2013-05-17, 19:15 | Link #1 |
Master of Coin
Join Date: Mar 2008
|
Has this depression sank into the Japanese Soul?
I admit I am not that huge of an anime fan, but I noticed after reading some manga ,LN, and play various anime related games
-If this series is -MC = Male and above high school age. -Environment = Lack of Magic (at least immediately) -Setting = Modern Day Japan. -Results = An recession/or depression has to mentioned in the intro plot. What is going on these days? I miss the days in Doramon where everything is rainbow and sunshines. |
2013-05-17, 19:36 | Link #2 |
Member
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: Milan; Italy
|
I haven't read many mangas, I am only watching anime but I agree with you there is too much depression in fiction. Even in schools and universities only sad works of fiction are read by students, the happy ones aren't considered serious enough. I personally prefer optimistic kinds of fiction, there already is too much sadness in real life.
|
2013-05-17, 20:35 | Link #3 | |
Vanitas owns you >:3
|
Quote:
That should lift you right out of it! But beware of.... Spoiler:
__________________
Last edited by Chiibi; 2013-05-17 at 20:47. |
|
2013-05-17, 20:41 | Link #4 |
Gamilas Falls
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: Republic of California
Age: 46
|
There was a lot more certainty when there were only two Super Powers. You have preset ideas of good guys and bad guys. Plus you can avoid grey areas without the audiance caring all that much.
Today? One Super Power and a bunch of potental enemies and shadowy peoples. Lots of shades of grey. No more good guys and bad guys if everyone could be equally bad. Gritty just to be gritty. Economies are bad on top of that leads to a general emotional depression on national...perhaps international scales. And for some reason the audiance and authors don't want to go back to a happy place to forget about the worlds troubles. They use to try to do that in the 1930s and to the 1960s, and got back to it a little in the 1980s, but otherwise there have been a lot of feel bad movies...depending on country of origin. Anime and manga has gotten some of that too.
__________________
|
2013-05-17, 21:16 | Link #5 |
Sekiroad-Idols Sing Twice
|
I think whatever sense of realism they add potentially lets the audience empathize with the characters more. I started watching Chunibyo, for example, and the MCs paranoia over "normalcy" really hits home. I never had an eyepatch waifu though. xD
I find it funny how this topic antithesizes most of the criticisms of anime today being too kiddy. Just saying.
__________________
|
2013-05-18, 03:29 | Link #10 |
Administrator
Join Date: Dec 2003
Age: 41
|
I remember hearing once about how, during times of depression, entertainment actually tends to become even more upbeat and happy as a way of taking people's minds off of the depression around them. So if were true that more entertainment is restrained and introspective (which, granted, is far from established), does that suggest that it's actually because people are feeling more comfortable to contemplate such things?
That being said, as others have suggested, this reeks very much of selection bias. There are a lot of happy, uplifting, fanciful Japanese manga, novels, games, and anime even today. Perhaps try the Suggestions forum for some recommendations.
__________________
|
2013-05-18, 13:51 | Link #13 | |
Love Yourself
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: Northeast USA
Age: 38
|
Quote:
Anime series have always included some forms of anguish and suffering. Nearly every form of entertainment has. It doesn't have to do with current events, either, it's just life. Characters who never struggle and never have a setback are unrealistic and can be difficult for the audience to relate to. In many cases the audience identifies with characters through their struggles and experiences and then feels inspired when the fictional characters work through their problems. What makes anime unique (or perhaps, what made anime unique back in the 1990's and early 2000's) is the willingness to have endings that aren't 100% happy.
__________________
|
|
2013-05-18, 14:03 | Link #14 | |
Member
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: Milan; Italy
|
Quote:
Most people think for some reason that happy endings are inferior to sad ones from the artistic point of view. |
|
2013-05-18, 14:44 | Link #15 |
Master of Coin
Join Date: Mar 2008
|
Guys, I think you are getting this wrong, I meant ECONOMIC recession. And Economic depression. If it is about college/real life stories, it all starts with Job is so hard to find these days, people are desperate, unemployment rate is low.
In effect, sadness |
2013-05-18, 14:58 | Link #16 |
Sisterhood of the Desu
Join Date: Aug 2012
Location: in a van by the river
|
Wait...What depression?!
Everything I've seen is usually lighthearted for the most part...other than a few dramatic scenes.... Seriously, what are you watching that's so depressing?
__________________
|
2013-05-18, 15:52 | Link #17 |
Administrator
Join Date: Dec 2003
Age: 41
|
I'm starting to wonder too... Are there really that many works these days that focus on the realistic struggles of finding jobs and dealing with a depressed economy? If I were to pick like "Top 10 most common themes in anime-related Japanese media", I don't think that would be on the list...
__________________
|
2013-05-18, 17:12 | Link #18 |
Cross Game - I need more
Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: I've moved around the American West. I've lived in Oregon, Washington, Utah, and Oklahoma
Age: 44
|
Actually, if you are talking economic depression then I too have noticed an increasing mention of this in anime.
Similar to how the declining population started to creep it's way into anime as well. Not that either are a main theme, but rather it seems to be a "fact of life" that exists in fiction now as well as the real world.
__________________
|
2013-05-18, 17:29 | Link #19 | |
We're Back
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Redgrave City
Age: 35
|
Quote:
__________________
|
|
2013-05-18, 17:32 | Link #20 | |
勇者
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: Tesla Leicht Institute
Age: 34
|
Quote:
Honestly, this thread feels like a flamebait.
__________________
|
|
|
|