If you're going to play Higurashi, you should hunt down a version with the fan patch that replaces the background nd sprites from the ones in the PS2 version. It isn't ugly then.
Note: If you find a pre-patched version, and the menu is missing from the corner of the screen, you can remove the SGMsgWnd files since that's another (questionable) prepatch.
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A few points:
Ajin is a great show. You get used to it's animation style. Break out of your comfort zone. It's to your benefit to be more open minded. Also, it is one of the few shows I've seen whose Japanese characters actually appear Japanese.
Personally, it is of no great importance to me if Hope or Zack review Hunter X Hunter, I love it and it doesn't really matter if others do. And while Hope is certainly entitled to her opinions, might I suggest maybe watching more of the show before espousing them. What a Hunter is and can/cannot do really becomes irrelevant as the show moves on. By the time of the Chimera Ant Arc, that fact that the main leads are Hunters means little to nothing. The philosophical statements that Togashi is making and the manner in which he chooses to make them seem (to me anyway) more the point. Do try and keep in mind too, that while Gon and Killua certainly aren't remarkable characters by the Heaven's Gate arc, you might be surprised by the transformation they undergo. Their relationship and individual character growth do become a key hit I believe with most fans. And for good reason.
Moving on..
The whole "whitewashing" argument is so very tiring. It is as if people have somehow overlooked that Japan has been whitewashing itself for years! I have seen few anime shows where the characters actually look Japanese, despite their name and location setting. The argument that some have made that it is just the Western perception of how we see their character designs holds serious flaws. I have seen countless blond haired, blue eyed, red hair, blue eyed, even black hair, blue eyed, big chested characters. Those are not (in general) Asian features. Even the Japanese themselves have skin lightening products, have surgeries available to "widen" their eyes, will dye their hair blond, wear light colored contacts. Do all Japanese do this? No of course not. But have you ever wondered why so many of their anime characters look Western? I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say it's because it's a desired aesthetic that sells. At the end of the day everyone wants their product to appeal and sell. Why should western cinema be any different. Casting Scarlett Johansen gives the movie some credibility, eye candy, and the chance to possibly draw in non anime fans. And honestly, bad wig or not, does she really look less like the major then a Japanese actor would? Frankly her cartoon ethnicity is a bit hard to discern. Take a show like, say, Ouran High School Host Club, pretty much all white kids with Japanese names. Then you turn it into a live action television show. The outcome looks weird to the Western audience seeing a bunch of Japanese kids play white characters. It doesn't match up to the images they have become accustomed to.
However this may sit with a person, the reality is these movies (especially big budget ones) are made to make money. The anime fan base is relatively small compared to other types of fan bases, therefore the idea isn't just to appeal to the anime purist, but attract other audiences as well. Throwing the racism card on everything is truly getting old. Sometimes, believe it or not, it has nothing to do with race and everything about how to make the most profit from you hard work.
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