What are your thoughts on ANIME's influence on D&D?

[I'm A Banana]

(no way I was going to pay real money for DVD rentals. . .)

NETFLIX, YOU N00B!

Notice how none of those were ones mentioned for trying?

(and for the love of all that is holy, stay the hell away from Slayers if you don't like anime. I'm just not a big fan of anime, and I can't easily stand the thing. It very much is in the mold of anime cliches.)

 

[Mallus]

...and managed to see at least one each of...

I'm not saying you should watch any more anime... but one episode each isn't enough to make an informed judgment. Pointing out that you've only seen snapshots of what are normally very serial shows with considerable plot and character development (well, such as they are in anime) doesn't make a lot of sense.

Better just to say 'it all sucks".

Samurai Champloo

Them's fightin' words...

- most of it was ugly and infantile -

You mean ugly and infantile in different ways from the typical geek IP produced in the West.

 

[WayneLigon]

Honestly, it sucked - most of it was ugly and infantile, and when it wasn't, it was disgusting (Trinity Blood and Mirage of Blaze, I'm looking at you).

It's been a couple years since I've seen Mirage of Blaze but I can't remember anything I'd call disgusting about it. There were some undead as I remember, but that was about it. It was mostly historical and supernatural fantasy. I watched the first episode of Trinity Blood and didn't much care for it, so I didn't continue watching it; I might come back to it at some point (normally I'll give any series three episodes, just in case one is a fluke - for instance, if the only Supernatural episode I'd ever seen was the bugs one in the first season, I might or might not have tuned back in, not knowing I'd seen the one and only weak episode the series has had - but in this case I wasn't much in the mood).

 

[The Shaman]

I'm not saying you should watch any more anime... but one episode each isn't enough to make an informed judgment.

I'm sorry, but this is just bollocks. I don't need to watch a whole season of According to Jim to know that it's not my taste.

In fact I watched as many episodes as I could of each - due to time limitations and program scheduling I could only see single episodes of a few titles, but whenever possible I watched multiple episodes, even when I found it painful.

This isn't my only exposure to anime - as I mentioned in the previous thread, I've tried watching several movies and a number of other programs before this, and with the exception of Cowboy Bebop, none of it appealed. This second go-'round underscored what I discovered previously: anime aesthetics and storytelling are a huge turn-off.

You mean ugly and infantile in different ways from the typical geek IP produced in the West.

I mean ugly and infantile without regard to origin.

It's been a couple years since I've seen Mirage of Blaze but I can't remember anything I'd call disgusting about it.

One of the episodes I watched included the rape of a teenage boy.

Mirage of Blaze isn't Hounddog - the scene came across as jarring and gratuitous.

 

[Presto2112]

ATM, in my game, there isn't any. However, should one of my player's PCs expire, he wants to bring in a PC who is one of those Tome of Battle classes; then it will be chock-a-block with anime influence.

 

[Mallus]

I'm sorry, but this is just bollocks. I don't need to watch a whole season of According to Jim to know that it's not my taste.

I phrased that badly (shouldn't post right before bed). I should have left it at "Anime's best features are often character and (often radical) plot development. The kind of things you that you can't, by definition, get from viewing single episodes".

I mean ugly and infantile without regard to origin.

I guess I just don't understand the "infantile" part, or rather, I don't see the difference netween anime and what's made here. I mean, isn't a lot science fiction and fantasy product essentially juvenile in nature? I talking about more than just animation; film, television, comics, even many of the novels. Works that are rooted in boyhood fantasies of adventure and personal power, or at least hyper-competence? (My wife and I refer to this as the 'spaceships and dinosaurs' factor)

I'm unabashed in my love for works that contains spaceships and dinosaurs (and elves and immortal evil tyrants), but I like to call a spade a spade. There's something decidedly not adult about them.

 

[The Shaman]

I phrased that badly (shouldn't post right before bed). I should have left it at "Anime's best features are often character and (often radical) plot development. The kind of things you that you can't, by definition, get from viewing single episodes".

It may be Joyce, Mann and Milton rolled into one, but if I can't stand to watch the damn thing because of the style of animation and the vapid dialogue, then it doesn't really matter how cool the characters are or how twisty the plot is.

I guess I just don't understand the "infantile" part, or rather, I don't see the difference netween anime and what's made here. I mean, isn't a lot science fiction and fantasy product essentially juvenile in nature?

Okay, first, I never made any attempt at a comparison between anime and other animation styles, or anime and other forms of adventure storytelling. My comments are strictly about my reactions to what I saw in the programs.

Second, infantilism is at the heart of anime. Do you know why cartoon characters are drawn with big eyes? Because of a hard-wired response in the mammalian brain intended to protect juveniles from harm by adults - baby mammals have heads and eyes out of proportion to their bodies as a visual cue that they are to be nurtured, not competed with. Anime takes this and applies it to what are ostensibly adult characters, and for me the juxtaposition of these features, these child-adults, is off-putting.

And don't get me started on the police robots with little girl voices. . . :\

 

[Mallus]

Okay, first, I never made any attempt at a comparison between anime and other animation styles, or anime and other forms of adventure storytelling.

I realize that. I was the one making the comparison.

Anime takes this and applies it to what are ostensibly adult characters, and for me the juxtaposition of these features, these child-adults, is off-putting.

OK, that's much clearer. You were using a particularly particular definition of 'infantile'. Most folks use it to mean 'immature' and/or 'childish in a specifically pejorative manner'. Not in some sort of evolutionarily psychological way...

And don't get me started on the police robots with little girl voices. . . :\

I wouldn't dream of it... BTW, what's that a reference to?

 

[Nightfall]

I like cheese with my anime.

 

[WizarDru]

Anime takes this and applies it to what are ostensibly adult characters, and for me the juxtaposition of these features, these child-adults, is off-putting.

Now, I'm not going to debate you on what your personal tastes are like...to you, anime DOES suck and you find it ugly. But "infantile"? That word carries a lot of connotation that I don't know if you intend or not. I certainly can't imagine something like "Berserk" or "Ghost in the Shell" as being labeled that way, for example. I can see a case made for immature or childish for some titles, but not infantile.

The Large Eyes, Small Mouth axiom is generally the norm, but obviously, this varies. Exaggerated features are a staple of animation, to use the physical form to enhance certain aspects of features. Compare the different takes on animate Batmans, for example...the more classic styled BT:AS versus Gotham Knights 'sharp' version versus the stylized 'The Batman'. In each case, the designer and animators are trying to emphasize certain things. I grok that you don't like their style, but I've got to admit it's the first time I've ever heard anyone vocalize that particular objection (though others may have meant it but weren't sure how to express it).

I understand that you find this a visual disconnect...but many do not. Of course, most anime characters are teenagers, so being child-adults certainly fits for them.