attitudes compared to someone like DaBaby who was dropped by multiple venues, stations, groups, and music peers for the comments he made about gay people a few months ago. As far as I'm aware no venue ever took issue with playing Sugiyama's music or having him conduct their orchestra, let alone doing collaborations and working with him.
I'm not trying to exonerate Sugiyama by pointing out other people have similar views, I'm saying that if someone is concerned that their financial support of a series would lead to direct or indirect support for beliefs and causes they don't like then it's a futile struggle because it almost certainly always will, regardless if they're aware of it or not. I mean, even with Sugiyama gone any money spent on the Dragon Quest franchise will still go to everyone there who were at the very least completely fine with and had no issue employing someone with his views. |
||||
|
||||
|
Egan Loo
Posts: 1324 |
|
|||
Mizuki, Tezuka, Ishinomori, and Itoi's views are more nuanced than simply war and fascism are bad, and news headlines on most days unfortunately demonstrate that war and fascism are not "universally" agreed upon bad things. It is not just those topics either; as AiddonValentine noted, politcal matters that affected artists have included the Olympics, xenophobia, exploitation, and racism.
To cite just some examples of politics affecting artists: animenewsnetwork.com/news/2014-03-24/barefoot-gen-manga-pulled-from-izumisano-city-school-library-shelves animenewsnetwork.com/news/2013-10-06/barefoot-gen-translator-speech-cancelled-at-japanese-junior-high animenewsnetwork.com/news/2013-08-17/barefoot-gen-manga-removed-from-matsue-city-school-libraries animenewsnetwork.com/news/2012-07-22/hiroshima-asked-to-stop-using-barefoot-gen-manga-in-schools animenewsnetwork.com/interest/2015-10-11/political-cartoonist-retracts-controversial-syrian-refugee-image/.93930 https://www.japantimes.co.jp/culture/2019/12/17/arts/expression-stifled-safety-concerns/ Add to these the controversies and eventual resignations of several performers at the Olympic opening ceremony this year. As noted above, even someone like Miyazaki was pilloried for his political views. |
||||
|
||||
|
AiddonValentine
Posts: 2229 |
|
|||
Again, a complete and utter misunderstanding of history and politics. Fascism at one time was considered a valid political belief; Jack Kirby got threats for writing Captain America to the point where LaGuardia (a fan of Kirby's) ordered the NYPD to guard the offices. It was only when World War II and America's involvement that people officially condemned it. Same thing with war; a lot of people to this day think war is not only needed, but even healthy to have one every once in awhile. There's been a huge debate in Japan for decades over having a standing army instead of a self-defense force. And heck, the choice not to have a political statement is in fact a political statement. |
||||
|
||||
|
BadNewsBlues
Posts: 6002 |
|
|||
So basically we both acknowledge you can't separate Sugiyama's views from his art then as he leveraged and exploited his celebrity which is owed to his art to publicize certain views? |
||||
|
||||
|
Saiphaz
Posts: 60 |
|
|||
|
I didn't know he also composed for Rayearth, which has one of my all time favorite soundtracks. I'm sad of hearing of his passing away. Hope he's at peace now.
|
||||
|
||||
NJ_
 Posts: 3027 Location: Wallington, NJ |
|
|||
He's credited as Supervisor but the actual composer was Hayato Matsuo. |
||||
|
||||
 |
All times are GMT - 5 Hours |
|
|
|
Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group