This Picture Needs a Caption! 15 November 2010

THE VIRUS IS SPREADING RUN FOR YOUR LIVES

[Picture by bbmbbf]

Winner:
“To the tune of Turning Japanese…

I’ve got your picture of me and you
You wrote “I love you” I wrote “me too”
I sit there staring and there’s nothing else to do
Oh it’s in color
Your hair is blue
Your eyes are red
And soft as clouds
I often kiss you when there’s no one else around

I’ve got your picture, I’ve got your picture
I’d like a million of you all ’round myself
I want a doctor to take your picture
So I can look at you from inside as well
You’ve got me turning up and turning down
I’m turning in I’m turning ’round

I’m turning Ayanami
I think I’m turning Ayanami
I really think so…”

–By IRP Guardian

Are Moe Fans Sexist?

If you look at this picture, you're going to hell.

I’m not usually one to call moe fans “creepy” or “sexist.” However, while browsing Twitter earlier today, I came across this little gem.

Moe girls are like the template of the perfect female. If a 3D girl is not similar enough to a moe girl than that means she is bad news.

I won’t dignify the person who wrote this with a link to their profile. Suffice to say, they’re one of the ‘moe cultists’ I mentioned in passing at the end of my “Type A vs. Type B” post. For brevity’s sake, I will refer to this person as Anonymous Moe Cultist, or AMC, as he’s the textbook example of the fandom’s extremist fringe. He has an innate hatred of critics and intellectuals (especially those who criticize “his shows”), and frequently targets reviewers from this very website for ridicule. His views on women are similarly unpalatable.

Moe girls are ideas. Aoi Sakuraba is the moefication of Yamato Nadeshiko. Critics get upset and angry at these ideas rather than the content

Ergo, in AMC’s view, real women should learn to be more like their sexualized and submissive moe counterparts. They should smile, giggle, wait hand-and-foot on their man, and never talk back. And he wonders why people like me get upset at these archaic, sexist declarations?

This raises an interesting question. If moe produces this kind of blatantly sexist fan, does that make the genre itself sexist? I mean, it IS centered around the objectification of women, often with gratuitous fanservice. A quick look at Sankaku Complex makes it apparent that these prepubescant girls are seen as objects of sexual worship, not people. Should we shun moe shows for something more politically correct?

The answer is NO. Despite initial appearances, moe is NOT sexist. Find out why after the break.

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Hypothetical Live-Action Sailor Moon: Megan Fox as Mars?

I was trolling Danbooru earlier, and discovered the above image while searching for pics of Sailor Mars. It got me thinking about the possibility of a live-action Sailor Moon film. Hollywood has already indulged us with Dragonball and Astro Boy movies, so why not Sailor Moon?

“But Jon!” you exclaim. “There’s already been a live-action Sailor Moon production!” Okay, true. There was a TV show called Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon. However, I don’t think it lived up to the series’ potential. First of all, the actresses they chose weren’t exactly Sailor Senshi material. Because of the miniskirts Senshi wear, any actress playing them needs a pretty nice set of legs. But these girls… well, let’s just say they should stick to daytime soap operas. The cheesy costume design certainly didn’t help matters. Second, Sailor Moon is an ACTION series. To really bring the Senshi’s battle against evil to life, you need more than a limited television budget. I mean, Mars fires a freaking crossbow made of fire! Just think how epic that would look if ILM animated it.

More after the break.

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Type A vs. Type B Otaku: A False Choice

The infamous Type Fantasy otaku.

A few days ago, Penny Arcade’s Tycho described the Kinect vs. Move debate as a “media-driven false choice.” Hell, I would probably characterize the whole goddamned console war that way. While thinking about this pointless gaming rivalry, I’ve come to realize that the anime fandom has it’s own false choice: the infamous Type A vs. Type B otaku classification. Seemingly based on Japanese blood type fortune telling, this classification has lead to widespread debate and flaming among otaku, along with the predictable cries of extremism. “Moe is the cancer that’s killing anime! Oldfags are pretentious elitists! The evil critics are trying to destroy the shows I enjoy!” So on and so forth.

But does this classification have any purpose beyond a flame war weapon? Does it offer any real insight into otaku mentality? In my opinion, the answer is a vehement NO. Our society loves labeling and categorizing other people, because it makes it easier for us to judge them without getting to know them first. “I don’t want to associate with that man! I’ve heard he’s GAY! You know how they are!” The problem is, people’s attitudes and opinions are complex. Herding them into neat little categories for our mental convenience is just a form of self deception. The same applies to the Type A vs. Type B debate.

Read why these oversimplifications are total BS after the break.

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Bakacast – Long Walks on the Minecraft Beach

iTunes | Direct Download | RSS

“What!” you exclaim. “The next Bakacast is already out?”

Yes, it’s true, dear listener. Frankly, it was embarrassing to me that I was taking a week to get each episode out, so I pushed it to the limit and finished my editing a mere two days after recording. Sadly, Jon’s mic was unusually quiet during recording, which meant I had to futz with everyone’s levels in post-production. So if our audio quality sounds a little off, that’s why. One step forward, one step back, I guess.

Oh, and guess what else?

IT’S OUR 25TH EPISODE! WOOOOOO!

We didn’t notice when we were recording, since we don’t number the podcasts anymore; but according to iTunes, we’ve done 25 of these things. No wonder my hard drive was filling up so fast.

Anyway, we celebrate this momentous occasion by…doing what we always do. We give you reviews of:

  • OreImo #6
  • Panty & Stocking #6
  • Otome Youkai Zakuro #6
  • Star Driver #6
  • Squid Girl #5

And, of course, we answer your Twitter questions about pervy grandparents, Mudkips and Harrison Ford at the end.

Weekly Anime Review – Cute Squids and Stripper Demons

Longtime readers of Project Haruhi might have noticed that we haven’t been posting a lot of anime reviews lately. This is because most of our authors, myself included, got tired of writing long screeds for every freakin’ episode of anime we watched. Therefore, we’ve decided to adopt a more streamlined format for individual episode reviews. Each author is going to write a short, two-or-three paragraph review for whichever shows they’re covering, and they will all be collected together into a single weekly column.

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the inaugural edition of the Weekly Anime Review. Keep reading below the break for our cynical, jaded anime rants, then let us know what you think in the comment section!

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