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Hey, Answerman! [2009-10-16]

Gintama has its fans, but it's nowhere near the top of the Shonen Jump totem pole, popularity-wise.

meruru wrote:

The fact that Japanese women often avoid marriage because they'd be expected to quit their jobs and be housewives speaks to this. I think this cultural phenomenon rears its ugly head all too often in anime.

That's only half the story, One big reason Japanese woman aren't marrying men is because they would rather marry for money rather than love. No seriously, the number of Japanese women who rate a potential partner's income as the most important factor is vastly higher than the proportion of Japanese men who do the same. And since the men don't earn as much as the women would like (i.e. their expectations are too high), then the woman aren't willing to marry. And the men for their part aren't willing to subject themselves to a loveless marriage with materialistic women who control all the finances and expect the men to work while they don't have to.

So yeah, Japan is still sexist against women, but don't think for one moment that the women are all victims. Now, as to what you said about the sexism present in Shounen Anime, I will readily agree with you there.

I mean the former health minister with the LDP got away with calling women 'child-bearing machines' with no repercussions for that statement, which I think says a lot about how women are viewed in Japanese society.

malik_chan wrote:

prime_pm wrote: THANK YOU! I cannot stand those abridged versions of shows; all they do is redub over the same video with "funny" dialogue, no crafty editing or anything. I've been amv'ing for years, suffered through several nervous breakdowns, and I have never resorted to such cheap inanity. I made a fart video filled with women from Najica, but that's about it. Wow! I didn't know that voice acting work was so easy! As well has editting clips of video together! Oh it's not, the only difference between what you do and they do is that they dub it with their own voices. LOL They're doing what you do basically and you're dissing them? You're hilarious.

Why thank you, I think I'm hilarious too

Well, granted, that's always been the problem with the comedy category in AMV's. Most people think that just by synching a Weird Al song to a bunch of Naruto videos, poof, instant humor. It doesn't help that there are a whole slew of these kinds of humors that use this exact system, the parody category becomes saturated. But, frankly, it feels more like the Adjective Movie series, where the only jokes consist of "There's a chair" and it's funny. And it's not.

And it doesn't help that these are created for mass appeal, meaning a huge crowd of people become easily aroused by its sympathetic aspects. That's why there are so few good comedies out there today, because of the saturation of crappy mass appealers that rely on goofy, unoriginal and uninspired humor just to make "everybody" happy. Once in a while, a movie like Zombieland or World's Greatest Dad comes around, but the tastes are so selective that they don't appeal to the general mass.

It's probably part of why Zetsubou Sensei isn't licensed yet. Other than the economy and such. (Hopefully I don't mistakenly summon the foul hellbeast of Mario)

Point being, I feel most comedy AMV's and abridged series rely too heavily on the audio itself to tell the humor rather than allow the images onscreen to show you the humor. That's my simple beef with it all.

Huh, I sound a lot more reasonable when I'm sober. Interesting.

And this Yu Gi Oh parody delivers.

What, do you expect the TAS makers to do something to the animation or something? Because the point is too make fun of things and words are typically the best form to express it because we are a verbal species.

What are you taking about? You mentioned TAS's, I'm sticking to the topic, I don't know what Zombieland has to do with the topic. Same with Sayonara Zetsubou-Sensei: has nothing to with TAS's.

If there's nothing funny on screen, they can't do anything about it. Yugiou isn't a comedy and thus its TAS is lacking in visual comedy. And why does the comedy have to be visual anyway? Comedians do pretty freaking well for themselves despite their lack of visuals (minus prop comedians) and so does the Yugiou TAS.

I understand it's not to your liking, but that's no reason to say it's bad because it lacks what you like.

This bothers me.. You make it sound here that unwanted advances are something that women should just get over because it's a fact of life. That doesn't make it okay.

If you're really worried about getting 'hit on' by these guys, be polite and direct. "Just so we're clear, I'm not looking for a date." The ones are only hitting on you will stop, the rest will try to clarify their postion in a panckied jumble of words (since, chances are, they don't really know how to express the 'I just wanted to get to know you' sentiment.) Just be sure you give them a fighting chance to show they aren't 'creepy'... I met my fiance at a Yugioh tournament, so I can say with certainty that sometimes, some very cool guys show up.

She may need to work on her rejection skills a bit, but many people have a difficult time being blunt. I have a message for you girls out there though. Guys are stupid. You need to be blunt. It may seem like they're intentionally ignoring hints, but they're really not. They just don't get it. They'll deny this till the end of time, and I'll more than likely get some people calling me names for saying this. The simple fact of the matter is, it's true though. All guys don't fit into this category, but most do.

I'm personally never going to be into a guy who spends the majority of his free time watching - pardon the phrase - "cartoons" (as a mutual hobby, maybe, not as an unhealthy obsession).

But for dizzywulf, re: "You make it sound here that unwanted advances are something that women should just get over because it's a fact of life. That doesn't make it okay." - yes, actually it does. Advances happen. There's no rule that says that only attractive and interesting people will make them. It is repeated unwanted advances from the same person that are far less acceptable.

Hi,

I'm trying to purchase a subscription to Newtype magazine…help.

Also about the smell issue: Some people do have problems with body odor even if they have good hygiene. Certain illnesses and smoking can make a person stink yet they bathe regularly.

Ralifar wrote:

Guys are stupid.

I take issue with the use of "stupid" here since from an objective standpoint I am very smart...

MokonaModoki wrote:

But for dizzywulf, re: "You make it sound here that unwanted advances are something that women should just get over because it's a fact of life. That doesn't make it okay." - yes, actually it does. Advances happen. There's no rule that says that only attractive and interesting people will make them. It is repeated unwanted advances from the same person that are far less acceptable.

Yes, thank you. This is exactly why I hate it when people declare guys (or girls) creepy. Sure there's a small contingent of people who actually cross the line, no matter who they are. However in the vast majority of cases it seems to be largely based on whether they find the person attractive and interesting or not. If a nerdy, unattractive guy hits on a girl it's creepy. If an attractive, charming guy did it though in the exact same manner it would probably be considered flattering. By all means reject the nerdy guy if you don't like him. But how fair is it to hold it against him just for trying?

Also about the smell issue: Some people do have problems with body odor even if they have good hygiene. Certain illnesses and smoking can make a person stink yet they bathe regularly. I've been around such people before. (I know, most people don't have this excuse but I thought I'd throw that out there for consideration.)

I mean, if somebody called me an obsessive, creepy loser *as well as* a nerd, that might upset me a bit. And really, to me, it's the intent of the word that instills meaning, rather than the word itself. "Nerd" is hardly an insult these days, but if some meatheaded angry lout randomly decided to walk up to me and shout that I'm a "****in' nerd," I'd probably feel insulted, though I have *just enough* confidence in myself to walk it off as no big thing. I might dwell on it a moment to wonder if I've done anything to look the part of a "****in' nerd", then discard that notion and go along my merry nerd way.

dtm42 wrote:

meruru wrote: The fact that Japanese women often avoid marriage because they'd be expected to quit their jobs and be housewives speaks to this. I think this cultural phenomenon rears its ugly head all too often in anime. That's only half the story, One big reason Japanese woman aren't marrying men is because they would rather marry for money rather than love. No seriously, the number of Japanese women who rate a potential partner's income as the most important factor is vastly higher than the proportion of Japanese men who do the same. And since the men don't earn as much as the women would like (i.e. their expectations are too high), then the woman aren't willing to marry. And the men for their part aren't willing to subject themselves to a loveless marriage with materialistic women who control all the finances and expect the men to work while they don't have to. So yeah, Japan is still sexist against women, but don't think for one moment that the women are all victims. Now, as to what you said about the sexism present in Shounen Anime, I will readily agree with you there.

Yea but even then that's not the full story. I mean Japanese women have to get the idea that money is the most important thing to look for in a marriage from somewhere. Unless you want to imply that Japanese women are born to be greedy women.

I believe the issue is with Japanese society in general, that has been teaching women that they should be looking for men that make a lot of money to marry instead of marrying the ones they love, which probably didn't seem like an issue back before the bubble burst but not so much in today's Japan. This thinking is something that needs to be changed as life long jobs are becoming rarer and rarer IMHO.