/jp/ - Otaku Culture

[Anonymous No.]

Hiroki Azuma, Ph.D from the University of Tokyo (the guy next to moot)
>1995 was an incredibly important year for the Japanese society, and it drastically changed otaku mentality as well. From what I can tell, ‘95 marked what is now considered a split within otaku culture.

>A lot of you probably maintain a single image of anime culture. But in Japan, it is actually heavily split in two ways. This happened in 1995. It was the year when Evangelion was first released. This anime led the split, but it also carries both elements. On one side, it depicts the “real” emotional conflicts of a teenager, and battle scenes are also highly realistic. But on the other hand, it also expresses fictive quality of a symbolic imagination. This split is becoming deeper and deeper.

>In any case, if you only look at what’s produced…to tell you the truth, as this is something we haven’t said at all, but in Japan people have actually given up on the future and potential for anime and games. This is because it has been ten years since Evangelion, and we still haven’t had anything that exceeds it, to put it bluntly. Of course, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex is truly great and I mean it, but it’s not easy to exceed Evangelion, right?

>To put it simply, it is as if things have stopped for the last ten years. In the last decade, we’ve only accumulated more and more fictional, symbol-laden stories with lots of cute girls. What in the world is going on here? That’s the general impression of otaku in Japan. At the same time, we know that there is something that makes this necessary.

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220004
Yeah, moeshit ruined everything.

[Anonymous No.]

Anime has and always will be about cute girls, if they want grimderp they should watch a movie.

[Anonymous No.]

Otaku gave up trying to convince themselves that anime should be deep and meaningful.

[Anonymous No.]

the guy has a phd in otaku studies? absolutely disgusting. no wonder japan is going to hell. they're wasting time taking pictures with moot and studying the history of otaku. i don't think japan will survive the end of the decade.

[Anonymous No.]

Whenever I hear someone talk about Evangelion all they talk about is the symbolism. As if the whole point of it is in the Christian and Kabbalist symbols that he put in there to look cool. No one gets to the point about it being about individuality and growing up. It's just "look at the number on the tape recorder it must mean something this anime is so deep!"

[Anonymous No.]

But Evangelion is shit. I don't have any problems with current anime. So far Milky Holmes, Spice and Wolf, Bakemono, Nisemono, Cromartie, Gurren Lagann, and Madoka have been fucking awesome. His Phd must be in "Papa Has Dough" cause he doesn't know shit about anime.

[Anonymous No.]

Why the fuck do ivory-tower dwelling academics need everything to be some pretentious bullshit about the inner conflict within a man or empowerment or some other inane shit that no one cares about? Why can't a fucking story just be a fucking story?

These are the idiots that ruined art by saying how profound a urinal with a signature on it is (but at least that shit sold for hundred of thousands, the assholes outside of pure art have their dumb garbage spat on).

[Anonymous No.]

1995 is the point where anime became all about cute boys and girls doing cute things, sometimes with the pretense of adventure or mecha.

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220042
It's all about dick waving. They spent years doing research and reading that they need to publish something, even if it's bullshit.

[Anonymous No.]

Yeah, that makes sense.Is it okay to read this and find nothing wrong with it?

GitS was lovely, and tackled some big ideas, but it wasn't even on the same magnitude as Evangelion. Evangelion is a way of life. I don't think I'll ever forget how it made me feel, or how it genuinely changed the way I think about things.

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220034
But all the shows you named are just thinly veiled excuses to have cute girls do things.

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220014
He used to write more formal stuff (reviews on postmodern French philosophers) but he's always been an otaku himself, and he did a serious study of it which alienated him from the critical community. After that he published 動物化するポストモダン (Otaku:Japan's database animals in English) in the shinsho format which is known for taking complicated ideas/concepts and making them understandable for the layman. This propelled him into pseudo-celebrity status as a scholar of otaku. Since then he has appeared on variety shows, daytime talk shows, etc, explaining his theory.

His book is good, you can buy it for like $5 on amazon or I think the pdf is on pirate bay.

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220050
You're as bad as people who say Bleach changed their life. Not only are they mainstream, they're overplayed garbage. Any credit for Evangelion should be thrown out the window since the creator himself stated he put in symbolism "because he thought it looked cool".

Then along comes a literary gem as Bakemonogatari and people complain they don't get it and there's too much talking. Well guess what? That's what makes it good. There's more going on than what is on the surface.

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220042
I like it because the more disconnected something is from reality, the less I'm reminded of reality. I don't actually care about the message, I just want to feel like I'm in a dream. It just so happens that a lot of the stuff that is dream-like also has a lot of DEEP themes.

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220015
>Anime has and always will be about cute girls, if they want grimderp they should watch a movie.

japanese movie? seriously?

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220042
Duchamp fucked us all good. He pretty much made everyone think that anything can be art. It's funny because he actually did it to laugh at what art had become. But after that anything could be art. If you didn't get it you just weren't intelligent enough to appreciate art. What started off as something to mock the snobbery of the art world had become something that encouraged it even more. Anything can be anything, the artist doesn't have to do anything about it, he just has to shit something out and people will call it art. I liked Poe's views on art. He wasn't for allegorical stories, he thought art should be art, but that it still needed to be well made and detailed. Art shouldn't be a vehicle for your ideologies. It isn't art anymore, it's just more propaganda.

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220056
Cromartie is my favorite cute girl show

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220056
Milky Holmes happen to be detectives.

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220068
They are farmers, not detectives.

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220071
whoops, my bad.

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220067
You just had to sneak that one in, didn't you.

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220061
I liked bakemonogatari.

Please don't assume that I'm some /a/ crossboarder who has loaned opinions. I'm not defending bleach, but certainly, every anime should somehow affect you in one way or another.

[Anonymous No.]

Anime is for homos. Anyone who watches anime is like those college frat douchebros who wants to look cool.

[Anonymous No.]

Cute girls is saving anime industry.
Else, you are going to have shit like Gundam Seed Destiny and fujoshit dominating the sales chart.
Keion is the chemo treating all these cancers.

[Anonymous No.]

I didn't really like Evangelion.

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220061
>literary gem as Bakemonogatari
Oh boy. Those damn Evangelionfags are just seeing what they want to see unlike Bakemono fans, right?

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220077
Yeah, well, I like Bleach. Top that.

I used to think it was shit but then I changed my mind.

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220085
Yup, blind, deaf, and dumb. I'm glad you understand.

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220080
This. All art forms are being destroyed anyways, anime is not an exception.

[Anonymous No.]

I don't watch anime or play VNs or video games because I want to deal with DEEP shit. If I wanted to do that I'd go read a fucking philosophy book or some real literature. I just want to escape into something enjoyable, that has a good story or gameplay, so that I can be somewhere else.

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220095
So you don't do anything?

[Anonymous No.]

This man is a fool. Eva is trash. Serial Experiments Lain is the greatest, most profound anime- nay, work of art of any medium- of all (including the future). SEL gets watched every second and Nakamura gets the Nobel Prize for Anime while Evangelion gets thrown in the trash and Ganiax goes bankrupt.

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220095
We get it, dude. You like cute girls.

SO DOES EVERYONE ELSE ON HERE, YOU SPECIAL SNOWFLAKE UGLY LITTLE DWARF!

[Anonymous No.]

No anime in history is as more significant, deep, and literary as the Hina one.

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220098
SEL's underlying theme was interesting but the execution was awful. They were trying too hard at some points. It's just like Evangelion in a lot of ways.

[Anonymous No.]

It annoys me when people act like Eva was the only anime with any artistic merit. It's like these people have never heard of Satoshi Kon

[Anonymous No.]

>Taking Evangelion seriously

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220097
>>10220099
Stop shitposting.

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220111
Um, "bro"?

You're misusing the "greentext" function. I'm sure it was a small mishap, but please be careful next time.

Thanks.

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220117
what's your criteria for "shitposting"

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220121
Any posts I don't like.

[Anonymous No.]

Utena > Evangelion

[Anonymous No.]

Its a strange situation when the creator denies any religious symbolism, yet its almost undeniably still there.

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220139
Maybe you just think it's there because you're so used to such religious symbols having meaning behind them.

[Anonymous No.]

I want to take this chance to ask why school settings are used so often in anime. It's the worst setting possible, and yet it's still used so frequently. I don't understand why they do it. Do otaku really fantasize about going back to school and become normals or what?

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220179
name some alternative settings you believe to superior

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220179
What do you want? An office setting with salarymen, paper pushers and old, busted office women?

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220201
>>10220200
Anything that doesn't involve work or school in any way would be way better.

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220179
An ideal version of school, casual, relaxed and basically like an extended holiday with friends than the book cramming, bullying and peer pressure that is infesting real Japanese schools.

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220206
characters need something to do all day

you could move into science fiction or fantasy territory, but not everyone finds themselves able to relate well to that environment

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220179
Because teenagers are the target demographic.

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220179
It's an easy way to stick characters together. Also I'm sure a lot of the target audience had a horrible experience there and would like to relive it in an idealized version. Japanese society is very repressive and awful; the schools in otaku media are not like real schools.

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220218
You're an idiot. Schools are popular with every demographic.

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220111
>they used some ham fisted symbolism so it must have absolutely nothing to say about anything.

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220179
Everyone miss their childhood.
There is always the elves raped fantasy setting.

[Anonymous No.]

People who think Evangelion is about religious symbolism miss the point. It's about how people should grow up and face reality, and stop living in a fantasy world alone. I don't see the point of doing that, though.

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220254
And that's why you're a legit weaboo spending his life on /jp/ saging threads he doesn't like to feel superior.

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220261
Please learn the proper use of the sage function, thank you.

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220213
>>10220230
I guess I've been looking at school-set anime from the wrong perspective then. For me, all school-settings serve to do is resurface embarrassing memories, to the point that I need to pause every two minutes. It takes an hour to finish one episode because of that. I'm way too self-absorbed to handle it.

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220265
If you can, try to look at it like your own school experience didn't happen, and you're reliving it in a better way.

[Anonymous No.]

Evangelion is not deep, it's just convoluted trite with annoying as fuck characters that act NOTHING like any real person would EVER act.

Anime is shit tier entertainment fit for consumption for a low life like me.

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220272
I wouldn't say it's shit entertainment. It does just that, entertain, quite well. People would be disappointed if they watched it for anything other than entertainment and looked for depth instead.

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220279
Well a baby can be entertained by a squeeky toy, yet I wouldn't be quite as entertained by it.
Just adjust the metal faculties a little bit and you can see what I mean by shit entertainment.

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220272
>act NOTHING like any real person would EVER act.

I hope you guys don't say this in my party

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220290
That's irrelevant though. Anyone can call anything
“shit entertainment”.

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220299
Well it was my opinion, it's not a universal fact I was offering.

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220272
>Anime is shit tier entertainment fit for consumption for a low life like me.
Don't be mean to yourself or anime anon

[Anonymous No.]

moot travels all over the world, runs 4chan as a for-profit business (a shitty one, but still), and yet still complains about being "broke"

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220004

That guy sounds like 4chan.

"Everything's been shit since (arbitrary date and milestone)."

Evangelion isn't even that great. What a loser.

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220319
W-what? He barely makes any money off this site, goy! Stop lying.

[Anonymous No.]

I'm going to have to disagree with this guy HARD. Before Evangelion anime was hardly any different from what it's been after Evangelion. Cute girls and family entertainment anime has been a part of anime since the beginning or very nearly so.

Unless his argument is something else I'm having trouble reading into? Maybe his argument is that with Evangelion being the best nobody yet has topped it and it's not about moe characters at all but his belief that something new needs to top Eva. With that nothing, and I mean NOTHING has topped Gone With the Wind and that fucker is 75 years old.

http://www.boxofficemojo.com/alltime/adjusted.htm?adjust_yr=1

Get on with it. There doesn't need to be 'better' as long as you still enjoy things within the medium.

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220328
oh god, you made me think I clicked on /pol/ by mistake

I fucking giggled though

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220090
Bleach could be worse. I like the artwork. It has a distinct flair to it, much like one piece. You can't mistake it.

The main characters are noteworthy and fun, but I don't like how they use a tiered storyline, where every level of enemies is replaced by an even tougher tier of enemies that were somehow ignored before.

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220361
It's a "thing" to talk about Eva as this big watershed moment that changed anime forever. The guy is an intellectual so it's not surprising that he's trying to put things together in such a way.

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220179

It's just a clever setting. How can you not see this?

It presents an all-in-one template for up to thirty peer characters (students), a few 'mentor' characters (teachers,) gives episode writers freebie-days (school trips, drama at school...)

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220361

Gone With the Wind was 'groundbreaking' at the time but it's shit compared to modern work. That's how improvement works. We've had eighty years of cinematic progression building on all of the successes laid out by movies like Gone With the Wind.

That movie does not hold up well today. Awful pacing, awful v/a quality, shitty hamfisted framing, etc.

[Anonymous No.]

I liked nadia more. At least they finished the fucking story instead of going "ok we ran out of ideas so here's a montage of the previous episodes".

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220372
I used to dislike it for that reason, especially because it meant marginalizing all of yesterday's characters who can't keep up with the tier whoring, but at some point I just accepted that I should just read it for the characters and not worry about the plot.

[Anonymous No.]

Otsuki: A vast difference in the quality of [modern] sakuga has developed when compared to the anime of the 80s, even when it comes to the mass developed, inferior works. But the planning is lacking. Ever since Eva appeared on television, a barrier has existed, whereby the entire anime industry operates under the curse of Eva. To put it in concrete terms, ever since Eva was a hit, within the anime industry things have come to be judged based not on the quality of the work but on the amount of sales. As a result, [the industry] has deserted the middle and high school students who are supposed to be the primary audience, and there has been an overflow of "moe" anime directed towards obsessive fans in their 30s who spend money, centered around late-night broadcasts. That is the current situation. This year, "The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya," the definitive version of "gakuen moe," has come out, and DVD sales have already peaked; from here they can only go down. At this rate, anime has no future. If I were to say why, it’s that today’s middle and high school students feel that anime is foolish and don’t want to see it. Originally anime was made for children to watch. Imperceptibly, the anime industry has become a business of greed, due to the marketability of "moe." The fact that the people who watch these anime works oriented towards obsessive fans range in age from twenty to over forty is, I think, something of a deviation. Ever since Eva, the axis of the world has spun out of control, away from what the form should naturally be. And, the fault is entirely on our side, the side of the makers and the anime producers. This is part of what are called the "faults" in the faults and virtues of Eva. The "virtues" are lacking. Or if they exist, that can only [depend upon the] evaluation of the works as works.

[Anonymous No.]

>This guy wants me to believe that Japan as a whole has given up on anime as a medium
>This guy wants me to believe that Japan as a whole believes NGE is the epitome of anime.
Jesus christ please. Anyways, Anime and Vidya are in the same area, currently casualized, will crash within the decade, then come back just as good as muh cowbob peeboy <s> I fucking loved Bebop don't make fun of that.</s>

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220361
lol

[Anonymous No.]

I don't really understand what was so amazing and upsetting and enormous about Evangelion

I watched it and really the only scene I enjoyed was where Rei smiled, and it was just a tiny amount of enjoyment at the perimeter of me

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220409
I enjoyed watching Asuka get wrecked. I was waiting for it ever since her character was introduced, and the show delivered big time.

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220111
This man hates the Otaku culture
This man is the Otaku culture

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220418

It was disappointing to me, but maybe you have a fetish for it, or something. Her character arc was supposed to actualize and it was just - hey, tired of writing Asuka, let's have her go comatose and Shinji beats off on her.

[Anonymous No.]

I watched Eva back when I was 14 and even then I knew it was complete shit.

Then again, I grew up on Seinfeld and the old Simpsons so I had pretty high standards.

It's pretty fucking depressing that people with PhDs think it's some sort of masterpiece. It was mediocre shit dressed up with some pretty good music, kinda like the Star Wars prequels.

[Anonymous No.]

How to Write Symbolic Anime

1) Namedrop lots of religious labels. Can't figure out what to name something? Flip to a random page of the bible and pick from there.

2) Once you've written a coherent and structured story, just fuck with it a little. Mix up all of the scenes and try to glue them together with awful writing. Your viewers will read into this and it will be truly epic symbolism.

3) Include artistic shots of birds flying, ordinary structures, or otherwise 'insignificant' things which can be interpreted by your borderline-fetal audience as deep.

4) Not sure where you want a character or story to go? Don't worry about fucking it up - just do the first thing that comes to mind, and remember that if it's terrible, people will just think it's symbolic.

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220428

I fucking hate Evangelion, but I'm reading this and realizing I've never read anything on /jp/ which has screamed 'normie' more than your post.

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220428
Forgot my avatar.

[Anonymous No.]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J1c_dUVRvNs

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220441
>>10220428

holy fuck

this guy came straight from /a/ and it's funny

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220439
>>>/a/

Fuck off, weeb.

[Anonymous No.]

I've skimmed a bit of stuff by that guy. He writes critical theory on otaku culture as a consequence of the postmodern condition. His stuff does have credence, but like most postmodernists it's all deconstruction without a promise of solution. The way I understand the moe trend is essentially a desperate need to find meaning in a society that has drained itself of any through vicious consumerism and westernization. There's a lot of irony in the way otaku carry themselves nowadays with the seeming increase of "meta" otaku shows.

>>10220409
It's an allegory of otaku culture's rise and eventual fall. The problem is that the series catalyzed what Anno felt was a central problem: avoiding reality by escaping into constructed fantasy. You probably don't appreciate it as much because it's created by a dyed-in-the-wool otaku for other otaku.

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220439
Trevor is as autistic as they come.

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220444
>guy
>444

[Anonymous No.]

Reminder that seinfeld had horrible writing especially in the later seasons.

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220452
I didn't know that not having shit taste made me autistic.

That's also not my name.

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220448

No it isn't. It's a shitty story written by a fourteen-year-old boy. Good writers don't create one Epik Classic then ride off its success for the rest of their lives. They go on to make other amazing things.

Evangelion was as shit as anything else Anno has been involved in, but all of the ~DEEPE SYMBOLISM~ convinced its viewers that they were fucking geniuses, so they decided to like it.

>>10220453

Thanks a lot for pointing out your very important vagina.

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220461

Hey - did you know there's a whole board full of people like you?

Click this handy link to be with your people: >>>/a/

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220461
Point made.

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220462
>>>/a/

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220465
Do you even know who I am?

[Anonymous No.]

>>>v/167052778
LOL

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220482
LOL

FUCKING RETARD

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220479
Some newfag from /a/, now get out >>>/a/

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220483
>>>/v/167052778
it's u u r the retord

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220423
>It was disappointing to me, but maybe you have a fetish for it, or something.

I do. I liked hearing her scream.

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220004
Why does moot have my grandmother's hair in that pic.

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220448

>His stuff does have credence, but like most postmodernists it's all deconstruction without a promise of solution.

how did you find such an amazingly awkward and dumb way to express this very simple thought?

here's how you say that without it sounding dumb and halting and shitty. it also reveals how amazingly stupid the thought is, now that it isn't lampshaded by twelve layers of purple prose and terrible syntax: "I can appreciate his work, but it should solve the problems it diagnoses, too."

i'm guessing you're the same guy in >>10220448 because of all the horrendous pauses and shitty wording in your sentences

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220446
>/jp/
>get out weeb

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220261

And this is why crossboarder scums are truly inane.

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220493

You need to leave, Jane.

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220491
why'd you quote the same post twice?

[Anonymous No.]

How did you guys manage to make this thread even shittier?

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220497

in·ane
/iˈnān/
Adjective
Silly; not significant.


Great job trying to sound smart, trisomy-kun.

[Anonymous No.]

anime is cartoons

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220485
Keep linking to other boards, it really makes you fit in.

You should also use sage whenever possible to show your mastery of otaku culture.

[Anonymous No.]

EVANGELION IS ABOUT WHAT I SAY IT IS, AND IF YOU DON'T LIKE IT YOU'RE JUST MISUNDERSTANDING

MOM, MY WAIFU SAYS SHE WANTS MORE PIZZA ROLLS AND THAT IT'S OK IF I HAVE SOME TOO

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220503
cartoons is art

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220504
lol

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220504

What are you trying to do here?

Do you think we're going to stop hating you if you snap off enough Epik Witty Comebacks?

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220491
My bad. I didn't go over it, so forgive me if I rambled. Please take it easy. That thread of thought alludes to the context of Azuma's work.

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220511
Who the fuck is "we"? I love Trevor.

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220509
no

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220513

i'd bet my asscheeks that you're one of those dumb teens who complains in meta-threads about how '/jp/ never responds to my amazing intellectual posts'

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220514
Go to bed Trevor.

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220513
Even your apology is pretentious.

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220513

also 'allude' is not

just

ugh. stop using words

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220511
No, /jp/ has always hated me because I purposely shit up the board.

Because I'm the hero /jp/ deserves, but not the one it needs right now. So you'll hunt me. Because I can take it. Because I'm not your hero.

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220529
you sound like a faggit lol

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220532

^

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220529
I don't think anyone hates you though, possibly annoying at times but thats about it.

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220532

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220491
I bet you think all the writers of old are a bunch of pretentious assholes too, huh?

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220536
Holy fug "of old" get the fug out of here you pretentious piece of fug

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220536

you are fucking delusional if you think your writing is anywhere near the level of 'all the writers of old'

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220536
I would if they posted like that on 4chan.

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220516
>>10220520
>>10220523
Did we forget how to take it easy? What the fuck do you want me to say?

I'm literally posting how I've always posted and I've never had people take issue with it until now. Coincidentally, it's a fucking troll thread.

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220536

Holy shit. I'm getting proxy-embarrassment from reading your posts.

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220501
People from /a/ were detected, so we have to convince them that /jp/ is like /a/ but doubly retarded, so they won't permanently set up shop here.

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220538
>>10220539
>>10220540
>>10220542
That's what I thought. Have a good day, gentlemen.

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220545

THANKS A LOT FOR RUINING IT, ASSHOLE.

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220548
Some people just want to watch /jp/ burn.

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220550
Are you wearing a fedora right now?

[Anonymous No.]

I watch anime mostly for masturbation material. Without sexualiztion it'd be just a few nice cartoons like it is with other non-Japanese animation. Asuka and Rei are main patterns for anime girls.

Masturbation rules the world.

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220549
Simply watching isn't enough for everyone.

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220555
Fucking pervert

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220553
No, I'm wearing my favourite wizard hat.

[Anonymous No.]

Holy fuck Trevor got owned in this thread

[Anonymous No.]

It's kind of embarrassing reading all these posts by 2hip4u critics of Evangelion. For its time, it was rather groundbreaking. Nowadays, it remains an excellent Monster of The Week show with interesting characters and development

Nearly every conversation I have with a critic results in one of two points being focused on;

A: Shinji was a pussy. FUCK PUSSIES
B: The religious symbolism was dumb and awful and also stupid

The latter is the only thing resembling a fair criticism, but it's still a dumb point. The focus of the series was always on the characters, framed by the events occurring around them, with a general criticism on escapism. It really doesn't matter just how familiar with the religious symbolism you are or aren't. It's just there for show, and complaining that it's just there for show is stupid. Does anyone with a lick of sense actually think Evangelion would've been a better series if they had called them "Aliens" instead of "Angels"?

A rose by any other name. Anno just did it for flair. I really don't see what's wrong with that

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220565
He got assaulted by a bunch of neo-neo-/jp/sies.

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220566
>Does anyone with a lick of sense actually think Evangelion would've been a better series if they had called them "Aliens" instead of "Angels"?


cool focal point fallacy

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220566
Strawberries are part of the Rose family :)

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220009
Wrong. That quote was said in 2005. Since then, "moeshit" has been saving anime from the post-Eva slump it describes.

Now back to /a/ with you and your foul language.

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220574
>cool focal point fallacy
stop being pretentious

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220566
They don't get it because they're removed from the context.

We're talking about a show that created a new generation of otaku. Most of the criticism here is unfounded.

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220587

i thought you were 'leaving, good sirs' or whatever

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220585
The hypocrisy of smugness is rather idyllic in its proliferation.

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220590
You have me confused with someone else.

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220592

begat my cum flowing into u'r mothres cunt

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220590
You got trolled, kiddo.

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220600
sizzle

[Anonymous No.]

A society's cultural works ultimately mirrors that society itself. Anime is shit these days because Japan is shit.

[Anonymous No.]

I wonder what this guy means exactly with "exceeding" Evangelion.

The only thing that Eva really comes out at the top is the mass histerism phenomenon that generated. But that doesn't mean the anime is objectively superior.

Think about Twilight or Harry Potter, those made absolutely crazy sales and are probably the most famous books in our time, but they are nowhere close to be the best books out there, and don't even try to claim they have an awesome literary value.

So in other words, just because after Evangelion no anime caused a similar reaction from the fanbase it doesn't mean that no anime is "better" than Evangelion. That would be like saying that "the Beatles" are the best group that ever existed because no one made the entire world go crazy for them like they did.

I've been a fan of Eva back in 1996ish, which is more or less when I started digging seriously in the anime industry (though Eva just happened to be there, that wasn't the reason), but I was pretty much disgusted by its ending and after watching more than 300 anime I must say, there's a lot better, and there's a lot of more recent anime that left me with a lot better memories.

So what if none was universally acclaimed as the best of best and praised by mindless hordes of retard otaku? I can only think that as a positive fact, if anything.

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220632
anime expert is that you

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220566
>B: The religious symbolism was dumb and awful and also stupid
>religious symbolism
Didn't anno came out recently said himself that the religious symbolism is actually rubbish and that the real message is NEET/hikki/otaku/loserdom symbolism.

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220004
yeah the whole otaku community always think the same thing and like the same shit and eva is the best thing ever, yeah yeah yeah.

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220502

You've missed one vocabulary illiterate-kun: stupid.

Maybe you should try googling next the words "context" and "definition(s)". With an "S" okay? And without the quotation marks.

Good luck on trying to sound smart by trying to overtake someone else,

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220632
>So in other words, just because after Evangelion no anime caused a similar reaction from the fanbase it doesn't mean that no anime is "better" than Evangelion.
Did you slept through 2011 and Madoka?

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220643

He did, but that doesn't dispute my point. My point is that it doesn't matter even if he intended it to be rubbish, because it doesn't actually amount to anything

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220645
You need to stop dwelling on the past.

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220593
Just go fuck yourself you stupid piece of shit.

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220650

^

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220653
>>10220650
holy fug

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220632
Hey. What is better than eva?

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220034
thats some bad taste

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220650
No. I can fuck you instead how about that?

[Anonymous No.]

Why don't you just compose yourselves?

What if we had a Japanese visitor right now, reading this thread? They would think we're all barbarians.

[Anonymous No.]

I can fap to Eva. What a crappy show. I can people paid to watch a show with no cute little girls in it. I want a refund for the bandwidth I used to pirate it.

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220660
You wouldn't even half the balls needed to fuck me you virgin nerd.

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220665
Calm down and proofread your posts anon. I know you were in a rush to put out that shitty post but that's no excuse.

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220669
I wouldn't "half the balls"?

Well, maybe it would be an advantage seeing as I don't want my kids to be stupid.

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220660
You get near my asshole and I'll snap your faggot cock off and break your fucking jaw with it. That'll stop you from posting your retarded shit for a while at least.

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220675

Please do not go there. I am insecure about my intellect and you are going to make me cry if you continue.

[Anonymous No.]

>tfw people bully my favorite poster

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220645
Maybe you should try googling the word "usage"—even if a word's definition seems to fit what you want, there are going to be nuances that the definition doesn't capture. This is why picking synonyms at random from a thesaurus only makes you sound smart to people who don't know what the words mean.

Seriously, "overtake someone else"?

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220677
How about you shut the fuck up virgin, I don't have time for this shit, go fuck yourself.

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220681

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220649

People who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones.

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220647
Madoka is close but not close enough. It hasn't reached the level of Evangelion.
Everyone who thinks otherwise is just a tryhard Madoka fan.

I've yet to see any proof of Madoka being influential in the anime scenario. Evangelion pretty much changed the way to make robot anime. There was an instant revival of super robots, a genre that was overrepresented in the 70-80 and that had become stagnant in the early 90.

And in the end:

"Urobuchi didn't do anything to the shoujo genre with Madoka that Mohiro Kitoh didn't do already to the robot genre with Bokurano."

The only reason Madoka had more success was because of the moe.

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220675
To stupid to fill in the rest yourself virgin? I don't even want to step on your disgusting phimosis dick anymore nerd.

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220687

A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220682

>I have never heard of it being used this way therefore it's wrong.

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220693
Although there is some merit to what you are saying it seems like you have a huge ship on your shoulder.

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220693
And a crossboard faggot posting on 4chan isn't worth shit, fuck off back to /v/.

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220691

[Anonymous No.]

My mental image of this thread is just a big riot with everyone shitting in their hands and hurling it at each other

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220698

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220685
No you shut the fuck up. I've found better arguments than yours in my shit after eating alphabet soup.

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220695

Who are you quoting?

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220689
>Acclaimed manga creator Kazuo Koike (Lone Wolf and Cub, Crying Freeman) revealed on Sunday that he plans to make a magical girl story called Mahō Shōjo Mimitsuki Mimi no QED (Magical Girl Mimi Mimitsuki's QED). He said during the fifth installment of his live Koike Kazuo no Niconico Character Juku (Kazuo Koike's Niconico Character Cram School) net show that he was spurred by his excitement while watching the Puella Magi Madoka Magica anime.

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220695
No, that's not why it's wrong, but it's wrong.

Your grasp of the English language is just shit.

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220702
Sure thing you fucking virgin, how about you go masturbate with your disgusting nerd dick.

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220704
I knew this thread was missing something.

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220713
<s>Wait for it.</s>

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220716
Who are you quoting?

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220697
Don't tell me what to do, bitch. I don't tell you to go back to sucking poz dicks at the gay bar even though that is probably what you do for a living.

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220708
Maybe I will. It'll be a good celebration after crushing your Otaku Spirit.

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220716

Please do not abuse the black-quote box.

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220716
Who the fuck do you think you're spoiling you little piece of fuck?

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220705
A single case doesn't make it "influential". You could say the same thing of Bleach and that rip off that Rumiko Takahashi is serializing.

[Anonymous No.]

Who are you crossboarding?

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220725

I'm going to break my fist off in your ass, you disgusting fucking cumtower.

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220723
Yeah you go and do that nerd, disgusting, its no wonder you're still a worthless virgin.

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220726
Suck my dick, you're wrong.

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220716
>>10220695
>>10220704
>>10220681
>>10220691
Glorious, surprise bar, meme arrow, >tfw, sadfrog and etc.
It is just missing one thing now.

[Anonymous No.]

>this thread

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220689
madoka. boo

[Anonymous No.]

EVA is not relevant (nor has it ever been) to anyone but the most base of people.

It's not too harmful as a "babies first anime", but goddamn, if you don't grow to see why it doesn't stand against other, better series like Serial Experiments Lain, then you really have to wonder what went wrong in your development as a proper human being.

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220734
Such a slut.

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220739

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220738
Someone so low-class as to use a wallpaper as that has no right to speak here as our equals. Please find >>>/a/ and stay there.

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220689
>>10220632
You missed K-On.
K-On changed the way to make 4girls SOL and made them acceptable to the normal public consumers instead of catering to just otaku losers.

[Anonymous No.]

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220748

[Anonymous No.]

kusothreadaward.jpeg

[Anonymous No.]

Welcome to neo /jpa/ 2k13.

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220515
Yes it is.

[Anonymous No.]

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220753
nope

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220748
Story behind OP pic?

[Anonymous No.]

[Anonymous No.]

Oh I almost forgot, I found this image and it reminded me of you I don't give a fuck friend!

[Anonymous No.]

Why is it that every thread I post it turns to shit?

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220763
they're about to rail ur mom

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220738
lain better. Yeah, we got a idiot here.

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220768

you're like king midas

king kuso

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220441
>>10220428
Here is where the thread became shitty
every post after that point is bad

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220766

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220772
Nah it was pretty shit from the start, any thread discussing Evangelion's impact on otaku always is.

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220776
Smoking is bad for you Azunyan, please don't smoke!

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220744
"Equals"?
I made no such claim.
All I did was to descend to the level of this threads participants so as to see if I might be able to uplift one or two misguided souls up towards something resembling good taste.

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220780
How will she ever be a true band member if she doesn't smoke, do drugs and drink alcohol?

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220788
Ok well she shouldn't smoke because of how much money it costs. How is she going to support her drug habit if shes blowing money on cigarettes.

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220772

Exactly. Blame these immigrant /a/ssburgers.

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220792
By having sex with groupies, of course.

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220799
That doesn't sound like it would be to good either

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220780
Are you perhaps new to rockstar lifestyle?

[Anonymous No.]

I hate /a/nus. Just thought I'd let it be known.

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220824
agreed

/jp/ is legion
we do not forgive
we do not forget

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220833
>>10220833
sugoi desu ne

[Anonymous No.]

NGE best anime of all time

a university of Tokyo academic confirms it

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220845

I want to hit her in the face. She would probably look so surprised.

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220845
K-ON is the best anime of all time.

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220845
a hipster philosophy fag likes it
fixed

[Anonymous No.]

What was the last breakthrough made by U of Tokyo? Nothing , that's what. Typical graduate can't find his own asshole in a crowd of assholes.

Confirmed for irrelevant backwater.

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220858
I think there was another tryhard dude from Tokyo U in the anime production. If I remembered correctly he collaborated with Yamakan to make the flop known as FRACTALE.

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220853
>a hipster philosophy fag likes it

A hipster philosophy fag with a doctorate from one of the top five universities in the world!

[Anonymous No.]

Hiroki Azuma is an otaku apologist, and a poor one at that.
He is typical of the sort of person who only seeks to justify, not explain.

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220869
I have a diploma, my objective opinion is right!
I know, oh hur phd means he is!!! but honestly, I don't think Japan is like, MUH ANIMU IS DED. Things can't rise forever. like video games. There has to be a low point to recover from if you want "quality". Wait until the late half of this decade/ early half of the next.

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220874
If we have to wait that long it may as well be dead.

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220875
I hope you're kidding. That isn't long. Two years? C'mon, things can't bounce back from a mainstream to older ways as fast as you'd like. "Moe Shit" isn't really taking over, it was always there. It's just that now more anime "casuals" are making it seem so. also, evangelion isn't the highest point of anime, and it's annoying how high of a regard it has, considering the guy responsible hates you for watching it...

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220876
>"Moe Shit" isn't really taking over
Yeah it is saving anime.

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220876
>considering the guy responsible hates you for watching it...

He's just butthurt that Rei is seen as moe and not as a creeper. He wanted to troll anime fans and failed. I doubt he hates all the money he gets in any way.

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220882
I mean as in it's all that every studio is making for an infinitive amount of time from now on as some people make it out to be. I honestly just don't believe that Japan thinks the medium is dying like this guy says. Nor that everything is cute girls. Also, I don't believe Evangelion should be seen as the high point of anime as it is. That's all. I just feel like this guy is kicking up a storm to make it seem as if studying people who never go out but to survive barely was worth the time. Just fuck off and watch the anime, and talk about it. Anime isn't some deep country wide schism causing entertainment. It's anime.

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220887
Anno is just butthurt about everything? Seems right.

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220034
> So far Milky Holmes, [...] have been fucking awesome.
Now, I don't know about the others in that list, but I did watch the first season of Milky Holmes. I am quite certain that Milky Holmes is no masterpiece; it isn't even close. This leads me to question all of your judgement entirely.

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220892
Mind you I'm not saying it isn't a good anime, it just isn't the decade long shit storm it caused.

[Anonymous No.]

Come on this is Japan they always have a negative attitude towards themsevles.

Think for example of the "economic crisis". They are in a perpetual economic crisis since the 90. You'd think they'd be fucking poor by now, but they have the third best gdp in the whole world behind countries that have quite a higher population. That's an awful economic situation right? But that's what your average Japanese think.

Another proof? Well look at this:

http://www.nationmaster.com/compare/Japan/United-States/Crime

Just compare the rate of crimes in the U.S. and those in Japan. Consider that Japanese are 127 millions, while the U.S. are 314 millions, so barely three times more populated.

Now check the perceived police efficiency. Fuckin awesome right? They must think crime is really bad in Japan, it's awful! But that's what your average Japanese thinks.

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220895
You're probably schizophrenic.

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220892
>I honestly just don't believe that Japan thinks the medium is dying like this guy says.
They dont. But people that use Eva as their university thesis is deluded. Pic related. Top guy did a thesis on Evangelion.

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220903
>Think for example of the "economic crisis". They are in a perpetual economic crisis since the 90. You'd think they'd be fucking poor by now, but they have the third best gdp in the whole world behind countries that have quite a higher population. That's an awful economic situation right? But that's what your average Japanese think.
*farts*

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220905
It's funny because Nadia is also a Ghibli rip off and Madoka is a Bokurano rip off.

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220905

I loved Eva. When I was 14.

Seriously, these guys are retarded and nobody should take them seriously.

Anime industry is much bigger today than it was in 1995. And it's making good anime pretty much every season.

[Anonymous No.]

Thank god /jp/ isn't this shitty.

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220913
mhyazaku the one gook who actually makes good cartoons actually created the concept for nadia so it's not a ripoff sorry to correct you here bud

[Anonymous No.]

>produce anime aimed at otaku (many women fall in love with a beta MC who is scared shitless of close contact with females)
>wonder why it doesn't sell well
>jack up prices so only obsessed otaku will buy it
>declining sales every year

versus

>produce anime aimed at a wide range of audience (e.g. miyazaki, satoshi kon)
>price it at a fair price compared to traditional movies
>many people buy it, anime becomes more wide spread and accepted

GEE I WONDER WHY ANIME SALES SUCK

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220937

>declining sales every year

This isn't true, sales are rising every year.

Also K-ON! falls into the second part of your post and is the second highest selling anime series on BD format.

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220069
>It's funny because he actually did it to laugh at what art had become. But after that anything could be art.

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220937
That's a nice delusion you have there. The reality, however, looks like this:

>produce anime aimed at otaku (cute girls doing cute things)
>price it at market value
>many people buy it, anime becomes more wide spread and accepted

versus

>produce anime aimed at a wide range of audience (e.g. miyazaki, satoshi kon)
>wonder why it doesn't sell well
>blame it on the otaku buying public
>declining sales every year

[Anonymous No.]

Amazing, it's like the guy actually took those /a/ "What the fuck happened to anime" pictures seriously and wrote a fucking paper about it, and he has a Ph.D. Academic standards really have become insultingly low.

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220951
>Amazing, it's like the guy actually took those /a/ "What the fuck happened to anime" pictures seriously and wrote a fucking paper about it
le humanities face

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220946
>price it at market value

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220937
True.
Except you need to remove Satoshi Kon and Miyazaki. His works are for hipster, and miyazaki movie is more like Disney cartoon so it doesnt count.
Replace them with bakemonogatari, k-on and madoka. It is great that majority of LN thrash and haremshit dont sell. They are the real cancer.

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220937

Are you retarded?

Anime is selling better and better every next year.

It's constantly outselling internationally popular TV series in Japan.

http://www.amazon.co.jp/gp/bestsellers/2011/dvd/ref=zg_bsar_cal_mo

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220937
Anime is objectively better on average now than it ever has been, and sales have increased to reflect this. You know absolutely nothing about the medium.

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220966
>nothing but gundam and madoka

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220941
>sales are rising every year
Still nowhere as high as it could be, because its moe aimed at otakus.

Famous anime movies are aired in hundreds of cinemas world wide for a reason.

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220983
So you want anime to pander to normalfags like every other piece of media? You make me sick.

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220983
Art films don't sell. Mindless blockbuster fun does.

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220970
>Anime is objectively better on average now than it ever has been
I want /a/ to leave

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220983
>Famous anime movies

Like K-On and Madoka.

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220986
No, it is. Average sales and production values have never been that high before (and that's about it as far as objective measures go).

[Anonymous No.]

A doctorate from a prestigious university talking about anime and manchildren feelings. Get your shit together, guys.
The thread is bakas.

[Anonymous No.]

I think I missed the point where Eva stopped being Anno's masturbation and became deep and profound.

I definitely prefer the old view.

[Anonymous No.]

I want /a/ to die.

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220998
He's not "a doctorate" he's a doctor. Not a physician doctor but guy with a doctorate, see?

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220998
No, you are the baka.
Otaku, anime and related stuff is a major phenomenon in Japan and other countries as well which have significant influence on society.
>Some Ph.D makes a topic out of it.
>It cannot be!
Narrow-minded you are.

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220984
art films sell a shitload, look at studio ghibli.

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220998

People talking seriously about industry worth billions of $?

No way!

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220983

Cool delusions.

Anime is outselling super popular live action TV series. Mostly because otaku are loyal fans who actually buy stuff instead of pirating it.

[Anonymous No.]

Why don't people ever mention Lain when they talk about legendary anime?

[Anonymous No.]

Many fans of EVA are stupid for claiming it to be the absolute best), but the haters are just as stupid. It's the natural inclination of people to try to find patterns in meaning in everything, but sometimes, it's more prudent to just sit back and enjoy something for what it is. I liked EVA. I thought it was a good story with a good artstyle. I would have liked it the same if the Angels had no "deep symbolic meaning" behind them, and it was a standard mech show that took itself a bit more seriously.

It's a mistake attempt to make things objective when it's not really possible (like saying "x anime is objectively better than y anime"), and so even if you disagree with the central point of the man quoted in the OP, you're still making the same mistake. Maybe I'm just a neurotypical that doesn't need textbook symbolism to enjoy a piece of art, but that's my view on things.

[Anonymous No.]

>>10221046
Cause it's shit. Seriously, does that show even have a plot?

[Anonymous No.]

wch eva unit wd fuk

[Anonymous No.]

>>10221064
>>>/a/

[Anonymous No.]

Eva is not "deep" or whatever, but it's still one of the better shows that Japan has shat out.

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220004
ur taking him out of context, he literaly wrote the book on the evolution of otaku culture

and its not anime

capcha:comrade rstriho

[Anonymous No.]

>>10221093
Sure it's deep. The characters are deep. Not the story, the characters. NGE is a character study.

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220738
but japan is not america

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220951
nope, this didnt happen either
its almost like OP is eternally samefagging... that or no ones read his work...

[otoko_tenshi No.]

>>10221120
thank you!

[Anonymous No.]

I don't think Eva is required watching because it is "good" or "popular". It is not required watching because it is "deep" or "pretentious". Evangelion is required watching because Evangelion embodies the genre of anime. In fact, you can say that most anime after Evangelion carry the themes, characters, symbols, and motifs of Evangelion. In some way, Evangelion can be said to be the Shakespeare of Japanese animation.

Whether you may agree or disagree, the fact is that there is not one other show that impacted anime as much as Eva. When you go to Japan, Evangelion is everywhere, and has been everywhere for the last 17 years. A simple 26 episode anime series changed the entire animation industry in a country, and brought it into second generation. It changed animation's target audience, it created a social economic model for Japanese salarymen (otaku) to follow, and it changed the economy and livelihood of an entire city.

If not for Evangelion, we would not have anime as we know it today. Many of the shows we enjoy today would not exist if not for Evangelion and the themes it introduced.

[Anonymous No.]

>>10221146
A quick history lesson:

During the mid 90's, animation was dying. There were basically two types of anime, the animation marketed towards kids for kids to watch (Doraemon, Sazae-san, Sailor Moon, etc) and anime marketed towards hardcore otaku (lolgundams). Anime marketed towards younger audiences was usually broadcasted on television, was popular, and sold a shit ton. The anime marketed towards the older audiences was rarely broadcasted on TV, needed to be bought through lazerdiscs and vhs, and was generally inaccessible to a lot of people. There was a slight problem: the animation industry was dying, there are only so many different Gundams you can make, and only so many of the older, hardcore anime fans remained. As it was, anime was going down in popularity within Japan. Animation studios were not making as much money as character goods, doujinshi, etc had not been established as a viable source of income.

Evangelion was the show that introduced a whole new demographic to anime. Finally, a show that not only kids and hardcore otaku could relate to, but the ordinary college student or high school student or junior high school kid could relate to.

[Anonymous No.]

[Anonymous No.]

>>10221151
Evangelion gave them emotional security in the forms of Rei, Asuka, and Misato. There's a reason why you can see those three characters in so many shows together, and that is because those three characters represent what otaku most want, and most need in terms of emotional stability. They were variables introduced in an equation that so many anime nowadays follow. But anyways, going back on topic, Rei, Asuka, and Misato were so popular that people wanted them. They were the best waifus at the time. People loved these three girls, and the new increased demographic and viewerbase of Evangelion seeked to buy products of these characters to satisfy themselves. But where to buy product goods? Akihabara was electric town back then, and sold no figs. Except for a single doujinshi shop, there was nothing anime about Akihabara.

Well everyone who has seen Eva remembers that one scene in episode 26. Childhood friend Asuka waking up Shinji, Shinji having a fated encounter with a Rei with toast in her mouth, Misato, the hot school teacher. Evangelion presented a series of images of halcyon days that Shinji (who represented the consumers of Evangelion ) could have had. It presented an alternate reality, featuring the same characters, but in a much different, lighthearted setting.

[Anonymous No.]

>>10221149

Combined with the economic depression in Japan as well the general psychological depression of the realities of scholarly pressures and work pressures in Japan, Evangelion managed to create a character, Shinji, who a lot of people could relate to. Shinji was the self insert of Hideaki Anno, Gainax, and Japan in general at the time. And thus, Evangelion was popular. Everyone could watch Eva: the kids for the giant robots, the teenagers for the angst, the salarymen to relate to the depression and social anxiety Shinji suffered, and the hardcore otaku because, well they were gonna watch everything anyways. Evangelion was a show that introduced anime to a whole new social demographic. It was a show for everyone, and related to by everyone. Everyone knew Eva, whether they were 14 years old or 41 years old.

Not only did people want to relate to Shinji, they also wanted the Rei, Asuka, and Misato in their lives. By the female characters gradually loosening up and accepting Shinji, it was like the salarymen of Japan, who had nothing to look forward to but endless days of working, had hope. Evangelion was an inspiration, dealing with the general depression and Anno's depression in Japan at the time.

[Anonymous No.]

>>10221146
>In some way, Evangelion can be said to be the Shakespeare of Japanese animation.

I've heard it called the "Star Wars of anime."

[Anonymous No.]

>>10221152
Normally I wouldn't agree, but with Rebuild and all, that comparison is becoming eerily accurate.

[Anonymous No.]

>>10221153
This is probably what set off the doujinshi revolution in Akihabara. No longer was Tora no Ana a failing shop, they had supplies of Rei, Asuka, and Misato books and art, and people bought all of it. Soon enough, more shops in Akihabara dedicated to Evangelion were created, selling character goods, VHS, and lazordiscs. And here began the spread of anime as we know it. For the first time, one could go to a physical shop and pick up a doujinshi or a figurine. Evangelion singlehandedly transformed the economy of Akihabara, and made it the mecca of the anime world.

Now let me say something: Evangelion was not an original series. In fact, what it did was just take the most popular themes, characters, plot devices, etc from all of what anime was before it, modified it and deconstructed some existing themes and characters (as in took them, applied what a normal depressed fuck *Anno* would do, and applied what would happen in reality), and smashed it into a 26 episode series that was made for the emotional masturbation of the original director, and sold a shit ton because people in Japan are sad beings. Evangelion is not 100% original. Sure, it changed the general perception of the mecha genres (super robots hurr durr) and presented a whole new era of biomechanical mecha, as well as changed the focus of shows post-Eva to be the mental development of characters instead of the plot development, but there were shows that had done this before.

[Anonymous No.]

>>10221158
I could say a lot more on Evangelion, such as the transition of "either/or" to "both/and" of anime, the machine being the man, or transcendentalism in post-Evangelion anime, but I'm sure you're all ready to call bullshit I've written so far on this.

These are just my two cents on Evangelion. You don't have to like the show or agree with me, but I'd just like to put them out there and explain why Evangelion will hold an important position in my and many otaku's hearts.

tl;dr Evangelion saved anime

[Anonymous No.]

>>10221156
The thing is, Evangelion did it well and was popular. It did it so well, that shows nowadays are completely different from pre-Eva. We no longer care about what happens to the world, to the Earth, or to whatever the main character in a show needs to save, but rather we focus our attention on the characters, their romantic exercises, their mental development, and their resolve. For instance, Gurren Lagann was not about how Simon saved humanity, but rather his maturation into a young man during that process. Eureka 7, we focus more on the characters than the plot or technicalities of the robots. Evangelion, in the presentation of Rei, Asuka, and Misato as emotional satisfaction, turned the focus of anime from being a plot-driven medium into a character-driven medium. This fits into the fact that doujinshi, etc, were more readily made of Eva characters, and alternate forms of media involving the characters could be accepted as official despite having plot inconsistencies.

Never had a show shifted the meta of anime so much in this way. For instance, if you take a show such as Astro Boy and apply it in the post-Evangelion sense, instead of the show's focus being on Astro Boy saving the world or his town or whatever, it would examine and explicate the relationship he has towards humans, and his journey of self discovery and realization of being different from a human.

[Anonymous No.]

>>10221154
The comparison is based on the effect NGE had on its medium. Like how Star Wars changed cinema.

[otoko_tenshi No.]

>plebs cant into google

http://books.google.com.au/books?id=HhuHWI0Giu0C&printsec=frontcover&dq=hiroki+azuma+japan's
+database+animals+evangelion&hl=en&sa=X&ei=WcLNUM_IG-uUmQXN7IG4Aw&ved=0CDYQ6AEwAA#v=
onepage&q=hiroki%20azuma%20japan's%20database%20animals%20evangelion&f=false

[Anonymous No.]

>>10221160
>Star Wars changed cinema

I don't know what's funnier, when /jp/ tries to talk about anything that isn't Touhou, or when they discuss anime as a legitimate artistic medium.

[Anonymous No.]

>>10221162
Right, how stupid of me to imply that Star Wars had any sort of impact on the special effect laden hollywood blockbuster. Why before Star Wars those movies were made all of the time!

[otoko_tenshi No.]

>>10221149
>>10221151

[Anonymous No.]

>>10221167
er not imply but directly state I guess

anyway I feel so very silly right now!

[Anonymous No.]

>>>/a/

[Anonymous No.]

>>10221176
>Otaku culture isn't /jp/ related

hurp a durp a durp

This is the good kind of meta thread you moron. It's about Otaku culture itself.

[Anonymous No.]

>>10221167
>hollywood blockbusters
>cinema

Just like how contemporary American top 40 radio dictates the state of music today, right?

[otoko_tenshi No.]

>Evangelion was not an original series. In fact, what it did was just take the most popular themes, characters, plot devices, etc from all of what anime was before it, modified it and deconstructed some existing themes and characters (as in took them, applied what a normal depressed fuck *Anno* would do, and applied what would happen in reality),

yes, thats what is called 萌え要素, moe atributes、hiroki mentions it, and its in episode 2 of lucky star, not that pleb gaijins would get that coz its always subbed by and for normal faggots

[otoko_tenshi No.]

>Evangelion is not 100% original.

no, according to hiroki, it is 0% origional, and thats the POINT

he argues that the company made figures and shit before it was out and had this whole advritising campaign to capitalise on the moe boom, and compares it to like that green cat/maid cahracter from the late 90s as being around the start of chucking random moe togeather and making something sellable out of it

of course, it started much earlier than 1995 and the only thing special about eva is its success

[otoko_tenshi No.]

>characters instead of the plot development,
>We no longer care about what happens to the world,

hiroki calls this the postmodern "loss and recreation of "grand narrative""

[Anonymous No.]

>>10221188
>hurr durr semantics

Your whole point is stupid and you should feel stupid.

And yeah, the contemporary state of music is partially revealed by what's currently most popular.

[Anonymous No.]

>>10221185
>>Evangelion was not an original series. In fact, what it did was just take the most popular themes, characters, plot devices, etc from all of what anime was before it, modified it and deconstructed some existing themes and characters (as in took them, applied what a normal depressed fuck *Anno* would do, and applied what would happen in reality),

ＳＯＵＮＤ　SO　ＥＡＳＩＬＹ

"If you had invented Facebook. You would've invented Facebook.

[Anonymous No.]

>>10221180
This is not a meta-thread.

Your post is a meta-post, however. Discussing the board rather than discussing the board's topic. That's meta.

[Anonymous No.]

>>10221188
The funny thing is, you probably don't even understand how flawed your analogy is, much less why. But good job demonstrating you don't know much about music industry either.

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220111
It always kind of bothered me that people use this as a criticism of Evangelion. The Christian symbolism wasn't essential to the message of Evangelion, so this doesn't really detract from that message

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220716
uh woxxy i couldve sworn that was a surprise box

[Anonymous No.]

/jp/ - Anime & Manga

[Anonymous No.]

>>10221590,2
Its literallu an otaku culture thread

[Anonymous No.]

>>10221590,3
Anime has nothing to do with otaku culture. Otherwise moot wouldn't have split the boards.

[Anonymous No.]

Otaku haven't changed at all, they just have less franchises to be interested in nowadays and don't hang around akiba anymore so they are harder to spot. Otaku still remain the gross, unkempt, sweaty neckbeards who are obsessed with small details and very particular about what series they enjoy.

Anime just became a spectator sport, now you have middle-school nicodouga kids everywhere watching late-night anime and visiting GAMERS in Akiba thinking that consuming goods makes them otaku because they are too ignorant and lazy to actually learn about or show an interest in anime anime, and that's why the market has been saturated. They have a higher disposable income than the older otaku now have so anime is made for them now instead.

I went to the K-ON movie showing and they were all full of middle school kids and older teenage girls screaming and trying to call out lines before they were said, it was awful. Strike Witches movie wasn't as bad and had a few otaku show up and the Nanoha movie was full of Singaporeans and Chinese.

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220914

>>>/a/

[Anonymous No.]

>>10220970
>>10220992

Correction:

Anime is more heavily marketed on average now than it ever has been, and sales have increased to reflect this.

In the days before Aniplex (and hundreds of figures and merchandise being churned out every month) nobody had millions of yen to spend on getting their anime into mainstream news outlets and in the newspapers.

Anime is just hitting a more mainstream audience now, and as a result it has become heavily saturated with its consumers unable to tell the difference.

[Anonymous No.]

what is this and why does it have so many replies.

[Anonymous No.]

>>10225510
Someone trash talked everyone's favourite anime.

[Anonymous No.]

>>10225592
Eva is shit though

[Anonymous No.]

>>10221590,4
Hilarious

[Anonymous No.]

Japan has been in a deep financial recession since the 80s. The people growing up to make anime now haven't seen past this era, a world of recession and depression is all they know, it's no surprise they aren't trying.

If Japan finally gets out of its recession we will see an explosion of culture.

[Anonymous No.]

>>10225649

this and they are basically groomed with the idea that all anime has to make money or else it's useless, they're too young to remember when many series were made purely as art.

[Anonymous No.]

>>10225649
>>10225668

You weeaboos are hilarious, the late '70s/'80s had a few good movies and a couple good series, otherwise it was just gorefest/kids toy commercials/lolicon ovas/mechashit. Eva's influence changed a lot of that. The latter point about anime made purely as art has more examples of this in the last decade. And yes, producing something if isn't going to bring in money is useless, there are very few if any examples of media like this produced. Also an average anime episode costs around 10 - 20 million yen per episode and requires the work of hundreds of people.

Although touching on the point of stuff produced for fun/art, you can see examples of this on nico and youtube, a lot of young artists are putting together music videos and other shorts recently.

[Anonymous No.]

Is Robot Carnival art?