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EP. REVIEW: GATE

as far as political journalistis goes, that is a perfect representation of them , since they always take certain sides and you will very hardly find a political news outlet that is objective (mostly only if they are unrelated, usually from a different country).

for americans fox news should ring a bell

now, on the subject of piña's soldiers... now that kind of broke my suspension of disbelief, since I faintly rememebr, form the previous season, that piña's group was supossed to be more of an ornamental group with no real combat skills, tho maybe I am confusing this with berserk.

The "politician protecting his ass before doing his job" business is something else I probably could have commented on, as that could also be looked at from a "see, the politicians are keeping us from doing our job!" angle, too.

If anything, we have almost the opposite problem, where much of the media tries to at least give the appearance of objectivity, which results in what is dubbed false equivalence, where the media tries to equate both sides when one side is much more extreme and irresponsible, and tries to avoid coming down on either side of a partisan issue.

I find it interesting that people are taking such issue with things like the Diet member and the journalist in GATE, simply because if the anime took the exact OPPOSITE side (ie. the journalist is heroic and the Diet member sympathetic but the military man is overly "aggressive" and you maybe have a scheming government official looking for conquest) people would not look askance at it. Considering that we have LOTS of media that take that tact which is often widely praised. It would still seem like people were being overly critical if GATE was simply being bashed on "technical merit" if there was an UNDERCURRENT of dislike for the themes, but it just seems notable that people are taking SUCH issue with GATE's particular stance since the polar opposite stance appears ALL THE TIME.

zrnzle500 wrote:

If anything, we have almost the opposite problem, where much of the media tries to at least give the appearance of objectivity, which results in what is dubbed false equivalence, where the media tries to equate both sides when one side is much more extreme and irresponsible, and tries to avoid coming down on either side of a partisan issue.

I don't really want to start going into all the different news sources and journalists that just push their preconceived bias, but what you're talking about is the exact same problem. The only difference is the initial view they are going in there looking for evidence to support. It doesn't matter what that view is; it isn't proper journalism and is far too prevalent currently. A journalist going in dead set on finding equivalence is just as wrong as a journalist going in there dead set on showing one side to be horrible.

Again, the way things are slanted makes a lot of difference. So does the context. For instance, I think it's indisputable that the series has greatly and deliberately aggrandized the JSDF. I'm not saying that's automatically a bad thing, but casting the scenes with the politician and the journalist in that light does give them a certain nastier interpretation.

Some may have been preconceptions of the parties being equal, but I believe the problem is more akin to dare I say political correctness.

I think they ought to be transparent about their priors so people can take it with a grain of salt.

The problem isn't that they don't lionize reporters but rather their utterly apparent disdain and disrespect for them. Criticizing them is fine but characterizing them as hostile and without a wink of objectivity or even decency is as unfair to them as the journalist is being to them.

If this were (for example) an idol anime, you could have a journalist that is presented exactly the same as the guy in this episode of GATE, and he would just be seen as a "foil" for the protagonists, with no real ulterior motive ascribed to the writer (since idols or other celebrities deal with the paparazzi all the time). But because our protagonists are clearly the JSDF, it's more off-putting.

I completely agree. A series having a stance on something isn't new, and it usually isn't much of an issue. This series has a pro-SDF stance. Somehow this stance specifically has caused people to go 'omg it is promoting evil japanese military oppression' and try to point at the pro-SDF stance as unreasonable / horrible and overly and unfairly scrutinize aspects that those same people likely can't be bothered with in other series like the example you're throwing out.

Both the politician earlier and the journalist this episode are pointing out real issues with how things are done which apply to more than just SDF related interaction. I don't see how in the context of a pro-SDF series, that is somehow nastier.

My whole problem with it is it's presenting all these standard right-wing talking points as if they were some sort of universal truth, that of course the liberal politicians and the mainstream media are going to be biased against the military doing what needs to be done or whatever.

So far, nothing has been shown to justify this move, especially since Tyuule has to know that they don't get along too well.

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So far, nothing has been shown to justify this move, especially since Tyuule has to know that they don't get along too well.

Except that Tyuule doesn't want to control the empire, she wants to destroy it -- for revenge. Taking out Pina -- who, as HeeroTX says, would be a reasonably effective empress -- is absolutely necessary for this plan. Imprisoning her, as preliminary to her show trial and execution, is just part of that plan. Humiliating Pina and getting back some of the dignity that Tyuule lost along the way are just icing on the cake.

A better question is, how did Tyuule plan to bring down the empire before the gate opened? Putting the biggest idiot on the throne is a good start, but without the JSDF to deliver the finishing blow it would have been a long, slow, grinding slide into ruin.

After checking the last few pages of this thread, I have to wonder if I'm the only one who found Leilei's arc the worst the series has ever offered in terms of plot and side characters.

After checking the last few pages of this thread, I have to wonder if I'm the only one who found Leilei's arc the worst the series has ever offered in terms of plot and side characters.