Forum - View topicINTEREST: Anime Director Yamakan Apologizes for 'Disabled' Otaku Comment
|
Goto page Previous 1, 2, 3 Note: this is the discussion thread for this article |
| Author | Message | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
leafy sea dragon
 Posts: 7163 Location: Another Kingdom |
|
|||||||||
For some people though, that's exactly the sort of thing they want in people they admire. I don't think Yamakan makes the sort of entertainment that brings in people like that though. He isn't Johnny Carson or Trey Parker.
Personally, I hadn't made mention of that because I felt it was obvious that he's being incredibly insensitive and insulting by comparing ACTUAL issues people have that they have no control over with people's personal preferences over a solitary activity. One is an issue people are dedicating their lives to overcoming, the other is watching TV shows. Somehow though, this comes across for me as pretty par for the course for this man.
Another thing is that westerners are not afraid to call out celebrities on social media if they get a big head and behave out of line. Happened to Mel Gibson, happened to Justin Bieber, happened to Axl Rose. Then the news jumps on these reactions and everyone finds out about it. Of course, whether they apologize and avoid making the same mistake twice or they double down and get even angrier about it depends on the person...though the latter tends not to find quite as much work in the future. I mean, these Japanese fans aren't afraid to call out Yamakan on social media either, but I don't think this is going to be something that comes up on their news. Maybe it should. It'll give him the humble pie he needs.
There's never been a cultural shame, at least in the United States, for watching the primetime animated sitcoms on FOX and the like ever since The Simpsons hammered a hole right through the Animation Age Ghetto. (Problem is that there hasn't been any other show since that's changed the popular notion quite as much.)
It depends on his exact definition of "otaku," but I would bet there are plenty of hardcore fans who live and breathe anime but work normal jobs and behave professionally, politely, and courteously when in public. Heck, there are plenty of "neckbeards" here in the west who are like that too, in spite of the stereotype of maladjustment and awkwardness (though there are plenty of those too). I've been studying fandoms for quite a while, and one pattern I've noticed is that as fans of something age, they really DO mature. By and marge, they'll reach an age where they find it silly to get mad at other people for not sharing the same opinions, where they learn how to live life as an adult and allocate time and money between what they're fans of and making a living, where they can give thought about how they come across to other people and see things through other people's perspectives, and maybe even where they can give back and take part in what they're a fan of. I didn't think it'd happen for a long while, but we're actually seeing this with the Sonic fandom of all things: Over the past 12 months, I've been seeing a greatly increasing number of YouTube comments on videos of Sonic playthroughs and feedback on Sonic fansites that are well-written, well thought out, and provide genuinely helpful advice, insight, or context, whereas prior there would've been way more "you suck" comments or profanity-saturated insults. Similarly, while I can't speak for the state of otaku in Japan, I've seen a vast improvement in behavior in anime convention attendees in the Unites States. Remember back when the teenagers, who got lost in the fantasy world of a convention, barged into someone's wedding at a nearby hotel and wrecked everything they could find? Those teenagers have since become functioning adults and see that as an old shame. (Just don't get some of these people too drunk or you're going to get "One Punch Man Was Here" again.) |
||||||||||
|
||||||||||
|
hikura
Posts: 565 |
|
|||||||||
|
Does he realize that the very people who he is insulting is buying his material? Last time I checked it's not a good idea to bite the hand that feeds you.
Plus it's kinda insulting to pick on people who are disabled. He would not like it people did that you him. Maybe he should be given the same treatment as he doled out. |
||||||||||
|
||||||||||
Weazul-chan
 Posts: 625 Location: Michigan |
|
|||||||||
but admittedly my perspective here is a personal one since I am an all around geek who greatly enjoys anime (and has quite a collection of DVDs and even some old VHS tapes I've never had a chance to upgrade yet) who is in their latter 30's and grew up with chronic illnesses that have progressed to the point I could fit some of those negative otaku stereotypes by virtue of my illnesses keeping me mostly stuck at home, currently without a job, and socially awkward from having far less chances for social interaction with my peers both growing up and even now. I am disabled, but equating my interest in anime (and other geeky things) to a disability is highly insulting to me. |
||||||||||
|
||||||||||
Meongantuk
 Posts: 353 |
|
|||||||||
|
What I don't understand is, for all the insults and hate for Otaku, why Yamakan keep making late-night anime worthy? Miyazaki and his oldman cynicsm hating otaku was "fine", at least his works are aimed to general audience. But has he even have "anime aimed at general audience" in his resume?
|
||||||||||
|
||||||||||
|
Animeking1108
Posts: 1244 |
|
|||||||||
Their adaptations of "Naruto," "Bleach," "Twin Star Exorcists," and "Tokyo Ghoul." Need I say more? If their adaptation of "Black Clover" is actually good, I'm going to eat my shorts. |
||||||||||
|
||||||||||
Mew Berry
 Posts: 186 |
|
|||||||||
Ah, see, I didn't watch their shonen adaptations growing up and I haven't seen the more recent series you mention either (although I have heard negative things about them so I still see your point). I've liked most of their series I've seen, but I suspect I've probably been watching different ones than you have, so I guess it's all subjective. |
||||||||||
|
||||||||||
Jose Cruz
 Posts: 1778 Location: South America |
|
|||||||||
|
I wonder why manga doesn't suffer from the same prejudice in Japan? Well, I was reading a book by a sociologist about manga that a Japanese authority said something of the sort: "40 year olds shouldn't read manga, they should read books because manga tells them the information with pictures and that is too easy".
Anyway, it is really weird for someone in 2017 to say something like this even more for a creator of anime aimed at adults to say something like this. I have a theory about that: I think that Japan has a deep sense of inferiority regarding itself relative to Western culture. Hence, the Japanese themselves think their own culture is inferior and therefore think that the people who appreciate Japanese culture are inferior. Animation and comics are something very Japanese since it they are mediums that do not exist in the west to a comparable extent. Therefore, it is an inferior medium for inferior people: since their Western overlords don't care about comics and animation the colonized Japanese should also conform to their tastes. Literature and live action, being Western cultural mediums, are regarded as superior mediums by the Japanese since their overlords like those mediums. This mentality has created its own problems. It is perhaps the main reason why the amount of manga and anime aimed at mature adults, such as Hyouge Mono, is a small fraction of total Japanese output.
There is no cultural shame in Japan for watching stuff like Sazae-san and Miyazaki's movies either. The cultural shame from anime partly derives from the fact it is heavily sexualized and partly because it takes itself seriously. Or do you think nobody in the US would feel shamed if they masturbated to Lisa Simpson? Think of something like Evangelion, that is something impossible to exist in Western culture since it combines: animation with underage eroticism with thematic sophistication and with heavy drama. In other words, it is animation that demands from the viewer to be taken dead seriously. Western animation like The Simpsons does not demand to be taken dead seriously: it is a just a "cartoon". And that is the problem with Japanese anime fans: they take seriously an art form that Western culture does not. Since the Japanese regard themselves as inferior to the West and wish to be close to Western culture they want to conform to Western cultural standards And anime fans are by definition rebelling against that conformity. |
||||||||||
|
||||||||||
Mr. Oshawott
 Posts: 6773 |
|
|||||||||
|
For all the hate Yamakan seems to have towards otaku, he seems to have no problem producing anime made for late-night viewing. I think he's letting his ego ruin his judgement a bit...
|
||||||||||
|
||||||||||
|
kinghumanity
Posts: 365 |
|
|||||||||
|
Isn't this the genius who crowdfunded his anime movie from Chinese fans and then started ranting about the "merits" of the Japanese invasion in WWII?
|
||||||||||
|
||||||||||
 |
All times are GMT - 5 Hours |
|
|
|
Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group