Japan, Their Art, and the Culture War
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- Опубліковано 24 чер 2024
- Culture Warriors are obsessed with Japanese films, anime, manga, and video games. They strive to "protect" anime, manga, and film from all Western influence -- ironic, considering most Culture Warriors are in fact Westerners.
But what harm can come from these armchair critics obsessing over Japanese films, anime, and manga? As it turns out -- a lot.
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Chapter Guide
0:00 Prologue
3:51 Chapter 1: Godzilla
12:15 Chapter 2: The "Message"
20:40 Chapter 3: Japan and Diversity
34:16 Chapter 4: East-West Exchange
40:34 Chapter 5: Not All Art is Made For you
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Love Hina Article:
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Content Referenced:
Michiko and Hatchin
Godzilla Minus One
Mobile Suit Gundam Wing
Sailor Moon
The Hidden Fortress
Metal Gear Solid 2
Gojira
The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms
King Kong
Godzilla (2014)
Shin Godzilla
Godzilla vs. Hedorah
Mothra vs. Godzilla
Godzilla vs. Megalon
Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire
Alita: Battle Angel
Battle Angel Alita
Captain Marvel
Yuri on Ice!!!
My Dress-Up Darling
Death Note
Dirty Pair
Attack on Titan
Love Hina
End of Evangelion
I’m in Love with the Villainess
Stars Align
Zombieland Saga
Irreversible Damage
Tale of Genji
Maria-sama ga Miteru
Revolutionary Girl Utena
Astro Boy
Princess Knight
Macbeth (BBC)
Ran
Columbo
Yojimbo
A Fistful of Dollars
Ikiru
Throne of Blood
A New Hope
Mazes and Monsters
Guilty Gear - Strive -
OD
Crimes of the Future
Kingdom Hearts II
Fushigi Yugi
Ranma ½
Special Thanks to Cited Sources:
Jinkei-Bunny
CBR
Lost Media Wiki
Nippon TV
Toho
My Anime List
Anime News Network
Anime Feminist
Liberal Democratic Party of Japan
Britannica
Japan Today
ABC News
Associated Press
Marriage For All Japan
The Japan Times
Anime Herald
Pew Research Center
Brazilian Foreign Affairs
The New York Times
Playboy
MSNBC - Фільми й анімація
![Always Evil Races in Fantasy [Are Kind of Boring]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/lD1mYDHZe9Q/mqdefault.jpg)
![Always Evil Races in Fantasy [Are Kind of Boring]](/img/tr.png)
My only critique with this is that simplifying Gozillia minus one as something that focuses on western colonialism completely detracts from the fact that the reason Japan was in that situation after WW2 was due to it's own horrifying acts of colonialism. Which lead to surrender. It's sad that the average Japanese person had to suffer but there was a reason why they no longer had a standing army.
Japan needs it army .
No, it’s because they lost.
@@23Lgirlthey tried to take over the world with the last one
As a French queer woman, I never felt, as if yuri content was made with Western lesbian culture in mind, as in the West, butch × femme pairings are a more prominent feature than "Sclass" ones.
Edit: I have watched anime/manga since I was a child (my dad and uncle introduced me and my siblings to it in the 1990s) and what I have loved the most about the medium since the beginning, is that it often subverts traditional gender roles and expression. Anime bros/weeabos have a very selective vision of the medium and it's kinda sad.
Yuri isn't really aimed at Japanese Lesbian culture. The anime are mostly aimed at men and the print comics are mostly aimed at the at the straight passing bisexual subset of the BL audience.
@@AC-dk4fp The shoujo/josei "Sclass" stories I'm referring to arent written for men.
@@moustik31 Yes but those are manga/novels that got the occaisonal adaptation. If there's an anime original Class S story with a female audience outside of power of friendship childen's shows like PreCure I've not heard of it. In anime form everything else is either magical girl series for older male otaku, subtext in moeblob slice of life shows for the same audience or too sexual to be Class S (and also probably discounted as 'for men' by a lot of western lesbians).
BL isn't aimed at men either. Josei Yuri is mostly aimed at bisexual women with husbands but in manga form its a relatively young (20 years) genre that has made a lot of attempts to break out of the coming of age school girl paradigm.
People who say American Godzilla movies are xenophobic are borderline delusional.
Shin Godzilla literally wouldn’t exist if 2014 wasn’t made, as Shin Godzilla was made LITERALLY AS A REACTION TO THE SUCCESS OF THAT MOVIE.
Nah quite the opposite, the movie made lots of money, but so does MCU slop and Bayformers back in the day, people are suckers, Shin Godzilla was made in response of Edwardszilla being a boring bait and switch snozefest.
@@kikihideout4966 um yea no.
No it very much was not.
Get your facts right instead of just defaulting to “American = bad”
@@kikihideout4966 also, slop?
Really?
Anybody who says that the MCU is slop is just chronically online
To be fair most of Marvel is slop, it's just weebs are convinced their Japanese corporate pulp is deeper. So they'll ignore Anno worrying about making fight scenes cooler in Shin Kamen Rider saying "They're expecting Marvel level when it comes to action scenes. What are we going to do?" Most creators enjoy, respect, and take influence from most other creators including ones the weebs hate. Acknowledging that means losing the culture war that only exists in their head.
@@KJKLKL4everI think you're the only one doing that
One of the funniest bits for me is that today the representation of any kind of queer representation (be it gay, lesbian, trans, etc.) is often said to be "a political agenda" and "we have to shield the japanese values" from those western influences, when YAOI and YURI was such a god damn japanese trademark for manga. This would be really funny if it wasn't that depressing.
It's also really weird to look at anime and manga and think that it is vastly conservative, if we think about public moral code in Japan, where fitting in is more important than realizing ones self. Because at the end of the day all those tropes and genres we see are really outgoing, expressive and about selfrealization. Something that is actually pretty much in opposition of fitting in. Doesn't mean that you should be some kind of delinquent, but more of finding a way to contribute to society as who you are, not who you are expected to be.
You also tackled to issue of many, many video essays and critics that default back to "Japan good, because no WOKE" when it comes to media. I despise those channels with a passion. Because most of the time it's just some wannabe smartass that states, the western media is failing because "woke" and japanese succeeding because "not woke". Those guys can't analyze media for shit. They often can't comprehend why something works or does not work and that make me furious. Especially whenever they draw an audience that just claps to their tune without contributing anything of value. I saw one video where Frieren vs Galadriel was discussed in your video. That was actually a good one, because it was never boiled down to woke bad stuff and more about what makes an everlasting elven character compelling and why one works better than the other in their respective series.
That's what we should be focussing on: The series, the media we discuss and not some political boggieman we imagine to be responsible for everything we don't like. It's so immature. Which is why I'm really happy so see good content creators like you, who take the step back, look at the situation at large and differenciate. I also like how you don't belittle those with opposing views and just state where assumptions and statements are simply incorrect. You even provide common ground for example by highlighting positive examples of conservative series. Damn - the world would be a lot easier if we had more good faith actors like you in those spaces. I really mean it.
I'm sure someone else has already said this, but King Kong directly effected Godzilla. Eiji Tsuburaya loved King Kong. He got a hold of a reel of the movie and learned how to reverse engineer the effects. There's a good chance that we wouldn't have Godzilla without King Kong.
Fun Fact: The fist anime fan club in the late 70s was founded by 5 people in LA (CF/O). One of them was a queer furry that went on to start the first furry convention. The mascot of the club was a created furry species. Even Osamu Tezuka visted that club more than once and really loved Americans love anime. Notable members of the group went on to import anime and people like Peter Chun (Aeon Flux).
I need the name of that guy , now
@@tomasgordilloreale5841His name was Mark Merlino. He was my family but he died of cancer last week. His name was trending on twitter for a solid day around the world at least under "Animation and comics" There is a documentary that covers some of this history with him called "The Fandom by Ash Coyote" that is on youtube here and streaming services. It covers CF/O near the start.
@@tomasgordilloreale5841 Mark Merlino or his alias Sy Sable. He sadly passed away this February. Sy was INSTRUMENTAL in both creating the furry fandom and popularizing anime in America.
osamu tezuka drew furry porn on the sly so that checks tf out lmao
All I'll say is: God, please don't say "cheese pizza". Just say CP. Calling it "cheese pizza" is too goddamn corny. Much obliged thanks
Or better yet, Anthony should’ve called them what they actually are: child sexual abuse materials (CSAM).
Because when you hear the term “child pornography”, it comes off as an oxymoron, since A. porn inherently implies consent between adults, and B. a child cannot consent obviously. So it is more appropriate to describe said materials as child sexual abuse materials (CSAM) or child sexual exploitation materials (CSEM), regardless of whether or not they depict real life minors.
@lenini056
Sure, just for the love of God don't call it cheese pizza
@@lenini056dumbass take
Tell UA-cam to stop making their site "family friendly.
@@lenini056 Pornography doesn’t require consent to be pornography
Definitely gonna make a video on this topic too. As an anime and comic fan, I find it kind of annoying how there's always this comparison and constant unending whining about 'comics dying' that's been going on for the past few years. They want so desperately to believe that they are the majority demographic of manga and comics and therefore have a sway when they 'boycott' something.
I find it very strange how the same people who will claim 'you don't need to have a character look like you for them to appeal to you' are the same people who get INCREDIBLY salty when it seems like the characters in their media do not look like them...
we don't have to bat for shitty big two comics in 24
Omg I didn't expect to find you there I love your videos
@@xorbyc8149 howdy
Great breakdown of a very difficult topic.
Sadly “Irreversible Douchebaggery” did end up being published in Japan by far-right newspaper house Sankei Shinbun. And them being part of the Fuji TV network, of course it landed on the recommendation shelf of a lot of bookstores.
"Fushigi Yûgi inspired the entire isekai genre"?
What about all the other works that came before it? Such work include:
-Urashima Tarō from Japanese folklore
-Haruka Takachiho's novel "Warrior from Another World"
-Yoshiyuki Tomino's television series "Aura Battler Dunbine" (the oldest anime with the isaki tag)
-The film Super Mario Bros.: The Great Mission to Rescue Princess Peach!
- Mashin Hero Wataru
- NG Knight Ramune & 40
- Paul no Miracle Daisakusen
- Fushigi no Kuni no Alice (may no count since this is the anime adaption of Alice in Wonderland)
It would be more accurate to state that Fushigi Yûgi is the first isekai anime that boost the genre "during the 90s".
By this logic, we could go into Dante's Inferno as an earlier example of isekai.
@@agramuglia Point taken. I imagine there also are other older isekai stories out there. The story of Orpheus and Eurydice from Greek mythology perhaps?
However in my original argument, I was trying to keep to Japanese works. One of the reason I was hesitating about including the anime "Fushigi no Kuni no Alice" in the list.
@@agramugliabro Dante inferno is about a man who travels through hell it’s not a fantasy world it’s hell itself.
@@OmegaKatanaXIII it's another world, essentially. So it's isekai. And fanfiction.
@@agramugliaWhat you are doing here is what a lot of the scary weebs do. You are talking in American/western terms. Fushugi Yugi wasn’t the first or remotely the most popular one in Japan, it was a big deal in the west, but nothing special or unique over there.
I like a lot of what you are doing with this channel, but you really need to not manipulate facts to make your points.
really interesting video. i didn't agree with everything you said, but i see the general idea that you were putting together. I look forward to seeing more content from you!
I loved the part when you when into how western literature influenced Japan, and Japan then influenced the west. The point of media I'd the exchange of ideas, and many people online don't understand it.
I've previously run panels on western literature that has influenced anime and manga, and is always fun to discuss.
Fun random example is Edogawa Ranpo, who was possibly the best Japanese mystery author in history, was highly influenced by the stories of Sherlock Holmes, and whose pen name was a reference to his favorite author, Edgar Alan Poe.
Ahh! It turned out amazing!
There are a few points where (I assume) you're quoting things; like, you have a quote on the screen, and you have someone read it out, but I have absolutely no clue what it is that you're quoting. You should probably fix that in future videos
cant really give any specific advice because i'm not a video/audio editor, but i think the voiceover narration could have used a bit more editing work. lots of pops, inconsistent volume levels and quite a few "uh/ums" that could have been cut out. also, this is a subjective thing, but whoever read the quote at the beginning about "you cease to be an artist and become an ideologue" was extremely obnoxious in their delivery. maybe you think it's comedic, but it gives a poor impression in what's supposed to be a persuasive essay, that you don't take what you're saying seriously.
What's the source for the quote at the 28 minute mark?
That one is from Louis Crompton, as written in his book "Homosexuality and Civilization."
22:02 the mangaka of that office worker BL manga cherry magic(?) donated her film rights fee to a Japanese same sex marriage group 1-3 years ago actually
The thinly veiled racists making an uproar about a Japanese artist drawing Black characters, reminds of the bigots who infect a small part of the Bleach fandom the lot of them genuinely refused to believe Yoruichi was black screaming the she had a tan....only for Tite Kubo to show that multiple members of her family are also Dark Skinned.
I sometimes imagine the out-roar from the chuds if Bleach came out today. Heck, even Naruto once the Land of Lightning showed up.
But did kubo say they were black? He draws black characters differently, case examples include, Jackie Tristan, Francesca mila rose, Love Aikawa, and Lillie Barro.
No one claims she has a tan, most people who disagree wit her being black just assume she is racially ambiguous or south/southeast asian.
I love Tite Kubo for that
@@btuard She’s black
@@shadowsonicsilver6 proof? I just listed all the characters kubo stylistically designed to represent black people, even hispanic characters like chad have a distinctive look, plus its in his backstory.
13:05 You really think Death Note is a conservative work when the whole point is to humilliate and make fun of the essensialistic view of criminality? (the idea that criminals are entirely evil and they deserve to be killed in order sustain a more happy life for the ones who are not criminal)
Or when in the a-kira story everything ends with the protagonist literally doing something to give the layman a sustainable way of living by making substracting their necessity to work in the majority of cases?
Yes. Because it still offers a very conservative world view of society. Cops good, criminals bad. Men and women are presented in traditional gender roles. It's not right wing conspiracy, but it's right of center.
@@agramuglia I don't think that something like criminals being bad or being a problem is inherently conservative unless you are pro-crime, any work that presents a way of dealing with criminals would conservative de facto even with nuance.
And again, what about A-kira which have a literal redistribution of the monetary power to layman, breaking the status quo in the process?
The only point I can see is the woman's one, because sustaining a very progressive point of view in relation to crime doesn't makes us incapable to be sexist since that's a structural problem.
I had no idea the fact that Death Note (and Obha in general, as even more evident by Bakuman) was conservative was considered controversial? Like, yes, it is. Light's view AREN'T actually questioned at all in their essence, what is questioned is the method. The idea is not that Light was wrong (and actually "good characters" actually explicitly confirm he has a point more than once, like Light's dad and Matsuda, and what actually we are told after the time skip is that Kira's plan WORKED and the world IS actually better now), but that by doing what he did he became like the person he hated, that's a very different message. It's the same reason why AoT is also conservative despite being critical of Eren
@@sonicthehegheghog321I haven’t seen death note but it seems to not really change anything on views, why was Light actions bad? Was cause he taking justice into his own hands or was how he doing it?
Wonderful!
There are clear set rules about what constitutes as Cheese Pizza, but Cheese Pizza are not Lettuce or Sausage Hoagies, & Pizza is not Hoagies at all. The method used for making Hoagies & the method used for making Pizza are two different methods & it makes no sense to compare the two. Additionally, while a lettuce leaf might be the same size as a slice of cheese, or a slice of a sausage might also be the same size as a slice of cheese, Lettuce & Sausage are not Cheese & no reasonable person would say they are. Conversely, those who make Lettuce & Sausage Hoagies ensure that the voices behind the Lettuce & Sausage have met the age requirements to make the Hoagies. The staff involved in making Hoagies, whether or not they are made with Lettuce or Sausage or not, are all over the age of 18 & have all agreed to work there.
Those who distribute Cheese Pizza know their Cheese is nowhere near 13-18 years old & distribute it without regard to whether it's damaging to the Cheese or not.
Yes, artistic depictions of Cheese Pizza, such as pictures, photorealistic artwork of Cheese from local restaurants or well known Cheese brands counts as displaying Cheese Pizza & those who make it are showing their inclination toward Cheese Pizza. That said, if the Cheese comes from the artist's imagination & can't be considered the same as any real cheese, then it's not Cheese Pizza.
Also, it's inaccurate to call it CP, because it suggests that the C has consented to being in the material & that's wrong, because a C cannot consent until the age of 16 or 18. The proper term is CSEM & as is established, since H is art drawn from the imagination & not based on a real person of actual age, & the voices behind L & S are legal adults who have consented to participate in L/S H, that means that H whether it has L or S or not, is not CP or P in general.
I could just barely translate what you wrote is something about paedophillia, but everything else is going over my head.
At 17:40 you say that the LDP was the ruling party in Japan during the 2011 tsunami disaster, but wasn't the DPJ (along with the PNP) the ruling Coalition majority?
Good catch. The DPJ had majorities in both houses of the legislature at the time, and the PM (Naoto Kan) was from the DPJ.
I'm not sure how any party, coalition, or politician would have been able to stop a once-in-a-century earthquake and tsunami from happening, though. We can talk about the response afterwards but trying to blame the disaster on politicians you don't like is ridiculous.
I mean I would have an issue if anyone from these parties tried to say it was punishment and karma for something I wasn't involve in. We can also discuss the poor response times and handling of how people were taken care. Yes they are not Raven from That so Raven but having some empathy and working quickly is something that should be heavily criticize no matter the political part. @@PeacenikHippie
@@KazeShikamaru Exactly, we have the same dispute with Giuliani and his handling of 9/11.
Excellent!
Not gonna lie, I thought you'd sound more like Comic Drake thanks to your pfp.
Regardless, this was really interesting to hear, especially the stuff regarding Ken Akamatsu.
It's also fun hearing about the Meiji Restoration (& the discussions over the influence the West could have on Japan) again considering a class I took on JPN literature.
I know it was brief but the mention of Lily Hoshikawa and how she got treated felt like deja vu with Bridget. Same arguments, same reasoning by the same people despite what the actual Japanese creators have said. They were like 5 years apart, goes to show history repeats itself
He*
@@hassanico9999 cope and seethe
@@hassanico9999 All you're doing is help drive traffic to this video
No, no one in Japan thinks Lily is trans. They think he's an otokonoko and refer to him that way.
The "sources" for that were writers from Crunchyroll and not anyone actually that was actually part of the creative staff. It's actually so insane activists "love" that character so much that he has an English wikipedia page but not a Japanese one.
@@ariel_haymarket More people to debunk its false claims from a white guy who doesn't even speak Japanese and thinks "boku" is the same as an English subject/object pronoun.
What annoys me is that these types of ppl treat Japan more of a "toy" than a country full of culture. They wouldnt be involved in any Japanese related politics if not for their entertainment; manga, anime and video games. Theres more to a country than just entertainment exports.
Agreed, its the weebs doing it, they found their love of anime and such, and now have fetishized the country into oblivion.
@chaosforged7600 how long have you both lived here?
@@ragsdale710 lived where? Location doesn’t really matter on commentary n the creepy weebs.
They hate 4kids.
Wonderful showing! I'll have to look into some of those shows you mentioned, since I'm always looking to expand my horizons when it comes to this stuff. It's honestly really funny seeing these people use anime and go by names like "Patriot Char Aznable."
Ah yes, known government supporter Char Aznable
Isn't it respectively, respectfully?
11:41 hi Rags'
A very insincere asthetic of "Japan" has been adopted by the culture warriors, for sure.
Its so dumb, because these aren't people who know anything about other cultures, including Japan.
I saw a clip of the Critical Drinker going on and on and on about how much more successful Japanese movies were than "Hollywood."
But when asked what new Japanese movie he likes, all he could come up with was Korean film Old Boy.
Korean and not a new film even at the time of this interview! But oh boy, he talked all confidently about his little theory!
That's what they do. Talk all confidently without having a clue about what they are talking about.
All they know is that this extreme narrow minded view they are so stuck on is rejected by an awful lot of media.
They can't quite understand that its not a big conspiracy or some brainwashing into "leftist" ideology.
The reason entertainment and media companies all over the world tend to stay away from overly conservative leaning material is that all the narrow mindedness inherent in that kind of thought is just plain unpopular with the vast majority of the public.
Heck, that’s the main reason why the seminal manga character Norakuro (a Suiho Tagawa creation) aged from a young, Tomorrow’s Joe type military personnel to a married coffee shop owner within the fifty years of his regular appearances.
Got 12mins and had to stop. This is such a base take regards the Godzilla issue it hurts my brain thinking you put so much effort into letting people know you've thought about the subject to such small degree.
Research, redraft, re... something, anything other than that drivel.
What exactly did he get wrong about Godzilla? I've seen every Godzilla film, i didn't feel like anything said was terribly off base.
I've been watching you on other platforms for some time and am very excited to see more video essays in the future.
Here at premiere!
This video is so awesome, I'm so glad I found this channel . Its really critiquing my views on things I believed in the past and helping me understand things I see more. This video was extremelely insightful. Something I see a lot these days are people trying to tell artists what they are allowes to draw, especially if it is sexual, and its extremely frustrating.
The last part about how Americans have this kneejerk reaction to seeing "woke" things was super interesting, as its something I'm interested in right now.
420 subscribers, nice
it alot of time, just people being judgmental in thing they dont understand, i just hope that when the culture war goes downhill in content slop farm (probably not) people just stop and trying to understand
Great essay! I look forward to more. Also, your voice was very pleasant and easy to listen to, and i liked how you had other people read your quotes.
Why are they so fixated with the MCU? I really need a video essay for that. Btw, this one was great and its good to let people know how much Hollywood has influenced Japanese media. Example: Oku Hiroya was influenced by Hollywood sci-fi movies to write his manga, Back to the Future is one of his faves.
It’s because the MCU is a guaranteed moneymaker for them and has been ever since the Brie Larson thing.
Probably because money, I dont watch their videos, but other probably do
Power Fetish/Fantasy.
Basically. Anything they can interpret as a talking point, be it something they can support or rant against, they see as being magnified tenfold because of the size of the audience.
It also helps in the UA-cam algorithm.
Because right-wingers are OBSESSED with measuring cultural worth through economics alone, so it burns their hides to see something that doesn't personally gratify them making more money than they think it deserves...
Just to add another point to the video’s thesis, the most popular manga ever, One Piece, has a character/island kingdom that’s explicitly inspired by Rocky Horror Picture Show.
And then there’s the Wano arc, with Okiko and Yamato, on the subject of transness and gender identity
Too bad Oda’s a pig when it comes to drawing women. He’s great at writing them, awful at drawing them.
I wanna know if Nami gets cold not wearing anything over her bra. Good Christ, she could be freezing for all I know.
There’s a entire character brook who wouldn’t exist without influence from American music hell Jojo straight up wouldn’t exist without influences from Prince another American artist
@@shadowsonicsilver6 *beta voice*
Yamato isn't trans.
this is such a good video, made me tear up a bit at the end there. as an queer indian woman, a show like Utena means so much to me, and it's always an uphill battle arguing with people about representations of poc in eastern works.
I like it
Been following you for a bit on other platforms and have enjoyed your writings and thoughts. I'm so happy you're dabbling in the UA-cam medium now. This was a great topic to kick off with looking forward to potentially more.
Why does this have so many dislikes
When it came out, it got bombarded by people who disliked the video after a few seconds.
@@agramuglia Damn 💀
@@ShockedTaiLung harsh.
I like it. I think you'll get the hang of it, I'm sure there's a billion parts you're proud of and a few parts you'll do differently next time. An internet stranger in the comments (me, I'm the stranger) is recommending that you don't be afraid of slowing down a little and taking your time. This was well-structured, it'll be cool to see what you put up next.
I love this video. I recognized your icon from Anime feminist and this video reminds me of the more personal UA-cam video that if you have friends who are shy from politics is Matthias Pilhede's "When I Was a Weeaboo" , it was the earliest video that I have seen that touched on the topic that points out how weebs tend to idealize stuff that is usually far away from them and the problem is not anime but the ways that anime is seen as how japan is like, forgetting that it is a country and not anime. like please go check that out if you do not.
Excellent essay. Eastern & Western Culture are very different. It's unfortunate westerners attempt to appropriate Eastern Cultural aspects without understanding or actively ignoring the underlying philosophies of that culture. Then arguing or projecting their misguided values upon misunderstood appropriated aspects.
The timing of this video and Dunkey's Octopath video pretty much shows how moot the culture war is if they are in it for the money and fifteen seconds of fame... Didn't Hbomberguy show us examples of what to watch out for in content mills recently? This video feels like a companion piece to his latest work, especially when you think back on the american side of things, there was a LOT OF RESISTANCE from americans against the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, championing the likes of the Flinstones (which became Mario 7 Grand Dad), and Dennis the Menace (who ultimately faded into obscurity). History repeats...
And Godzilla vs Megalon is spiritually a Godzilla x Ultraman crossover where Jet Jaguar is standing in for the hero which if you are familiar with Ultraman, a lot of Ultraman's core themes carry on into Godzilla x Jet Jaguar vs Megalon.
I'm vaguely aware of that Ultraman crossover. I admit, Ultraman is a blind spot for me in terms of Japanese media.
Great video on them all, A.
Hell, some new things I've learned are good to know.
Y'know as they say, knowledge is power.
Damn!
Continue with your video essays!
Pretty good one!
This was very well put together, and I look forward to whatever you got in the pipeline😊
This is probably why Love Hina's next plan of action was to automate an entertainment industry, going full "Take the cake, and eat it too." Since this can be used as a companion piece to HBomberguy's video, I can expect more like it in the future. By the way, isn't it strange that the very content mills that worship and idolize japan for it's views often mock their games, specifically a certain genre?
I bet those "#SaveTheJiggle" MFs would've lost their shit if they found out Team Ninja caters heavily to the sapphic crowd.
all he got in the pipeline is coal
I was hoping Monarch Legacy of Monsters would have been mentioned in light of Episode 5 showing Cate being in a same-sex relationship, and the reaction from culture warriors using the South Park Panderverse "put a chick in it and make it lame and gay" joke. Mr. H Reviews in particular made pretty bad videos, and I'd be lying if I didn't say he sounds insufferable.
Lol Dynasty Warriors. LOL!
Super grateful for the opportunity to apply my yaoi voice acting experience to ancient yaoi about Genji the Ho-Bag.
You say on twitter that people were surprised by your voice. But you, at least in this video, sound as I expected, a oddly grizzled reporter. I expected a more New Jersey-ish accent though. I will admit that with most accents, I only have the stereotype to go off of.
So probably unreasonably expectations of actual accents coming from TVs from a European that has never been to America.
Pretty great video. I've been aware a lot of the details brought up here but having laid out there like this not only useful but also informative. Especially with a few details that I wasn't aware of.
Great video, I just have one criticism: The volume is all over the place. Sometimes it goes up, sometimes it goes down, and it always happens between topics, where you edited pieces of the video together.
Am I missing something? Here at 1:59 the first 3 Twitter/X posts aren't mad that the artist drew a black character. They appear to have issue with the framing of Japanese art being called discriminatory and thus being the motivated reason to draw black characters as a sort of reparation as oppose to just genuine desire. Basically they have issue with the reason why the artist drew black characters, not the action of drawing black characters itself.
I could be giving said posters too much benefit of the doubt but based on what I see I think the video effectively strawmanned these posters.
Also this vid should've had a direct response or rebuttal to these posters instead of just gesturing they're silly.
Especially that 4th poster, generalizing all western otaku and their wrong idea of what an artist can only do.
nice to see a video talking about this topic
Just FYI, you totally don't sound like I thought you did :) That said, your intro on this with Godzilla was spectacular.
I wonder if the chuds ever bring up the agenda issue when you have people dropping art from My Hero Academia based on Trump?
Thinking your missing the point on the issue. If you watched or read a bit of Japanese media it's obvious it has diverse stories, characters, and settings. That's why some people are now preferring over western media. We have to be honest here; media in the west as gone stale. Reboots, retelling, recycled story beats, re-releases, and so on.
I've been watching anime, godzilla, samurai movies since the 90s. So i get your point but it misses the mark. Alita was liked because the movie was good and stuck to the original characters and story. Captain Mavel was disliked because it was a bland movie with characters being rewritten to something different. When criticism was levied against it, actors and writers threw identity politics up as a shield to act as if what they did was morale right. It's not. It's a failing marketing ploy.
Back in the 80s and 90s it was the right censoring anime/games and rewriting characters and stories they thought was harmful. Now the tables have turned with the left. Either through direct interference (translations and censorship) or indirectly with investments if studios gear the product to a "global market". Both were and are wrong.
The culure war in media is a symptom of a lack of creativity and good writing. That's where the problem lays.
Actually it’s a bit more interesting on your point about Japanese media being diverse stories but I bit Japan also has stuff that can be considered lazy story’s but you wouldn’t know about since it probably be stay in Japan
One of the best anime’s one piece does engage with identity politics but not of our world it’s yet they can be or probably are allegory’s of actual ones(kawabaka kingdom the worst saidly even though I like Eva)
No really cares for the shield people use here since it corporations usually holding writings back and investor watering it down instead wanting explore this ideas
@@bingyboi6303 Oh. Trust me. There's plenty of bad stories in all media, including Japan's. I wasn't trying to put Japan on a pedestal as like the shinning homeland of peerless writing.
A good story bridges all sides.
@@xenohans9364 i think the issue that happening currently in America is big companies like Disney,blizzard’s,rocksteady and other triple AAA is they seem to be very reliant on company doing the heavy lifting to our people in and are much too afraid to actually take risk which doesn’t breed creative or new ideas on top of that there crunch culture. One of the best games for is Yakuza like a dragon infinite wealth even though the company was being greedy but making new game plus dlc anyways spoilers for that game if you are wanting or thinking about getting into the series: [the story kinda politic as the main villain restarts the nuclear power and planing on storing on a island near Hawaii which definitely based off the America doing exactly that’s to Hawaii islands though it took my brother to point that out for me]
It’s thing where you can use political subjects as a way to explore new stories it’s not like it’s new idea but greed is the main reason why nothing mainstream good comes out in America or when it does sometimes we don’t care which sucks cause I wish I could throw my heart out to this but they’re not what I enjoy but I want them to exist still.
Some parts very well done and interesting enough one of the main points(?)(and you can correct me if I'm wrong) being the artists was an amazing miss holy, if I ever have enough time maybe I'll try to make vid about some parts of this vid.
Really hope you make more content like this
The intro of some randos complaining about black characters in japanese art as evidence of "see we are good and they are bad" is weak, specially when the same thing happen the other way around, when a bunch of sensitive americans jump to hate on an artist because "you did not use the correct shade of brown"
Everybody should let others draw what ever they want, and for now we should expect that somebody will hate on it because prople are assholes.
That’s a poor strawmen when that’s not actually what happened rather it was about the idea that fairness of skin is this rigid beauty norm among artists especially when it comes to female characters
@@tyronechillifoot5573 and, like everything is basis by basis.
@@tyronechillifoot5573 This is the truth but they will hate you for it.
Looking forward to this!
Really good video about this subject!
Fantastic video! You did a great job, and it was nice to hear the shout out to Pillar of Garbage at the end too. Great guy to build inspiration for your essay style from, he never misses.
This has to be one of the most concise, eloquent, well thought and well put out videos on the topic I have ever seen. The amount of work is astounding. Beautifully done. Thank you.
There’s something you should’ve mentioned in there to how conservatives treat Japan as their paradise.
In Apartheid South Africa, East and Southeast Asians were classified as “Honorary whites” until the fall of Apartheid in South Africa, and some of the reasons involved the countries relationships with those countries, and the fact they also traded.
That essay was fantastic. I want more!!
Coming here to support. Glad youtube actually fixed this. Happy new year
Weren't you the guy Who said on Twitter he sees orks as black people?
Nope. People on Twitter claimed I said that, but that's not true. However, my next video will focus on orcs and on this social narrative, so within a few weeks, you will have the option to see my opinions on orcs.
@@agramuglia "Orcs, ever since JRR Tolkien wrote them, have been racially coded. Tolkien often refers to them as looking like Mongolians, to say little of their darker skin. But DnD was not the first to treat Orcs like a minority group. Other fantasy did that WAY earlier, like Warcraft."
Dude these are your words
Like you saw quintessential corruption and you went STRAIGHT to call them Blacks and monorities
@@agramuglia me when I lie
@@boros4925That's not saying he thinks of orcs as black people. He's saying there are obvious parallels between a fictional race (that is explicitly treated as a minority group) and real life minority groups. Though I'm going to guess you are still too stupid to understand this distinction
Bridget is a man. Bridget did not have a "fairly messy journey" to being "trans", Bridget 100% identified as a man and then was retconned in a complete 180 for his character. There's nothing organic or genuine about it. You are not slick wit it.
Hey transphobe, nothing was retconned, it’s been that way since day one, sorry!
This 100%.
Cope. You can't have Bridget.@@chaosforged7600
@@chaosforged7600fuck off, yes it was a total retcon and contradicting to Bridget’s entire character arc which was that he can be a man regardless of how feminine he looked or how he was forced to be a girl
@@chaosforged7600 You never played a guilty gear game other tham strive and probably you're a minor too.
Don't fight for things that will never help you in life.
Wow! That was amazing.
Keep it up Ant, loved your first vid :)
Hey, welcome to UA-cam! Set a spell! Take your shoes off!
And for your first video-essay? THis was a real humdinger!
This is really good! Really good at presenting information and getting across ideas while being as unbiased as possible! I'm glad I found you and followed you. Excited to see what comes next!
Really a beautifully made video! It's always interesting to see the origins and more "obscure" facts on these kinds of subjects.
Funny how articles may claim "Love hina Normalises women abuse" when I learn from it that I cant do any kind of approach or I may get punch or make women feel uncomfortable.
So even if they wanted me to make the move, I was terrified of it being wrong
Sure there is more there than just 1 show, but still
Helluva first video for the channel! 👏👏👏
This felt like it was a ton of information.... But at the end got not much out of it...
So weird, cant put words into why exactly.
Great video!!!
Your Magnum opus is very good
I love how so many complain about "the message", when a stories theme is the message the author is trying to convey to it's audience, these people never passed middle school literature class.
Subtlety is wasted on those who most needed to hear the message.
@@crapstirrerThis is generally true, though it should be stated that Godzilla Minus One in particular is not a subtle movie with its message
Its also such a lazy way to engage in media critically. Authors like telling stories, some have messages some dont (depending on the genre itself), but a lot of media does have something it wants to say from the author and its so annoying ppl are just flat out dismissive of it
Wow again
Nice lies buddy. Go defend the Cenobites some more.
That's the next video.
@@agramugliaawesome. Looking forward to it
I disagree with many things in this video (can't really say what, because I am not fluent in english), but it was a really well-made video.
Have a nice day from germany.
Yoruichi isn't Black. Just because someone has dark skin doesn't mean they are Black.
Just compare here to characters like Tosen or Jackie and you will quickley realize she isn't black.
This isn't twitter, so stop acting like a blue check mark
Well she's certainly not tan since the rest of her family looks like that. She is probably multiracial, which doesn't mean she couldnt be.
@@ariel_haymarket I don't even know what that means.
@@banzaikampfmaschine_der_echte to dump it down mixed
This piece is truly excellent, your experience as a writer really shows. Looking forward to whatever you put out next!
nah the dixeating is crazy tho
@JuanDiaz-rb3sx
Hilarious how many bots he bought to comment and like the video- and even there are double the dislikes to likes. Them seething on twitter that dislikes are still good for them is laughworthy as well lol
@@AJ-cj1hw How about you, are you a bot? Like in Nier Automata?
@@Juan-Diaz744 Nah that just you.
@@HorseWithNoBane Not the one here dixeating Anthony 😂
Youre so underrated!! This video is sick
bot
Interesting video
I randomly found you on Twitter and you're the best thing to come from that cesspool in awhile. I LOVE this so much. You really tap into the important bits. 🖤💙🖤💙
Really well done video. I wish that you could have gone more into the immigration stuff. Especially since there are still some people who think Japan is as homogenous as it was 20 years ago. Overall great vid👍.
Because it is🤨
> Um it is only the right that Bullied a Japanese artist for making a black character
And how many Japanese artists were bullied and targeted for drawing a black character a shade to bright?
ah yes, comparing racists harassing someone to someone being called out for racism. smartest coomer wojack ever right here
@@Necromectricwait till you learn how lighting works
>calling out
last I checked you can call something out without declaring the need for more nukes to fall over a drawing. @@Necromectric
Pretty sure there's an entire thread dedicated to showcasing the racists that bullied japanese artists just because they uused an artsytle that's inherently bright, compared to "Rightoids' bullying artists for making a black character that are... Nope, can't find any threads about them lmao.
@@Necromectric "being called out for racism"
Racism which they never committed nor believe in, but which sensitive prog white guys like to accuse them of.
The people weaponizing Godzilla against Disney only watch Godzilla movies for the city destruction and dumb monster brawls, which was why they were disappointed in the 2014 movie at first because of how Godzilla wasn't smashing buildings like he usually does. Now you have 2014 fans hating on GvK and New Empire for abandoning its serious and realism tone for showa era sci-fi BS that made Godzilla a joke in the first place, hence the MCUification complaints.
The obsession for anime from western fans stem from them being exposed to them during the 90's boom and how different they were compared to U.S. cartoons. When the internet became more accessible, they were exposed to more mature anime and found them superior to U.S. cartoons made at the time, which they viewed as "garbage," and the censored versions of said anime it was airing in the U.S. for kids their age. This is also where you get western animation fans disliking anime because of its obnoxious fandom it was gaining and tried to retaliate them.
Super dope essay, man. I hope they don't try to ban your account again
2:04 ah that's the fake translator person
My two cents on why with Godzilla and Japanese media..
Godzilla: The reason some not all are not looking forward to GxK is because of quality comparrison. Minus One is a more serious retelling of the original with impressive results in its quality given its low budget. I think being made on 15 million is what makes it impressive. GxK is a $200 million love letter to the 70s Showa Era and personally I'm for both because its fun monster movies.
Japanese Media: There is a respect for Japanese Media because they are influenced by Classic Western Culture and not Modern Western Culture. Modern Western Culture unfortunately became corrupt by politics.
The day Donald Trump came into power, Western Culture became propaganda machines and political campaigns bleeding into massive franchise IPs as Retaliation for the election discarding franchises need for world building and telling a story for telling the masses "this real world person is BAD!" I hate Trump as much as any, but I don't like the other side ruining my franchises either.
You can have diversity, so long as they are well written and original new characters and not recasting or replacing the previous characters. We have to like them before they earn that passing the torch.
In regards to the two sides fighting for "protecting Japan" are also flawed. Mostly on the conservative side. Your call out on the hypocrite saying "censoring cri-babies" in their ideals of a Western Japan are the same side that greenlit the Atomic Bombs that lead to the enforced surrender and democracy of Japan. The other side are the ones who see the actions of the likes of Yamaguchi as historically significant for the country in saving it from potential Communism.
I think we are in a very unknown world of crossroads of politics, culture and who is good or bad in todays society so for everyone this is very scary and manifesting nothing but fear until they pick a side. Personally, I choose not to pick a side due to all being corrupt and flawed. I will consume what I like and toss out what I dont like.
In short, Japans fork in the road with the world is a mess I dont think anyone (even myself) can really grasp.
"Modern western culture became corrupt by politics." This is blatantly untrue. Western media has always been political. The difference is people were way too young back in the day to notice and the politics they are noticing are what they disagree with. Go to any piece of media from the 70s, 80s, 90s, 2000s, you're gonna find politics. Hell, even the work that people that claim was "corrupted" by it really amounts to subjects like having a woman as a lead or saying what I thought was objectively good things like "Hey don't be a dick." and they're not ruining franchises which brings me to another point.
A lot of the media that has received alterations and modernizations for the modern world were never sacred. They were simply products of the time they were made in. Marvel for instance had a large collection of white characters not because tons of these guys being white was integral to the story but rather, it was the times those stories were made in and creators just making what they knew with them having to go out of their way to incorporate those of other genders, races and creeds and because comics are where seemingly the status quo for casts is god, they've never really changed until someone finally realized how odd it was that Stan Lee was a champion for diversity and stood against bigots and yet Marvel still is basically a bowl of sour cream and just so we're clear? Making new characters still pisses people off because for them? They don't care about writing quality, they care about hiding their asshole nature by saying they're simply standing against "wokeness". Though what's funny is the idea that there's all these caveats to it when considering there are tons of characters in the face of this dumb argument that people have miraculously pretended they've always accepted without considering the reasons for why they do which tend to come down to they grew up with these guys and therefore they saw no issue or they can't accept they don't know what they're talking about so they make shit up.
Okay by cheese pizza do you mean lollipop popcorn
I may be referring to some Captain Picard.
@@agramuglia I only know classic star trek. Anyway still a good video.
@@agramugliaplease do not desecrate Jean-Luc like that.
Also when will these hater people go away?!
11:10 "How come people prefered Alita when it's more leftist than captain marvel?"
You're almost there, try thinking for a bit maybe the issue isn't with diversity or the message itself but the way it's delivered.
That would explain why most of those people similarly had no issue with a show like Arcane despite it also being really left leaning with a lot of representation.
In fact that's exactly the theme of the video comparing Frieren and Galadriel that you show later on: why despite the 2 characters being surprisingly similar, one work and the other doesn't. Although I'm pretty sure you didn't even bother watching it because that video never put japan on a pedestal or talk about the culture war, it just compare the way 2 characters were written.
I think the issue here is with the criticisms and not the facts. Instead of specifying the faults of a work, most people tend to simply call it woke or corrupted by leftists or something like that. I had an argument with people who said having black people as elves broke cannon because "it's an European myth" which is an extremely silly argument
@@Gordozinho Maybe on twitter, but that's hardly the place for intelligent discussion anyway. Most videos critic I've seen go over the fault in the writing, even, people who tend to get too much into the culture war bs (like Nerdrotic) usually have more to say.
Usually the issue is mostly the other way around, I've seen people reduce hours long videos down to "the left bad", sometime when that wasn't even part of the actual criticism. That very video does it to a small extent when he displays the Frieren/Galadriel comparison video as an example of "conservative left bad" essai, when in reality the guy never talks about any of that shit.
Also, while I agree that the European myth is a very silly argument against black elf, I do find it funny that a lot of the same people calling it silly suddenly start making the same arguments when the roles are reversed.
@@raitoiro
Probably because there's a clear lack of communication. When it comes to representation in media the character writing rarely gets the criticism whilst their sheer presence is seen as the issue. As if normality has "white" and "well written" as the default. The focus of such videos are the illogical criticisms and the racism and sexism that come with usually. Also wdym the opposite? Do you think it's fair to change black characters into white ones?
@@Gordozinho Once again, no that's rarely ever the case. Also white male characters get criticised for bad writing just as often.
Yes, I think it's fair, honestly I don't really care as long as it stays consistent across the series. If someone takes an African myth and adapts it with an all/partially white cast I wouldn't care ; the same way that I wouldn't care if someone wants to adapt La morte Arthur with only black actors. My only issue is when they claim historical accuracy or try to change things on an already established series, otherwise who cares, go wild.
@@raitoiro
I misspoke. The writing criticism is often mixed with racism and sexism. White male characters rarely get criticisms for being those two things. Also, I care about it, I think whites shouldn't be in African mythos unless as outsiders, and Africans being in Euro mythos is fine since they are the metropole and therefore the most cosmopolitan people on the planet (for bad reasons). I agree with the historical accuracy bit
X gender is prob more of an equivalent to agender :0 that's how I identify & it sounds p similar to my exp n stuff. I mainly use she/her pronouns but I don't mind otherwise on what gets used, & there's a disconnect between gender & self. Almost like a void; outfits feel like a costume either way, & I've found an interest in characters that cross-dress. I'm so glad to see someone else similar & created smth; I'll hafta check out her works sometime, thank you so much ^^ Also, I feel like KH is way more queer than just Utada themself but hey lol only time will time, huh?