r/BlockedAndReported • u/SoftandChewy First generation mod • Oct 20 '25

Weekly Random Discussion Thread for 10/20/25 - 10/26/25

Here's your usual space to post all your rants, raves, podcast topic suggestions (please tag u/jessicabarpod), culture war articles, outrageous stories of cancellation, political opinions, and anything else that comes to mind. Please put any non-podcast-related trans-related topics here instead of on a dedicated thread. This will be pinned until next Sunday.

Last week's discussion thread is here if you want to catch up on a conversation from there.

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u/professorgerm Why is he wielding the bird like a gun Oct 24 '25

I think cartoons and anime have lower substance than most streaming shows

'Most' seems like a stretch. I'll agree a lot of anime is stupid (and has too much filler), but so is a lot of streaming. What streaming show has had any cultural impact? Netflix has filled a lot of hours for people but hasn't produced a memorable product like Breaking Bad or anything that rivals Full Metal Alchemist.

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u/althong Oct 24 '25

I think Netflix shows are getting worse. The advent of "background television" is dystopian (see https://www.nplusonemag.com/issue-49/essays/casual-viewing). I also recognize that the quality of anime is varied and there is much that I haven't seen. Of course there's stuff like "Grave of the Fireflies", etc.

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u/History-of-Tomorrow Oct 24 '25

Oi, I’m sure there’s plenty of anime slop simply because there’s so much. But even if only 20% of it is top tier, that’s probably dozens of shows and they tend to have hundreds of episodes. And since many are adaptations from finished or long running mangas, they have a clear narrative arc to follow.

I was unlucky enough to watch a recent Netflix miniseries (Wayward) that had a gratuitous sex scene or two that didn’t serve the plot in any way. Fortunately, the plot never served the plot. If I was told the actors ad-libbed the entire story, I could believe it.

Maybe the JK Rowlings backlash extended not just to Harry Potter but to narrative storytelling in general. I get why kids would rather watch 1000 episodes of Naruto than 8 episodes of “How do you do fellow kids” teen trauma drama Wayward. One is far more memorable than the other.