OK, time for another fun disscussion topic. so here we go, basically this time around' i'm asking what would you say is your relationship with the various forms of entertainment media, positive, negative, apathetic, etc. Also How often do you indulge in each kind of media, how much do you buy, whats your opinion on the companies involved, and most importantly how do you determine what you purchase and why? And of course feel free to add whatever else you feel need be added in your answer.
As for me I would my realationship with the media(s?) is....
Anime: Honestly my view of anime has grown increasingly negative over the years, I find the industry rather chaotic & aggravating, and the fanbase more often then not is down right idiotic or overly annoying and elitist. However I would never say I hate/dislike anime as I LOVE animation in general, and while most shows these days don't interest me much, when I do find a gem its defiantly worth all the negativity. As for the companies, I would say distributors are hit & miss, we get alot of (what are In my own personal opinion) mediocre acquisitions, only seldomley getting something truly great, not that thats a completely horrid thing mind you, I realize many of the shows acquired are easy money makers, which is good for the industry, but not so good for picky petes such as myself, lol. And the way the companies interact with the fans seem to vary as well, some distributors seem like they genuinely care, or at least attempt to care, others, not so much. But hey, thats true of any media business, not just anime. As for my purchasing habits with anime, these days its as simple as it is picky/elitist (in a fiscally responsible way, not a snooty one, lol), I am at the point where I would rather have a small collection of shows i truly enjoy and can have fun re-watching over & over for years to come as opposed to a huge collection where most would just be sitting on my shelves collecting dust. So at this point yeah, i'm not that worried about prestige, popularity, or lack there of, mearly how good is this show to me, and how often will I pop it in my player, lol. But ahh yeah despite my negative views I still enjoy Anime, because well its animation is a beautiful thing, and the Japanese are arguably close to masters at the art of it, I just wish they didnt abuse it as much as we do Reality TV/Sitcoms, lol.
Books/Novels: I admitingly don't read that many "Regular Book" these days, but when I do set down to read an actual novel its usually a classic, or out of newer series, I do enjoy Game Of Thrones, as well as the Demonata & Doctor Who books.
Cartoons: Domestic animation is something that like anime I have had a fickle relationship with at times, all to eager to turn my back on it during times it disappoints me, but overall I LOVE TOONS, and with the recent advent of a multitude of great, fun and well written domestic animations for the 2010 decade, my love has been rekindled after the burnout of lackluster domestic animations made between 05-08. And I will admit I am more likely these days to buy a toon on DVD/BD then other things as many times they are cheaper, or they have a higher level of re-watchability. My only real complaint is how the companies handle the distirbution of most shows, I find it sad I can go out and buy a complete season of a foreign animation (anime) I have never heard of, but if I want a proper season set of a home grown cartoon, many times i'm out of luck and have to settle for singles, or worse "Themed Singles" I find it sad many U.S. Distributors still have the same mindset they had in VHS days for cartoons, but thankfully that is slowly changing, companies like Shout Factory are releasing (most) of the domestic animations they acquire in proper season sets, and WB is slowly getting better at how it deals with its toons, but yeah, overall I would say my relationship with toons is positive from a fanbase perspective, hit & miss from a industry perspective.
Comics: I'm a total comic book geek, I love everything about comics, the stories, the art, the zaniness and the community. The only real negative thing I have to say here is I can easily get worn out on DC & Marvels books with all the events & tie-ins they do these days. Aside from that though, yeah, I genuinely LOVE comics! So yeah I buy ALOT of comcis.
Live Action Media & Movies: Not much to say here, most LA shows don't interest me, but the ones that do (like Doctor Who, Supernatural, Walking Dead, etc) I usually find to be pretty good. Also love going to the movies, and while not a huge theatre buff, at least not compared to some of my friends, do like learning nerdy trivia and such about films. As for my purchases, I usually just stick to buying my favs (Sweeny Tood anyone!?) Overall though I find ost LA TV rather lackluster, but still enjoy most films I view to some degree.
[bb]Manga[/b]: I enjoy manga reading/purchasing manga, just as I do comics, but as manga toakbons take up al ot of space at times I have been increasingly limiting myself on how much and what I buy, and have actually started getting rid of some manga I no longer read to make shelf-space and focusing on completing the works I truly do enjoy reading & re-reading. As for the companies, meh, agian pretty much hit & miss some are really good, some are kinda bad and other inbetween. I will say this though Vertical has some of the best quality books overall imo, nice binding, presentation, etc. And VIZ, while the biggest, at times has way to many typos in some of their books, but mah, I like em anyway, since they do occasionally learn from their mistakes, lol.
Video Games: Not much of a gamer these days, can't stand them modern community at all, seriously modern gamers make otaku & furries look like saints in comparison, lol. But do still enjoy a good game every now & then, usually a classic, or if its a newer title a figher or JRPG. As for purchasing habits, I don't buy many games but I make sure when I do its one I enjoy.
So ahh yeah theres my little tell all about my relationships with the various forms of entertainment media, so how about you guys, what loves & hates do you have to share!?
Well, being the unrepentant cynic and self-proclaimed pretentious critic that I am, I have to say my opinion of media in general is pretty negative.
Anime: Whoo boy, where do I even start. It has gotten more and more difficult for me to enjoy anime over the years. Maybe I just grew up a little, maybe the industry really has changed, maybe both. But I can't help but feel like I'm being left out somehow. With the global economy in tatters, the anime industry has closed in on itself and panders almost exclusively to the hardcore and obsessive otaku fanbase. It seems like the industry is being held hostage by moeblobs and harems. I find myself revisiting old favorites instead of following current seasons, I'm more excited for rereleases than new series. Maybe its nostalgia, maybe its something else entirely. But I can't help but roll my eyes and shake my head at rehashed plots, overused cliches, incompetent writing, overt sexism and objectification and just a general lack of the creativity I seem to remember being there not even 5 years ago. I don't blame the fandom, though. Do I die a little inside every time I hear someone say Naruto is an epic masterpiece and Evangelion is an overrated turd? Yeah, but its not their fault. they just don't know any better. I still love anime, but I get the feeling it doesn't love me back nearly as much... I still have a modest collection of anime merchandise. Figs, posters, DVDs and BD, but I can't bring myself to spend money on the vast majority of new products.
Movies: Hollywood has pretty much the opposite problem as the anime industry: its too mainstream. Every movie absolutely has to be as mainstream and have the widest target audience as possible. Some new fad in entertainment? Lets exploit it as much as possible and cash in before it fades out! Originality has all but disappeared from Hollywood. If a movie is not an adaptation of an already established franchise or some kind of sequel or tie-in, it's probably an Indy Film. I do still go to the movies with my friends quite often, but more often then not its just to kill time or to watch a movie ironically.
TV: I don't watch a lot of TV. Comedy Central, Syfy and HBO get 90% of my viewership.
Videogames: I remember when videogames were for nerds. Playing Zelda was basically on the same level as LARPing or being in Chess Club. Now the videogame community is filled with foul-mouthed and sexist 12-year-olds and perpetually stoned college freshman. i still play a lot of videogames, mostly on my PC. I will usually check out the latest MMO or FPS, but its only a matter of time before the first "ur a noob fggot kil urself!" pops into the chat window and I just walk away.
Don't forget. Always, somewhere, someone is fighting for you.
As long as you remember Her, you are not alone.
Anime: While I don't exactly keep up with the latest anime on Japanese airwaves, I keep myself busy with the plenty of shows that are already out there. It's a nice variety; there's really something for everyone. I've pretty much taught myself not to be bothered by all the moe and fanservice nowadays, which is why I'm still capable of enjoying anime altogether.
Television: I have to say I'm not exactly jumping over joy with what we have on the tube these days. Reality shows? Yuck. Oh sure, I can laugh at some stupid humor while watching a show like Family Guy, but it gets old real fast. Almost all of my television viewing is ESPN, or other televised sporting events.
Video Games: Soundmonkey44 and Renzokuken are right on, the community is god-awful and take these games way too seriously. Of course, I still buy a game about every six months just to stave off boredom. Unfortunately, I will always run into some try-hards that end up spoiling what little fun I had to begin with.
Movies: Movies nowadays don't do anything for me, similar to what most of what we see on television. "Prometheus" and "The Dark Knight Rises" were the only things that interested me, but even then I couldn't finish the former, and I just never got around to seeing the latter. "Marvel's Avengers" was pretty good, even though it was everything I pretty much expected it to be.
Music: Music these days is dead to me. Everything is all about these mainstream artists and the crap they pump out claiming to be "music." Justin Bieber, Rihanna, Kanye West, Taylor Swift, Eminem, Lady Gaga...even Madonna. I have to keep the classical music station on tabs as a favorite on my car's radio just to keep me from going insane. But that's not all I listen to. I do enjoy the headbanging classics of Metallica (Kill 'em All for example, not their later stuff) as well as the powerful and political soundtracks from Disturbed. But overall...yeah... Justin Bieber and the others are the REAL reason the music died
Books: I'm ashamed to say that I've pretty much stopped reading. I have trouble with these walls upon walls of text, not to mention my occasional struggles with understanding some sentences; my brain just has trouble putting the pieces together, and I'd have to re-read a sentence 5 times or more to fully understand it.
Comics: I never read 'em. All these cape-wearing and/or masked heroes have grown old and cliché for me.
Manga/Graphic Novels/Doujinshi: I don't hardly read anything, unless it's Strike Witches material.
That's it for me. The long and short of it is that media these days is just way to extroverted for an introverted person like myself.
@Jaws: Not ALL comics are super-hero books you know, theres also a fair amount of enjoyable all-ages, sci-f & horror books out there as well, and a few slice of life (ala Scott Pilgrim) every now & then. But yeah the super-hero comics do get overhyped, sadly leaving better books of other genres forever underrated. But hey its the same thing with manga, shonen manga get all the hype and quite a few gems in other genres get overlooked.
And yes, sadly video games are getting harder & harder to enjoy, if only there was a way we could gather up all the bad people in the gaming community in one room and feel that room full of man-eating wild animals......
Also, wow can't believe I didn't think to add music in my post. Hmm Music well, for me i'm not picky, i'll listen to pretty much everything accept modern country & modern rap, both of those generes have just become garbage for the most part imo. Give me Johhny Cash & Sir-Mix-Alot over any of their modern counterparts any day, lol. But ahh I guess my favorite genre of music would be Rock, always fun to listen to a good rock ballad.
All Will Know The Wonder Of My Dark & Jewled Sky, When All The World Is Wrapped In An Eternal Lullabye.
Anime- I really enjoy anime of all genres. I am fairly new but have seem a lot of the funimation dubs. I just can't seem to get into subs and honestly wouldn't know what to watch if it weren't for netflix and funi. I watch a lot of tv and it had gotten rather stagnant for me but with the discovery of ANIME I now how hours upon hours of a new and interesting medium to watch. In summation I love it so far
Music- I ran a country music "honky tonk" for a few years so...... Country sucks and I'm totally burnt out. I still love classic rock, grunge and various forms of metal ( and occasionally some pop don't tell anyone though lol) Life would be rather boring without music IMO
Comics- No experience and really no desire
Books- I hate reading personally. Its a dead medium in my eyes. No offense to those that enjoy it but that's how I feel. If its not instructional or informative I'm not reading it.
Television- I love tv. Mostly sports and cartoons. Occasional reality shows ( mostly discovery or history channel reality). I like informative television as well. With my work schedule the only think to do is watch TV in my free time, or drink lol and that's not very productive.
Manga- Not familiar at all with manga. It seems like i might be interested but then again I am not a fan of reading lol
Internet- Its the crack of social media enough said!
Gaming- I enjoy it for a little while then my interest wains. I mean I am more of a social person, I won't play much alone and I have a little bit of a life so I am not gonna become "super gamer". I don't need some little prick with no life, money, gf, job, ect. telling me I suck at something that has no real value in adult life lol. The anonymity of gaming creates some real "bad azz's"
"Big Brother Is Watching YOU!" Nothing like an Orwell quote to brighten your day ;P
What I've found with all media categories is that there is so much of it coming at us a mile a minute, and it simply comes down to choosing what you as an individual wants to spend your time and money on. Now I'm just going to focus on anime and some gaming because I just finished work and I'm tired and if I talk about movies and music we'll be here all day reading this, and I don't want that.
So with anime, I have two ways to look at it: Anime itself, or the actual product if you will, and the second thing is the fandom surrounding it.
Overall, I'm content with what has come out and the overall effort on companies like Funimation. First, like everything, there are so many animes just in North America alone to sift through, and this isn't even considering the Japanese market - because it is a completely different market and they are going through some massive sociological changes (which we talked about in a class I had recently) at present and I don't want to go there, I'd be opening a can of worms if I do that.
So, onward, with the American end of things, Funimation namely has made it easy to shop for anime risk free - we can sample it, see if we like it and choose to buy it, not only that, but it is dirt cheap now, the prices are amazing. With that said, as an anime fan that is particular about what I want, I have plenty of resources at my disposal to shop with discretion to acquire animes that will please me - a collection is only solid if it contains titles YOU/I want, after all it is YOU/I who spends the time and money watching them. So, I'm pleased here.
Now, I'm not obsessively picky, but I do have personal standards and look for certain qualities in anime that I want - at present, I've been buying a fair bit of anime mainly because there are many that do spark my interest (and I need to treat myself from all that OT I've been working) - and they range in all sorts of subgenres. So this is another area I'm good with, pretty much, the anime out now, a few years ago and older, I like it all.
As a matter of fact, this is the curse that comes with having a wide rage of interest and an open minded attitude is, with all anime, the new that are being hammered out at mach speed, the current, and the old - there is so much that has my interest, I have actually started making a list of anime to watch. Now, this doesn't mean I have subpar standards, no, not even hardly, I have quite high standards - they're merely different and do not coincide with other individuals, it just comes down to liking a lot of different art and design styles and stories.
Now the negative end of things - honestly, the fans - I'm sorry, but aside from the handful of individuals I interact with here, I really have no more patience for many of the fans, and for so many reasons. I've been around people who pirate anime with no intention to buy, people constantly complaining nothing is good enough, the English dubs suck, the prices are too high, I want it NOW, they don't make the animes I want so it all sucks and on and on. And what's worse is at times, it is tough to have a civil conversation about anime with these people (male and female) - it's almost as bad as talking politics or religion - especially when it comes to a touchy subject like dub vs sub, fanservice or piracy.
Video Games - First, they're getting to the point where you need a college degree to learn to play them, you actually have to WORK at getting good at them - what happened to the days when a guy could just sit down on a rainy or snowy day and have some casual fun with a decent challenge? I remember playing Ninja Gaiden for hours on end and finally getting good at it - then I realized I could've expanded my abilities further as a bassist, or a swimmer, or taken some classes - say learn a new language or something. Don`t get me wrong, if video games are your thing, there`s nothing wrong with it - these are merely my experiences with gaming, and I very rarely play, very rarely.
Then a majority of people playing these days - rude as hell, and just to give you an idea, when I worked at a store for gaming, first I actually kicked a guy out of the store for his rudeness - swearing loudly when there are kids around, how unacceptable. Then a girl spilt her slush when she was playing the same game demo she did everyday - then tried to weasel away when I saw the whole thing - and she saw me see her, so I made her help me clean it up - yes, you read right, I gave her a mop and made her work on it with me - I remember she told her mom, and her mom just looked at me and asked "how do you get her working - I can't get her to do anything at home." I'm surprised she didn't high five me.
As much as I dislike them, that's a little harsh and excessive don't you think? I say just wait until they're older and they go to the bar and get a job somewhere and beak off to some other guy expecting no consequences - and see what happens.
Lastly, and I'm going to say something along the lines of a lecture and while I'm not trying to wage a war here, but say this:
Really? I'm sorry but I can't help but be very offended by this.
Has it ever occurred to you that some fans do know better? That they genuinely dislike Evangelion? That this particular anime does not live up to THEIR standards? And if it doesn't, does that make THEIR standards inferior? Subpar? Do you sincerely believe your opinion is the only one that really counts? Is Evangelion some sort of prerequisite to be considered a REAL anime fan? I'm no Naruto fan, but why should you care that someone prefers it over Evangelion? So I enjoyed Queen's Blade and FMAB, are you saying my tastes are bad because they don't match yours? That I don't know any better?
Now I can say that I absolutely disliked this Evangelion, I've watched it twice, even tried to make myself like it - I have plenty to say about why I disliked it, but I'll save it, I'm not here to write a review, but I'm fully aware, that just because I disliked it, doesn't mean everyone else should too. I like what I like - and I DO know better.
You know, having your own personal hierarchy to measure anime and various media is perfectly fine, I have one to keep everything I watch in order in terms of my top favorites to my lower favorites, some of my peers call me arrogant about it - but there is nothing wrong with have a means of measuring your personal favorites - absolutely nothing, I disagree a lot of the time on your opinions, and I can let that go, but this time you crossed the line and I've had about enough; the above quoted statement is sheer arrogance in its pure essence - you really should be ashamed of yourself.
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@Neon: I agree with your statements on anime for the most part, the prices are deffinantly more then reasonable, and the fans are deffinantly more then unreasonable alot of the time, lol.
And yeah modern gamers could use a nice lecture on proper etiquette, and it wouldn't hurt to remind the majority of the industry games are supposed to be about FUN! (thats why I love Nintendo & NISA, they make/release a lot of fun stuff, well fun imo anywho.)
All Will Know The Wonder Of My Dark & Jewled Sky, When All The World Is Wrapped In An Eternal Lullabye.
TV: You mean sports right??? Or that Law and Order show?? That really is about all I watch on TV. Reality TV has me convinced that mainstream America is idiotic at best, braindead at worst.
Comics: Guys in tights compensating for their pathetic lives never did anything for me on paper or on the big screen,
Video Games: Honestly my life is to busy to ever sit and enjoy a game to play it to completion. I don't own a single game console and honestly I don't really miss it.
Manga: No thanks, I hate reading manga on the computer and the idea of buying a softcover book for over 10.00 doesn't work well with my budget.
Music: Music is a really interesting relationship.. I probably have the largest Vocaloid song collection of anyone on this forum. Follow that up with a collection of anime themes nearly as big and you pretty much wrap up my musical interst. I think why I enjoy Vocaloid and Anime themes is because I have the fan connection,. These songs all come from something I love, be it Gumi Megpoid or A Certain Magical Railgun. I don't have that connection with todays musicians and well frankly that kills the music for me. When you want to punch Justin Beiber in the stomach repeatedly till his balls drop you can't really get excited about "baby baby"
Books: Im lazy, I don't read.
Anime: This is a complicated relationship and honestly probably one that I really need a shrink to sort out. I'm an extremely obsessive person and anime gives me so many things, as I mentioned earlier it gives me my music, it also gives me my gaming through games like Weiss Schwarz, lastly it gives me a slew of crushess. Yet with all that said and done, I don't watch much anime. I'm like the poster earlier who said he is pretty tired of the same old, same old. Here I am 32yrs old. it has been over 14 yrs since I was last in school. I don't want to watch school drama stuff, I don't really like action so most Shonen titles are out. So frankly Im at the point where I might only watch 3-4 new series a year. Right now Im at 2 this year (A Certain Scientific Railgun and Haiyore Nyarko-san) So while Im a huge anime fan, and let it influence many of my hobby and entertainment decisions, I watch very little of it compared to others.
Please participate in the Shohan USA Anime themes tournament!
Round 2 Has just started!!
http://www.shohanusa.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=tourneys
Make sure to get your opinion heard!!
Did you miss the part where I'm a pretentious snob? Arrogance sort of comes with the territory. Also, its just a joke, calm down.
Don't forget. Always, somewhere, someone is fighting for you.
As long as you remember Her, you are not alone.
Did you miss the part where I'm a pretentious snob? Arrogance sort of comes with the territory. Also, its just a joke, calm down.
First off let me say I agreed with your assesment of modern video games, great post. On another note you can be the pretentious snob as long as you don't try to move in on my many years held title of "Queen Bitch of Funimation Forums"
Please participate in the Shohan USA Anime themes tournament!
Round 2 Has just started!!
http://www.shohanusa.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=tourneys
Make sure to get your opinion heard!!
I do hope it's a joke and not your attempt at trying to backpedal your words - for me, accountability is an important factor in earning my respect - this is not arrogance on my part, it's the real world; and secondly, I do hope you're not making excuses for insulting members of the anime community by saying you're arrogant, that's like me beating the crap out of a random stranger and having my lawyer say "My client is an a$$hole, it sort of goes with the territory." Do you think that would hold up in a court of law? Either way, I'm still not impressed right now.
Now, I must get ready and go to work.
For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge