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ani_d
Welcome to the fandom wars.
don't you worry, I have my own battles with that kind too. Best advice just ignore them. >.>;;
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Tak
I wish I could have that as my sig.
that's lol hilarious. Something straight out of King Of Fighters/ Street Fighter super move.
Also, about the teenager argument you're going with. Although totally irrelevant to this discussion, FF XII was supposed to have Basch or Balthier as its protagonist. But, since Squeenix was in a way reluctant to use that older themed protagonist to color an FF game, they then decided to use the Vaan and Penelo approach. The last FF that has any old main leads in it (past teenager age) was like the older FFs (correct me if I'm wrong though) and FF VII, from FF VIII onwards it's become more of a craze to fit young people to star in their games, and seem to get younger and younger as it gets (other Squeenix games like Kingdom Hearts 1 and 2 for example). Granted that there are people older who would want to play those games, there's still the presence of the teenage marketing group, which still accounts for a huge percentage of their profits. Kids would want their parents to buy videogames for them. If the products don't appeal to the kids that much, then they stand to lose a great deal of the profits that their products will rake in.
Anime is meant to be watched by people of all ages, it is wrong to even imply that anime is just meant for kids. But we have different genres of anime catering to a whole range of fans, and whether some people like it or not, there are anime aimed for adults. My parents have a rather narrow view of anime as just being for kids, and because of this misunderstanding, they don't try sitting out the next 30 minutes or so while I watch Macross Frontier streaming from the internets.
anyway, since a lot of fans these days are weaned on the latest bits of animation, circa 2000 onwards, it is safe to say that people who did watch it just now (or are exposed to anime just now) would tend to crave for a lot of shiny new anime stuff. There are others who don't see it that way, and they have their own tastes that also render themselves "game" on older animation and older anime, like some people on this forums are. There are some examples I've seen on /m/ who had Gundam Wing as their first Gundam shows, but they went on to rediscover old Gundam gems. But there are also others who don't (and get lambasted a lot for doing so). Same with the Macross threads in that imageboard, there are those who are real fans of the series, some new fans who want to get into the show, and the anons are very happy to help them out with a lot of their questions. Macross Frontier threads in there sadly only erupt into full Sheryl Ranka war threads most of the time, but sometimes when the anons aren't on a warpath, they give lots of comments on what they like and don't like about Frontier, complete with older Macross anime comparisons. This helps new fans to try out the series for themselves. And sometimes they don't also, because of the comments that they get weren't exactly that appealing.
As far as Macross Frontier goes, anyone could actually watch it if they want to, depending on their schedules (because of the time slot) and depending on the interest of the people who would of course watch it. As for the audience it's geared towards to, there really aren't a lot of anime nowadays that have comparably older cast members. Teenage cast members on an anime are there for a reason -
to get younger people to watch it. Would you watch an anime about 30 year old leads? Probably only a few people would watch it. Macross Frontier is filled with characters with whom normal teenagers can relate to, because the characters themselves have some problems and issues that the younger audience could relate with, and that is what made them watch it. It could be the only reason why they watch it, but because we've agreed on the variety of anime fans, there are other reasons why they could also watch it. Whatever the reason, anime is there to make itself endearing to the general anime fandom. This is not to say that Macross Frontier is geared towards this age set, or that.
But it has to sell to the younger fans, therefore Sheryl Nome and Ranka Lee and all the other pretty characters are in there, but other than that, we all know what makes them great right? Therefore we have cosplays, promotional anime merchandise, the works. Fans of the Macross series love Sheryl and Ranka equally, but you can't deny the Kira meme has sprung a lot of fanart with people doing the Kira pose.
I've even seen a Shishio Makoto one. O.o;; And I think even saw a Ryoma Nagare one as well. X___x;; (that was scary!) In any case, Ranka is popular, and when a character is popular, the character would have a lot of critics and fans as they always do, you cannot deny that. It is just so because Sheryl has a lot more fans than Ranka has - those who count themselves more of a Sheryl fan than Ranka one at that - that sometimes the shipping wars tend to come out very ridiculous to the point that the discussion now only focuses on what would the outcome of their relationship would be, just that. Macross has its Love Triangles, but I don't think SDF Macross just dwelt on that Love Triangle alone. It sprung a genre that Macross fans have loved, and not just because of that single Love Triangle relationship.
Ranka's been called out for being a moeblob and because she's timid, etc. - the reasons that the more extreme Sheryl fans have for disliking her very much are bordering on just pure dislike of her, with no reason at all for some. Sheryl has her own share of critics as well. The fact remains is that whether we like it or not, anime is there to always appeal to the younger sector of the market, and they have to sell themselves pretty well. Of course, the anime that is all about the mainstream of anime fandom,not the more art style anime, or those anime geared towards older audiences (anime that are meant for adults only). Ranka is popular with the blog crowd because she's cute, and she could hold her own against Sheryl because of her other endearing characteristics and that she's also strong in her own way. Sheryl is liked by people because they want strong female characters, and Sheryl happens to fit the bill just fine, and they also find Sheryl cute too. What a person would want to watch in anime is of course, up to his or her own decision. Also, sometimes it's not because of an anime a person watched that a person thinks differently in some way - they also get real life experiences and base them from what they know there as well. If a person only sees what she sees because of what she watched or what she experienced, then we can't do anything about that can we. If
ani_d sees Ranka and Alto the way they are, there's no reason to raise pitchforks at why she does think so, or this even applies to you or
herbert or other Sheryl fans in particular who see Sheryl and Alto the way they are. There are a lot of reasons why, and why not.
ani_d seems to be quite open for a Sheryl Alto end,
but she stated her reasons why she thinks that the Sheryl Alto end should be worked on a little more. It doesn't equate to saying that she doesn't like Sheryl Alto end,
she feels that Sheryl's development is given an injustice, and needs development fast because there are only a few eps left to rectify anything, or even give her a supermove which could suddenly come out of nowhere if written badly. Anime is not meant to be "hey you're supposed to think my way" and get angry about a fan who doesn't seem to think their way. Anime was supposed to be watched for enjoyment and meaningful discussions in anime forums like these, not for the purpose of shipping wars or fandom wars. >.>;;
Be right back, working on a linguistics paper. >.>;;
Totally amazing.
Artist
