General Anime/Manga/Otaku Thread

[CLXcool]

Watching the Hoshi no Kirby(or by its American title Kirby: Right Back At Ya). So far I'm already on the 20th episode. I'm deciding if i should check out the English dub or not(Heard it was decent since there was SOME effort put into it from 4kids part). So far the only thing that I'm baffled about this is the amount of CG that was used in this. Some of the episodes have a lot of CG whenever some of the characters are on screen. Like King DDD's throne room becomes a CG fest whenever he's ordering a monster.

[RepentantSky]

I don't understand how people can have such a poor attitude towards anime. I just watched Howl's Moving Castle for probably the 13th or 14th time and the ending feels just as good to watch as it always has. There aren't a lot of movies that have that effect yet for me, more anime movies do than non-anime ones.

[MexicanAnime]

I don't understand how people can have such a poor attitude towards anime. I just watched Howl's Moving Castle for probably the 13th or 14th time and the ending feels just as good to watch as it always has. There aren't a lot of movies that have that effect yet for me, more anime movies do than non-anime ones.

Semi related.

[RepentantSky]

The guy does bring up some interesting points but I'm not saying anime actually needs to be popular. People just need to be accepting of the fact that it's there. I mean, I can accept that there are action movies who's formula hasn't changed, only gotten more flashy, since before I was even born. Anime does change though, and it can be flashy but tell a good story at the same time. I don't hate action flicks right off just because they are formulaic, and while anime does have a few formulas it likes to follow, it often uses those as a basis and then does something you don't expect and can actually really end up liking.

[gamemaster1991]

[BumblebeeCody*]

I don't understand how people can have such a poor attitude towards anime. I just watched Howl's Moving Castle for probably the 13th or 14th time and the ending feels just as good to watch as it always has. There aren't a lot of movies that have that effect yet for me, more anime movies do than non-anime ones.

Semi related.

Pretty cool video. My own problem is that it lives of the point of "I want others to care".
Anime may not be mainstream to older people, but every single person I've ever met (my generations) knows what Anime is AND they(we) also watch Breaking Bad.
Mainstream itself means, "being widely known to large audience"...and well, so effing what? It may not be mainstream but that doesn't mean it shouldn't ruin your experience with the show nor you care. Pokemon being mainstream didn't change the show in anyway so it's pointless to care whether other people like it not, because it's for you (the fans of anime).
Another (not really a problem as such) with the video is that it (rightly so) has a problem of uncultured people. The guy in the video points out that there are those who have a very shallow view of anime and see it as a cartoon whereas animes like Akira and Cowboy Bebop are very much for a mature audience. Why care about what those people think? It's the same as people who think Nintendo is for kids.

There's also other factors to consider and no I'm not taking digs at America (or the UK) but it's a fact that our countries have a very select level of entertainment. America exports it's products(Music and films especially, the gaming industry is far from as select as the other industries) on a mass scale.By that I mean, if you were to go to another country in Europe, you'd find all the generic western exports like Katy B, Justin Bieber and the (terrible) Transformers/World War Z films etc. BUT you'd also find what that country's own products in an abundance. Our countries never really air what other countries have to offer, but other countries do.
The point I'm making is that outside products(Japanese Anime, French Films, German Music) haven't gotten the mainstream audience because American/UK media have a very controlled grip on what people have access to.
There's another reason that Gangnam Style is an important song, as that is because it broke the mainstream/cultural barrier. It's up the the people in those countries to educate themselves on what's out there but that's not going to happen anytime soon.

I also don't think Anime/Japan are weird at all. For every "weird" Onepiece there is, there's always an Adventure Time to rival it.

So again, it not being mainstream is irrelevant due to a lot of different factors. That being said, the Internet has broken "educated" a new generation. It's mainstream on the Internet...if that counts.

[MexicanAnime]

The guy does bring up some interesting points but I'm not saying anime actually needs to be popular. People just need to be accepting of the fact that it's there. I mean, I can accept that there are action movies who's formula hasn't changed, only gotten more flashy, since before I was even born. Anime does change though, and it can be flashy but tell a good story at the same time. I don't hate action flicks right off just because they are formulaic, and while anime does have a few formulas it likes to follow, it often uses those as a basis and then does something you don't expect and can actually really end up liking.

I say semi related for a reason, and it's not that people do not know that it's there, it's just that they have a preconception of it which prevents them from going into it. To them, stuff like Pokemon/DragonBallZ and this is the only thing out there -



@Cody - Not sure if I linked it before, but I agree on the last part, more specifically, the language barrier as while there are anime dubbing companies out there, they are no where near the level of those that are unlicensed and unavailable in English.

As for anime being wierd, as much as I love the medium and what not, the number of shows with ridiculous and bizzare scenes/premises is huge to the amount compared to American cartoons. Stuff like One Piece isn't even considered weird due to that, despite the bizarre powers and characters the show has.

[RepentantSky]

Thanks for reminding me that there are anime I actually like to avoid but what anime is that? Unless it's something well known or that aids the preconceived notion that anime has, I can't really see it as related.

[MexicanAnime]

Thanks for reminding me that there are anime I actually like to avoid but what anime is that? Unless it's something well known or that aids the preconceived notion that anime has, I can't really see it as related.

Funny enough, it's one of my favorite anime, Monogatari. More specifically, Nisemonogatari.

As if it's well known, it's literally the highest selling anime of the 21st century.

[retrolinkx]

Semi related.

....I thought Anime was pretty mainstream...

Unless, it was like Gaming, circa 1999. Where it was seen as a nerds thing?

I guess Attack on Titan is usually babby's first anime, along with Death Note, Naruto and Bleach.

[RepentantSky]

Thanks for reminding me that there are anime I actually like to avoid but what anime is that? Unless it's something well known or that aids the preconceived notion that anime has, I can't really see it as related.

Funny enough, it's one of my favorite anime, Monogatari. More specifically, Nisemonogatari.

As if it's well known, it's literally the highest selling anime of the 21st century.

Interesting, never heard of it.

[MexicanAnime]

Semi related.

....I thought Anime was pretty mainstream...

Unless, it was like Gaming, circa 1999. Where it was seen as a nerds thing?

I guess Attack on Titan is usually babby's first anime, along with Death Note, Naruto and Bleach.

I think you're the first person I have ever come across who thought anime was mainstream in the West. It's not in a long shot. Hell, even in Japan it doesn't have the best reputation, despite some shows being able to break into it (Bake, K-On, Code Geass).

@Rep - You have probably seen images around of some of the characters.

[BumblebeeCody*]

Semi related.

....I thought Anime was pretty mainstream...

Unless, it was like Gaming, circa 1999. Where it was seen as a nerds thing?

I guess Attack on Titan is usually babby's first anime, along with Death Note, Naruto and Bleach.

I think you're the first person I have ever come across who thought anime was mainstream in the West. It's not in a long shot. Hell, even in Japan it doesn't have the best reputation, despite some shows being able to break into it (Bake, K-On, Code Geass).

@Rep - You have probably seen images around of some of the characters.

I never thought Anime was "mainstream" but it definitely had it's presence. Since the 1990s and has been growing ever since. Even when I was younger; Digimon, Pokemon, Yu-gi-oh, Card Captors, Sailor Moon, Dragonball Z had it's air time on Cartoon Network, Fox Kids, CITV(memories) and then Adult Swim with more shows being available ever since.
I don't think it's mainstream, but has a solid footing in the west.

[Combat Lobster]

While I wouldn't say it's mainstream, I would say that just about everyone (who uses the internet) is at least aware of it in some way.

[MexicanAnime]

While I wouldn't say it's mainstream, I would say that just about everyone (who uses the internet) is at least aware of it in some way.

Pretty much what you and Cody said.

@Retro - On the babby's first anime, yeah, pretty much. I usually just call those the "casual" shows that many newbies start off with, stuff like Bleach, Naruto, Dragon Ball Z, Code Geass, Gurren Lagann, Death Note, etc. Mind you, that doesn't mean they're bad or anything as stuff like Death Note, Geass, and Gurren Lagann are still entertain able and I can see why people would list them as favorites.