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Chicks On Anime - Raining Men


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animeboy12



Joined: 15 Sep 2008
Posts: 160
PostPosted: Thu Oct 29, 2009 10:03 pm Reply with quote
rinmackie wrote:
I agree with you, CCSYueh. There's nothing wrong with discussing harem/reverse harem shows but there's just a little too much over-analysis here. As Freud once said, "Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar." I'm not a huge fan of such shows but to me, they're just entertainment.


You be pretty surprised how many anime fans haven't realized that about anime.
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pparker



Joined: 13 Oct 2007
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PostPosted: Thu Oct 29, 2009 10:07 pm Reply with quote
Like sugary cereal, harems are for kids Wink. Semi-adult male kids, of course, a group in which I claim proud membership. I suspect the same is true for reverse harems.

You can analyze the audience for Love Hina from an anthropological/sociological viewpoint, as an interesting exercise, but analyzing the show itself or its author is pointless. Harems and reverse harems are simply fanservice entertainment, IMHO, intended by the authors as escape or diversion, where gender politics or other significant intent is entirely incidental or purely in the mind of the viewer. The best ones, as mentioned before, feature engaging characters with exaggerated but identifiable traits based in truth, and I personally prefer them acting in a broad comedy. Well-made entertainment, in other words.

The more dramatic eroge harem adaptations like Clannad and Shuffle are all by definition fanservice, since they were made to capitalize on an existing visual novel/game audience. This is the one category of harem where, in the original source anyway, the protagonist/player definitely is pursuing his harem for sexual purposes in an escapist fantasy setting. That purpose gets skewed in the anime versions for various reasons, primarily because the creators now have to fashion and insert an actual male lead as a proxy for the player of the games (leading obviously to some lousy protagonist characters).

Not having watched much reverse harem, I still see the same fanservice intent, just substituting female fantasies.

There are anime specifically intended for analysis or philosophical interest, but not that many. I imagine every frame of a Miyazaki film to be painstakingly painted with message, and intentionally. Similarly with shows like Ghost in the Shell (movie), Texhnolyze, Haibane Renmei, Key the Metal Idol and Now and Then, Here and There. Sometimes they do cross, though. Neon Genesis Evangelion is the most analyzed anime of all time, and it's a harem show Smile.
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LordRedhand



Joined: 04 Feb 2009
Posts: 1472
Location: Middle of Nowhere, Indiana
PostPosted: Fri Oct 30, 2009 1:25 am Reply with quote
CCSYueh wrote:

Sometimes the monster under the bed is just a monster under the bed & not a representation of society's collective fears.


So what's the monster under the bed look like if not what we fear but something tangible? Reminds me of a song, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dv37JfwmIbg

Quote:

Frankly, Scarlet, I don't care if I'm the only one laughing. If it's funny, it's funny. When we saw Brothers Grimm in the theater, my daughter & I were the only ones laughing at some of the jokes. Doesn't bother me. When we saw Ring 2 in the theater the scene with the deer was funny so I laughed even though the people 2 rows up turned & stared. Who cares? That deer struck me as looking as though it were doing a DeNiro imitation "You lookin' at me?"
Soupy Sales died last week & I was sad because I remembered him fondly. Hadn't thought of him in years, but a pie in the face is a pie in the face. I laugh out loud at Colbert & the Daily Show all the time. I don't see humor as going anywhere.

Now in harem titles it is shifting toward moe which sucks because the saving grace of most fan service harem titles is the humor. That gone, it's just fantasy fulfulment & dull. Harem titles aren't meant to be Monster. This is Three's Company, Sabrina, whatever 30 minute fluff you want to pick. They aren't even up to the level of satire like Excel Saga. They are something one doesn't have to think about really. Did anyone doubt Miaka & Tamahome wouldn't get together? Come on, Ayeka & Tenchi is just icky even after they removed her being his great aunt or whatever from the plot. Ryoko's the coolest chick on the show & Tenchi's an idiot not to realize that.


That's the shift I'm pointing to, these shows are loosing their "absurdity" that makes them comedic, that then means that the creators of these series aren't joking anymore. It is disturbing to think about it, but at least one aspect in the Yaoi sector remains that the ideal character is absurd and laughable, but even that is eroding to. It's not showing us how vain we are in our own image, and is becoming self-absorbed. I'd much rather try to keep my eyes open, then trying to desperately shut them.

I'd suggest finding some books on philosophy and fiction and comedy in this case.

pparker wrote:

There are anime specifically intended for analysis or philosophical interest, but not that many. I imagine every frame of a Miyazaki film to be painstakingly painted with message, and intentionally. Similarly with shows like Ghost in the Shell (movie), Texhnolyze, Haibane Renmei, Key the Metal Idol and Now and Then, Here and There. Sometimes they do cross, though. Neon Genesis Evangelion is the most analyzed anime of all time, and it's a harem show.


Anything can be analyzed and anything can be questioned, entertainment, comedy, and genre can thus be analyzed and questioned. If what you said above was true then this article wouldn't be.
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Saturn



Joined: 08 Aug 2002
Posts: 513
PostPosted: Fri Oct 30, 2009 2:10 am Reply with quote
SakechanBD wrote:
lebrel wrote:
Quote:
Sara: I love how "I want to be surrounded by a slew of men who are all vaguely attracted to each other!" seems to be a thing.

Bamboo: Right? I guess that makes them less sexually threatening or something.


Nonono. Fanservice. Men making doe-eyes at each other is the girl-audience equivalent of panty shots.


Right, but I kind of wonder if there isn't some aspect of that that has to do with the fact that if these men are simpering at each other, they're less likely to push themselves on women, thus making it a "safe zone." The woman is free to admire him from afar, without worrying that he might make an unwanted pass at her without her first instigating it.


A lot of people subscribe to this idea-- that girls like bl because they don't have to feel threatened by the men involved-- but I'll have to agree with lebrel that it's fanservice more than anything else.
There are a lot of lipstick lesbians in porn geared toward men, after all-- do people argue that this is because the male viewer doesn't feel threatened by them? If not, that whole girls-like-yaoi-because-it's-not-threatening argument is kind of insulting.
I'm really curious about this-- when a guy friend asked me me why I liked bl I told him, "You think two chicks are hot together, I think two guys are hot together". Can't it just be that simple?

(Not that I disagree with all the people here who want to give social/philosophical context and interpretation to everything. That has a place as well.)
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CCSYueh



Joined: 03 Jul 2004
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PostPosted: Fri Oct 30, 2009 2:41 am Reply with quote
rinmackie wrote:
As for fantasy males, I never thought of Aizen as a character gals would go ga-ga over but he does have that I'm-too-cool attitude.


Something I was going to mention & maybe forgot was another big thing on these harem titles aimed at gals is the VA's are often a certain pool of VA's. Shinichiro Miki was in Fushigi Yugi, Weiss, Haruka, Antique Bakery, Angel Sanctuary, Kyo Kara Maoh, as well as a fair share of the actual yaoi titles that have been animated. Tomokazu Seki, Nobuo Tobita, Ken Narita, Tetsuya Iwanaga, Takehito Koyasu, Hikaru Midorikawa, Nobutoshi Canna, Jun Fukuyama, Katzuyuki Konishi, Kazuhiko Inoue, Toshiyuki Morikawa, Takahiro Sakurai, Toshihiko Seki, etc. Fushigi Yugi, harem titles, BL titles.
Sho Hayami, besides Lord Aizen, has been in Angelique (harem), 07-Ghost (harem), Chrono Crusade (harem/fangirl title), Descendants of Darkness (BL), Earthian, Gestalt, Mirage of Blaze, RG Veda, & other bishonen gals drool over.

rinmackie wrote:
I also like yaoi but I just recently got into it. (I recently posted a thread about it in the manga section.) Mind if I pm you sometime?


Sure, if you like.

Quote:
You can analyze the audience for Love Hina from an anthropological/sociological viewpoint, as an interesting exercise, but analyzing the show itself or its author is pointless.

I loved the manga, but the anime was so horrid. I think the problem was they went for the total formula harem workings. It was like they sucked the soul out of it.

Quote:
I am up to D, and watching Dual,
I love Dual & El Hazard.

Quote:
So what's the monster under the bed look like if not what we fear but something tangible?

All I know was it wanted my toes so I had to keep them under the covers.
Of course, it might have been inspired by having cats which maybe did grab my toes when I was drifting off sometime...

Can't do that with me. I remember being devastated when Cliff Burton got crushed by that bus way back when in Metallica history.
Alice Cooper has done way more with nightmares anyway. And he usually keeps a certain sense of humor about it.

Quote:
I'd much rather try to keep my eyes open, then trying to desperately shut them.
I'd suggest finding some books on philosophy and fiction and comedy in this case.


I need to finish Comic Party Revolution so I can get to HunterXHunter pt 1, Gundam 00 Part 2, GitS 2nd Gig, & Solty Rei. not to mention finally picking up Evil Dead 2, Return to Horror High, Phantom of the Paradise, & Lost Boys. Don't even get me started on the manga I need to get thru, but I think Zoo needs to be read before I pick up any other fiction[/quote]
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LordRedhand



Joined: 04 Feb 2009
Posts: 1472
Location: Middle of Nowhere, Indiana
PostPosted: Fri Oct 30, 2009 3:04 am Reply with quote
CCSYueh wrote:


All I know was it wanted my toes so I had to keep them under the covers.
Of course, it might have been inspired by having cats which maybe did grab my toes when I was drifting off sometime...

Can't do that with me. I remember being devastated when Cliff Burton got crushed by that bus way back when in Metallica history.
Alice Cooper has done way more with nightmares anyway. And he usually keeps a certain sense of humor about it.


Thus proving the song I just referenced, listen to it but the section in particular:

Hush little darling don't say a word
and never mind that noise you heard
it's just the beasts under your bed,
in your closet, in your head.

Therefore it's a fear, something that needs to be overcome, laughter is one way to cope (although not comedy in that sense.) But we do see something similar in the Harry Potter series, a creature of fear that can only wear forms that it's victim gives it, thus not truly having a form of it's own yet something physical. One can say a very literal representation of fear, but the hero can't defeat fear by laughing at it, no they needed to call on a virtue of courage to get them through their ideal, laughing it off isn't an option. All from fictions you wish to brush aside so easily.

Quote:

I need to finish Comic Party Revolution so I can get to HunterXHunter pt 1, Gundam 00 Part 2, GitS 2nd Gig, & Solty Rei. not to mention finally picking up Evil Dead 2, Return to Horror High, Phantom of the Paradise, & Lost Boys. Don't even get me started on the manga I need to get thru, but I think Zoo needs to be read before I pick up any other fiction


Than read, enjoy, and think.
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pparker



Joined: 13 Oct 2007
Posts: 1185
Location: Florida
PostPosted: Fri Oct 30, 2009 9:04 am Reply with quote
LordRedhand wrote:
Anything can be analyzed and anything can be questioned, entertainment, comedy, and genre can thus be analyzed and questioned. If what you said above was true then this article wouldn't be.

I was a bit dismissive, but did mention the anthropological viewpoint. Sure, entertainment is a reflection and cause of culture, and it's critique and analysis is a valid pursuit. My point was that trying to go much past simple entertainment value in most shows doesn't garner much worthwhile insight. You are free to analyze Charlie's Angels, both its commentary and effects on society. Most people aren't going to take it very seriously, though. Easy Rider, Star Wars and Pulp Fiction are a different story.

Saturn wrote:
do people argue that this is because the male viewer doesn't feel threatened by them? If not, that whole girls-like-yaoi-because-it's-not-threatening argument is kind of insulting.

I say that's true. For a hetero guy, two girls is just a bonus, certainly not a threat Wink. He imagines he can join them, and gee, there's two of them. Show him two guys having sex and... well, you won't even get him to look at two guys, whether it's so-called homophobia ("threat"), or just simply no interest from a sexual/reproductive viewpoint, which would be the vast majority. Two girls is okay, even if supposedly homosexual, because they are the gender of choice. I mostly discount the "threat" idea anyway. What's most fascinating to me about that statement is the implicit insertion of danger as an assumptive cause, based solely on gender. 95% or whatever of the population simply wants sex with the opposite gender, no threat involved. I can't say whether or not women are "putting themselves in the picture" in yaoi, but I'm sure that's what men are doing with lesbian porn.

What interests me more about the yaoi phenomenon is that men buy lesbian 3D porn, but I'm pretty sure there's no female market for male homosexual porn. I can only conclude that it's the focus of yaoi on romance vs. sex, so it comes down to a Venus and Mars thing. Related to the topic, that could account for the difference I see in female and male harem protagonists, where the female has the purpose of developing a romance with one guy as opposed to the male wanting to keep them all, or seemingly none as is often the case.

Which reminded me of another point: in both cases the dynamic of the protagonist is usually passive, them being the pursued instead of the pursuer. That seems to be part of the formula--which would make sense in the fanservice angle.
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Ktimene's Lover



Joined: 23 Apr 2005
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Location: Glendale, AZ (Proudly living in the desert)
PostPosted: Fri Oct 30, 2009 9:13 am Reply with quote
Yuichi from Kanon is a good example of anime where the harem leader doesn't act like a douche as in most. Another thing is that not all the women in the series are jumping to get into his pants (that's eroge game) and he develops relationships with them in each of their separates story arcs. What's best is spoiler[he chooses Ayu, the main heroine of Kanon and the main character in Kanon merchandising].
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poonk



Joined: 05 Jun 2008
Posts: 1490
Location: In the Library with Philip
PostPosted: Fri Oct 30, 2009 12:05 pm Reply with quote
pparker wrote:
What interests me more about the yaoi phenomenon is that men buy lesbian 3D porn, but I'm pretty sure there's no female market for male homosexual porn. I can only conclude that it's the focus of yaoi on romance vs. sex, so it comes down to a Venus and Mars thing.
Actually, there is a female market for GVs but it's vastly outnumbered by the BL fandom. And from my (albeit limited) experience *cough* the most popular titles are not necessarily the ones targeting the male homosexual audience (for example, I'm almost positive Japan's Coat West videos are made specifically for a female audience judging from the predominantly female chatter during the fanclub meeting in one of their videos; GG+, etc. I'm not so sure about though). The actors (performers?) usually appeal to that aesthetic that one often sees in BL (i.e. not super-muscular, not hirsuite, sometimes downright "boyish"-looking). But as you noted, no matter how handsome (some) of the actors are, it obviously lacks the story (romance) that many BL fans find essential to their enjoyment, man-sex or not, and so much of it is not terribly interesting (in my opinion).
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CCSYueh



Joined: 03 Jul 2004
Posts: 2707
Location: San Diego, CA
PostPosted: Fri Oct 30, 2009 3:12 pm Reply with quote
LordRedhand wrote:

Thus proving the song I just referenced, listen to it but the section in particular:

Hush little darling don't say a word
and never mind that noise you heard
it's just the beasts under your bed,
in your closet, in your head.


But in the middle of the 1970's Alice Cooper welcomed us to his nightmare. His "monsters" were more often human. And on tour, he often paraded a variety of sins & vices onstage & was executed for those crimes. If you like analysis, his songs are incredible.

Quote:
All from fictions you wish to brush aside so easily.


But fear has squat to do with harem titles. Fear is often that which we don't understand so we fear it so the greatest tool to overcoming fear is reason & logic.

Reading so much into a harem title is really too much of a waste of time. It's like doing a college thesis on Harold & Kumar go to White Castle. You could, but why?
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DavidShallcross



Joined: 19 Feb 2008
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PostPosted: Fri Oct 30, 2009 4:24 pm Reply with quote
pparker wrote:
Neon Genesis Evangelion is the most analyzed anime of all time, and it's a harem show Smile.

How do you figure? Are you talking about Gendo's assorted women and girls?
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ArthurFrDent



Joined: 05 Aug 2008
Posts: 466
PostPosted: Fri Oct 30, 2009 5:06 pm Reply with quote
DavidShallcross wrote:
pparker wrote:
Neon Genesis Evangelion is the most analyzed anime of all time, and it's a harem show Smile.

How do you figure? Are you talking about Gendo's assorted women and girls?


1 Protagonist, surrounded by 4 women, 1 who views as a tool, 1 as brother/non threateneing boyfriend replacement, 1 as a hated rival that she may well love, and 1 as a comrade who has feeling she doesn't understand.

The point of the story may not be harem, but I think you could view it as one, because of the needs of these women and how the protagonist fulfils them.
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Zin5ki



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PostPosted: Fri Oct 30, 2009 5:37 pm Reply with quote
ArthurFrDent wrote:
The point of the story may not be harem, but I think you could view it as one, because of the needs of these women and how the protagonist fulfils them.

An interesting take on the show. It is nonetheless somewhat arguable whether Shinji's actions are in any way resemblant of what is expected of a harem lead. I myself would be hesitant to take your view; the dramatic strengths of Evangelion seemed somewhat extraneous to the female characters' strife, or Shinji's attempts to help them.
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pparker



Joined: 13 Oct 2007
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PostPosted: Fri Oct 30, 2009 9:06 pm Reply with quote
Zin5ki wrote:
the dramatic strengths of Evangelion seemed somewhat extraneous to the female characters' strife, or Shinji's attempts to help them.

Well I was kidding a bit, but I'm re-watching all my favorites for end of year and just finished Evangelion during this thread. It struck me that the mechanics do fit the harem model for Shinji, as ArthurFrDent detailed. To DavidShallcross, yes, Gendo is jokingly called the pimp of Evangelion, but he is just a psycho serial monogomist. The fact that Shinji and his harem are so warped is incidental Wink.

When Rei tells Shinji that he can create his own realities in episode 25 or 26, the first thing he imagines is himself in a standard high school harem show, with Asuka as "childhood friend" who wakes him up for school, and Rei as "transfer student" who collides with him on the sidewalk, toast in mouth. So Anno is winking at the harem model that he included, though as deconstruction. Not, of course, the primary point in Evangelion, but fits nicely with his overall deconstruction of genre.

poonk wrote:
The actors (performers?) usually appeal to that aesthetic that one often sees in BL (i.e. not super-muscular, not hirsuite, sometimes downright "boyish"-looking). But as you noted, no matter how handsome (some) of the actors are, it obviously lacks the story (romance) that many BL fans find essential to their enjoyment...

Makes sense. So they are enjoying the emotional flows as a remote observer rather than participant. In a reverse harem, the girl is open to romance for herself directly and normally appreciates the attention she's getting. Male harem leads usually don't want the attention, or think they don't (in the comedies anyway), and would see yuri as an opportunity to participate.
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CCSYueh



Joined: 03 Jul 2004
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PostPosted: Fri Oct 30, 2009 9:34 pm Reply with quote
ArthurFrDent wrote:
The point of the story may not be harem, but I think you could view it as one, because of the needs of these women and how the protagonist fulfils them.


This is the attitude I was talking about.
I consider harem a far more broad concept than the actual harem romance genre.
What a lot of American fans forget in their enthusiasm for the wonder that is anime is it is pretty much a commercial enterprise as much, if not more, than it is an art form. If changing 3 characters into D-cup teens could conceivably increase audience share, it probably will happen. Turning a bunch of sweaty samurai into bishonen will probably increase the female viewers, where's the harm? A few long glances between same-gender characters can fuel the fire under the fantasies of otaku? Great for business!
Doesn't Bleach offer a healthy selection of males & females for the viewers' pleasure?
Why do you think fan service is such a standard concept in Japan? In Miyuki-chan Clamp discuss the choice to put Miyuki in a school uniform vs pj's in one scene to allow for more panty shots. Here most of us go for the old "sex sells" concept & don't really think about it as fan service.
While Gundam Wing, Seed, 00, etc are not harem titles, they are designed to attract a different demographic than the more hardcore Gundam titles much to the ire of the hardcore base (or so I've read).
And if a harem title can sell dvds, plus some merchandise (figures, posters, drama cds, character cds, etc), it has earned it's keep.

On that yaoi debate, I know a lot of the gals in my circle are more with the guys in that not caring to see naughty female parts. I mean, hey, we can see it in the mirror, so why the hell do we want naked girls in our manga? We wanted the warriors naked, not fricken Miaka! Not to mention bare breasts aren't exactly uncommon in manga, anime, movies, etc.Flugelhorns are far more rare.
The only dif is I don't see as many gals as vehemently opposed to seeing naked gals as I see guys who absolutely freak over having to see naked male parts. We're like "boo-ring" over naked gals while guys seem more "My Eyes! I'm Blind!"
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