So as I've mentioned before I'm working my way out of normie status with Anime and I was curious about something. With Western entertainment I generally don't watch anything made after 2014 without someone I trust (friend/this group/youtuber) recommending it. Is modern day Anime good to watch or has the woke virus attacked it? I remember hearing something about translators having issues.
Also, when it comes to Manga, what do they do differently compared to modern day comic books? In my local comic book store, the back issue section gets the most business to the point where sometimes they put a time limit on people shopping in that section. As expected the new comics don't get as much attention but the Mangas do. Also I notice a good split of men and women. Does Manga understand that certain types of stories appeal to men/women differently and plays to that, or is there just generally a lot of crossover with Manga?
Lastly, until I pay off my remaining debts I won't get anymore streaming services. Are there any free anime streaming services like tubi or crackle? I know a lot of older anime used to be on youtube but I don't see it as much.
Thank you for your time.
Anime and manga specifically target certain audiences with stories. Shounen - young men, seinen - older men, shojo - young women, josei - older women, etc. That's not to say there's not overlap in interest or consumer base but there are usually tropes to each that tend to be geared towards the audience.
I think Crunchyroll still offers some anime free w/ads.
To add a bit to this with the target audiences: Just because it's a shounen doesn't make it shallow, this isn't the US where cartoons are either targeted at kids and thus dumbed down(excluding a couple shows like A:TLA which wasn't dumbed down) or raunchy shit with satanic dogs and the likes. There's tons of manga/anime in the genre of shounen that are amazing in terms of writing, characters, story. I still think anyone owes it to themselves to watch Hunter x Hunter, the 1999 version is simply amazing(excluding the Greed Island arc OVAs).
Same goes for stories targeting women. A friend of mine used to say josei are all good, no one watches them. And in some regards he's right at least for the ones I've seen like for example Nodame Cantabile or My senpai is annoying.
I would second this in response. Just try things if they look interesting! I don't watch and read quite as much as I did earlier this year, but I have found things I liked in places I wouldn't have expected.
Not much of an anime fan, lately, but some of my favourites were completely mundane or weird subjects made really fucking interesting like Yakitate Japan (bread baking), Moyashimon (agriculture- I hear Silver Spoon is good, too), literally any sport (Eyeshield21, One Outs, Yowamushi pedal, Hinomaru Sumo, Air Gear, Initial D), gambling (Akagi, Kaiji, One Outs).
Definitely 2nd Nodame Cantabile, Honey and Clover is in the same vein of Slice of Life/Comedy. I also really liked Ouran Highschool Host Club and a bunch of other stuff like that.
Some killer recommendations in here. Loved Kaiji and Yakitate Japan.
If you liked Kaiji, Akagi is pretty much the same thing done by the same guy/studio, but better in my opinion. Yakitate Japan is severely underrated, but more people would probably know something like Shokugeki no Souma.
Thanks! That seems to be the smart way to go. So much western entertainment now seems to try to appeal to every possible demographic at the same time
It depends. Most are free w/ads. But newer anime and a lot of the dubs are locked behind the paywall.
Crunchyroll requires a subscription. At least for some of its content.
I've noticed that happening for more recent shows.
That means that ad blockers are working.
Good.
I believe this has been the main reason why anime has been resistant to wokeness. By understanding their audience first, there is less ambiguity for what belongs in a show.
For example, gay plots/characters belong in josei. Attempts to shoehorn it into shounen/seinen as anything other than minor comic relief will obviously be wrong to everyone who's honest. This frustrates leftists who want to preach to audiences that are traditionally unreceptive to their garbage messaging.
It's extremely varied. Manga artists don't seem to concern themselves with selling to everyone at the same time. Some manga (and therefore anime) have a more universal appeal, but you can find ones with very very specific ideas, styles and identites where the creator KNOWS it will be for a limited group of people and they are more okay with it.
Some are unabashedly lovey-dovey cutesy sugary. Some are bloody and fucked up. And everything in between.
Same goes for topic, it's not as limited as Western comics. You have manga about musicians, fashion designers, monster slayers, kids going to an agriculture school, every kind of sport you can imagine, basically absolutely every topic and lifestyle and journey.
Manga were traditionally published in magazines specifically for "Boys Comics" or "Girls Comics". Nowadays with so many authors there is a manga for everyone. Almost all of them appeal to some particular niche. The famous ones you hear about like Demon Slayer have crossover appeal but it feels natural. They became famous because of good writing or other aspects first.
That makes sense, and it is very logical.
Anime and manga translator groups are rarely woke. There are some, but they're few and far between. It's the mainstream ones mostly. No surprise..
Manga have genres for adults, called Adult. For young men (18-25), called Seinen. For Teenage males, called Shounen (12-18). For young women, called Josei (18-30). For Teenage females, called Shoujo. and many many other genres.
I don't stream anime, so I don't know I'm afraid. I do Nyaa.si for anime and MangaKatana for manga.
That’s good to hear. Thank you
Most Japanese netizens are fully aware of the severe regressive leftist and globalist corruption that has infested and ruined the western world.
They are likely telling friends and relatives about this bullshit.
I dont know. Kadokawa is a big anime/manga publishing company and they recently decided to start catering to ESG standards.
To add to all the others, manga is very cut throat competitive. If you dont sell, you're dropped. There's no nonsense such as promoting ideology over profits
People need to like your work and that's how you survive.
And manga is usually creator written, There's rarely such a thing like taking over for another mangaka and writing their chars. So less chance of shitting on another persons characters like modern comics do
that is how it works normally. But a giant anime/manga publishing company Kadokawa recently started catering to ESG standards.
I can't speak too much for Manga as I'm more on the Anime side (though have One punch man book 1 and 2 and they are sweet)
In terms of Anime being woke, no the issue is with the streaming services as they block certain works getting streamed internationally (Interspecies Reviewers and the Funimation debacle for example). The other issue is with translators, if you can easily handle subtitles then never been an issue but some English dubs have been corrupted by the woke.
I will put a cavat here, 3 dubs you should watch is Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood, Black Lagoon and I'd argue ghost stories because they just gave no shits.
But because it seems they appeal to a select audience, the woke can't get to them under the umbrella of 'appealing to a larger audience ', the audience is just coming to them because the recognise the quality compared to anything in the West right now.
And free site, try animedao, they have uncensored stuff if you want cough cultured entertainment
True those are some great dubs, then there's the dubs that they alone would be legendary but the Japanese VAs are just a bit better for some reason
Steins Gate and Kaguya Sama: Love is War, they'd be top dubs just the subs are that tiny bit better.
I hate dub, but I always watch Ultimate Hellsing with eng dub. It's that good.
Damn knew I forgot one, that's gold too along with Trigun
There are quite a lot of good dubs but the ones that sound monotone without passion or become political get the highlight and ruin it for the rest of them
It's like when people think of CGI in anime , they think of Berserk 2016 or recently Ex-Arm
Kyattou Ninden Teyandee also known as Samurai Pizza Cats, is another that has an amazing dub, more that they didn't translate it and make something random up and it actually works.
Absolutely listen to this and check out the Ghost Stories dub. Might even still be on YouTube. No group was safe from being made fun of on that show.
I'd highly recommend to buy the manga of something you enjoy and not give streaming services your money. Not only are a lot of them woke but they're also inaccurate. If you've never seen the amazing meltdown by a guy getting angry at the word "sus" on Nagatoro you owe yourself that privilege to see it. I dunno if I can link the kiwi place here but if you search for locksneedfartin nagatoro you should undoubtedly find it.
Anyways, back to topic: use nyaa.si, it's your friend and there for you. Buy the manga to support the author or get some merch or even the dvd's if you don't get price-gouged like in my country.
Don't give streaming services your money who will fuck over anime. The latest season of Jojo's Bizarre Adventure for example is just thrown out in batches, no one likes this, took over a year to even announce they'll throw the next batch out and after there's probably gonna be another. Streaming services are the inferior way to experience anime.
Cant really answer for Manga as I dont read that side, but I can answer for Anime (which at least follows similar trend lines).
There have absolutely been a few major instances of that happening, but I will say that I personally think its overblown in terms of how often it happens. The Japanese have also been not particularly happy when it has happened so a lot of times it gets slapped before it gets too out of hand.
I know its one of those things that ends to start flame wars, but I actually do think dubbing is generally well done, and a lot of the stigma is left over from the 90's/2000's when it was a lot lower quality. But I would keep your ear to the ground, and if its an issue you can watch subs.
While it mostly depends on the genre, the answer is generally that manga/anime knows what its audience wants and sticks with it. You dont see actiony stuff trying to appeal to women, but you dont see "slice of life" sort of stuff trying to appeal to men. Any crossover is considered an added bonus.
Although you can have stuff that straddles the line and draws in both sides. For instance, SpyXFamily has a ton of crossover appeal because it is equal parts action and slice of life, and even manages to make it work. But that is definitely a more rare instance.
Never really looked into crackle so I dont know about that one. But Tubi does have a pretty decent selection of anime on it, including a lot of the old classics (including my personal favorite, Redline). So it would be a good free option for anime.
Cool! Yea I recently downloaded Tubi and loving it. They have a ton of older content so I love that. I recently watched Fist of the North Star on it and saw that it has a lot more anime to dive into.
If you are in the market for some newer anime that is pretty good (not available on Tubi unfortunately), I would recommend Eighty-Six: 86 if you get the chance to see it. It handles the concepts of racism and discriminations in a way that most Western SJW's wish they could while still telling a compelling story.
Essentially, AI Warbots (known as Legion) go rogue and start killing off all humanity, and the last survivors are organized into 85 districts in a fortified republic to withstand the tide, with their robotic Juggernaught units to fight off Legion. Except that they arent robots, and their manned by those known as "The 86", which are all those who were left outside of the city and officially dont exist. They are offered a chance to gain citizenship....if they survive a tour of duty that is.
The actual story follows Spearhead Squadron, a veteran unit of 86 known for being one of the best performers....and so abusive to their handlers they have made many commit suicide or go literally insane. Then they get assigned a new handler who starts learned more about them and Legion, and figures out there is more going on than the government is letting any of them know.
Sounds intriguing. Gotta check it out
Post-2014 anime sucks, but not because of wokeness, but because of how shitty CG has overtaken the industry.
The big difference between manga and western comics is that the latter is typically owned by the publisher, which means it is works on by different artists and writers, which means you're going to see a lot of inconsistent quality in both, even in the best of times. There are also endless retcons and reboots and alternate universes that muck them up even more. Manga, on the other hand, are typically written and drawn by one person, which means you're going to have more consistent quality, not to mention a more sensible story with a set beginning, middle, and end (or at least it's intended to have one for any that are progress). So if you want to get into any specific manga, you literally pick up Volume 1 and go from there.
And yes, manga better understands that some stories appeal to men and others appeal to women. Manga is in fact categorized by those very demographics. Shonen for boys, shojo for girls, seinen for adult men, and josei for adult women.
There's a free anime streaming service called Retro Crush (https://www.retrocrush.tv/) There is a premium model, but the free one isn't that bad.
Thanks!
It's, at least in my opinion, extremely rare to run into anything beyond mildly woke, and even that barely exists. It's just different cultures; even when anime delves into things like odd gender expression or girl power, it's done in a totally different way from Western propaganda, and it fits a lot better in world. I've enjoyed plenty of more modern anime; Shield Hero, Spy X Family, My Dress-Up Darling, Summer Time Rendering, Skeleton Knight in Another World, Trapped in a Dating Sim, etc.
I saw one other person mention it, but what I use is 9anime(.me being the master, redirects to .id currently), and that works pretty well for me. Huge collection, and nice watchlist features for easy tracking, history, and keeping up to date with new stuff.
Skimming over the thread I didn't notice this addressed.
Manga in Japan is mostly released in thick magazines that contain individual chapters from multiple different series and lots of advertisements sprinkled throughout for various anime/game/manga related stuff. These magazines never make it to the U.S. They resemble medium size phone books, and have paper quality to match (very poor quality).
Instead we get the tankobon, aka graphic novels, that combine multiple chapters from a single series into a book. If there are ads, it's usually one or two pages in the back advertising the publisher's other releases. The paper tends to be high quality. They are slightly taller and wider than most western paperback novels, but not as thick. The books normally have a volume number on the spine, so it's easy to figure out the order they should be read when lined up on a bookshelf.
Japan has unofficial fan comics, doujinshi, that more closely resemble American comic books. They tend to be thin, wide, and tall. Probably just one chapter of content. The anime "Comic Party" focuses on doujinshi culture.
Greatly appreciated. Thanks!
In general, modern anime (and manga) isn't woke. If there is something woke in one, it usually the fault of the translator as you noted. A recent issue appears to be turning traps into trans, despite the fact that the original doesn't do so.
Comic books in America traditionally catered to young men, but manga in Japan is divided into several different groupings (for boys, girls, and so on). Of course, there are some that do try to appeal to wider audience even if labeled for a specific one.
As others have mentioned, you can find interesting anime/manga even with premises that sound uninteresting. (I really enjoyed one about the board game "Go" when I was younger, for example.)
There are many, many sites you can use for watching anime that aren't official but (I believe) are generally safe. I use 9anime with an ad blocker, but you can find a host of (generally) safe ones on Reddit.
Thank you!
There are some censorship issues. I'm a fan of the series Mushoku Tensei, and the translation for the light novels has been criticized for its handling of some sex scenes by basically just deleting them.
For free anime you can download from nyaa or stream from a few different sites, I think kissanime is still around, could be wrong. I use animebytes which is a private tracker, and insanely high quality, but it's hard to get invites because of a user cap.
Recently a giant manga/anime publisher Kadokawa has decided to cater to ESG standards (Here's an explanation for what ESG is https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ixsvy91XJh4&t) So it wont really get much better in the future and will almost definitely get woke in my opinion even if its not now. . Everything will get woke in the future and the only way to stop it is for the complete destruction and collapse of the global system
Grow the fuck up boys, and quit fetishizing. crossover pedo shit and playing dress-up Barbie in video games. Seriously, part of the death by a thousand cuts is pussifying and faggotizing young 'men', and I hesitate to call most of you that anymore.
All the 'toxic masculinity' and 'strong whamen' shit has been to mindfuck you dumbasses.
I was just asking. What do you like to read?
KIA was made by otaku, nerds and gamers get over it
And shit has changed massively since then. Get a clue dumbass.
And? As I said KIA was made for and by nerds , otakus and gamers at its core. If you don't like it go some where else.