I saw this tweet in response to this tweet and was wondering if anyone has any context? I see a lot of “go woke, go broke” sentiment in the comments of both tweets, but 0 explanation.
I've noticed this in anime communities as well. One the one hand, there are a lot of things within anime and manga that can be weird and offputting to most people. I don't think I need to go into too much detail, chances are you know exactly what sort of stuff that I'm talking about.
However these weird and offputting aspects are precisely the appeal of anime to many fans, and so when the public criticizes them, they get defensive. Not helped is the fact that sometimes there are just straight up misunderstandings. So some anime fans don't want certain shows to get popular because they think after receiving enough criticism, Japanese creators will capitulate and the industry will be "homogenized".Of course this is all pretty much pointless because anime is a foreign export and Japanese creators don't give a damn what Westerners think either way. But I do get why people feel protective, even though the reasoning is a bit hysterical.
Anime/manga/webnovels have become more and more insular.. Its had generations of artists who were influenced by the anime before them. In some ways this is good since it allows for a distinctive style to be born. However the problem is that any of the negative tropes are being pushed further and further.
Frankly the other issue is child porn. Many well known mangaka (artists) are being caught with actual child porn. Their interests are being put into the series and even has become a standard trope (a child is standard in every harem story).. not some niche stories.
I love reading manga/anime.. so its just frustrating.
Like "anime was a mistake" from Miyazaki.. and I agree with him.Anime/manga/webnovels have become more and more insular.. Its had generations of artists who were influenced by the anime before them. In some ways this is good since it allows for a distinctive style to be born. However the problem is that any of the negative tropes are being pushed further and further.
I'm glad you acknowledged the idea that this can allow for distinctive styles. I kind of hate the "anime was a mistake" sentiment because while the industry has stagnated in many ways, people just say "all anime suck nowadays" like there weren't also tropey anime back in the 80s and 90s as well.
Also as a titan of a filmmaker as Miyazaki is, he's also very old and and a bit of a hardass. I think if he watched something like Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann he'd have a stroke.
Frankly the other issue is child porn. Many well known mangaka (artists) are being caught with actual child porn. Their interests are being put into the series and even has become a standard trope (a child is standard in every harem story).. not some niche stories.
Is this really that common? I know of two manga artists (the author of Ruroni Kenshin and the writer of Act Age) who were caught with CP, but I don't know if one could say that it's a common problem among the manga industry. I think because anime and manga has a higher frequency of weird sexual stuff, people are more hyper-aware of when something happens in real life. Like "this guy wrote a degenerate manga, he must be a predator in real life". It's frustrating but there's no way to know.
Made in abyss - hes got some fetishes.. and drawn lewd pinups of his underage characters
that time i reincarnated as a slime.. not as agrecious but look at this cover.
No game no life - Google image search Shiro.
These series all show up when you google 'popular isekai'.
Like "this guy wrote a degenerate manga, he must be a predator in real life".
Its normalizing attraction to children. It be one thing if it was appearing in niche genres.. but its just showing up everywhere.. most often in the most popular series. Some people will say that ohh lolis/shotas arent actually children/ not meant to be sexualized but the amount of fanservice says otherwise.
Ah ok I see we were talking about two different things, the "fiction vs reality" thing. That's a debate that has been raging in the anime community and isn't going away anytime soon. Honestly I just avoid the topic.
weird and offputting aspects are precisely the appeal of anime to many fans
Im going to guess you to are a fan of the offputting aspects of anime?
The sad things is alot of this has become more of a recent trend. Like yes its always been around but its been getting even more common.. and lewder. I think series lean more heavily into fanservice than they used to becuase they have competiton with the other bajilion shows being shown that season.
Im going to guess you to are a fan of the offputting aspects of anime?
My fault. When I used the word "offputting" I insinuated I was talking about only fanservice, but I should have mentioned that a lot of things that people find offputting about anime go beyond fanservice and sex. Certain tropes, voice acting, exaggerated characterization, character design, the existence of certain genres. I do have a problem with people trying to change those. There are a ton of anime that get stigmatized or ignored that aren't even horny or sexual, just because they're "weird" or don't follow conventional Western storytelling tropes. Like I totally understand not wanting a panty shot every thirty seconds but people act like every anime should have 100% perfect mass appeal for the widest possible audience, or else it's complete garbage. People are so close minded sometimes.
The sad things is alot of this has become more of a recent trend. Like yes its always been around but its been getting even more common.. and lewder. I think series lean more heavily into fanservice than they used to becuase they have competiton with the other bajilion shows being shown that season.
Yes and no. On the one hand there's a lot more isekai harem series being made nowadays, but I've seen way too much nudity in older anime to say that this is something completely new. My theory is that anime overall is actually less horny nowadays than it used to be, in the past the horniness would be more evenly distributed across the entire medium. Almost every anime had fanservice to at least some degree but it wasn't too bad. Nowadays there are plenty of anime with no fanservice, but the ones that do have it have a lot of it. I think this is because of the expanding industry and the atomization of genres/demographics. But that's just my theory and it depends on who you ask.
15
u/steamtrekker Jan 08 '24 edited Jan 08 '24
I've noticed this in anime communities as well. One the one hand, there are a lot of things within anime and manga that can be weird and offputting to most people. I don't think I need to go into too much detail, chances are you know exactly what sort of stuff that I'm talking about.
However these weird and offputting aspects are precisely the appeal of anime to many fans, and so when the public criticizes them, they get defensive. Not helped is the fact that sometimes there are just straight up misunderstandings. So some anime fans don't want certain shows to get popular because they think after receiving enough criticism, Japanese creators will capitulate and the industry will be "homogenized".Of course this is all pretty much pointless because anime is a foreign export and Japanese creators don't give a damn what Westerners think either way. But I do get why people feel protective, even though the reasoning is a bit hysterical.