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Old 2006-12-26, 00:22   Link #463
Nergol
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Aug 2006
Dark;

(Sorry gang - Nergistotle moment)

I know. I lived there. But there's something to be said for ideals that people try to live up to. Peoples (maybe I should say - cultures) tend to portray themselves in art the way they want to be seen (especially by themselves) and the way they'd like to live up to. Or at least, that used to be the case. Americans would - or did - want everyone (again, especially themselves) to think they were the John Wayne archetype - tough but fair, respectful of others, intolerant only (but extremely) of injustice, brave, uncomplicated but upright, never one to start fights but never one to run from them, courtly but uninclined to take undeserved crap, and so on. Now, did America always live up to that? Of course not. But the idea was instilled in Americans that they should try, and in trying, they became better people.

It's questionable wether it's a case of a coarser culture not being able to produce ideals that inspire people to be better, or wether the degrading of ideals coarsens a culture. They probably feed off each other. Either way, what do we have now? Brangelina? Paris Hilton? Snoop Dogg? Wouldn't more John Waynes be better, in a culture where kids spend 100 more hours a year in front of (learning from) television than they do in school?

Same in anime. Less Takayukis and Mitsukis, more Reinhard von Lohengramms and Kyoko Otonashis, says I. The portrayal of less ideal characters may be more "realistic", but it may also be self-fulfilling - when people shoot lower, they hit lower.

Anyhow, Nergistotle moment over. As you were.

Quote:
This would be simply a misconception problem with the viewer. Akane Maniax is not a sequel to KimiNozo, it's a bridge-gap between KimiNozo and MuvLuv. It's also supposed to center on Gouda using Akane as a plot point/device.
It was still bad. Gouda is a dumb character. The whole thing felt disjointed after the seriousness of KimiNozo. And if they didn't mean it to focus on Akane, maybe they should have called it something other than "Akane Maniax". But then again, the legion of loliriffic Akane fanboys out there (and you know who you are) wouldn't have bought an OVA called "Gouda Maniax".
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