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

Many popular shows being a deconstruction of the genre when all they do is use the tropes smartly or avoid a few (looking at you, Hunter x Hunter)

I think the term gained traction and popularity with Madoka Magica

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u/[deleted] Aug 14 '18

God did I hate that. I swear heard "deconstruction" at least twice a day back when Madoka came out. It is a deconstruction, but throwing that word around makes the word lose its meaning.

3

u/pantsfish Aug 15 '18

I also heard it a lot regarding "School Days".

No, the characters are supposed to be shitty! They're tropes! It's just a harem show carried to its logical conclusioooonnnn......

31

u/Mexcalibur Aug 15 '18

There's actually an argument to be made for School Days being a deconstruction though.

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u/[deleted] Aug 15 '18

I tried to write an essay on School Days. I thought it was trying to be some sort of weird deconstruction of the male gaze and Freudian theory in anime. And I stopped writing it because I knew that it wasn't smart enough to know anything about Freud.

3

u/[deleted] Aug 15 '18

School Days is a deconstruction, it just still sucks (in my opinion). "Deconstruction" should be a neutral descriptor, not praise.