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[Culise]

Wait there is a nuanced version of Taiwan in an anime somewhere? Really?

What anime?

You know, I have no idea, but I'm sure there must be one.  Maybe.  Somewhere, if we look really hard.
...
I suppose Hetalia's Taiwan is a bit better than Hetalia's Korea, but that's kind of a series that runs on national stereotypes.  That's not really saying much, though; I think Japan is actually even harder on zainichi than Taiwanese. 

EDIT:
Actually, I can't think of the last time I even saw a Taiwanese (as opposed to just generically Chinese) character in an anime.

[Furtuka]

I think Nobunagun took place in Taiwan? The first episode did at least but I didn't watch past it.

[Reelya]

I think Nobunagun took place in Taiwan? The first episode did at least but I didn't watch past it.

Wise choice. Nobunagun looked horrible and i bowed out @ episode 2.

The Peru example wasn't meant to link back to Japan in any way except as an abstract example of how we automatically devalue suffering of "remote" people, as part of the Just World Fallacy. I was actually thinking of how Americans react to these big earthquake stories in non-Anglo countries differently than if it was to white Europeans. And there is a definite racist undercurrent. If ONE American died in that earthquake along with the 30000 Peruvians, we'd be all "oh no, John died!", even though we don't actually know who the fuck this "John" is, or why we should value his life more than the 30000 Juans, but this is what we see people doing. People tend to group the dead by race, which is a way of compartmentalizing and dealing with the scale of the tragedy.

Americans ALSO relate to Latin America and other people that they have oppressed in a similar manner to Japanese racism against their previous colonies, so looking at the "general" case is relevant since colonialism and racism are definitely NOT just a Japanese phenomena. America is reknowned for it's respectful language towards Mexicans for example , who are actually amongst the people they conquered a big chunk of the USA from.

The Just World Fallacy works on two levels - the first level devalues people who had bad things happen to them - but (and this is critical) only if they did nothing to cause it. It kicks in for "unfair" punishments. People subconsciously devalue the recipients of unfair outcomes, but if you do something silly and cause your own circumstances, there's no devaluation of you as a person. This way we maintain our sense that the world is a predictable, orderly place - i.e. It "bad things only happen to people who deserve it, so they won't happen to me". the sense that we can self-control of outcomes as opposed to feeling every is random catastrophes over which we have no control. The latter may be true, but it's not a healthy worldview.

The second level of the Just World Fallacy is seen where the subject believes they've are the cause of the suffering, or they've benefited from the suffering. Rather than feel responsible, people lower their estimation of the worth of the target. This is the part that's relevant to Japan and it's interaction with post-colonial areas where Japan committed atrocities. We see it wherever there's a colonial situation, and the natives are propagandized as sub-humans, it's the same deal.

[Chaoswizkid]

That "country of children" quote was NOT about the effects of otaku culture. Only a small percentage of Japan are otaku.

Also, his thoughts on modern consumers of the industry:

Anno pauses for a moment, and gives a dark-browed stare out the window. “I don’t see any adults here in Japan,” he says, with a shrug. “The fact that you see salarymen reading manga and pornography on the trains and being unafraid, unashamed or anything, is something you wouldn’t have seen 30 years ago, with people who grew up under a different system of government. They would have been far too embarrassed to open a book of cartoons or dirty pictures on a train. But that’s what we have now in Japan. We are a country of children.”

Thanks for agreeing with me?

The next bit that actually mentioned otaku was separate:

Also, keep in mind that the culture has changed. Remember, it was once scandalous for a woman to show off any portion of her legs, or even a forearm I believe. Consider that to be something incredibly alluring to men at the time, and now you don't have to look at anime pre-NGE to see that otaku would indulge themselves on something even as innocent as Sailor Moon.

That was directed at the argument that nothing was that sexy pre-NGE (and therefore it couldn't have been a shot at otaku culture), the point being that it's not sexy by our modern standards.

Anyways, really doubt it's creepy pasta at all, considering the details provided in that lengthy post were things I was familiar with years ago and they were also pretty much what was taught, nigh verbatim, especially the bit about that scene with Shinji at Asuka's bedside being a shot at otaku culture (which was verbatim), in my history and culture of Japanese Animation class I took a year or so back. The professor is published and well-regarded enough as an authority on Japanese animation that I've seen other books on animation reference his papers (as sources to comment and develop off of, not to argue or decry). And I say all of that to say, sounds pretty legit, even if all you can really do as an authority on an art-form is have some well-educated and well-thought-out opinions.

[Leafsnail]

NGE clearly has a lot more sexual titillation than Sailor Moon though, so if that's true than Anno is a huge hypocrite.  Like I dunno, if you don't want people to view your characters sexually then maybe don't include loads of fapbait (even if it's supposed to be ironic or whatever)?

[IronyOwl]

"no anime newer than Eva" sounds like a self-important wank. I can only think it was meant half-jokingly. NGE is kinda childish. I'll take Mushishi, Kino's Journey, Kaiba, Tatami Galaxy.

Maybe it was a "fuck you" letter to himself, after all he did nothing and wallowed about for 4 years while other people were still doing stuff. It makes no sense for him to blame everyone else for that.

Also, he criticized Studio Ghibli because he thought there works were getting too nice and family-safe. If he was also criticizing other works at the same time for being too sexy and adult, then the guy would just be an a-grade tool, basiscally: someone who isn't happy no matter what comes out unless it's his exact personal tastes. Not too "family", just the exact
amount of "dark" that he likes etc. Risk-taking, but not too risk-taking etc.

I see no particular reason to assume he's not an irrational hypocritical Grade-A self-important wanking tool. I mean, I get giving him the benefit of the doubt and all, but trying to justify and infer intention based on "but that wouldn't make sense!" is a tragically poor method.

That "country of children" quote was NOT about the effects of otaku culture. Only a small percentage of Japan are otaku. It's important to put quotes in context:

“The fact that you see salarymen reading manga and pornography on the trains and being unafraid, unashamed or anything, is something you wouldn’t have seen 30 years ago, with people who grew up under a different system of government. They would have been far too embarrassed to open a book of cartoons or dirty pictures on a train. But that’s what we have now in Japan. We are a country of children.”

Yes, he called Japan a "country of children" but omitting the first part gives a distorted view of what he was talking about. The entire post-WWII generation up to 60 year olds are the "nation of children", he didn't single out otaku culture as the cause of this, nor state Evangelion as the cure ... he singled out the "different system of government" of previous generations, not otaku culture or anime/manga as the cause.

The fact remains that he's apparently appalled that adults can read manga on trains "without fear." He may have been blaming something else as the cause, but he's still pointing to a pretty douchey example of what he considers its terrible symptoms.

His real major complaint is that he believes digital animation processes and CG are "changing the aesthetic" of anime: so his real thing is "why can't we paint it on cels like the olds days?", but simultaneously criticizing the new generation for not doing enough to create their own style and copying from the past. Seriously? Those two criticisms are totally at odds with each other.

Are you saying that can't be the case then, or starting to suspect that maybe he really is an inveterate jackass?

[Neonivek]

NGE clearly has a lot more sexual titillation than Sailor Moon though, so if that's true than Anno is a huge hypocrite.  Like I dunno, if you don't want people to view your characters sexually then maybe don't include loads of fapbait (even if it's supposed to be ironic or whatever)?

Have you gotten to the Scientists? All of a sudden the monsters are sucking people's souls through their breasts.

[Furtuka]

So Nanoha Vivid is getting an anime

[Bauglir]

Every time I finish watching a series these days, I look around and find out that at some point, in some way, Gen Urobuchi was involved. This is getting a little weird.

[Neyvn]

So, SAO, Great Anime, lightnovel as well. But then again neither really went into detail about the day to day stuff or even the back to basics of how they gained their strength. I found this one that does. Its called SAO: Progressive. Tells the story with a more Asuna PoV styled thing, so better I feel...

http://mangafox.me/manga/sword_art_online_progressive/

[BlitzDungeoneer]

Does anyone know where I'd be able to (legally) stream Fate/Zero and Fate/kaleid liner from Poland and/or Ireland?

[Bauglir]

Does Hulu work for you?

[Hawkfrost]

Does Hulu work for you?

Hulu is only USA, and apparently Japan.

[i2amroy]

Does anyone know where I'd be able to (legally) stream Fate/Zero and Fate/kaleid liner from Poland and/or Ireland?

Fate/Zero is on netflix, if you already have it, not sure how that handles in other countries.

[TamerVirus]

If I was to marathon through one recent series from the past year, what would you recommend and why?