Forum - View topicINTEREST: "Goeppels-chan" Puts Moe Spin on Nazism in Fan Videos
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Alan45
 Village Elder Posts: 9835 Location: Virginia |
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A little perspective people. While from the description, this is a fairly obnoxious anime, it does not represent the attitude of either the Japanese government or of the Japanese people as a whole.
According to the article this is the work of two people. It is a web comic of some modest success though it sold so poorly it went to crowd funding. I'm sure an even mild search could turn up very serious, much more obnoxious pro Nazi and Neo Nazi websites in the US. I'm also sure that in the current generation of people you could find a lot of people in this country who either don't understand what the problem is or who simply think the thing is funny. Like I said, a little perspective, this does not represent Japan as a whole in any manner. |
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revolutionotaku
Posts: 884 |
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If you study history, Japan was part of the Axis Powers. I've also been to Japan. I've been to stores that sell merchandise with Nazi imagery & symbols.
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nobahn
 Subscriber Posts: 5120 |
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I know that that the temptation to give in to Sturm und Drang in regard to this topic is strong, but please don't. Thank you.
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Lili-Hime
 Posts: 569 |
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Hmmm... saying that banning nazi imagery is the same as pretending WWII didn't happen is a huge logical leap I don't think I can make. If Germans were desperate to erase that part of their history they would not have turned concentration camps into memorials. To me that's the very opposite of wanting to forget.
Those who have pointed out that Japan isn't about to moe-ify or make light of the Hiroshima or Nagasaki bombings are right on. Their attitudes seem far less apologetic about their WWII war crimes, especially concerning comfort women and their atrocities regarding Koreans and Chinese. If you've seen the documentary on the Wind Rises (Kingdom of Dreams and Madness), it goes into great detail about how Miyazaki had to edit his ending to pacify right wingers. I.E. he couldn't show the planes being destroyed and Japan losing the war. That's why the end comes off rushed and you only see the planes taking off, then destroyed on the ground later. It didn't happen to them, so it's ok to make jokes about it. The atomic bombs get you stuff like Barefoot Gen. Nazis killing Jews? That's a one liner in Hetalia. Japanese zero fighters getting shot down? Can't show that. Nazi influenced designs on game / anime characters? A-ok! Japanese attitudes come off as very nationalistic when you look at it that way. So basically from reading this thread Japan's fetish for Nazi chic comes mostly from the fact that Germany was on their side in WWII 70+ years ago and due to the rise of Japanese nationalism / right wing ideology. |
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Kadmos1
 Posts: 13552 Location: In Phoenix but has an 85308 ZIP |
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Another controversy that can come from this is the argument that white supremacists might dig this. I think that the people making this were somewhat aware of the controversy they would face with this, but I don't think they really will comprehend how much they are shooting themselves in the foot.
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Chester McCool
 Posts: 322 |
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I'm going to remember how guilty and progressive we Westerners are the next time an earthquake hit Japan and I see thousands of tweets that boil down to "Serves those ___ right!" Or even weider is all those tweets when US beat Japan at the Olympics and apparently "that one was for Pearl Harbor you ___s!" Don't see anything wrong with focusing on your own tragedies during a war Obviously Japan has more insight on what it feels like to have a nuclear warhead dropped on you as they're the only country in the world it's happened to. Also never seen one of those series talk about how glorious WW2 was unlike all those movies and video games set in WW2 which boil down to "America, **** yeah!" Not sure if those are considered respectful or not.
Bobobo did it. Qwaser did it. Cutsey moe bombs have been done before. Japan can moeify anything. |
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H. Guderian
Posts: 1255 |
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I doubt its just the fetish.
Nazi Germany had tons of crazy personalities. The crazy Nazi doctor guy from the Hellsing anime? Not that far off from reality in some regards. Frankly the pool of material from that country during that time to pull characters from is immense. Simply put nearly every major figure in the Third Reich were huge personalities who will be remembered the world over for a long, long time. Its the combination of the distance from the atrocities, and the size of the personalities, that keep making them come back. As an aside, there's a Seiyuu who is a self proclaimed Soviet Russia otaku, and I promise you there'd be far less outrage over her for that. If there was a basic flash-animation praising Soviet Russia from her, there'd be vastly less knee-jerk. Those guys also invaded countries and killed millions of their own. Japanese culture is able to separate aesthetic from reality, and is visible all over their culture. They apply that to history too, not because they're out to revive great evils. Does everyone in a WW2 game instantly became a Neo-Nazi if they got sorted to the German side in a match and happened to win? if someone preferred to play on that team because they have a neat visual appeal...are they now out to exterminate whole races? There's a logical separation we need to trust our fellow man to have. Of course someone could take it seriously and we as good people should help coach them out of it. |
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Lili-Hime
Posts: 569 |
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A few bigoted cowards hiding behind a keyboard don't speak for our country. If you recall comedians like Gilbert Goddfrey got fired for posting insensitive jokes after the tsunami.
There's a big difference between Schindler's List and something like this. No one in the west would make a cartoon where Joseph Goebbels is a cute protaganist. Omg now I think about it that was the plot of the Producers; make a musical painting Nazis in a positive light to ensure it would flop. @H. Guderian I think that's the difference between this and Hellsing though. Nazis as evil has been a staple of American entertainment for awhile now (Indiana Jones, etc.) Making a Nazi responsible for the deaths of millions of Jews a moe protaganist is a bit more controversial then say... idk making him some guy that gets killed in an action movie. I'm not making any moral judgements I'm not personally offended by this I'm just saying it totally wouldn't fly in the west and was wondering why Japan is so A-ok with it but I had my questioned answered so I'm done for now. |
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enurtsol
 Posts: 14758 |
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Basically, it boils down to if it's something making sympathetic what doesn't deserve to be sympathized with.
Like what if the Enola Gay is made light of (I would've reposted those moe pictures again, but they were previously deleted). |
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MkNicht
 Posts: 1 |
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If a cute girl cartoon is the worst thing white supremacists have done to you this decade, then they're pretty harmless, don't you think? Worry about something that actually matters, like ISIS or Russia. |
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Hiroki not Takuya
 Posts: 2512 |
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As an almost lone contrarian opinion (MkNicht=Machts Nichts nicht var?), I'd like to say that I think the concept is hilarious, though the actual show is done like a visual novel (no animation) with only Goeppels-chan voiced and the rest text all in Japanese. Dammit! When can we get an English localization?? I'd go on the funding site just for that. Seriously, until I know what the actual dialog is I'm not going to go about screaming about insensitivity, how it shouldn't exist, offense!, etc. BTW, I'm ethnically a German-Jew. About the Japan-German link, it's deep and cultural and a Nazi alliance was definitely a "win-win" for Hirohito (until it wasn't). Read yuna49's post links, they hit the nail I was going to hit squarely on the head.
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Takkun4343
 Posts: 1498 Location: Englewood, Ohio |
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I know the Nazis are evil and all, but y'all are taking this way more personally than you should.
Unless the Nazis did something to your family, then by all means, go ahead and vent. |
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