I like debates. Actual debates… I do believe ideas become better and sharper when they are challenged. Throughout the years, I have had a lot of wonderful and very interesting conversations with people on subjects we completely disagreed on. Occasionally I’ve changed my mind about certain things. It’s not the norm though. A lot of people don’t really like disagreeing with others.
Thankfully, the anime community doesn’t have those hangups. It seems we can disagree with each other over just about anything. It’s impressive and occasionally exhausting. But hey, I will always err on the side of discussion. However, there are a few debates that I’m just a little tired of seeing. Mostly because I have nothing to contribute to these conversations and it’s all about me… So I think we should replace these particular talking points with something I do have something to say about, or at least something I’m interested in. Cause it’s all about me….
5. It’s just anime
Ok so this isn’t so much a debate as a well to shut down a debate and it’s sort of annoying to me. Yeah…we know it’s anime…so what… It’s a medium for fiction and storytelling, two things that are fundamental to all humans and a huge part of our intellectual and social evolution as a species. And it’s in bouncy, colourful joy inducing form. I don,t see anything “only” about it.
But hey, I get it, sometimes a person doesn’t really want to engage and needs an easy out. I have been meaning to write a bad science post based on the wonderful Interviews with Monster Girls for a long time know, trying to math out the localized wormhole in the dullahan’s neck. So I think that instead of resorting the the non response of it’s only anime, we could without context just start talking about localized wormhole theories. I bet that’s gonna kill the conversation even faster and I also really want to hear everyone’s theories on how it’s possible!
4. Anime is (Sexist, Racist, Violent, Better…)
I know I’m repeating myself here but anime is a storytelling medium. I’m not sure it’s inherently anything. Specific shows could potentially have those characteristics and it’s fine if one wants to have a conversation about that, but it’s really difficult to do when you cast a wide net over the entire medium. It sort of makes it impossible to argue either way.
My suggestion would be to replace the old Anime is (insert qualifier here) with something empirically measurable in order to make a debate possible in the first place. It can still be really challenging. For instance anime if mostly blue. We would need to go back over all the shows that have been released and check if the RGB values favour blue. And although I’m not going to do that, I kinda want to know the answer… I just like colours, ok!?!
3. Anime fans are …
This is pretty much the same as point number two but with that added little layer of potential insult just to make it extra fun. I don’t even read these debates so i honestly have no clue what the arguments are like. Maybe they’re delightful in fact… But I doubt it…
I’m always afraid these types on conversation will degenerate into virtual fist fights. And although my troll sensibilities should make me like this sort of things, I just don’t. It seems a little mean.
I’m not sure what to replace this with. I guess it needs to be visceral enough to offer the same release but still harmless. How about these debates always have to include the person putting launching them. For instance all anime fans, myself included, like occasional video games. Or maybe Anime fans are for the most part taller than me… I dunno, it’s a work in progress. Suggestions are welcomed!
2. Sub vs Dub
I really enjoy subtitles anime because I like the sound of spoken Japanese. But that doesn’t make it better. And I deeply don’t see what anyone else’s preference regarding the issue has to do with me. It literally changes nothing. Maybe if shows got either subtitled OR dubbed but not both, there would be some stakes.
(I actually did subtitles in college for a while for a little independent film distributor. Sometimes I even got to do the translating and editing myself. It’s not easy work but I didn’t hate it at all. Maybe I can do that again some day…)
Instead of this, I think we as a community should concentrate on reviving the lost art of fan subbing and dubbing. We’ve been spoiled by anime availability. We should debate which fansub/dub was the absolute best and provide copies for proof! Please do…
1. New vs Classic
I think every season of anime has good and bad shows and occasionally we get masterpieces. And we still get them just as frequently as we use to. No one ever mentions that the same season Evangelion first aired, there was like 5 different Sailor moon projects and 80% of the roster were sequels and spin offs. And let’s face it, the bad or boring anime from 20 years ago has been entirely forgotten so we can’t really compare it with current airing stuff.
I said I’m tired of this debate yet I just had it all by myself! Way to go, me.
I think the aspect I’m just fed up with in this particular question is just how defeated it sounds. People that are on the side of classic anime was better often just leave it at that. making it sound like the only way to ever get the industry back on track is to invent a time machine. The debate would be way more interesting to me, if it was just a little more constructive. I would love to know what they would change specifically about particular currently airing shows to “make them better”. A colour palette with more primary tones (like Tower of God – it’s rich and beautiful and has more gradient but it’s definitely old school colour palette). More 16 to 22 year old boys as protagonists? And no coping out with generalities like better written stories or a production that cares or something like that…
There, I’m sure the internet will absolutely listen to me and immediately put these suggestions into practice. Yup…any second now…
Are there any anime debates that your tired of hearing? Would you like to replace it with something else? Like what? Do you think this post was kinda weird?
