Chatterbox - Anime & Manga

It has recently come to my attention that anime film set during World War II most notably Grave of the Fireflies, The Wind Rises, and In This Corner of the World have been harshly criticized by Koreans for portraying Japanese as victims of the war even though Japan's foreign policy was controlled by the military elite at the time. Do you guys think such criticisms are fair?

Edited by Ulf_Jarl on Feb 28th 2021 at 11:15:37 AM

I think it is fair for Koreans to make these comments, or to dislike these films.

However just because Japan as a country did many wrong things (to Koreans for instance), it doesn't mean that the Japanese can't make art that isn't about apologizing. In Grave of the Fireflies and In This Corner of the World, the protagonists are victims of war with no agency over it, and we can't negate their existence just because Japan was the wrong guys.

The government of Japan is wrong for not being better at admitting past wrongs. But individual artists are not responsible for doing that in its stead.

Agreed.

People have a right to be angry about what the Japanese goverment and military did during WW 2, but directing that towards artists feels like it's misplacing that anger.

It's a bit like the anger directed towards the author of MHA for naming a villain scientist Murata. He apologized and changed the name. It's fair for people to be angry about Project Log and all, but there's no guarantee that Hori actually knew about that; I don't know how much Japanese schools teach about WW 2, but from what I've heard, it's not much. Though any Japanese people and/or people living in Japan in general probably know that better.

Edited by MagmaTeaMerry on Mar 1st 2021 at 10:47:05 AM

And it's not as if Imperial Japan was all flowers and sunshine to the native Japanese commonfolk, either.

While the crimes Imperial Japan committed against other peoples are rightfully focused on, mostly because the Japanese government never did the basic courtesy of acknowledging and apologizing for them, they treated their own citizens like trash to a significant extent.

By the way, I mentioned it briefly in the recommendations thread, but Town of Evening Calm, Country of Cherry Blossoms is an earlier manga by the same author as In This Corner of the World.

It is set in the 1950s and is about the mistreatment of radiation victims by the Japanese.

As for what Japan teaches in schools about WW 2.. the answer is, it varies by decade but ‘very little and not negative to Japan’ is the general answer.

So there's this manga I found called Shiroi Majo - Utsukushiki Sniper that features Simo Häyhä in the lead role... So, of course he's "reimagined" as a cute teenage girl part of a squad of other girls known as The Witches.

Actually checking it out, I first of all don't understand why they'd use this as their premise since... Well, it's a pretty generic war story. There was really no reason to put Simo Häyhä in the lead role.

And second of all... I know I shouldn't, but I just find myself a tad bothered how often historical figures get the "waifucation" treatment in manga. It's like "Oh, come on, do you think nobody would care to read about actual historical figures, least of all one of the most legendary snipers in recorded history, if they aren't turned into waifus?"

Nothing against people who like the manga. I think it's fine: Not my cup of tea, but what I've read so far is fine, if not very interesting to me. But... why Simo?

Sounds like just a cheap stunt.

If its a very by the numbers story, they prolly figured they need at least some kind of hook to attract people to it and so they settled on Simo Häyhä as a cute waifu for whatever reason.

Probably because he's a meme the same way Tesla is a meme.

So I just discovered a new anime movie called The Journey, co-produced between Toei Animation and a Saudi Arabian Animation studio with Japanese voice acting.

Incidentally, both of those are part of humanity's champions in Record of Ragnarok among other memes like Leonidas and Rasputin.

Neat, Mieruko's getting an anime.

We're also getting an anime on Yasuke, a real-life black samurai from the age of Nobunaga!

I never heard of Yasuke.

That's a pretty big thing.

I know of him because if just one african character appears as a samurai in a fantasy setting, he's typically the Inspiration.

Edited by OmegaRadiance on Mar 8th 2021 at 6:49:30 AM

I think one of those history snippet You Tube channels had one video about this

Where Nobunaga lazily listens to Yasuke being presented and unimpressed until they prove he really is black by washing him

Cue the Demon King of the Sixth Heaven going give this man a sword and his fair share of koku, we going to war

He was also a minor character in Nioh.

So I think I want to come up with a roster for Capcom vs Shonen Jump, the problem is, I'm trying to think of which choices would make the most sense. I was thinking:

• Capcom series with their own anime: i.e. Mega Man, Viewtiful Joe, Power Stone
• Shonen Jump anime people grew up with on 4Kids and Toonami: Shaman King
• Shonen Jump series directly connected to Capcom
• And the modern SJ shows on the current Toonami

If you were making it, who would absolutely have to be in the base roster for you to get the game. I'm looking on the Toonami wikipedia page and...

....Shenume's getting an anime? Heard the series was good besides the 3rd one that was supposed to play homage to it , dope.

But still, want/need some advice on it. Who absolutely has to be in here?

Edited by DevilSketch36 on Mar 9th 2021 at 7:53:44 AM

In "OMG WTF" news...

• Discotek announced that they have the license to release the entirety of Sgt. Frog via standard definition on Blu-ray! Yes, all 358 episodes! More details coming soon!
• They also announced that they were canning their upscaled release of Project A-Ko...because they found the original 35mm masters of Project A-Ko and will use that for the HD transfer. In layman's terms, the video will look even better than an upscaled release ever would!
  • How'd it even happen? You can thank AnimEigo's Robert Woodhead, who found it entirely by accident!

Edited by TargetmasterJoe on Mar 9th 2021 at 10:17:18 AM

One part of me is saying "Fuck yes!"

The other parts of me, on the other hand, remembers how horribly the Otherside Picnic anime was handled and is currently doing the traditional "Please don't suck, please don't suck, please don't suck" prayer.

Edited by Servbot on Mar 9th 2021 at 7:50:24 AM

Devil Sketch 36

I'm here, what do you want to ask?

Edited by agent-trunks on Mar 9th 2021 at 7:54:43 AM

Look up.

@DevilSketch36

I can't say for sure who should make it in & who doesn't because no one really is going to think it's fair at the end of the day. Even with a roster of 56 characters.

I suppose it doesn't hurt to pander to the JOJO fanbase having the 6 Jojo & their main baddie.

It would be nice to see Rosario Vampire since Capcom does have a history with the series, but that's probably not even likely for the hypothetical Jump VS Capcom game.

Edited by agent-trunks on Mar 9th 2021 at 8:34:30 AM

Asura and Goku would need to be the main rivals.

That, or Kenshiro and Asura.

Other than proper power-scaling, why would Goku & Asura be rivals?