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Would you step out of your comfort zone?

dtm42 wrote:

Usagi/Bunny Drop is a fantastic uplifting story with strong themes about family and responsibility. It's the sort of story that makes you feel warm and fuzzy inside after watching it. Yeah, the art style is unusual but who cares? Rin is cuter than most kittens.

So you must pray to the deity of your choosing that they don't make the second season followup? As for me, the original Bunny Drop made my skin crawl and my face twist. Prior to the this series, I didn't even know I had lines that couldn't be crossed. And if the producers just wanted to do this kind of heartwarming "man-child rasies girl child" story, there are other titles that are less spoiler[incesty].

Given it's based on a visual novel, you can't really say you're surprised it might have some 'otaku elements' to it.

There is however, a way how people should not be open minded. Like that you shouldn't pretend you like a show just because of courtesy.

Animegomaniac wrote:

dtm42 wrote: Usagi/Bunny Drop is a fantastic uplifting story with strong themes about family and responsibility. It's the sort of story that makes you feel warm and fuzzy inside after watching it. Yeah, the art style is unusual but who cares? Rin is cuter than most kittens. So you must pray to the deity of your choosing that they don't make the second season followup? As for me, the original Bunny Drop made my skin crawl and my face twist. Prior to the this series, I didn't even know I had lines that couldn't be crossed. And if the producers just wanted to do this kind of heartwarming "man-child rasies girl child" story, there are other titles that are less spoiler[incesty].

I am afraid that I do not follow you; the anime is not the least like Koi Kaze at all. May I trouble you to elaborate on what, exactly, you mean?

naninanino wrote:

There is however, a way how people should not be open minded. Like that you shouldn't pretend you like a show just because of courtesy.

Who actually pretends they like a show? Do you have any specific examples?

(Uh, that's "show" and not "Princess Mononoke"? )

EricJ wrote:

(Uh, that's "show" and not "Princess Mononoke"? )

Unless you're referencing something specific, I wasn't paying much attention to the Ghibli explosion in America when it happened. I'm not familiar with any faux-love Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away, etc. received.

The topic thread isn't about that kind of comfort zone though. I guess I have lower standards and as long as I get my money's worth {I only watch new subbed anime free through Hulu so my overhead's very low. Zero, really.}, I'm fine with the quality.
Why only Hulu? I've been using the service since it started and I'd rather stick to series that have the greatest potential for physical releases.

I wasn't surprised, just disappointed that the staff kept them in. It's entirely possible to change things in adaptations, but I guess the fans of the original would raise a shitstorm if they didn't keep in the maid cafe, the trap, perverted "jokes" and "tutturu~." Which I guess just goes back to the point I made about studios having to play it safe much of the time.

Needless to say, it keeps me out of the loop for whatever new yaoi series is appearing for androphobic schoolgirls, or fight, demon or objectified-female series is appearing for gynophobic schoolboys, so I have to be the one to keep up the Old-School 80's/90's banner in the discussions, until something watchable comes along.

So you must pray to the deity of your choosing that they don't make the second season followup? As for me, the original Bunny Drop made my skin crawl and my face twist.

I haven't seen Stein's;Gate yet, but I think you're missing the point slightly. Part of of S;G is that it deals with Otaku culture. I'm not seeing how that invalidates the good parts of the show.

Or for anime, some say that The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya parodies, or even satirizes moe, etc. but people never explain how -- they just mention Haruhi merely pointing out moe aspects in an episode. (And I actually like the series, mind you, but feel that people attach certain qualities to it that just aren't there.)

I wasn't surprised, just disappointed that the staff kept them in. It's entirely possible to change things in adaptations, but I guess the fans of the original would raise a shitstorm if they didn't keep in the maid cafe, the trap, perverted "jokes" and "tutturu~." Which I guess just goes back to the point I made about studios having to play it safe much of the time.

Right. And really, I can't necessarily blame the anime studios and production committees too much. When times are tough, why stick your neck out when you can just produce safer titles?

Kaiba is a fascinating failure in narrative construction, or at least that's how I felt about it when I first saw it. Overall I enjoyed it a lot, and think it's something I should rewatch to see if its worth reevaluating my opinion on it.

I agree with the overall point, even though I was a bit murky in my statements on Tarantino. I would say the latter point of your first sentence primarily applies to Inglourious Basterds, which seems to be his first real step in an original screenplay to really saying something about film and its relationship to society. (Jackie Brown is adapted from a novel, iirc.) His other films deal with plenty of themes (redemption, loyalty, motherhood, greed, etc.) but I don't really get a sense of who Tarantino is as a person outside of how much he loves film. (Which is necessarily a negative, but for me it leaves his stuff kinda empty once I get past his skill of being able to assemble a collage of disparate film ideas and moments into a cohesive, accessible plot.)

I think that, in addition to all of this, it becomes problematic when even creative folk don't have much wriggle room. Steins;Gate was mentioned earlier. I've enjoyed the first seven episodes of that (despite the obnoxious otaku-pandering tics), and plan to finish it eventually, but it comes up short of the quality I associate with Hiroshi Hamasaki (aside from the cinematography, which is still pretty good). Same thing applies with Masaaki Yuasa's Tatami Galaxy, which is good, solid entertainment... but fairly normal and disappointing when considering his resume.

There is however, a way how people should not be open minded. Like that you shouldn't pretend you like a show just because of courtesy.

Akihabara and people associated with that culture is the setting in Steins;Gate (and that setting is actually quite uncommon). So, yes, they make perverted "jokes" and subculture references, it's not simply pandering here. Take that away and the story loses a big part of its identity.

Akihabara and people associated with that culture is the setting in Steins;Gate (and that setting is actually quite uncommon). So, yes, they make perverted "jokes" and subculture references, it's not simply pandering here. Take that away and the story loses a big part of its identity.

I've nothing against your argument, but Steins;Gate is a bad example here.

Also, I feel like they're just shooting themselves in the foot in the long run. The more they rely on the otaku audience the more it contributes to that insularity you mentioned. It has become a vicious cycle at this point.

**Although if I understand correctly, I don't think you meant to say otherwise.

Pretending to like something when you actually don't isn't really what I'd call being "open minded". Being open minded doesn't preclude disliking things. It just means you give them a chance and don't write them off for insubstantial reasons.

jl07045 wrote:

Akihabara and people associated with that culture is the setting in Steins;Gate (and that setting is actually quite uncommon). So, yes, they make perverted "jokes" and subculture references, it's not simply pandering here. Take that away and the story loses a big part of its identity.

I actually don't think you're altogether wrong here. I don't think the show has anything to say about otaku culture but I actually didn't mind Okarin and Daru precisely because they felt like more or less real otaku. The trouble is, the bulk of that show's otaku elements aren't like that. They don't actually reflect otaku culture as it really is. They reflect this unreal, fetishized, fantasy version of it designed to pander to otaku viewers and that's really trite.