I won't enter the whole anime stereotypification discussion again 'cuz I'm in a good mood today... instead, here's another take, starring Team Fortress 2. [xspblog.com]#grandtheftautoepisodesfromlibe...
Even though I'm an anime fan (some series anyway), this made me laugh pretty hard. Anime is often guilty of all of these things. First thing we fans have to learn is how to laugh at ourselves. #grandtheftautoepisodesfromlibe...
@Mister Jack commands 1000 prinnies!:
Not to mention that Rockstar pretty much just makes fun of everything, so it was only a matter of time until they hit anime...
@Koda89:
Well, yeah, it's an exaggerated parody. Hopefully no one actually takes this to heart. #grandtheftautoepisodesfromlibe...
@Blah8: True. I mean hell, for the longest time R* parodied the political parties via the radio stations in the games, and the TV shows in GTA4 are just flat out amazing. What's that one, Redneck Space Marines or something? That one rocked. #grandtheftautoepisodesfromlibe...
@Koda89: Well no, you'd be hard pressed to find a series that does EVERYTHING they make fun of, but parody is usually about a whole genre, not just one particular work. #grandtheftautoepisodesfromlibe...
@Mister Jack commands 1000 prinnies!: It's not even the whole genre, though. Only a small fraction of anime do anything they are parodying. In fact, the only sub-genre that even features half of the parody material is hentai. #grandtheftautoepisodesfromlibe...
It's not a very potent joke because there are parodic anime and because it looks like a cheap american production trying to mimic the dominant aesthetic of anime. Put that in the context of a fake TV channel in a satiric game and it's just a little too confusing and multi-layered to be effective.
@Cookie: That's the thing: it does not look like a parody of a show, it looks like a parodic show (self-referencing jokes included). It does not look like an anime, it looks like an american made pseudo-anime. There are so many layers of simulacrum, that it feels like the good people at Rockstar lost their joke in there somewhere. Well... at the very least they lost me. #grandtheftautoepisodesfromlibe...
@RicoTheSaboteur: You're reading too much into it. It's not intentionally multilayered, it's just a jab at crappy J-animation pure and simple. Now as you noticed (I didn't) the style is a poor imitation of anime, but this is most likely due to the fact that it's being made by a western video game studio. And that it doesn't have to look like an actual anime, just what the audience believes an anime to look like.
You could make an argument that the show is actually a stab at the stereotypical view of animes many Westerners (surely there's a better word than "westerners"?) share. And Rockstar is up their own arse enough to make that theory plausible. So really, who knows? #grandtheftautoepisodesfromlibe...
I watched this yesterday after being linked to it by the Bioshock 2 trailer. I got a laugh out of it, fer sure. Still, I hope this doesn't fool people into thinking Rockstar is "edgy" or anything. From stealing cars to drug deals to sex minigames to full frontal male nudity? Just because it causes rage on the internets and in the media at large doesn't mean it's edgy.
Rockstar lead designer: Hmmm...what can we do in our next game to push this "envelope" thing even further?
Rockstar assistant designer: Well, judging by the escalation of things, our next game should feature incest, and the game after it should feature cannibalism as a culturally acceptable concept.
Rockstar lead designer: Incest is bad? I think full frontal dong is worse than incest. By the by....what is incest anyway?
@mintycrys is HOT for Bayonetta: All true, but I don't see how that applies to the trailer. The "Anime" is in there as satire, not to make the game "edgy" or controversial. #grandtheftautoepisodesfromlibe...
@Cookie: Ah. Good catch, there. Yeah, I only referenced it in passing in my original comment. My point is that they wouldn't have made fun of it if they didn't think it would have caused a fair bit of internet RAAAGE. As in, several years ago, they wouldn't have thought anime had a big enough fanbase to warrant making fun of. Satire doesn't wait until something is popular to make fun of it. Satire draws attention to something by its own merits. Making fun of something once it becomes popular is just makes them less satirical and more trollish.
I do see what you're getting at though. Rockstar's "brand" has often crossed the border to crapland. When they get it, they nail it. When they miss it, it's pretty awful. Thankfully, you contributed more than the starred commenter above you (whose point I'm still trying to figure out), so I should say that in a perfect world, a star would be heading your way soon!
@R0CKFISH:
What makes it good is that it has an -original- story and doesn't have random moments when the character's faces change to some chibi form, therefore confusing the hell out of other cultures. #grandtheftautoepisodesfromlibe...
@ppppp: So you're describing almost every Satoshi Kon anime ever made as well? Well, save for the fact that he does confuse the hell out of his audiences (both foreign and domestic), but for entirely different reasons. #grandtheftautoepisodesfromlibe...
@ppppp: Everything you wrote would be perfect, if only you didn't add a mainstream title in the mix.
Death Note is good, but too many people keep talking about it, so it became a bother.
The fact is: There are plenty of anime and manga titles FOR ALL TASTES out there.
There are several reasons why anime haters and people who don't know much about anime makes stereotypes such as the one on the video, but the main reason is because those are the characteristics you won't generally find on western cartoons.
And I'm saying "generally" because yes, I've seen worse things in western cartoons that were not trying to copy anime style.
Anyways, for those willing to try, here are some different title recommendations: [xspblog.com]#grandtheftautoepisodesfromlibe...
@ppppp: You're no better than the guy who made that parody if you're gonna discard good animes only because "the character's faces changes to some chibi form".
If you don't like it, fine. But that alone won't make the distinction between "the right" and "the wrong" anime. #grandtheftautoepisodesfromlibe...
@Bokusatsu_Tenshi:
"There are plenty of anime and manga titles FOR ALL TASTES out there. "
90% of all anime is the same clique shit. Only every now and then, a genuine show that most non-anime fans can enjoy comes out. If you like anime in general, you're open to most of the stuff... princess space pirate cops in giant robots. #grandtheftautoepisodesfromlibe...
As much as I wanted to like this, it would only be biting satire if we were still in the early/mid 90's. Anime today is all about hackneyed high school stories with fetishized "little sister" types. Or at least that's the new stereotype. #grandtheftautoepisodesfromlibe...
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That makes me sad. #grandtheftautoepisodesfromlibe...
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[xspblog.com] #grandtheftautoepisodesfromlibe...
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Granted, it is still funny, but hardly close to the real thing, just the "American view" of it. #grandtheftautoepisodesfromlibe...
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Not to mention that Rockstar pretty much just makes fun of everything, so it was only a matter of time until they hit anime...
@Koda89:
Well, yeah, it's an exaggerated parody. Hopefully no one actually takes this to heart. #grandtheftautoepisodesfromlibe...
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Doesn't seem all that complicated to me. #grandtheftautoepisodesfromlibe...
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You could make an argument that the show is actually a stab at the stereotypical view of animes many Westerners (surely there's a better word than "westerners"?) share. And Rockstar is up their own arse enough to make that theory plausible. So really, who knows? #grandtheftautoepisodesfromlibe...
10/27/09
So, what do you call the Japanese equivelent of a weeaboo anyway? #grandtheftautoepisodesfromlibe...
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Rockstar lead designer: Hmmm...what can we do in our next game to push this "envelope" thing even further?
Rockstar assistant designer: Well, judging by the escalation of things, our next game should feature incest, and the game after it should feature cannibalism as a culturally acceptable concept.
Rockstar lead designer: Incest is bad? I think full frontal dong is worse than incest. By the by....what is incest anyway?
Rockstar assistant designer: *whisperwhisperwhisper*
Rockstar lead designer:.....
.....
.....and that's bad...how?
Rockstar assistant designer: I also hear cannibalism is taboo. We could do cannibalism in GTA IV?
Rockstar lead designer: Make it Manhunt 3 and you have yourself a deal. #grandtheftautoepisodesfromlibe...
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@mintycrys is HOT for Bayonetta: #grandtheftautoepisodesfromlibe...
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I do see what you're getting at though. Rockstar's "brand" has often crossed the border to crapland. When they get it, they nail it. When they miss it, it's pretty awful. Thankfully, you contributed more than the starred commenter above you (whose point I'm still trying to figure out), so I should say that in a perfect world, a star would be heading your way soon!
10/27/09
Though, Bayoneta seems to be pushing games into this category.
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ps. I enjoyed Death Note so no hating. #grandtheftautoepisodesfromlibe...
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What makes it good is that it has an -original- story and doesn't have random moments when the character's faces change to some chibi form, therefore confusing the hell out of other cultures. #grandtheftautoepisodesfromlibe...
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I'm generally an anime over manga kind of person but Death Note I feel works much better as a manga. #grandtheftautoepisodesfromlibe...
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Actually, the music and voice choices in Death Note are perfect. #grandtheftautoepisodesfromlibe...
10/27/09
Death Note is good, but too many people keep talking about it, so it became a bother.
The fact is: There are plenty of anime and manga titles FOR ALL TASTES out there.
There are several reasons why anime haters and people who don't know much about anime makes stereotypes such as the one on the video, but the main reason is because those are the characteristics you won't generally find on western cartoons.
And I'm saying "generally" because yes, I've seen worse things in western cartoons that were not trying to copy anime style.
Anyways, for those willing to try, here are some different title recommendations:
[xspblog.com] #grandtheftautoepisodesfromlibe...
10/27/09
If you don't like it, fine. But that alone won't make the distinction between "the right" and "the wrong" anime. #grandtheftautoepisodesfromlibe...
10/27/09
"There are plenty of anime and manga titles FOR ALL TASTES out there. "
90% of all anime is the same clique shit. Only every now and then, a genuine show that most non-anime fans can enjoy comes out. If you like anime in general, you're open to most of the stuff... princess space pirate cops in giant robots. #grandtheftautoepisodesfromlibe...
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[www.youtube.com]
Honestly, the horrid dubbing just makes it more entertaining to watch. #grandtheftautoepisodesfromlibe...
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Blenda comes in at about 1:10. #grandtheftautoepisodesfromlibe...
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