Quote:
Originally Posted by Triple_R
I disagree.
It has no tsunderes. None of the characters are otakus themselves (which I find to be an increasingly common element in pure otaku centric shows). It has as many references to medieval European literature as it does to other anime shows. It has no significant fanservice (of the most common sexual kind, at least). Many would argue that its moe elements are subverted, if anything. Its narrative is hardly "feel good", or "comfort food". It's very far away from something like K-On!
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I think you might've misunderstood his point.
Madoka doesn't have these elements, true, but that's not where the shows' otaku appeal comes from.
Madoka's main selling point to the otaku has been it's ensemble staff.Ume Aok, Akiyuki Shinbo, Gen Urobuchi, Kajiura Yuki ... these are names that had made works before that resonated well with otaku's and anime fans in general. A lot of the following and hype surrounding the show before (and a even after) airing has to do with who worked on it.
The thing is, and I think this point was mentioned already, just because might pander to a certain segment of viewers doesn't make it bad (hence why that Nanoha review is honestly silly in how it criticizes the show for attracting or being targeted to otaku) and certainly, I think that
Madoka that is deserving of both the hype and success based on it's own merits, but I do also think that a lot of said success and attention it had gotten was from the list of staff who worked on it.
Now, about the topic ... I think that the problem seems to be more about how the reviewers throw the word ''pander'' a lot and treating it as a bad thing automatically. Sure, excessive use of it is bad, but does that mean any use of it needs to be damned as well?
Another issue seems to be the reviewers prejudice. Some ANN reviewers seem to have a problem saying whether shows like
Koi Kaze and
Bunny Drop are good because they contain themes (or are meant to contain themes) that are considered creepy or disgusting to them, and so they dismiss the show as being awful from the get-go. So things like how they ''pander to be successful'' or ''fall into the same thinking as every other anime out there'' etc. start popping up whenever they are mentioned, none of them addressing if the anime they are bashing on actually treat the subjects they are addressing maturely and without any actual pandering.