Re: New preview released for the upcoming Prison School anim
I think I understand the frustration. It's not quite the same thing, but most of my real-life friends are hardcore gamers and while I, too, am a hardcore gamer by any reasonable measure of the term, I only seem to play games that nobody I know likes, plays or talks about. This brings about a situation where I don't know any of the big titles and get treated as though I don't know what I'm talking about, even though I simply don't play the latest hot PC games because I personally think they all suck.
It's a little annoying when you buy the (expensive) Madoka BDs and watch them all and come out thinking "Well, that was ok. I liked it about as much as Cuticle Detective Inaba, perhaps less because there weren't enough villainous goats." only to find that everyone you know thinks you're insane whenever you mention this. Some shows are apparently universally considered 'essential' even when there are swathes of fans who don't enjoy them; it's tedious to be told that your opinion is weird all the time. It's still not right to lash out at the individual people who happen to like the latest sleazy flavour of the month title which adds nothing to the medium* just because they keep pressuring everyone - successfully - to watch an annoying show.
On the topic of underappreciated gems not getting the recognition (or number of threads) they deserve, I think part of that is how few people get to see them. The mass market shows tend to get picked up for streaming all over the world and fast-tracked to home video, whereas not having the 'Ghibli' label dooms pretty much all classic shows to eternal obscurity unless they have some connection to a modern title which piques someone's interest.
I will freely admit that while I would love to see Romeo's Blue Skies it's hard to justify spending money on it blind when it lacks any obvious 'appeal points' like attractive characters or popular seiyuu links; I'm a sleazy person and that's part of what makes me decide which titles to pick up each month. I love classic shows but I need to be able to filter the average ones from the truly fantastic, and it's bally hard with so little support from the industry. In that respect, Qaiz's painstaking introductions may not get many responses, but they're extraordinarily helpful for spreading awareness of these overlooked titles that the rest of the fandom rarely mentions. Professor Irony is right about them making people think about heading to Amazon and seeing what's available that they might not have considered buying before.
I'm also sympathetic to IncendiaryLemon's viewpoint here as no matter what the underlying cause, it's upsetting to have people trashing a series you like (especially without warning). An anime adaptation should be a happy time for Prison School fans and it's human nature to be shocked when someone else suddenly lashes out against it for no apparent reason. Since nobody's forcing anyone to watch an anime they don't like it's harsh to take out frustrations about the industry and fandom on fans of one particular title. If anything perhaps it would be better to frame it as a separate debate; let the Prison School fans have their moment, but voice your concerns on the problems of peer pressure and pandering in a separate thread which they can avoid without missing out on discussing the latest preview videos. I'm sure plenty of the older, grouchier regulars would be up for that kind of discussion.
* I have no idea whether this actually applies to Prison School.
HdE said:
Rui said:
(my taste isn't exactly highbrow).
But you like Gundam. For this, ALL manner of concessions can be made.
Surely there are only two types of people in the world: those who like Gundam, and those who have yet to awaken to their inner liking of Gundam?!
R
