I honestly could not make it past 10 minutes. That wasn't a lie. Maybe it's because I was in a mild mood when starting. Then you factor in the annoying opening (5 seconds of anime, 5 seconds of black screen with credits, 5 seconds of anime, 5 seconds of black screen with credits, repeat for 2 minutes.) Then you have the MC who is stupid and oblivious to everything around him. Clearly I'm not the audience for this which is fine. Just needed to blow off some steam about one of the few seasonal anime I was sort of interested in being a complete turnoff.
Japan stopped trying to appeal to the west because when they did it never made them any money. Lisencing fees from western distributors just won't make up for the lost profits versus selling action figures and love pillows to Asians.
Finished up Goblin Slayer and the Saga of Tanya the Evil recently. I haven't really been into serious anime since like... the days of downloading the shit with Kazaa and eMule. I've mostly been getting my weeb fix with comedies like Umaru, Kill Me Baby, and Shinryaku.
Goblin Slayer was alright. It was definitely entertaining and enjoyable but I don't think it ever really lived up to the potential it shows in the first episode. More often than not it seemed like it settled for being generic high fantasy, just with more blood and gore. The idea that this universe's gods are just bored RPGers is interesting, though I think also not fully realized.
Related to that, the little epilogue speech at the end of the season about how the Goblin Slayer's meticulous planning was to counter the gods' love of random chance but I never really got the sense that that was the case. Felt like the writers weren't good or creative enough to actually incorporate that into the actual show, so they just blurt it out at the end to make it seem like that it was actually the case all along.
I didn't really like the Goblin Slayer's 'main party'. The priestess girl is alright since she actually gets developed throughout it, and at least the elf archer and the lizard have some personality traits, but the dwarf felt like a non-character. Given what happens in the first episode I kept expecting one of them to randomly catch an arrow through the skull in the middle of an episode.
Still, Goblin Slayer himself as a character manages to carry the show. Even if it never really realizes its potential I'd probably still just continue to watch his further adventures and elaborate plans to kill shit.
The Saga of Tanya the Evil, on the other hand, was pure excellence from beginning to end. I never thought Japan's love of lolis in military uniforms would ever lead to something so great. I don't have much to say on this one because I enjoyed pretty much everything. Tanya's aerial mage battles were especially great. Usually music in anime doesn't do much for me but I even got hooked on the show's opening and closing songs.
If I had any complaints it'd be that the animation seemed somewhat schizophrenic. A lot of detail is given to Tanya and her expressions, hair, and movements, but once she's off the screen there'd often seem to be a dip in quality. I also think the 40 year jump into the future with the prologue of the movie (which should've just been called Tanya vs Commie Scum) was a mistake and unnecessarily pigeonholes the series' story going forward. Although I guess Tanya ending up in this universe's version of Operation Paperclip could be amusing.
Up next I'll probably watch Demon Slayer. Is Rise of the Shield Hero actually worth watching? That was another one on my list but I'm not entirely sure about it. I also tried KonoSuba but couldn't get into it; Slayers is one of my all time favorites but KonoSuba just did nothing for me. View attachment 1080389
Yeah the Dwarf's character was kinda lost when they converted the manga into an anime. He bickers back and forth a lot with the high elf archer, which was something they sadly didn't include enough of.
Shieldbro starts off pretty strong, meanders a bit in the middle, then picks back up near the end. It's one of the few anime that had characters which legitimately caused by blood to boil.
The conditions that preceded the downfall of North American comics are starting to play out in the Anime and Manga market. And it all stems from bad storytel...
Japan stopped trying to appeal to the west because when they did it never made them any money. Lisencing fees from western distributors just won't make up for the lost profits versus selling action figures and love pillows to Asians.
A question: Do you guys think that Anime will start pandering to "western audience" (more accurately the blue checkmark morons on Twitter) due to foreign influence? Or is that just BS that OAG believes because he's very unhinged?
Highly doubt it, unless Adult Swim decides to do a 180 and start doing tons of co-productions with anime studios like they did in the 2000's.
At most, you might see some more risque stuff getting temporarily downplayed while the 2020 Olympics are going on, but Japan has never cared too much about the Western market and those in the industry who do keep an eye on the West also know that SJW bullshit is the cancer that is killing capeshit, which is their chief competitor in the foreign market.
Manga is outselling comics by a wide margin in America. Even during the anime boom of the early 2000's, you didn't see those kinds of sales figures.
The success of the MCU movies is what's keeping the capeshit fad afloat. The comics are either dead or dying and are all widely detested by anyone who isn't a blue checkmark or the bearded bugmen and neon-haired cat ladies who follow said blue checkmarks.
Now, as terrifying as it sounds, I wouldn't completely rule out Japan going sort of woke a decade after it dies out in the West. Still highly unlikely, though. The market is totally different over there, as are the cultural dynamics.
The conditions that preceded the downfall of North American comics are starting to play out in the Anime and Manga market. And it all stems from bad storytel...
A question: Do you guys think that Anime will start pandering to "western audience" (more accurately the blue checkmark morons on Twitter) due to foreign influence? Or is that just BS that OAG believes because he's very unhinged?
I doubt it because Japan makes money off of Otaku and NEETs who lap up waifubait which is something that the blue checkmarks dislike about anime. So Japan would never pander to those types unless they prove themselves to give more money than the existing customer base in Japan.
It's a snoozefest.
Main points (I say manga because his examples are manga but I assume the same would apply to anime):
the industry will die to the degradation of writing: natural signs (something being red-hot is something accurate in nature) and artificial signs (wordplay, in-plot associations), and manga relies too heavily on artificial signs to have worldwide appeal
"every comic is somebody's first comic", so it's harder for manga to attract new readers if they have to read 200+ chapters to catch up
manga writing gets lazier when the anime adaption reduces the entry barrier
Hollywood will start moving in on anime and manga and ruin them
Most of these are bullshit:
Although this is true to an extent, the scope is completely misinformed. The cool and modern thing to criticize is videogame isekai, which are all borrowing from Dragon Quest if not each other, down to so-called artificial signs for STR/DEX/INT or SS-rank being important. However, as a trend, videogame isekai only in the past few years managed to unseat the battle harem as the new king of mass-produced garbage. While I wouldn't be surprised if that genre were to collapse soon, it's hard to believe anime/manga as a whole could reach that point given the wealth of original ideas that take off each year.
If your story is so simple that anyone reading doesn't need any of the pre-existing context, the story is either not relevant (true but not a relevant threat to gag manga), or the writing is so bad that there is no need to ever remember anything. If 200 chapters of backstory is too many, what amount is? Not only are most series available in magazines or volume compilations, digital series exist and so do fan-run wikis. The availability of back issues necessary to understand the plot is something that rewards reading.
There are some examples of this, but I doubt the validity of how much of a problem this is. It goes without saying that every story will eventually stop pausing to explain every minute detail. Complaining about adaptions reducing the entry barrier sounds like irrational gatekeeping. Fan wikis also reduce the entry barrier. Forums reduce the entry barrier. Volume summaries could also reduce the entry barrier. Adaptions are always beholden to production restraints and director decision, suggesting that they are identical to the source material is disingenuous from the onset.
Hollywood has tried multiple times and failed. Adapting anime/manga just doesn't work that way, probably because of too high a discrepancy between the number of pedophiles.
Judging by other things on his channel, it seems like a comicsgatefag who doesn't say anything interesting or profound.
It's a snoozefest.
Main points (I say manga because his examples are manga but I assume the same would apply to anime):
the industry will die to the degradation of writing: natural signs (something being red-hot is something accurate in nature) and artificial signs (wordplay, in-plot associations), and manga relies too heavily on artificial signs to have worldwide appeal
"every comic is somebody's first comic", so it's harder for manga to attract new readers if they have to read 200+ chapters to catch up
manga writing gets lazier when the anime adaption reduces the entry barrier
Hollywood will start moving in on anime and manga and ruin them
Most of these are bullshit:
Although this is true to an extent, the scope is completely misinformed. The cool and modern thing to criticize is videogame isekai, which are all borrowing from Dragon Quest if not each other, down to so-called artificial signs for STR/DEX/INT or SS-rank being important. However, as a trend, videogame isekai only in the past few years managed to unseat the battle harem as the new king of mass-produced garbage. While I wouldn't be surprised if that genre were to collapse soon, it's hard to believe anime/manga as a whole could reach that point given the wealth of original ideas that take off each year.
If your story is so simple that anyone reading doesn't need any of the pre-existing context, the story is either not relevant (true but not a relevant threat to gag manga), or the writing is so bad that there is no need to ever remember anything. If 200 chapters of backstory is too many, what amount is? Not only are most series available in magazines or volume compilations, digital series exist and so do fan-run wikis. The availability of back issues necessary to understand the plot is something that rewards reading.
There are some examples of this, but I doubt the validity of how much of a problem this is. It goes without saying that every story will eventually stop pausing to explain every minute detail. Complaining about adaptions reducing the entry barrier sounds like irrational gatekeeping. Fan wikis also reduce the entry barrier. Forums reduce the entry barrier. Volume summaries could also reduce the entry barrier. Adaptions are always beholden to production restraints and director decision, suggesting that they are identical to the source material is disingenuous from the onset.
Hollywood has tried multiple times and failed. Adapting anime/manga just doesn't work that way, probably because of too high a discrepancy between the number of pedophiles.
Judging by other things on his channel, it seems like a comicsgatefag who doesn't say anything interesting or profound.
Thanks. My own answers to the points:
1. A rule of thumb is that 95% of media is shit, with the rest being mostly okay and very few excellent. I have a feeling it is the usual idiot that watched Adult Swim when he was young and believes there was some "golden age of anime" rather than handpicked good series. Also why should anime have worldwide appeal? It's not some stock market that expects infinite growth.
2. I don't even get this logic, yeah it's correct that some series have insane barrier of entry (One Piece is a classic example), but there are always new or finished manga and anime to watch.
3. Usually the anime adaption gets released way after the popularity spike of the show passed and it is already well underway on its plot for any meaningful change to appear. Not to mention that if you are writing a manga expecting an anime you aren't likely to get one (unless you are already established).
4. Hollywood might at worse create their own shitty knock off by buying the IP. I can't see them trying to get into the industy considering it is rife with violence and sexual content that is significantly hazardous for a western company, not to mention needing to employ non americans despite being completely built on nepotism.
Finished up Goblin Slayer and the Saga of Tanya the Evil recently. I haven't really been into serious anime since like... the days of downloading the shit with Kazaa and eMule. I've mostly been getting my weeb fix with comedies like Umaru, Kill Me Baby, and Shinryaku.
Goblin Slayer was alright. It was definitely entertaining and enjoyable but I don't think it ever really lived up to the potential it shows in the first episode. More often than not it seemed like it settled for being generic high fantasy, just with more blood and gore. The idea that this universe's gods are just bored RPGers is interesting, though I think also not fully realized.
Related to that, the little epilogue speech at the end of the season about how the Goblin Slayer's meticulous planning was to counter the gods' love of random chance but I never really got the sense that that was the case. Felt like the writers weren't good or creative enough to actually incorporate that into the actual show, so they just blurt it out at the end to make it seem like that it was actually the case all along.
I didn't really like the Goblin Slayer's 'main party'. The priestess girl is alright since she actually gets developed throughout it, and at least the elf archer and the lizard have some personality traits, but the dwarf felt like a non-character. Given what happens in the first episode I kept expecting one of them to randomly catch an arrow through the skull in the middle of an episode.
Still, Goblin Slayer himself as a character manages to carry the show. Even if it never really realizes its potential I'd probably still just continue to watch his further adventures and elaborate plans to kill shit.
The Saga of Tanya the Evil, on the other hand, was pure excellence from beginning to end. I never thought Japan's love of lolis in military uniforms would ever lead to something so great. I don't have much to say on this one because I enjoyed pretty much everything. Tanya's aerial mage battles were especially great. Usually music in anime doesn't do much for me but I even got hooked on the show's opening and closing songs.
If I had any complaints it'd be that the animation seemed somewhat schizophrenic. A lot of detail is given to Tanya and her expressions, hair, and movements, but once she's off the screen there'd often seem to be a dip in quality. I also think the 40 year jump into the future with the prologue of the movie (which should've just been called Tanya vs Commie Scum) was a mistake and unnecessarily pigeonholes the series' story going forward. Although I guess Tanya ending up in this universe's version of Operation Paperclip could be amusing.
Up next I'll probably watch Demon Slayer. Is Rise of the Shield Hero actually worth watching? That was another one on my list but I'm not entirely sure about it. I also tried KonoSuba but couldn't get into it; Slayers is one of my all time favorites but KonoSuba just did nothing for me. View attachment 1080389
Saga of Tanya the Evil is great. Its pure hatred and disdain for commies (even if the period is wrong, Tanya is WWI Germany and Russia is WWII Russia) is fucking hysterical. The movie is great and I can't wait for season 2 in 2020. If anyone was worried Japan loves commies, this movie is basically 'Fuck Communism' in anime form.
And I agree, pushing the story 40 years forward sucks. But there was barely anything done with it. We also don't see Tanya. I'd just laugh if Being X just cursed her to be in Tanya's form forever to try and drive her insane and the series ends with them just fucking with each other forever.
Shield Hero is a typical isekai that pretends to be different in the first four episodes. If you like isekai, you’ll like it. I didn’t much care for it.
Demon Slayer is amazing through and through with its animation and music. I’m pretty much holding off on the manga just for the anime adaptations to be released. There’s a reason why the mangaka cried after seeing episode 19. It’s that good.
Cautious Hero is an Isekai that plays on the tropes of the genre and has good foreshadowing. It can be rushed a bit but there's a lot crammed into 12 episodes. If interested, the basic premise is that there's a multiverse and demon lords invade worlds. In order to save these worlds, Gods and Goddesses need to summon heroes to save them. A newbie divine being has to save this class S world, the hardest world to save, in order to become a Goddess. So while reviewing heroes from Earth, she sees one with 'high stats' and a note that he's impossibly cautious. The guy gets summoned to this world but he's so insanely cautious he takes absolutely no risks unless he can clobber the enemy through sheer overwhelming power. He runs a lot and is stoic and basically overreacts to simple situations on everything, much to the chagrin of the Goddess. For example, he basically nukes a slime by burning it over and over to prevent it from 'healing'.
Though, its a lot more than meets the eye. Major spoilers:
It turns out the hero has been summoned to save a world before. In the first episode he says something cryptic when he analyzes his stats, and it turns out he realizes that he was summoned before and failed. Since heroes don't remember being summoned, he left a line for himself on his 'stats': "Always be cautious, even if people hate you. And above all else to save the world, save your friends and save the woman you love."
It turns out that he was summoned to another world and kept moving forward, never preparing and never being cautious. Before the last encounter he ignores visiting a sage to find out the Demon Lord's weakness. It turns out he has 2 lives. Since Seiya and his companions exhausted all their abilities fighting his first life, they're completely defenseless when he resurrects. Seyia's companions die as well as the goddess who was guiding him (she just returns to heaven). However, Seiya's lover and unborn child are brutally killed in front of him before he's killed himself. In this universe, summoned heroes killed just go back to their own world, with no memories of what happened.
It turns out that Seiya's lover was reincarnated as the Goddess guiding him for all of her noble deeds, even though she herself could remember none of this and neither could Seiya. Just that line and the imprint of the horror he went through was enough.
And this is why you never ask weebs for anime advice.
Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex 2nd Gig
Psycho-Pass Season 1 ONLY. Seriously, do not watch any other Psycho-Pass but 1. It is an instant classic, a full story and needs no sequels.
Black Lagoon (Including Roberta's Blood Trail)
Cowboy Bebop
Jojo's Bizzare Adventure (All of them)
Megalobox
Hellsing: Ultimate
One Punch Man: Season 1
Parasyte: The Maxim
Saga of Tanya the Evil
Legend of Galatic Heroes (Think Games of Thrones, in Space but better)
Madoka Magica
Akame Ga Kill up until Episode...like 19-20, then switch over to reading the manga. The ending to Akame Ga Kill is shit and pales in comparison to the manga. The anime tries WAY too hard to be edge lord. It needs a brotherhood treatment, but its not popular enough.
Kill La Kill
No Guns Life
Jormungand
Gun X Sword
That should keep you busy for awhile, I threw in a mix of everything.
A question: Do you guys think that Anime will start pandering to "western audience" (more accurately the blue checkmark morons on Twitter) due to foreign influence? Or is that just BS that OAG believes because he's very unhinged?
Its hard to say. On one hand, Japan hates Western influence. On the other, money. The problem is Western culture is very alien to Japan and they don't understand it, so they MIGHT hire danger hairs from the 'cultural mecca' of San Fran or NYC to 'interpret' it for them and we end up with a dying progtard culture that tries to foist itself on anime and ends up killing it.
The main problem is that there's a huge pushback right now to woke culture in general and as resistant as Japan is, it might be too late to influence it. Especially if merch sales and Blu Rays drive the market, vs. Streaming.
Personally, I feel its too late and that progressive media has already peaked.
I remember not really enjoying the ending of Akame ga Kill Everyone dying off felt really forced and the protag’s insane power up threw me for a huge disbelief in the tension of the final fight. I’d compare it to Another. Intriguing start but the ending left me wanting something more desirable
I have been pushing Claymore off so I should finally watch it
I mentioned this but I'll mention it again, read the manga for Akame Ga Kill. 100%. They REALLY REALLY fucked up the last act in the anime. I cannot say this enough to people who watch this anime. You can start with the prequel Akame ga Kill! Zero, go Akama Ga Kill and then go to the sequel if interested, which Akame is a side character.
And I agree, pushing the story 40 years forward sucks. But there was barely anything done with it. We also don't see Tanya. I'd just laugh if Being X just cursed her to be in Tanya's form forever to try and drive her insane and the series ends with them just fucking with each other forever.
It definitely wasn't series ruining or anything, and there's still a lot of story to tell in those 40 years, but having really liked the quasi-alternate history aspect of the series the fact that they pretty much spoil that the Empire loses WW2 was just disappointing. That their world by 1966 seemed to have already recovered from the previous war and the Empire was a distant memory made it seem like things are going to align too closely to the real world for my liking.
And this is why you never ask weebs for anime advice.
Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex 2nd Gig
Psycho-Pass Season 1 ONLY. Seriously, do not watch any other Psycho-Pass but 1. It is an instant classic, a full story and needs no sequels.
Black Lagoon (Including Roberta's Blood Trail)
Cowboy Bebop
Jojo's Bizzare Adventure (All of them)
Megalobox
Hellsing: Ultimate
One Punch Man: Season 1
Parasyte: The Maxim
Saga of Tanya the Evil
Legend of Galatic Heroes (Think Games of Thrones, in Space but better) Madoka Magica
Akame Ga Kill up until Episode...like 19-20, then switch over to reading the manga. The ending to Akame Ga Kill is shit and pales in comparison to the manga. The anime tries WAY too hard to be edge lord. It needs a brotherhood treatment, but its not popular enough.
Kill La Kill
No Guns Life
Jormungand
Gun X Sword
It definitely wasn't series ruining or anything, and there's still a lot of story to tell in those 40 years, but having really liked the quasi-alternate history aspect of the series the fact that they pretty much spoil that the Empire loses WW2 was just disappointing. That their world by 1966 seemed to have already recovered from the previous war and the Empire was a distant memory made it seem like things are going to align too closely to the real world for my liking.
Same here, I wanted to see the Empire win everything, but the fact that it took that route was depressing. But again, we really don't know what happens. The brass could have basically betrayed Tanya or something like that, there's still plenty to explain. I didn't really want a future jump and I don't really feel it needed it.
