NoneOfUrBusiness

joined 5 months ago
[–] NoneOfUrBusiness@fedia.io 2 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Anime Stories may not always grow with the fan base, but enough of them do that they maintain their audience over years as the story progresses. I think that's pretty important.

I don't think they grow as much as they don't rely too much on the audience being a certain age. Of course a lot of anime will be more entertaining or relatable if you're part of its target audience, but a 50 years old can easily find Demon Slayer or Nichijou entertaining. Because of that simply shaking things up every now and then will be enough to keep your audience engaged; it's the same reason an adult can be entertained by Adventure Time and not Paw Patrol.

[–] NoneOfUrBusiness@fedia.io 28 points 1 month ago (3 children)

I mean there are a lot of reasons, but the main one is that the anime industry has its shit a lot better than the Western equivalent and the night novel->manga->anime pipeline.

First, you have sheer quantity and variety. Every season, meaning four times a year, more than 50 anime are released, in all genres and for all ages. Meanwhile almost all Western animation is either for kids or marvel. Compare the darkest or most brutal Western animated show you can find to stuff like Perfect Blue (huge trigger warning BTW) and Made in Abyss. I, personally, watched more than a thousand hours of anime, likely more than all Western animation not aimed at kids below 10 put together. It just doesn't begin to compare. Even popular titles like Adventure Time or Gumball are for kids; they're just high quality works that also appeal to adults (more on this later). I know series like Invincible exist, but seriously. Name me 10 of them. Anime is a huge industry of its own right, more comparable to Hollywood than Western animation, and I think we all know Hollywood isn't interested in making anything decent right now. That's part of why anime is so popular.

Second, with anime there's usually a story that's being adapted. This means there's a lot less of the hit or miss aspect surrounding a new work, as a manga or novel needs to have a certain amount of quality before it even qualifies to be made into an anime. Also, the market cares more about its customers than in the West, so studios do their work more faithfully (otherwise they won't get new jobs). As someone making a new anime, you want to sell blue rays, you want people to buy the original work, you want them to buy merchandise, and for all these you need to create something good that will actually turn in a profit. Also, if they've got a good anime going they don't suddenly decide to kill it and spend the money on another yacht. I'm still salty we didn't get a proper season 3 for The Owl House, for example. Studios have more respect for the work they're doing, and an original story they have to follow or they won't be getting any more work. Nothing like the MBA infested mess that exists in the West.

Third, anime and manga aren't tied to a certain age in Japanese culture. 60% of Japanese people watch anime at least once in a while, and a similar percentage reads manga. It's not something you graduate as soon as you enter middle school. Light Novels are also obviously not for kids, because what kind of kid reads for entertainment today? These media all lean towards teenagers and young adults, and generally don't make too many assumptions about the viewer. I mentioned Adventure Time up there; so even anime that's made for kids doesn't treat its viewer as an idiot, which makes it watchable as an adult. Now how watchable depends on your tastes, but even a straight shonen like My Hero Academia or Demon Slayer has reasonably realistic characters with personalities, as tropey as they may be. Even the most shonen of shonen anime passes the same standard that makes Adventure Time and Gumball watchable to an adult compared to something like Paw Patrol.

So, yeah, it's not even a comparison at this point.

[–] NoneOfUrBusiness@fedia.io 21 points 1 month ago

I mean people usually don't like when you support Nazis. That doesn't have anything to do with being a tankie.

[–] NoneOfUrBusiness@fedia.io 6 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Been the case for a while. If anything this is more a symptom of the virus being (very slowly) expelled from Western consciousness.

[–] NoneOfUrBusiness@fedia.io 2 points 1 month ago

I see. Yeah that makes sense.

[–] NoneOfUrBusiness@fedia.io 8 points 1 month ago

Iran doesn't want nuclear bombs. They've been very clear about that, and while it might be posturing the reasons they stated make perfect sense. Being a potential nuclear power already gives them all the nuclear deterrent they can hope for without a large scale nuclear program that would get them bombed by the West.

[–] NoneOfUrBusiness@fedia.io 9 points 1 month ago

And it's not working since again, Iran has nuclear capacity and actively chooses not to use it. I don't think the proxy war with Israel has anything to do with them not having enough material.

[–] NoneOfUrBusiness@fedia.io 3 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Don't know that they're actually short the genocide, considering Iran's backing of Syria,

Oh shit you might be right, but does Assad have any genocides under his belt? I thought the worst he did was gassing his own citizens.

the US definitely has an interest in a Middle East that is not in open war because of the effects of instability on international trade

I was thinking unstable as in unstable dictatorships dependent on US support to keep their citizens down ala Egypt. I agree they generally don't want open war in the region.

[–] NoneOfUrBusiness@fedia.io 5 points 1 month ago (4 children)

Oh shit I braintarted that sentence; I should have added "with the US". With that said, I agree with pretty much everything you said so allow me to nitpick a bit.

First, I don't see Iran starting any direct wars with anyone when their proxies are willing to do all the work for them. This is a common tactic in the region because it works, destabilizing effects on your surroundings aside.

Second, I don't think the US is trying to prevent the destabilization of anything. If anything an unstable Middle East is in their interests to the extent it doesn't cause a refugee crisis for Europe.

Third and last, while Iran is definitely pretty bad, I think they're one genocide and a few hundred thousand slaves short of being as bad as Saudi Arabia. Again, I'm no fan of them, and weaker Iranian influence would be good for the Middle East as a whole as long as it doesn't lead to (or be caused by) stronger US influence, but Saudi Arabia is just that evil. Iranian is a more typical dictatorship vying for local hegemony.

[–] NoneOfUrBusiness@fedia.io 9 points 1 month ago (6 children)

I get your point on Russia but Iran? War with the US is the absolute last thing Iran wants, which is clear from their foreign policy decisions for the last... Forever, really. America has problems with Iran because they won't do what the US tells them to, not because there's any risk of Iran starting a war of any kind.

[–] NoneOfUrBusiness@fedia.io 14 points 1 month ago

Wonder why.

[–] NoneOfUrBusiness@fedia.io 70 points 1 month ago (17 children)

Okay not Christian but isn't this heresy?

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