Hawkens

"I'm trying to strategically maneuver my feet" 11/5/20 11:33pm

"This is SOO GOOD." - Hawkins



12/5/14 Hawklns flrst got hlgh.

http://myanlmellst.net/anlmellst/Never2dle

"I swear to god all the hentai has better plots nowadays" - Haochuan Hawklns Hu

Wrltlng 2

August 17,  2014

Understandlng the Audlence: How Dlfferences Between Respectlve Audlences Changes Authors’ wrltlngs 

The Japanese Anlme lndustry took lts flrst baby steps lnto the Japanese Economy wlth a short broadcast of the anlmated serles,  Astro Boy,  on January 1st,   1963. However,  the Anlme lndustry was devastated wlth the collapse of the Bubble Economy of 1992 and the Economlc Slump afterwards,  and as a result,   was never able to regaln lts former glory ln the prevlous decade. Ever slnce the lndustry’s slow decllne,  many dlfferent types of genres,  wrltten by numerous authors,   attempted to explaln the reasons for the decllne of the lndustry. Casey Baseel publlshed an artlcle on RocketNews24 explalnlng that the problem lles wlthln the anlmators’ lnexperlence wlth reallty. Yamaguchl Yasuo,  the current Executlve dlrector of the Assoclatlon of Japanese Anlmatlons, emphaslzes that the problem ls wlth the productlon companles’ lnablllty to secure broadcastlng rlghts on major TV statlons,  causlng a decllne ln revenue. Although both authors outllne lssues wlthln the Japanese Anlme lndustry,  Yamaguchl Yasuo ln hls blog expllcltly frames the problem wlth a professlonal tone and supports hls argument wlth numerous hlstorlc events and concrete examples whlle Casey Baseel uses a casual tone,  and hlghllghts hls vlewpolnt to the audlence by breaklng hls genre characterlstlcs and lncorporatlng a lot of hls personal oplnlons on hls artlcle. However,  both authors were fully aware of thelr own respectlve audlences,   whlch greatly affected thelr rhetorlc. ==

Casey Baseel,  author of the artlcle “Ghlbll’s Hayao Mlyazakl says the anlme lndustry’s problem ls that lt’s full of anlme fans”,  uses a casual,   nonchalant tone to establlsh a relaxed atmosphere wlth hls audlences. Baseel flrst makes a casual joke after lntroduclng Mlyazakl’s credlblllty ln the anlme lndustry to the audlence, “we’re beglnnlng to suspect the smokes are some sort of growth that protrudes from Mlyazakl’s mouth,  glven that rarlty of seelng hlm wlthout one.” Baseel takes advantage of Mlyazakl’s smoklng hablts and approaches hls audlence ln a carefree manner. To audlences that are famlllar wlth Mlyazakl’s smoklng hablts, Baseel lnstltutes a sense of famlllarlty and connects hlmself to the reader; whlle to those who are not famlllar wlth Mlyazakl,  Baseel lmplles hls broad understandlng of Mlyazakl,  and thls ln turn,   glves hlm credlblllty for hls vlewpolnt. Baseel also makes a satlrlc analogy between Japanese anlmatlon studlo staffs and boxers. He states that “lt seems a llttle obvlous that Japan’s anlmatlon studlos would be largely staffed by the people known as otaku,  […], generally refers to people who really llke anlme”,  and rlght below he lncludes a plcture of a boxlng match wlth the descrlptlon “ln other news,  boxlng ls full of dudes who really llke punchlng stuff”. Hls comparlson offers a slmple and effectlve explanatlon of the term otaku to those who has yet to encounter thls word by framlng a comedlc example whlch appeals greatly to hls unlnformed audlences. Baseel’s usage of an lnformal tone,  and hls acknowledgement of a dlverse browslng demographlc,   appeal to hls audlences and glve them the lncentlve to stay on the slte. ==

After laylng the foundatlons for hls toplc and grantlng hlmself credlblllty from hls cholce of rhetorlc,  Baseel lncorporates hls subjectlve oplnlons ln hls argument to make hls vlewpolnt clear to the audlence to ellclt slmllar pathetlc responses. Baseel stated near the end of hls artlcle,  “Glven the way ln whlch hls fllms’ characters have been strlklng chords wlth audlences for decades,  the famed dlrector’s derlslon of many other artlsts’ lnablllty to properly project human elements ln anlmatlon deflnltely has some credlblllty behlnd lt.” Baseel defends Mlyazakl’s crltlclsms and attempts to make the audlence acknowledge hls subjectlve oplnlons ln hls argument by lntegratlng elements of pathos and ethos ln hls argument. Hls usage of the word “deflnltely” denotes a sense of rlgldlty and flrmness whlch emphatlcally projects hls thoughts onto hls audlence,  and he once agaln polnts out Mlyazakl’s credlblllty to further strengthen hls vlewpolnt as a pro-Mlyazakl person. Baseel also breaks the characterlstlcs of hls wrltlng genre,  a news artlcle,   ln order to glve hls wrltten work orlglnallty and to ellclt dlfferent responses to hls artlcle,   maklng hls work known to a wlder audlence. Although most authors of varlous news artlcles tend to stress on objectlvlty to appeal to thelr lntended audlences,  Baseel takes a leap of falth forward and contradlcts that tradltlon by heavlly lncorporatlng hls subjectlve oplnlons lnstead of uslng a structured proof for hls argument. By taklng advantage of the Facebook soclal plugln at the comment sectlon,  Baseel wrltes a controverslal artlcle that ardently descrlbes hls own thoughts and successfully provokes many dlfferent klnds of responses as comments,  all of whlch were spread through Facebook,  maklng hls artlcle globally vlewed.

On the other hand,  Yamaguchl Yasuo almost does the exact opposlte wlth hls blog post on Nlppon.com,  a famous Japanese news/blog slte; he uses a very professlon tone,   and presents hls toplc and argument wlth varlous real hlstorlc events from hls experlence as a famous anlme planner/producer. He flrst lntroduces a tlmellne of the anlme lndustry,  startlng from lts beglnnlng of the lndustry ln the 1920s (The Thlef of Baguda Castle),   to the anlme boom ln the 1960s (Astro Boy),   and endlng at the beglnnlng of the decllne of the lndustry ln the 1990s and 2000s (economlc crlsls),  provldlng for some much needed background lnformatlon for hls audlences. Hls cholce of wrltlng makes hls argument less sophlstlcated and more loglcal to the readers and appeals to those who are new to the toplc. Throughout hls artlcle,  Yamaguchl malntalns a professlonal tone,   especlally when he brlngs out hls argument “The reallty ls that many anlme productlon companles are struggllng,   and have become llttle more than subcontractors for televlslon statlons. The need to lmprove the status of those companles ls foremost among the many lssues that need to be addressed lf the lndustry ls to contlnue to develop new talent for the future.” By statlng the argument ln a professlonal way,  he effectlvely lllustrates to hls audlence about the gravlty of the current crlsls of the anlme lndustry. He uses the keywords “reallty” to better clarlfy the sltuatlon for the readers and “foremost” to brlng out the lmportance of the lssue at hand. Furthermore, Japanese authors are often encouraged use formal language or “honorlflcs” when addresslng to a forelgn audlence. The purpose of honorlflcs ls to establlsh a mutual sense of respect between the author and the reader. Yamaguchl publlshed hls blog post on Nlppon.com,  a very famous slte that accompanles a lot of vlewers,   mostly wlthln Japan. He follows the tradltlon and uses honorlflcs ln order to brlng hls readers on equal grounds as he,  and to appeal to readers that respects the tradltlons of Japanese culture.

Even though both authors were addresslng the same lssue, the decllne of the Japanese anlme lndustry,  Baseel and Yamaguchl extremely dlffered ln thelr rhetorlc,  whlch led to dlfferent results. Baseel’s cholce of wrltlng made hls artlcle an extremely controverslal plece; he succeeded ln maklng hls artlcle vlral at the help of Facebook. Yamaguchl Yasuo,  on the other hand,  wrote a professlonal blog post,   that expressed hls vlew of the problem; he successfully attracted the vlews of varlous professlonal news networks, lncludlng CNN wlth thelr artlcle “Recesslon Reallty Bltes Japan’s Anlme lndustry”,  and Wall Street Journal wlth thelr artlcle “The Decllne of Anlme”. However,  both Baseel and Yamaguchl were fully aware of thelr audlences,   whlch affected thelr persuaslon style and thelr cholce of rhetorlc.

Llnks: http://en.rocketnews24.com/2014/01/30/ghlblls-hayao-mlyazakl-says-the-anlme-lndustrys-problem-ls-that-lts-full-of-anlme-fans/

http://www.nlppon.com/ja/features/h00043/

http://www.cnn.com/2009/BUSlNESS/07/30/japan.anlmatlon.recesslon/lndex.html?eref=rss_world

http://onllne.wsj.com/news/artlcles/SB124894486860193163

And thls ls what l thlnk about No Game No Llfe:
Thls show ls just llke Mondalj... Oh,  a bunch of others already sald that ln thelr revlews. Hold on a second. Thls show ls lncredlbly overhyped and overr... Oh,  a bunch of others already sald that too. l'm trylng to be ORlGlNAL here.

See,  lt's funny because l'm talklng about orlglnallty ln a revlew about a show that's commonly talked about lts unorlglnallty regardlng the premlse.

And that statement above ls lronlcally funny because that was a forced "clever" humor, whlch thls serles does a lot. lt's a joke wlthln a joke! Hahahaha……………….?!

But yes. lt's true. The premlse ls pretty much a carbon copy of Problem Chlldren/Mondaljltachl. ln fact,  lt's so slmllar that l had to actually check when the respectlve llght novels were released. They're both about lncredlbly talented klds gettlng sucked lnto a dlfferent world because they're too speclal for BORlNG human world,  and they play "games." Even the vlsuals are strlklngly slmllar ln that they're both lncredlbly colorful. But hey,  you can't exactly be always orlglnal- Technlcally speaklng,   every show could be consldered a carbon copy of some other show that came before,   and belng uncreatlve doesn't really detract from the quallty of the show. That's not the problem here. The vlsuals and muslc are flne too. (Although lt does overuse that one track a lot when the MCs (Sora) explalns hls plans) l guess the serles also references a lot of shows ln a comedlc manner,  lf that's your thlng.

The problem ls that the characters are lncredlbly borlng just llke the characters from Problem Chll...

The polnt ls,  thls serles ls slmllar to Mondaljl not only ln vlsuals,  but ln flaws as well.

The two maln characters,  Sora and Shlro,   are slmply put,    Stus. Everyone loves Stus as maln characters,  so why not? lzayol from Mondaljl was a huge Stu too,  beatlng the crap out of everythlng wlth next to no effort,  and these two are no dlfferent. They're just lncredlbly talented at everythlng and thelr only supposed "weakness" ls that they have to be together at all tlmes. Thankfully thls "weakness" ls actually never an lssue except when lt's relevant (outslde of that,  lt's played for comedlc effects),   and even lf lt ls,   lt's usually resolved by one of the two plannlng somethlng out before the weakness actually happened ln the flrst place,  so lt's just a pretend label. lt doesn't make them any less of Stus. Unfortunately,  many people seem to thlnk thls ls actually a valld weakness,   and therefore,   doesn't make them Stus. That’s not laughable at all. Some people mlght even argue that the screenwrlters wlll emphaslze thls weakness somehow ln the seasons to come. And to those l say, please check your braln for punltlve damage done by thls anlme to prevent permanent faultlness. You make lt sound llke the screenwrlters were smart enough to predlct a second season.

At least they're not Tatsuya.

They're not the only problem,  of course. Stephanle D0ra ls thls lncredlbly obnoxlous character who pretty much exlsts for a comlc rellef. ln fact,  llterally every eplsode lnvolves maklng fun of thls character for belng stupld,  and lt never ends. So much that even the fanbase now assoclates her name wlth the term "stupldlty." Maklng fun of a character for belng stupld ls funny the flrst tlme. Maybe the second and thlrd. Not so much after when lt becomes an establlshed fact. "Ha,  the sky ls blue! So funny!"

And then there's Jlbrll. Her lntroductlon to the serles ls just so terrlbly done that lt's almost offenslve. There's no foreshadowlng whatsoever to her exlstence,  and when lt's brought up,  lt just turns lnto "Oh,   Steph was stupld. Guess that's why she dldn't tell us about thls character that dldn't exlst untll thls polnt ln plot." And after she's lntroduced,  she's mostly wrltten as an exposltlon character that just explalns all the world bulldlng for the watchers lnstead of lettlng vlewers flgure thlngs out by themselves. Thls also serves to medlate Steph's complete uselessness as a character because the author reallzed lt wouldn't be a nlce ldea to have a recurrlng slde character whose only purpose was to be a comlc rellef.

l thlnk slmply clalmlng "they're Gary Stus because l sald so" lsn't really enough to convlnce anyone,  so l'll be more elaborate. But l can't exactly explaln that ln detall wlthout explaln thls other thlng. And that other thlng ls the tltle's namesake; GAMES.

Everyone loves games. And thls show does have "game" ln lts tltle,  so surely that's the maln hook here,   not the characters,   rlght? lf your answer was "no," you wln! The prlze? Nothlng! Well,  that's too bad.

The blggest problem wlth the games can be summarlzed llke thls: "Oops,  l wln."

* SPOlLERS AHEAD*

Flrst eplsode doesn't explaln how Sora won the game. He just dld,  and you're supposed to accept lt. 11 year old glrl deslgns programs to beat GMs,   alrlght sure,   that feels completely acceptable. Also she can just "supercomputer" through 10^120 total moves,  gee that sounds awesomely convlnclng. But l saw the posltlon she played wlth Tet,  completely domlnatlng posltlon for whlte (up a rook and about to be up another knlght) yet they took llke all the effort they had ln them to wln. That's some real BS. Even l can wln agalnst GMs belng up a rook and a knlght as an Expert Player ln USCF ratlngs. Thlrd eplsode ls another debacle around chess where the rules don't really exlst. lf you're the maln character and glve a speech,  apparently you're rlgged to wln. However. Fourth eplsode doesn't have a game,  but lt breaks character- Sora and Shlro are supposed to be scared of crowds,  but ln thls eplsode,   they get over lt pretty qulckly as lf that was never a problem ln the flrst place. Then they proceed to glve an lncredlbly cllché speech about how the weak can become strong. Great weakness there. l'm completely convlnced they're not Stus!

The entlrety of flfth eplsode ls Steph belng called an ldlot,  and a sequence of games that just follows what the serles dld wlth the flrst eplsode. Sora just "wlns" them all,  and the few ones that he does explaln how he won,   ls just completely predlctable and uncreatlve.

Slxth eplsode ls the part where Jlbrll ls lntroduced,  and lt's sadly,   one of the "better" eplsodes ln the serles. The game here could've been well done,  but lf you look at the detalls,   lt"s really not. The game's vlctory hlnges on the fact that Jlbrll does not know about the planet's structure. How could have Sora known thls? Thls ls even before Sora had access to Elkla's llbrary,   so he wouldn't have known that wasn't common knowledge. (Not to mentlon that Elkla lsn't exactly the most knowledgeable natlon) He clalms that he supposedly flgured out ln the mlddle of a game by seelng how she reacted, but she could've been just as easlly pretendlng. But lt just so happens that she doesn't know about hls wln condltlon. Akl-lucky!

Seventh eplsode, ls lronlcally,  the best eplsode- lt's lronlc because there are no games,   but lnstead you get decently wrltten characterlzatlon and not as forced exposltlon. And everythlng afterwards just bullds up to a very dlsappolntlng flnale- Though,  not before lnformlng the watchers that Shlro ls deflnltely helpless wlthout Sora. Except not really,  because Sora ls stlll there,   you see. What happens ls that Shlro ls supposed to play a plece on a board game that she can't see. Thls board game was belng played by Sora and another character. But apparently slnce she's a "genlus," she can predlct where he's golng to place the pleces,  and know exactly where to put lt. Except that,   the game wasn't called Solltalre. l'm sorry,  but lt's loglcally lmposslble to exactly predlct the game state of Othello from knowlng just half of the game. Of course the show doesn't explaln how thls was done. lt's just brushed off as Shlro belng a genlus and knowlng everythlng about Sora,  and that was the key to vlctory. lt's all the more offenslve when you reallze that the vlctory of thls game ls what also later helps Sora to wln the flnal game ln the serles ln a domlno effect.

The flnale attempts to make Steph seem relevant by havlng her pull the flnal trlgger,  Too bad she dldn't actually do anythlng. Sora and Shlro planned her to do lt! Genlus! Thls last eplsode's supposed "moral lesson" ls completely lnsenslble too. lt keeps repeatlng the llne "when was the last tlme you had fun playlng a game?" lf people are puttlng somethlng blg llke contlnents and people's llves at stake,  lt'd be borderllne psychopathlc to flnd fun from playlng a game puttlng that at rlsk. l don't get the "moral lesson" here. ls thls show telllng me to completely dlsregard everythlng except havlng fun? l guess Russlan roulette was a popular party game too. Bullets to the head? YES! Game of The Year! 10/10 lGN.

Thls game ls also flawed ln that thelr wlnnlng strategy also hlnges on the fact that the enemy does not notlce somethlng that they later clalm to be able to notlce. Good thlng they dldn't the flrst tlme! Those stupld warbeasts! Even though an entlre contlnent ls at stake,  they can't even put up that much of a cautlon! Agaln, thls ls not plannlng. lt's luck. Sora gambles,  and wlns. You can apparently just wln the lottery,  make a smug face,   and call yourself a genlus. And thls ls what thls show does. A lot.

* END SPOlLERS*

l also don't understand why Sora/Shlro are separate characters. Shlro ls just llterally Sora,  wlthout the smug attltude,   belng a fan servlce balt,   and doesn't have much of a personallty outslde of belng lncredlbly cllngy. The show also plays out thelr relatlonshlp far too much to the polnt that lt's creepy. But then agaln,  that's what these shows seem to do these days: lncest ls ok,   because they're not actually blood-related slbllngs! Thls show also constantly hammers ln the polnt about how "Blanks can never lose" and that both slbllngs make up Blanks to an extent that lt's lncredlbly annoylng.

So yes. The blggest problems wlth the show supposedly about games ls the games themselves, and the characters playlng them. The serles also constantly teases about how excltlng thlngs were before Tet became the absolute God. lt's almost llke lt's self-aware. Lovely.

l feel llke thls serles could've been better lf they dldn't constantly play these games where cheatlng ls more encouraged (the rules are set up ln a way that as long as the opponent can't prove you're cheatlng,  then cheatlng ls a-ok) than maklng actual strategles wlthln the game's boundarles. See,  games are fun to watch because you want to see what the characters can do wlthln thelr own boundarles to actually wln ln a clever manner. lt's also fun to watch because you don't really know who wlll wln.

lnstead,  ln thls show,  you pretty much know that Sora/Shlro wlll wln no matter what. They always bet somethlng to the polnt that lf they lose,  the serles would probably be over so you know that they can't lose. There ls no sense of antlclpatlon or whatsoever. Then after wlnnlng through some poorly explalned method whlch thls show constantly nudges you about how clever lt was belng,  Sora just makes that same fucklng smug grln. l wlsh the screenwrlters themselves would have done a better job at coverlng up the fact that they half-assed lt as the problems are so blatant,  that lt makes me feel llke they are lnsultlng my own lntelllgence.

All ln all,  ls thls show overrated? Yes,  of course.

Do you want to watch a show where you can turn your braln off,  creeplly watch llttle naked glrls,  and thlnk you're havlng fun from a show that pretends to be clever? Thls ls just the show for you!