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Serious Frolicking posted:The show says that the chinese are bad guys, so obviously that is true. Interpreting a work of fiction further than repeating the lines verbatim just means you are trying too hard. Truly we are the tryhards. Also for a moment I thought you were being serious there. Poe's law makes things difficult. Edward IV posted:Are they (at least the non-Japanese viewers) even aware of the thinly veiled nationalism and anti-Chinese rhetoric? Not that it matters because either answer would just piss me off and lower my faith in humanity in general. Well at least in Korea this show is pretty much shunned and only the foolishly drunk and mad write reviews about each episode where you see their sanity slipping more and more through each review.
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Jun 3, 2014 07:54
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The most amusing aspect about this trainwreck is that even if the original writings are useless schlock, at least the internal monologues of Gary Stu help explain his actions. The fact that the anime doesn't have basically any of them means he's just a giant walking rear end in a top hat with no motivations, whereas the novels at least have him as a giant walking rear end in a top hat with explained motivations. For example, a viewer of the anime can only see a creepy brother/sister incest story. At least the novels have Gary Stu acknowledging in his own head that his sister is loving weird and hoping that if he ignores it she'll eventually stop. (I mean, he's loving weird, but he's at least got magically induced Autism as an excuse. She's just following a long and distinguished bloodline of psychopaths.) There really is nothing redeemable about the anime adaptation except that it's occassionally pretty to look at. There's very little redeemable about the novels either, but at least they attempt to give people motivations and reasons for their actions, even if they're stupid or stereotypical Japanese nationalist cliches.
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Jun 3, 2014 09:46
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Mainu Kamfo the anime
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Jun 3, 2014 09:54
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WickedHate posted:The bad guys are the government of a largely homogeneous nation, what are you expecting? There actually are Japanese villains too anyway, because so far in the show that's all there's been, plus Tatsuya and Miyuki's family. A reminder that all the japanese villains thus far were hypnotised by the chinese agent. Guess who read more mahouka today (its me). First up the president wears a dress that shows her shoulders and comes to above her knees. Naturally this is a moral outrage and against the puritan dress code. quote:Among this group, Mayumi's appearance was very conspicuous. quote:Currently, the Ten Master Clans consisted of "Ichijou", "Futatsugi", "Mitsuya", "Yotsuba", "Itsuwa", "Mutsudzuka", "Saegusa", "Yatsushiro", "Kudou", and "Juumonji", which just happened to number from one to ten chronologically. However, this was the first time this had occurred since the Ten Master Clans had been formed, and there have been situations where one or two numbers were either duplicated or missing altogether. Onii-sama sits on a seperate bus quote:This young lady did not make a fuss like Kanon, which only served to increase her friends' trepidation. Hattori and Kirihaya get to talking. Naturally the conversation soon comes to the living legend quote:"That brother of hers...... I'm guessing he’s offed someone before."  quote:"The vehicle's trajectory was too unnatural and the investigation yielded the expected results. There were remnants of magic left on the vehicle." Then everyone goes to a party to prepare for the magic school olympics quote:Since this was a high school event after all, no alcoholic beverages were served. quote:Even if they hired hourly interns, they wouldn't easily hire high school students. quote:Kanon joined Tatsuya's group with a glass (without alcohol of course) held in one hand. Also things get weird quote:The dress code for the banquet was each school's uniforms, so they didn't have to worry on that account. That being said, the borrowed suit didn't fit him very well, which raised his resistance towards attending. quote:Miyuki esteemed Tatsuya more than anyone else (not only did Miyuki respect Tatsuya more than anyone else, she also rated him higher than anyone else). The girls then all go to an artificial hot spring in the hotel and one of the girls starts squeezing another girl's titys and then all the girls fall in love with Miyuki's goddess-like body but they don't touch her cause they're scared she'll freeze the water. It's all very droll. quote:Eimi's eyes were glued in that direction — Honoka's bosom. quote:Female bathing robes were literally "mini-coats that reached mid-thigh without any pants". Though maybe describing them as "bathing robes the length of mini-skirts without the belt" sounded sexier? The lack of a belt certainly made it easier to relax in the onsen, but provided even less sense of security than a swimsuit. quote:"If that's the case, what type of guy does Miyuki like? Is it truly like your brother's type?" quote:Tatsuya opted not to head directly back to his room and strolled around the perimeter of the hotel, where he detected an oddly nervous presence. So he helps stop them and then the magic olympics start. Tatsuya isn't competing but he judges all the competitor's spells and offers suggestions for improvement. Also he's told by his army mates that he can never compete because his magic is too strong + a national secret. All of his friends who are girls win. That night Miyuki goes to Tatsuya's room. quote:"If that's the case, it still qualifies as pioneering new magic, right? I don't think Onii-sama's inventions are pointless." They then get to the next day and the president is playing magic pingpong tennis against someone and is dressed in a tennis skirt because the author has a leg fetish. And that's as far as I got.
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Jun 3, 2014 20:27
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Srice posted:The first arc, which lasted 7 episodes, culminated in fighting a villain who could do nothing against the protagonist. He's immune to all his magic and the "good guys" beat up him and dismember him and he can't do a single thing about it. It's like watching a professional boxer seriously fighting a child. Roughly 2.5ish hours, all for that. It seriously is hilarious how the sister goes to pieces afterward. "Oh, Tatsuya, I was so worried!" *Runs crying into his arms* She was right there when he made the leader of Blanche look like a tool and showed how worthless all his mooks were. Also when Tatsuya literally describes the kenjutsu-champion dude who busted in and literally dismembered a beaten and helpless man as "gallant." 
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Jun 3, 2014 21:31
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So gallant I can hardly believe it. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contest_to_kill_100_people_using_a_sword
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Jun 3, 2014 22:39
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Namtab posted:A reminder that all the japanese villains thus far were hypnotised by the chinese agent. Only the students were, aside from the kendo captain. Blanche wasn't, and the hypnotiser himself was Japanese. Serious Frolicking posted:So gallant I can hardly believe it. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contest_to_kill_100_people_using_a_sword
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Jun 3, 2014 23:03
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WickedHate posted:That is completely unrelated other then the use of a sword. Oh really? Wartime accounts posted:Other soldiers and historians have noted the unlikelihood of the lieutenants' alleged heroics, which entailed killing enemy after enemy in fierce hand-to-hand combat.[4] Noda himself, on returning to his hometown, admitted during a speech, Sure, dismembering the limb of a helpless and defeated guy is completely different from goading a bunch of defeated Chinese soldiers who have no means of escape into charging you while you cut them down with your sword. Who needs POWs or the Geneva convention? 
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Jun 3, 2014 23:27
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Edward IV posted:Oh really? Sure, dismembering the limb of a helpless and defeated guy is completely different from goading a bunch of defeated Chinese soldiers who have no means of escape into charging you while you cut them down with your sword. Who needs POWs or the Geneva convention? [/quote] To me, that reads like they charged all at once in order to surrender. Otherwise, why would they obediently line up? Though to be fair to the literal war criminals, they probably didn't lose their temper and try to murder girls they liked with a sword back in japan.
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Jun 3, 2014 23:37
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Serious Frolicking posted:To me, that reads like they charged all at once in order to surrender. Otherwise, why would they obediently line up? Oh.  Oh...  OHHHH!!!!  
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Jun 4, 2014 00:27
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I'm all for pointing out how dumb WickedHate is but when you start comparing anime events to real life war crimes unironically it may be time to step back a little.
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Jun 4, 2014 00:31
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Namtab posted:I'm all for pointing out how dumb WickedHate is but when you start comparing anime events to real life war crimes unironically it may be time to step back a little. What do you mean, the author must have modeled that scene after the contest because he hates foreigners and Shirō Ishii is his hero. Swords were used in both cases, how much more obvious can it get? Reign in the nationalism there Mahouka!
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Jun 4, 2014 00:57
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WickedHate posted:What do you mean, the author must have modeled that scene after the contest because he hates foreigners and Shirō Ishii is his hero. Swords were used in both cases, how much more obvious can it get? Reign in the nationalism there Mahouka! You're not exactly in a position to make fun of other people in this thread. You never did address the "it's hosed up for Japan to write fiction with China as an evil antagonist given the history between the two countries" point. A Chinese American poster even said "yeah, it's really insensitive/disrespectful." How exactly is it different from the "German protagonists fighting Jewish antagonists" comparison I made? Like I mentioned, the existence of (in the analogy) German Jew sympathizers doesn't exactly make things better. If this show introduces some large faction of not-evil/stupid Chinese people, then I might reconsider (somewhat*). But as is it's seriously loving ridiculous. *Even then it would just go from "holy poo poo this is awful" nationalism/racism to "bad American right-wing fiction where there are some good (insert enemy ethnicity) people."
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Jun 4, 2014 01:06
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Can someone please remind me why the distinction between Course 1 and Course 2 students is made at all? Unless I've missed something, Course 2 students are basically screwed over by the school for no real reason whatsoever, besides the fact that the government is apparently  and keeps sending their students off to be killing machines rather than getting them to be teachers to make more killing machines. I mean, the show says that it's based on the innate magical potential of the students ot something but that's also bullshit bevause all of the course 2 students we see are just as badass as the course 1 students we've seen. Or is it just a contrived plot device in place to provide cheap drama/elitist rhetoric?
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Jun 4, 2014 01:12
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Ytlaya posted:You're not exactly in a position to make fun of other people in this thread. You never did address the "it's hosed up for Japan to write fiction with China as an evil antagonist given the history between the two countries" point. A Chinese American poster even said "yeah, it's really insensitive/disrespectful." How exactly is it different from the "German protagonists fighting Jewish antagonists" comparison I made? Because it's a terrible analogy and a terrible comparison. There are real life tensions between China and Japan. As another poster pointed out, among countries that could threaten Japan, China is clearly the most fit for the role. VinnyDonuts posted:Can someone please remind me why the distinction between Course 1 and Course 2 students is made at all? Course 1 students got better entry test scores, so they are prioritized and given the limited teachers. The point of it is that this is bad and fairly evaluates no one.
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Jun 4, 2014 01:17
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VinnyDonuts posted:Can someone please remind me why the distinction between Course 1 and Course 2 students is made at all? Unless I've missed something, Course 2 students are basically screwed over by the school for no real reason whatsoever, besides the fact that the government is apparently Not only is it a contrived plot device, but it also allows our self insert protagonist to go to high school without that pesky part where he actually has to go to class! The only way it works is if you think outside the work, or in other words about what the target audience likely thinks about high school.
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Jun 4, 2014 01:21
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I'm just surprised there aren't any incredibly racist caricatures of Koreans in this show/these books yet. Or are they there, and just kind of lumped in with Kratmanesque-China? The Sandman fucked around with this message at 01:26 on Jun 4, 2014 |
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Jun 4, 2014 01:22
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The Sandman posted:I'm just surprised there aren't any incredibly racist caricatures of Koreans in this show/these books yet. I'm pretty sure that most of asia is lumped into one country, yes.
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Jun 4, 2014 01:37
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WickedHate posted:Course 1 students got better entry test scores, so they are prioritized and given the limited teachers. The point of it is that this is bad and fairly evaluates no one. So the students who struggle are left in the lurch, while the already-successful students receive an actual loving education when they're the ones who might actually be able to self-teach themseves? Never mind the fact that the lack of teachers is entirely the government's fault, since the school is government-controlled and they could just make people be teachers (since they've shown no compunction whatsoever towards determining people's careers for them)? Wow. Truly Glorious Nippon is the greatest of all empires.
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Jun 4, 2014 01:49
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VinnyDonuts posted:So the students who struggle are left in the lurch, while the already-successful students receive an actual loving education when they're the ones who might actually be able to self-teach themseves? I recall that earlier in the thread someone mentioned that it was this way because of "international standards", which means that it's not Japan's fault and those foreigners are stupid and etc etc gently caress the poor give me money etc etc.
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Jun 4, 2014 01:52
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VinnyDonuts posted:So the students who struggle are left in the lurch, while the already-successful students receive an actual loving education when they're the ones who might actually be able to self-teach themseves? It's not presented as a good thing.
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Jun 4, 2014 01:53
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Namtab posted:I'm all for pointing out how dumb WickedHate is but when you start comparing anime events to real life war crimes unironically it may be time to step back a little. Yeah, I doubt the author specifically had that moment in mind. It's just funny to me how quick and inconsequential the actual moments of battle we've seen are. The heroes always have an overwhelming advantage, the enemy is always rendered totally ineffectual (and they go out of their way to make the Japanese leader of Blanche a total wuss in contrast to our cool and methodical hero). I'm surprised this is as popular as it is when it's such a blatant power fantasy.
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Jun 4, 2014 02:30
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WickedHate posted:Because it's a terrible analogy and a terrible comparison. There are real life tensions between China and Japan. As another poster pointed out, among countries that could threaten Japan, China is clearly the most fit for the role. And like I said, no one who isn't either incredibly stupid or very ignorant honestly believes that China is going to take any military action against Japan at any point in the foreseeable future. Politicians in bother countries talk big to try and garner support from voters, but there isn't any real tension between the two countries that might result in military action. It's sort of like Russia/China and the US in that regard. And a large part of the tension between the countries is because of Japanese politicians who are terrible and either refuse to apologize for or flat out deny Japanese war crimes. So, as I said, even at the very best it's comparable to American fiction where America is the protagonist and Russia/China/whatever is the antagonist (which is also always right-wing and terrible), but in reality it's far worse than this due to the history between the two countries. It's like if America killed millions of Russians ~70 years ago and someone wrote a book where America was fighting against the evil Russians.
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Jun 4, 2014 02:38
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Ytlaya posted:You're not exactly in a position to make fun of other people in this thread. You never did address the "it's hosed up for Japan to write fiction with China as an evil antagonist given the history between the two countries" point. A Chinese American poster even said "yeah, it's really insensitive/disrespectful." How exactly is it different from the "German protagonists fighting Jewish antagonists" comparison I made? Like I mentioned, the existence of (in the analogy) German Jew sympathizers doesn't exactly make things better. It doesn't seem to matter who tells him what really. I'm a Korean dude who just said this is hosed up and it doesn't seem to matter. It's us that is overreacting and looking too deep into it
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Jun 4, 2014 02:59
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Harime Nui posted:Yeah, I doubt the author specifically had that moment in mind. It's just funny to me how quick and inconsequential the actual moments of battle we've seen are. The heroes always have an overwhelming advantage, the enemy is always rendered totally ineffectual (and they go out of their way to make the Japanese leader of Blanche a total wuss in contrast to our cool and methodical hero). I'm surprised this is as popular as it is when it's such a blatant power fantasy. Oh, I'm sure it wasn't intentional. I just thought it was funny how they glorified attacking a helpless man with a sword.
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Jun 4, 2014 03:01
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WickedHate posted:Because it's a terrible analogy and a terrible comparison. There are real life tensions between China and Japan. As another poster pointed out, among countries that could threaten Japan, China is clearly the most fit for the role. Yes it is a terrible comparison - but only because Germany doesn't deny the Holocaust and has taken steps to make sure it's never forgotten. On the other hand this really doesn't help portray Mahouka in a better light.
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Jun 4, 2014 03:01
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Serious Frolicking posted:Oh, I'm sure it wasn't intentional. I just thought it was funny how they glorified attacking a helpless man with a sword. If you look at it, basically -Kenjutsu club leader proves he's emotionally unstable by attacking a woman because she had diluted the "purity" of her kendo techniques -He asks to join the raid on the terrorists because he's personally angry -He breaks into the terrorist lair after they've been disabled and their leader is lying helpless on the ground, and cuts off the man's arm. Not only is he lauded for this, the woman he attacked starts dating him because he visited her in the hospital. I guess trying to hit someone in the face with a magic sword is a good way to show your devotion! Add to that that the student council and other students were acting outside the law when they raided the terrorists, but nah the police won't treat the investigation as compromised let alone actually punish anyone for this. They were good citizens doing their duty!
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Jun 4, 2014 03:10
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You know? I'm starting to think that SAO wasn't “that bad”. Is this what it feels like when you realize that you're “slightly old for this poo poo”?
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Jun 4, 2014 03:32
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WickedHate posted:It's not presented as a good thing. I'm sure that keeps it from being a massive plothole.
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Jun 4, 2014 03:41
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Harime Nui posted:If you look at it, basically Vigilante justice is cool, and good, if the people who are having brutal vigilante justice enacted on them have political viewpoints in opposition to my own.
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Jun 4, 2014 03:49
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Srice posted:Vigilante justice is cool, and good, if the people who are having brutal vigilante justice enacted on them have political viewpoints in opposition to my own. Or, you know, are terrorists that attacked a school with automatic weapons and RPGs. No, their crime was totally having different political opinions.
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Jun 4, 2014 03:50
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Heck considering how they were able to easily magic away any possible damage from all those weapons they might as well have been attacking the school with squirt guns. Actually, I guess if they fired squirt guns they could do more damage if that magic-technobabbly stuff happens to not be waterproof!
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Jun 4, 2014 03:51
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Mages can still be shot and blown up. You're really reaching to say the terrorists did nothing wrong.
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Jun 4, 2014 03:57
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What's funny is if you have the ability to use magic, apparently you're automatically locked into either a military or infrastructure/technology career. Going to magic school is not optional. The student council raids the terrorist base by piling into a loving car and driving off. Shouldn't the magic schools be guarded, you know, so people can't run away/defect/doing exactly what the student council did? I find it hard to believe there aren't at least a few kids ready to run for the hills at the first chance.
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Jun 4, 2014 03:58
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Been reading through this thread. Thanks WicketHate, for being a very entertaining terrible poster.
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Jun 4, 2014 03:58
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WickedHate posted:Or, you know, are terrorists that attacked a school with automatic weapons and RPGs. I'm going to sort of half-agree here. In the context of this show, the terrorist attack was more of a military action than a criminal one, and this school is basically just a military training camp. Even though it's a little weird, I don't think it's quite the same as them trying to inappropriately take vigilante justice. And it's not like vigilante justice is a foreign theme in action-packed fiction. Him cutting off the guy's arm after he was defeated was pretty much unequivocally hosed up though. The same goes for a lot of the other injuries inflicted, given that the enemies didn't really have the power to oppose them in any way.
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Jun 4, 2014 03:59
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WickedHate posted:Mages can still be shot and blown up. You're really reaching to say the terrorists did nothing wrong. What I'm saying is that those terrorists were not threatening by any stretch of the imagination. I cannot conceive of them being able to harm the students in any possible way. There was absolutely no tension at play at any time during this arc because literally anybody can wave their hand to immediately disable every terrorist in the vicinity. The students are all supermen and the terrorists were as weak and helpless as newborn kittens.
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Jun 4, 2014 04:00
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To be fair Srice, in the background you see a few of the nameless extra students get whacked with batons. See, it's only the cool elite (and rich) students who can effortlessly blow through a squad of gunmen, the rest of the suckers get to flounder for a few years in a horrible school system before going on to magically spot-weld gun parts or whatever the gently caress they're going to do. But it's a necessary sacrifice to keep Japan competitive with the continentals! 
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Jun 4, 2014 04:03
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Kirihara is definitely a weird character and I find his "Her sword was impure so I tried to kill her, now I chop off limbs as expressions of love to her" stuff as weird as anyone else. On the other hand, the victim of said limb chopping deserved it, but it's still weird.Harime Nui posted:To be fair Srice, in the background you see a few of the nameless extra students get whacked with batons. See, it's only the cool elite (and rich) students who can effortlessly blow through a squad of gunmen, the rest of the suckers get to flounder for a few years in a horrible school system before going on to magically spot-weld gun parts or whatever the gently caress they're going to do. But it's a necessary sacrifice to keep Japan competitive with the continentals! Leo, Erika, and Mizuki aren't rich or elite.
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Jun 4, 2014 04:03
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Nameless shmucks getting minor injuries? Dang, I gotta do a few calculations and... Well, that moves them just a tiny bit closer to being as credible a threat as Team Rocket.
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Jun 4, 2014 04:04
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