Forum - View topicHey, Answerman! - Auld Lang Syne
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gordok
Posts: 22 Location: San Diego, CA |
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You may be right on this; it's been years since I've been able to make a direct comparison. ----- As for the inclusion (or lack thereof) of gay characters, I wonder if it is as much about not putting in "extraneous" distractions in the story.--e.g., if you have a gay character who is not merely the comic relief, then perhaps the story becomes more about him/her and their "uniqueness," instead of the main plot (e.g., saving the world, defeating the demons, the main romance, whatever). ----- Back in the day (mid/late 1990's), there was a Bandai company representative at a local convention. I imagine he was there (in part) to guage what shows the attendees would like to see on TV, because he asked my opinion about Saber Marionette J. 
Now, I concede that [unlike the folks at ANN], I enjoy the show.* Nevertheless, I told the representative that it might not go over well on TV, because (A) a certain segment of the audience would not like "the" gay character because he was primarily comic relief, and (B) other members of the audience would not want the gay character on TV at all. Comments from other posters suggest I was probably right about (A) . . . but, which is worse, "bad" portrayals, or "no" portrayals at all? As a "parallel" example, consider how Lt. Uhura in Star Trek is/was really "just" a glorified telephone operator--but the fact that she was there on the Bridge of the Starship, and not merely a maid, was an advancement for minority portrayals on TV. [In the animated series, she even got to command the Enterprise a couple of times.] So, even with "bad" stereotypes, doesn't the existence of gay people on TV shows advance their exposure to the general public? *[Nothing wrong with their opinion of SMJ; I just happen to disagree that it's one of the worst shows ever; I agree to disagree.  . . .
Oh, and for those too young to remember: The basic plot is that, on a colony of Earth, the human population is entirely male (clone decendents of the original six settlers); any female companionship has to be provided by androids, and (as always) emotion chips have not been perfected.  ]
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kakoishii
Posts: 741 |
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I think with the whole LE deal you really need to understand how the company that's releasing it works, as well as how sought after the title is. When it comes to Aniplex, the rule of thumb should be if you're seriously interested in owning a copy, then you should definitely preorder the sooner the better. But when it comes to something like Madoka, I'm sure it'll be an exception, and even if it's not Madoka is being sold in non LE format so if someone's desperate to get a copy but doesn't have LE money they won't be shit out of luck. That being said, I do believe it's silly to believe that all companies are working on a true Limited Edition model, yes even today. The Utena boxsets I preordered way back when are still available on right stuf, and at a $10 mark down, so yeah, I think it really does just depend.
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LordByronius
ANN Columnist
 Posts: 861 Location: Philippe for America! He is five. |
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why the hell is everybody getting SO MAD at the guy who didn't pre-order Oreimo? what is the deal here?
re-read his letter. please. i would like to try and just understand what part of his letter provoked such RIGHTEOUS OUTRAGE. he didn't flail his arms around and whine and complain about it being "unfair." he just said that he feels kind of sucky because he waited a bit too long to buy it, because he has limited disposable income. believe it or not, some people CAN'T decide to spend 60 bucks on a boxed set the VERY INSTANT it has a pre-order page. maybe i'm just asking a ridiculous question, but i'm just sort of... well, shocked at all the anger on display. i'm not saying he DESERVES to own the show at some point, which i think my response stated pretty clearly he is now unable to do, but... seriously all this INTERNET ANGER is just a little bit unsettling. |
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RestLessone
 Posts: 1426 Location: New York |
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When I first started out with manga, I was also amazed at the amount of gay relationships. But as I grew older, I came to see they weren't really "characters," so much as idealizations, tropes, and gags. The problem is that people see all of these relationships and assume Japan must be very open to homosexuality.
While many Western countries aren't going to have gay characters in childrens series, they are becoming very common in older teen/adult entertainment. Western comics also have them, what with Batwoman, Bunker, and others. Though not as common as yaoi/BL or gay the side character, they tend to portray them more realistically. I can only think of a handful of manga that seriously tackle the social issues and such. And so, I grew away from yaoi and BL, though am not apposed to reading it. I often think of a chapter in Not Love But Delicious Foods, wherein Yoshinaga finds out a friend/acquaintance of hers is gay and apologizes for her portrayal of gay characters in her works. (At that point, she had never met a gay man.) People can like BL, but just to realize it is neither realistic or progressive. It's (usually) just a heterosexual couple who both happen to have penises. Out of all the gay couples I have met, I cannot recall one that even resembles a seme/uke relationship. At most, you have flamboyancy and love of fashion. Not that they don't happen; I'm sure they do. But if yaoi were indicative of what gay men were like, you'd think every gay couple was a like that. Last edited by RestLessone on Sat Dec 31, 2011 3:33 am; edited 1 time in total |
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here-and-faraway
 Posts: 1528 Location: Sunny California |
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I just read through all these posts and felt the same way. Poor kid. Some Aniplex items sell out quickly and others (Kenshin, Baccano Bluray, ROD, etc.) linger around for months. And, like other posters stated, "limited" varies from company to company. I hope he got something else good with his Christmas money. |
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Haterater
 Posts: 1727 |
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Maybe his comment about being mad at Aniplex despite saying it was a miscalculation on his part is another factor.
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dtm42
Posts: 14084 Location: currently stalking my waifu |
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Exactly. Honestly Brian, your post comes across as very sarcastic. You've capitalised all those words but there hasn't been anywhere near as much "RIGHTEOUS OUTRAGE" as you claim. And just what is the deal with "INTERNET ANGER"? Is that some sort of ultimate attack from a supervillain? |
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Sunday Silence
 Posts: 2047 |
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What makes people go after a douchebag after he rips a new one on a customer for his delayed video game controller? What makes people downgrade a political ad just because the guy bashes gays in the military, compares it to "alleged" eroding religious rights in schools, and disables commenting on the video? What makes folks go after kids memorial pages on Facebook? Why do people troll internet forums? Why do tripfags on 4chan receive hatred and scorn from Anonymous? Why do people make idiotic Twitter/Facebook/Blog comments, ranging from comparing a natural disaster to a tragic act of war and wishing upon a specific cancer onto folks (and it somehow comes true in an "Funny Aneurysm" Moment)? The Internet has made people dumb, plain and simple. |
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poonk
 Posts: 1490 Location: In the Library with Philip |
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vinamara
 Posts: 229 |
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Clearly LGBT characters including cross-dressing weirdos are merely cheap gimmicks with the exception of those series that exclusively cater to that particular genre.
These so-called gender-confused characters are added as an afterthought to spice up the gags and provide a little fanservice as a bonus. Just look at all the recent anime that contained such characters: Persona 4, Haganai, Baka Test, Phi Brain, Mayo Chiki, Uta No Prince Sama and many more. I don't think anyone in Japan is open about homosexuality. These characters are just included for a couple of cheap laughs. The problem lies with these people resorting to cliches because they're bound to grab attention. Its become a standard in manga and anime to makes things interesting or funny enough to hold the viewers attention by using gender-bender gimmickry.. Last edited by vinamara on Sat Dec 31, 2011 6:28 am; edited 1 time in total |
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RestLessone
Posts: 1426 Location: New York |
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I don't disagree. However, I must note that BL titles span more than just romantic dramedies; even serious titles follow the tropes. Serious romances with realistic heterosexual couples aren't that uncommon. Also, having interacted with various people of various fandoms, I've found the seme/uke mindset sometimes bleeds over. It's not so much the older fans; admittedly, the teenagers (particularly those on the younger side of the spectrum) are most likely to apply it to about everything else and wallow in the tropes. Of course, I honestly have no problem with people watching/reading, enjoying, and loving BL or yaoi,; it's entertainment. One thing I always wondered was how Japanese teens view gay relationships. At least here, what with gay marriage being legalized in states and there being a very strong gay rights movement, people will be exposed to what homosexual couples are like. People who enjoy yaoi seem to support gay rights/marriage. But what about those in Japan? Do they think gay couples can be defined with "uke" and "seme"? I really would like to know. |
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Optitron
 Posts: 46 |
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If you want to know what stuff like this is actually going for, you can just perform an advanced search on eBay and tell it to only show completed listings. Personally I'd never even heard of Oreimo, but after seeing all this discussion about it I became curious enough to see just what it is going for on eBay. Based on the method I mentioned above it looks like it's actually selling for about $200. Also, based on the merch I saw, I have no desire to learn anything further about this show at all. Also, there are people who pay the truly insane mark-ups for these products. All that is required is the proper level of desire and necessity. I still remember watching with more than a little amusement when the PS3 and Wii first went on sale and people were paying thousands of dollars to make sure that one all-important present was under the tree for Christmas (this was several years ago obviously). I myself have fallen prey to this on several occasions to acquire rare CDs for my collection, though they usually have the distinction of being out of print for years as the excuse for the price gouging. |
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504NOSON2
 Subscriber Posts: 647 Location: Body:Santa Barbara, CA ~ Heart:New Orleans, LA |
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As far as the Oreimo issue goes, nobody is truly a blame-worthy culprit here; not really the person asking the question and certainly not Aniplex USA. Circumstance is really at fault. The guy even said that he would have went on a rant (in which, he could have raised some valid points to justify his directed anger), but chose to address it as a question, instead.
Please, give it a rest already. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I've noticed, in the typical non-yaoi/non-shoujo-ai anime, homosexual men, in particular, tend to be depicted as objects of aversion (i.e. it's disgusting being around them and they're something to feared). It's basically blatant homophobia. They're also given specific exaggerated characteristics and gimmicks, like Answerman noted. But it's not as simple as writing it off as "jokes" and "entertainment". I imagine it's pretty hard to comprehend until you've been negatively stereotyped in some form or another (not saying anyone hasn't). What's funny about Japan's case is, early in the country's history, homosexual relationships were considered the "purest form of love". |
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TitanXL
 Posts: 4036 |
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Kanji isn't gay. The only reason he was confused is because spoiler[ Naoto is a woman crossdressing and pretending to be a man] it's not really the same as "Maybe I like guys..." like Masao from Shin-chan (original.. dub goes for on gay-bashing with him from what I've seen) Though I think using obvious stereotypes like One Piece's Bon Clay and stuff to say anime is 'bad' at it is kind of silly. There's plenty of good ones as well, like Michiru and Haruka... and I actually like some of the flamboyant portrayals like Kuranosuke... well, he just cross-dresses, he's not gay but... well... I put them all under the LGBT blanket for simplicities sake.. ( I can already see the can of worms I might be opening up with that statement) Anime is just so diverse you have all kinds of portrayals. Last edited by TitanXL on Sat Dec 31, 2011 5:10 am; edited 1 time in total |
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poonk
Posts: 1490 Location: In the Library with Philip |
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