Quote:
Originally Posted by Guardian Enzo
But in terms of mainstream anime - and I mean shows like SSY, Chihayafuru, NoitaminA series and the like, not just Ghibli, One Piece or kid shows - I haven't seen any indication that there's any sense of embarrassment attached. That's because animation isn't viewed the same here as it is in America (France also fits into this description, I would argue). It's just another medium, full of work that spans both the quality and thematic spectrum from end to end, and the mindset about it can't be conveniently packed into a one-size-fits-all box.
|
This is a nice theory, but I'm not sure how we'd go about proving it. I think it sounds awfully "truthy". I haven't seen any evidence myself that "mainstream anime [like] SSY, Chihayafuru, NoitaminA series and the like" are seen with any greater degree of broad acceptability in Japan, but that doesn't mean they'd be as heavily stigmatized simply because they're not going to get the sort of publicity that "Akiba culture" shows will get. Lack of negative publicity, and appeal to a slightly different audience, doesn't necessarily equal "mainstream acceptability" either. Personally, I'm inclined to think that even our NoitaminA fan crowd would be labelled as "anime geeks", even in Japan, but again I don't know how to prove that supposition either way beyond just anecdotal evidence. (In the end, if you're talking about stigmas and stereotypes, it's obvious that this won't apply to everyone anyway, so the fact that there's no "one-size-fits-all box" is clear. There will always be some people that are more open-minded than others, and it probably depends a lot on the sort of circles you run in.)