Pinkplaidrobot

For God’s sake, the man was trying to teach people about photosynthesis when asked what his favourite colour was. That’s a man that ADORES science and absolutely loves teaching people.

Justice Finishing Pose by Thor & Loki (Thor the Dork World) "I am the great Saiyaman!!!"

[x]

*kiss*

*smile*

I follow Shaenon Garrity’s comics fairly religiously, but it was still Tumblr that alerted me to the existence of this (good, if sad) one. Shaenon’s website has more of her comics listed (though not this one even though the original file is on the site). And I have to mention that she is the creator of Monster of the Week and Skin Horse which I have plugged before.

That Supernatural thing I read for Katie last night? Here it is. It’s just over twenty seven minutes long, so get a beverage, your headphones and sit back with the sex toy of your choice and enjoy.

(It goes without saying that this is horribly NSFW.)

tl;dr:

If you unironically call yourself an otaku, you’re lumping yourself in with some of the least-respected members of society in Japan, and you shouldn’t be surprised/outraged when a well-respected member of Japanese society looks down on you.

The things otaku like are off-putting, and because the anime industry makes most of their money from otaku, the anime industry in general is off-putting.

The anime industry should probably be restructured so that otaku have less power to decide what gets animated, otherwise the anime industry will collapse because NOBODY LIKES IT.

Gimme your lunch money, nerds.

Uh, he never implied masturbation is as bad as war. He’s being a cranky old man, as cranky old men are wont to do. The author of the article just listed those things as additional things Miyazaki doesn’t like.

And something you people really, really, REALLY need to understand is that "otaku" is not a term of endearment in Japan the way “nerd” has become so in the West. If I were to speculate, I’d say it has a lot to do with cultural values - here, we place a lot of value and pride in our individual identities, but that just is not the case in Japan. They, and the East Asian countries in general, place a lot of value in working to improve the collective. Being an otaku implies a lot of the things you’d think being the classical “nerd” implies - living in your mother’s basement, spending all your time watching anime/slacking off, and being a general drain on society. While that’s not “accepted” in the West per se, it is not directly contradictory to every cultural value we have. We’re just expressing our identities when we do those kinds of things. In Japan, they are the antithesis of a praiseworthy member of society.When the anime industry is, in Miyazaki’s mind, full of these kinds of people, who seal themselves off in insular groups and jack off to 2D waifus all day in between drawing said 2D waifus, that is a real problem.

Frankly, when I look at the entire catalogue of anime titles released over the past 5 years, I see what he means. Who the fuck is going to buy OreImo except lolicon siscon hentai otaku? Who the fuck is going to buy K-On! except ronery NEETs? I LOVE the Monogatari Series - but who the fuck is going to buy that shit except social rejects? 

Real-life people do not act like the people in those shows.Real people do not say to their friends/rivals in love “hey, let’s take a shower together while I fondle your tits.” Real sisters do not fall in love with their oniichan desu~s after many sessions of counseling. I love the tsundere archetype, but a real-life tsundere is someone that nobody wants to be around because they treat other people like shit.

I probably should devote an entire paragraph to lolis. (Most) people do not sexualize little girls, and in fact find the sexualization of of little girls to be repulsive. Why, then, are there so many lolis in anime? Because lolis represent a lot of things that a lot of men find desirable in women - innocence, petite bodies, cuteness in general. But for whatever reason, it has become not only okay, but the norm for anime to have prepubescent girls in compromising sexual positions. If you like flat chests - fine. If you like inexperienced girls - fine. If you like cute things - fine. Mashing all of those things together on a 12-year-old and slapping a bikini on her to appeal to otaku with those preferences? Most people will say that is fucked up. 

Fanservice is off-putting to a lot of people. Incest is off-putting to a lot of people. Lolis are off-putting to a lot of people. Unbelievable characters and character interactions are off-putting to a lot of people. But those things are things that self-proclaimed otaku audiences embrace, so that’s what the Miyazaki-proclaimed otaku in the industry draw. Because animation studios make so little money off of anything but DVD and merchandise sales, and otaku are the only people who buy that stuff, the anime industry of late has become inbred and stale at best, and offensive and pedophilic at worst.

It’s one thing if you want to make media for people like yourself. But a lot of anime has really become just that. And, like this person before me said, it’s really off-putting and often gross stuff like 12 year old love interests.

And it’s starting to become painfully obvious. I love anime, but I’m beginning to have a really hard time finding stuff that doesn’t make me uncomfortably. Stuff that has a substantial story and good characters, without panty shots or large unruly breasts, or have unsettling things like ‘sexy 12 year olds’.

Not to mention, even in the height of my anime watching days, I always felt weird about referring to myself as an “otaku”. It always seemed like a very Japanese thing, and being that I’m not Japanese nor have any personal link to Japan besides thinking it’s a cool country, it felt mildly inappropriate. “Anime fan” was perfectly sufficient. 

Pudge the fish got a peanut butter sandwich every Thursday. Nani does not argue the logic of feeding him, only suggests an alternative sandwich when they are out of peanut butter. Lilo was allowed to take as many photos of whatever mundane or odd subjects as she wanted and Nani would get them developed. Nani recognized what were important habits for Lilo.

When Lilo asks for a pet lobster, Nani does not tell her that lobsters are not pets. She tells her, “We don’t have a lobster door, we have a dog door.” She makes sure the woman at the pound does not tell Lilo that “Stitch is not a real name”.

NANI SPENDS THE ENTIRE MOVIE MAKING SURE THAT LILO NEVER FEELS LIKE HER IDEAS ARE WRONG.

And half of her terror of losing Lilo isnt even just losing her family; its knowing that wherever Lilo goes, they won’t know how to do these things. They won’t understand her. 

It’s not just a habit. It’s a very real part of Lilo’s healing process and Nani understands that.

Also if you pay attention to Nani’s room you’ll notice she had surfing posters and trophies. She was very much on her way to being a pro surfer but had to give it up to become the adult Lilo needed her to be.

And not ONCE does Nani show her sister any resentment. It’s worth it to keep her family together. This is a young woman who is willing to sacrifice all of her dreams and make incredibly grown up decisions.

Actually writing a story