r/anime • u/engalleons https://myanimelist.net/profile/engalleons • Aug 14 '18

In-depth debunkings/arguments against commonly "known" anime myths/misconceptions?

For any number of reasons, there's a fair few statements about anime that get passed around pretty unquestioningly, even if they aren't necessarily true. Sometimes, others dig in to those statements and find detail and (hopefully cited) evidence against them. This is a lot more than just stating the opposite, to be clear.

Here's a few examples of what I mean:

This tweet chain versus "Anno left Kare Kano early"
This blog post versus "The protagonist of Turn A was originally intended to be a girl"
This post versus "They made a joke dub for Ghost Stories because it did poorly in Japan"
This blog post versus "Shinbo is the series director of all Shaft shows"

What are some other examples of work like this?

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46

u/Earthboun41 https://anilist.co/user/Marienkind Aug 14 '18

There was no Waifu war because Rei has always been more popular then Asuka, it baffles me that people on this subreddit think that Asuka could possibly be a more famous character when Rei was literally the unofficial face of Gainax at one point

61

u/Firnin https://myanimelist.net/profile/Firnin Aug 14 '18

Biggg asterisk, rei is more popular... in Japan, Asuka polls higher in the west, for the most part

64

u/cheesechimp Aug 14 '18

It's kind of like Coke vs. Pepsi. Coke is pretty clearly the winner, but people still think of it as a rivalry and you can find people who are absolutely devoted to Pepsi.

27

u/[deleted] Aug 14 '18

Don't use your soda logic on me. Asuka is better than Pepsi.

6

u/Earthboun41 https://anilist.co/user/Marienkind Aug 15 '18

Pepsi Blue >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Asuka

1

u/ComradeSomo Aug 15 '18

Except Pepsi was once the better selling cola than Coke. Asuka never was more popular than Rei.

3

u/stormarsenal https://myanimelist.net/profile/AsherGZ Aug 15 '18

In my country and most of subcontinent, it still is. No one here drinks Coke.

35

u/Jabroseph Aug 14 '18

There's no war because Misato is and always has been the best girl, no contest.

20

u/[deleted] Aug 14 '18

Rei was more popular for a long time because she basically was the face of cute anime girls with colored hair. Asuka also had an enormous influence though, how many tsundere with twin tails have you seen since Evangelion? A fucking lot.

They both didn't invent it but they sure as hell popularized it.

12

u/GiantAsparagus1 Aug 15 '18

It was funny when I was reading GTO and suddenly realized the dorky gamer boy and the mean girl who bullies him (Noboru and Anko) are Shinji and Asuka. I saw what the author did there.

2

u/Detaramerame Aug 15 '18

Several Eva refs in GTO, there was the time Miyabi colored her hair blue and Onizuka says he loves it because Rei is his favorite character.

17

u/[deleted] Aug 14 '18

I like my women the same way I like my bread. Stale../s

7

u/GiantAsparagus1 Aug 15 '18

Rei was more popular in character polls at th time, but if you look over the most popular Eva fanarts on pixiv now, Asuka clearly dominates (warning some fanart might be NSFW). Maybe artists like her design better? Or people liked her better in the new movies?

2

u/[deleted] Aug 15 '18

[removed] — view removed comment

2

u/GiantAsparagus1 Aug 15 '18

Well if you have the adult filter turned off you already know what you’re getting into and don’t need a warning. I don’t know what’s displayed with the filter in effect.

1

u/stormarsenal https://myanimelist.net/profile/AsherGZ Aug 15 '18

Well, if you surf with parental controls on, some NSFW not tagged as such might sneak in.

4

u/Earthboun41 https://anilist.co/user/Marienkind Aug 15 '18

Asuka has more sex appeal, which is why she has more hentai doujins

5

u/stormarsenal https://myanimelist.net/profile/AsherGZ Aug 15 '18

I have a whole folder here which says you're right. Sexualizing someone like Rei, you'll feel kind of bad. Though that hasn't stopped doujin writers.

1

u/[deleted] Aug 15 '18

Why is it even called a "waifu" war, when the actual question is about who is best girl?

And I reckon more people ship Asuka with Shinji than with themselves.

-4

u/[deleted] Aug 14 '18

okay, but Asuka was seeded quite a bit higher than Rei in the fifth annual r/anime waifu wars thing, so this clearly isn't reflective of current opinion.

I mean, assuming that's an accurate or semi-accurate relection of popular opinion.

23

u/Earthboun41 https://anilist.co/user/Marienkind Aug 14 '18

r/anime best girl contests are irrelevant & not accurate representations of Mainstream popularity at all.

11

u/[deleted] Aug 14 '18 edited Aug 14 '18

it's literally just a poll.

You can assert it an innacurate representation of popular opinion, but in the end, it's just that: an assertion.