Netflix has funded thirty anime which will air in 2018 and this has brought concerns over whether Anime as a whole could be westernised in order to cater to an overseas demographic. I find the chances of this unlikely and the more likely result is a more diverse lineup of anime for both Japanese and overseas demographics. However if Anime was westernised then that could lead to the removal of excessive unnecessary fanservice in shows as they would not longer need to pander towards Otaku in an effort to gain more Blu-Ray sales. So why is it that I am starting off this post on the latest episode of Dies Irae with this information? Well one because this is another one of those nothing happened episodes(Which I need to think up a term for) wherein the plot barely moved forward and not a whole lot was present in this episode. The other reason however is because to fill up screen time during a long exposition scene, it was decided to show Marie stripling off and trying on different clothes. So I will state that if this mythical westernation of Anime were to happen, this is one aspect of anime I certainly wouldn’t miss. Of course my enemy isn’t so much the idea of fanservice but rather lazy fanservice. When fanservice is part of a series appeal then it is understandable why it’s present but what annoys me is when a series attempts to have its cake and eat it too and throws in fanservice without considering its effect on the story. It’s akin to having a benny hill sequence in Lord of the Rings, immersion breaking.
So let’s round up what happened in this episode. Kasumi was taken by Shirou and Ellie for her own protection, Ren calls them up and gets information on the Swastika’s locations, Ren and Marie visit School to find all the students mind controlled and Shirou and Eilie face off against Rusalka only to get devoured anticlimactically. We had two rather intrusive fanservice scenes in this episode, the first with Marie trying on clothes while Ren was two feet away from her and Rusalka making out with some guys before she goes and murders everyone in the room. I admit the second scene isn’t exactly out of character for Rusalka as she does tend to get around. IN fact at this point she’s pretty much slept with half the guys at Ren’s school. Still I always felt that Rusalka generally didn’t do this while on the job so to speak and i also originally thought that she couldn’t transform between her younger and older self. After all I thought the whole point of her downgrading herself into a lolita was to make her live longer as she is nearing the end of her lifespan. The fight scene wasn’t much to speak off, just Shirou and Ellie firing bullets while Rusalka shrugs them all off. If this was the last we saw of them then this would certainly be a disappointing end to the interesting characters of the protagonist side.
Regarding Marie i find her new personality to be immensely annoying. I wasn’t quite fond of it in the visual novel but in animated form I am forced to see just how incredibly pandering her character really is. This is likely the kind of person that otaku believe to be the perfect girlfriend…in theory. After all, she’s caring, cute and love you? Surely you don’t need her to be anything else. But of course this is in theory as in reality girls like Marie would be very boring and in the worst case scenario, annoying. Sort of like a child who grew out of the phase where everyone found them cute but still tries to act cute for attention, only for it to be very aggravating. Maybe if I could get invested in her love with Ren I might find her more interesting but the fact of the matter is that their relationship is shallow as a puddle. I don’t even understand at what point Marie fell for Ren as she’s only known him for a few days and there wasn’t really any point I could see her growing remotely interesting in him. Does this girl know anything about him at all? Of course I may be jumping the gun here as they haven’t confirmed that she’s in love with him but frankly it’s inevitable. With Shirou and Ellie, i get why these two are together, as they just work on the same wavelength but an easy girlfriend character like Marie, no matter how pretty she may be, just seems so…dull.
I certainly hope so. I want more good anime.
[For thousands of hours of hours the psychologists studied him, wondering if he was sane, when the correct question was: “but is he Shane?” ]
But here’s another interesting question:
Obviously a lot of people are still watching shi- anime, right? They don’t think it’s shi- which is why they watch it.
Consequently: are they even watching the same anime as us? Even if two people are watching “Little Girls Enter Sexually Compromising Positions With Wimpy Males”- the show- are the two people actually watching the same show?
For a self proclaimed figment of my own imagination you sure are a persistent.
And that’s not another interesting question. It’s the same question you asked in the other post, just rephrased.
You seem annoyed. Tee hee hee hee hee.
I wouldn’t flatter yourself. You aren’t relevant enough to annoy me. If you were I would just ban you and be done with it.
If anything this comment here is a relief as it confirms you are purposefully trolling and not unintentionally being a moron. So thank you for confirming that. There is enough stupidity on the internet as it is.
Anyway, you have fun.
I’m afraid that westernization will not deprecate any of the plagues of the anime medium. It will probably alter them and continue serving the poison less transparently, which will only make it easier for low quality content to pass up as quality one.
So in a few years we will fondly remember the times when fanservice anime were simply fanservice anime you could actually enjoy. Fanservice is evolving by growing more complex (than necessary) in order to mask its true form and increase its effect on an audience that quickly gets used to it. Its a one way dead end.
If fanservice is necessary, the obvious kind is what you want. Those genre-savvy can easily filter it out, or even consume the media bi-laterally (enjoy each as a separate aspect). But we are past that. They mix it all together now (without even trying), the ‘main content’ and the fanservice are corrupted by each other to produce an unwatchable dull mess.
I mean, we already have hollow blockbuster anime class (Aldnoah, ReCreators, etc) following Holywood and studios pointlessly chasing realistic or flashy visuals (e.g.: KyoAni, Ufotable) taking from videogames, while in both reality completely degenerating. It’s gonna get worse and westernization is only going to speed up the process. The trends are clear and its the consumers of west that will set them (already do) and they are the worst bunch for the job. Sturgeons law and all…
In the future envisioned, for each male-gaze sequence gone, there will be 10 more yuri-baits, Keijo asses and thousand other things. Yeah no thx.