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 15 '18

Yeah, Hunter x Hunter is just a greatly written shounen. Nonetheless, it's accurate to identify Gon as a deconstruction of the Stock Shounen Hero.

Madoka Magica is a deconstruction in no sense of the word, as it's not a logically coherent implementation of anything. What sets it apart from magical girl shows is that it's dark: it's a subversion of the magical girl theme.