General Discussion

I had a conversation with a good chick friend of mine, and I told her about my thoughts on anime sexism and where everywhere I turn men are used as comedic relief in situations that involve them getting hit by women, and she told me that originally, anime was directed at girls. To try and show a dominant female character through animation where there was none in reality. Is this true? I mean, the original popular anime that came out, like Astro Boy and Gigantor and Speed Racer, etc., those weren't directed at girls, so why would she say that?

@Dr_Ventum: So then where would she get that idea? She's otaku hardcore. I think that maybe she would know due to that.

@Destinyheroknight: That just tells me that there are different anime genres out there, not who the first anime was directed at.

@ReplicaRex: What do you mean? Like her history? Her history on her knowledge of anime?

@Destinyheroknight: Then where would she get that idea from?

@ReplicaRex: I'm sure Walt Disney might have influenced Japanese animation, but how it was then taken had nothing to do with Walt. The darker themes, harem comedies(to name a few) where put in place to try and separate Walt's kiddie approach with Mickey Mouse, and try to appeal to a larder audience. Of course, personally I think the greatest animation of all time is CGI. You look at Avatar and Transformers for example, those have to be some of the greatest animated creations in history. The technology of today allows for that, but that doesn't diminish the greatness that CGI has brought to our television screens. But when it comes down to trying to spread animation to larger audiences, the Japanese took what Walt started and gave it their own twist.

In short, how I view animation -

Walt Disney started it

Japanese spread it

CGI perfected it

@ReplicaRex: Oh yeah, we definitely disagree. Lol. I guess the main thing I hate about anime are its fans, who praise it like some deity that all of mankind needs to like. Hell, the same with those gamers who take video games seriously and call other people noobs, and the people who think American comics are better because its in color and manga is not. Not everyone has to like the same thing, but in some peoples eyes they do.

For example, I hate Japanese animation. I think the animation is poor, so poor that they can't even animate their mouths properly. But I adore their art. That is why I love manga. I love their stories and their art. Nothing better than an amazingly drawn manga.

Of course, in terms of animation I give Walt Disney his props, but I think CGI has it in the bag now. That's the future of animation, and everything else needs to catch up.

-- And I don't think she made it up. Maybe she was confused. I need to ask her again.

One BIG thing that I love about CGI. It allows for that merger between reality and animation. Like in Avatar and Transformers.

@Destinyheroknight: Both subs and dubs do the flappy mouths. I don't know why they think lip flapping matches Japanese syllables. Ah, ee, uu, eh, oh, is not flap flap flap flap.

And Flash animation is the future for amateur animators who want to break into the business. The real future lies in CGI, where I explained that I love how it can bridge the gap between reality and animation.

@ReplicaRex: I will never buy that, considering american animation can do it just fine. You see the crappiest budget animation, where they release pilot episodes, and the mouths don't flappity flap throughout the whole show.

Dragon Ball Z, probably one of the most popular shows in anime history, didn't change the flappity flap in Kai. I don't think DBZ is a poor anime.

@Destinyheroknight: I never said Flash animation was bad, but you normally see it more often with amateurs. Have you seen Newgrounds before?

@ReplicaRex: It's still a good show, regardless of the mouth flapping. But in truth, when I was first exposed to DBZ, I was young and didn't really care. Now that I am older, I analyze every aspect of an anime, from the story, to the character development, to the animation and mouth flapping. If things like mouth flapping, ridiculously long character development, and the core of the plot takes forever to get to, I will not watch the show. One example of that is Durarara. Hated how slow the anime was. And especially anime like Naruto and Ippo. Filler and extremely long character development draw the anime away from me. I feel like I can get things done much quicker if I read the manga. It's not as drawn out as anime with filler and mouth flapping, which I hate.