Anime News Network (ANN), Christopher Macdonald & Co. - "Unbiased" Reporting on All Things Anime Related By Snobbish Quebec-Based Web Company. Acquired by Kadokawa.

[GenericReviewerDraco]

You know, I was going to say something about not stooping to their level on moral grandstanding and virtue signalling, but I think the times have warranted me enough to give them a taste of their own medicine.

With the rumors and accusations of them grooming underaged boys and indulging in shotacon, now they host drag queens on their site? That's like a pedophile sending in a suspicious amount of money to a PBS Marathon and making a speech that barely covers their pedophilia. Drag queens have been notorious not too recently about hosting what is known as Drag Queen Story Hour, in where they literally go to public libraries and kids left by their parents are left for them to attend. Recent news has revealed that not only do more sensible drag queens don't sponsor this shit, citing that yes, the world of drag is a world of sexual promiscuity, indulgence, and drugs that should be left to one's choices as they mature in life to a right mentality to consent and understand sexual responsibility, but Drag Queen Story Hours have entailed grooming of children and exposing them to indecent exposure, like flashing off their genitals and teaching them how to fucking twerk. This also doesn't even cover children drag queens, in where kids are now encouraged to dress up in drag and perform at shows. Recent studies have proven that this doesn't instill them with a sense of self worth and expand their viewpoints on gender; this infact encourages sexual promiscuity at a rather disturbing young age.

The fact that Ass News Network hosts a drag queen interview on their site has already gotten me to Alex Jones' levels of tin foil power armor wearing "CHEMICALS IN THE WATER ARE TURNING THE FREAKIN' FROGS GAY" levels of conspiracy to this shit. The fact that Weeb Wars was also perpetuated further with long time Anime News Network associate Dylan Kleiman being accused of grooming underaged children at anime conventions and Zac and Hope and Mike and Justin and just about every other cocksucker down there conspired with Funimation, who might I add is a frequent sponsor of Anime News Network, to toss dirt and shit onto Vic Mignogna to divert attention onto him rather than themselves, only exacerbates my disgust towards these shithead "elite art loving anime fans" and "duurrr boobies and sex and female sexualization is bad" weeaboo faggots.

I cannot wait for the day Chris Macdonald and everyone are busted in a pedophile ring and hauled to get fucked hard in prison post an indefensible one sided court case. If zoosadist child fucker furfag Levi "SnakeThing" Simmons can be sent to prison for 25 years without parole, then I am guaranteed there will be and is justice in the world.

I've seen that one anti-SJW troon LilithLovett defend drag queens because "REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE Catholic Priests", but that's a heavily unrelated story.

ANN is full of degenerates who should be purged, and I hope their end comes soon.

 

[Kari Kamiya]

When ANN first launched, it was a decent site run by decent people, right? How and when did it fall so hard? I'm really just disappointed in all of this because I liked Justin's Buried Garbage/Treasure articles, and I loved hearing him talk about his experiences at Central Park Media and how it was hell and it made him start smoking/drinking. CPM I'm sure was both a simultaneously horrible and exciting place to work at, they had themselves quite the discography and some laughably bad dubs that I wouldn't trade for the world. And John O'Donnell sounds like a character, he must've been quite the person to interact with.

But with that said, I do believe Justin is a legit fan of anime--I think much of the staff are to a degree, but he's different in that he has actual experience in the industry (albeit limited to just the English department, but it's something). But the issue is he's become such a faggot about it and his virtue-signaling that I just have to wonder why he chose to live a life of contradictions and confusion. We're seeing time and time again that you cannot be an anime fan and be an SJW at the same time, it's oil on water. I get it that it's hard to give up a passion you spent hundreds of hours and dollars on, but practice what you fucking preach, you goddamned hypocrites.

 

[xyz741]

When ANN first launched, it was a decent site run by decent people, right? How and when did it fall so hard?
...
But with that said, I do believe Justin is a legit fan of anime--I think much of the staff are to a degree

I honestly believe all (or most) of the staff used to be big anime fans. For whatever reason (grown out of it, lost interest, couldn't handle the shift out of 90s style, etc) most of the ANN staff aren't fans of current anime anymore. Zac and Justin are "head up their ass" film school snobs that want to be big time Hollywood movie critics. The rest of the site is a mixed grab bag of mostly group think that wants to push LGBTQ+ anime and screw everything else.

Having been involved with anime cons for a long time, I can believe that most of their view is simple burnout (rather than actual malice). But that's when you should just move on and find something else to do with your life. It's one thing if it is just a hobby you're doing for funsies, but when it is literally you job that pays your bills, then either be professional or do something else.

 

[I Love Beef]

I honestly believe all (or most) of the staff used to be big anime fans. For whatever reason (grown out of it, lost interest, couldn't handle the shift out of 90s style, etc) most of the ANN staff aren't fans of current anime anymore. Zac and Justin are "head up their ass" film school snobs that want to be big time Hollywood movie critics. The rest of the site is a mixed grab bag of mostly group think that wants to push LGBTQ+ anime and screw everything else.

Having been involved with anime cons for a long time, I can believe that most of their view is simple burnout (rather than actual malice). But that's when you should just move on and find something else to do with your life. It's one thing if it is just a hobby you're doing for funsies, but when it is literally you job that pays your bills, then either be professional or do something else.

In honesty, they fell out years 15 years ago too late. Zac's been a part of ANN since 1998 when they were once known as Protoculture Addicts, and Chris MacDonald as well.

Honestly, I know why and have been there in the 1990s, to know why the decade was so special. It was when anime significantly made its arrival overseas and the magic was real. Badass anime shows with action and serious insight on combat, martial arts, and adaptive tactical expertise; deep series with romantic plots and strings upon strings of relations and driving motives coming to butt heads to create drama. An art style that captures the beauty of the human form with the use of caricatures and the emphasis on anatomy that communicates with us the most. Fantastical story concepts taken seriously to its sometimes realistic and ultimate logical conclusions, or to bask in its essence and show us its pride of what it's made of. Something that blew not only them but us out of the water in that yeah, animation can do this.

But you can't just run on sensation forever. It's what you did with that time and spirit that truly defines the era. They know too well that they were sitting on their laurels and insipid self satisfaction of just merely being fans and hoping that life would just give them something out of merely being a fan for liking "serious animation". This was the 1990s after all; the era that brought us smug cynical spectator deconstruction criticism like Beavis and Butthead and Mystery Science Theater 3000, and when high school garbage was exacerbated with shit like the Spurs Posse and the unchecked ass end of 1980s youth culture.

And without surprise, they were absolute shit in the era coming, when anime finally reached the mainstream and outright flooded the public presence in the early 2000s. They acted too proud to help steer other new zany and spergy fans from not being complete autists and to help lead the overseas fandom to not make dipshits of themselves. Anything that aired, they merely scoffed and waved their hands dismissingly so assured that "what we watch is greatest". They were so high off of their vindictive hipster faggotry, they practically were some of the first assholes to help define hipster faggotry in the first place. The fact that Zac and Chris come from "left wing progressive" areas does not help either, and I say this as a person who doesn't give an absolute fuck about political allegiances if they aren't going to help people in the first place.

So if anything, this was a mess they created themselves and have continued to dig a hole to dig themselves deeper with. Like they think what they have watched and aired gives them "taste"? Ask any motherfucker off of the street the same thing and you'll get infinitely different responses. Their "opinions" are really worth as much as the piece of trash you can find out in the parking lot, because opinions in taste, everyone fucking has one. This is why I preach on and on about creating shit and establishing trends and standards with work and effort: because evidence talks, bullshit walks. You can't define that with yapping your mouth and running your fingers through a keyboard while doing nothing but watching shit to "build up a lexicon of good works". The only artist on their side is Zac's sister Robin, and it's laughable at how she's a fickle undedicated webcomic entry level artist. They've tried to make manga of their own, and that was when Zac was married with Hope when she decided to gain a penis. How long did that last? Barely even half a year. Yeah, "taste". If anything they appear to like stale weather worn animal feces that occasionally pops up on the pavement and on lawns apparently. Thanks to them, the States will never be able to get what it wants out of anime without looking like a bunch of whiny entitled faggot inbred hicks and soyboys like the people down at ANN and their shit associates, or even better yet, a bunch of laughable talentless gallless coward nerds who will never amount to more than anything but blind autistic consumers. They had a chance to set a standard for fans and the States, now they get to enjoy what they made of that time.

The point is that this is how twisted and fucked holding a facade of interest while keeping an ever growing abyss of a black hole of entitlement will get you. They've held on to ANN like some last bastion of hope for their warped sense of interests that now they've gone deserted island levels of insane and have started turning to buttfucking and making dicks out of their own thigh meat out of how alone and pathetic they are. What's even more laughable is that they think this gives them the right to drag the world down with them. Like they think they have a point to prove out of art that they're merely spectators of? That's cute. Hopefully they'll let us know when they're done having some 1990s weeaboo inferiority complex about how Japan can only make anime and proudly sponsoring drag queens to make people look the other way when they're blaming lolicon and diddling actual kids.

 

[The Token Ethnic]

In honesty, they fell out years 15 years ago too late. Zac's been a part of ANN since 1998 when they were once known as Protoculture Addicts, and Chris MacDonald as well.

Honestly, I know why and have been there in the 1990s, to know why the decade was so special. It was when anime significantly made its arrival overseas and the magic was real. Badass anime shows with action and serious insight on combat, martial arts, and adaptive tactical expertise; deep series with romantic plots and strings upon strings of relations and driving motives coming to butt heads to create drama. An art style that captures the beauty of the human form with the use of caricatures and the emphasis on anatomy that communicates with us the most. Fantastical story concepts taken seriously to its sometimes realistic and ultimate logical conclusions, or to bask in its essence and show us its pride of what it's made of. Something that blew not only them but us out of the water in that yeah, animation can do this.

But you can't just run on sensation forever. It's what you did with that time and spirit that truly defines the era. They know too well that they were sitting on their laurels and insipid self satisfaction of just merely being fans and hoping that life would just give them something out of merely being a fan for liking "serious animation". This was the 1990s after all; the era that brought us smug cynical spectator deconstruction criticism like Beavis and Butthead and Mystery Science Theater 3000, and when high school garbage was exacerbated with shit like the Spurs Posse and the unchecked ass end of 1980s youth culture.

And without surprise, they were absolute shit in the era coming, when anime finally reached the mainstream and outright flooded the public presence in the early 2000s. They acted too proud to help steer other new zany and spergy fans from not being complete autists and to help lead the overseas fandom to not make dipshits of themselves. Anything that aired, they merely scoffed and waved their hands dismissingly so assured that "what we watch is greatest". They were so high off of their vindictive hipster faggotry, they practically were some of the first assholes to help define hipster faggotry in the first place. The fact that Zac and Chris come from "left wing progressive" areas does not help either, and I say this as a person who doesn't give an absolute fuck about political allegiances if they aren't going to help people in the first place.

So if anything, this was a mess they created themselves and have continued to dig a hole to dig themselves deeper with. Like they think what they have watched and aired gives them "taste"? Ask any motherfucker off of the street the same thing and you'll get infinitely different responses. Their "opinions" are really worth as much as the piece of trash you can find out in the parking lot, because opinions in taste, everyone fucking has one. This is why I preach on and on about creating shit and establishing trends and standards with work and effort: because evidence talks, bullshit walks. You can't define that with yapping your mouth and running your fingers through a keyboard while doing nothing but watching shit to "build up a lexicon of good works". The only artist on their side is Zac's sister Robin, and it's laughable at how she's a fickle undedicated webcomic entry level artist. They've tried to make manga of their own, and that was when Zac was married with Hope when she decided to gain a penis. How long did that last? Barely even half a year. Yeah, "taste". If anything they appear to like stale weather worn animal feces that occasionally pops up on the pavement and on lawns apparently. Thanks to them, the States will never be able to get what it wants out of anime without looking like a bunch of whiny entitled faggot inbred hicks and soyboys like the people down at ANN and their shit associates, or even better yet, a bunch of laughable talentless gallless coward nerds who will never amount to more than anything but blind autistic consumers. They had a chance to set a standard for fans and the States, now they get to enjoy what they made of that time.

The point is that this is how twisted and fucked holding a facade of interest while keeping an ever growing abyss of a black hole of entitlement will get you. They've held on to ANN like some last bastion of hope for their warped sense of interests that now they've gone deserted island levels of insane and have started turning to buttfucking and making dicks out of their own thigh meat out of how alone and pathetic they are. What's even more laughable is that they think this gives them the right to drag the world down with them. Like they think they have a point to prove out of art that they're merely spectators of? That's cute. Hopefully they'll let us know when they're done having some 1990s weeaboo inferiority complex about how Japan can only make anime and proudly sponsoring drag queens to make people look the other way when they're blaming lolicon and diddling actual kids.

This makes perfect sense in regards to the cronyism in ANN and especially the podcast. Zac and Lynzee can't go 5 minutes without swearing, have shitty film references as intros to the podcast, Zac's incessant condescending towards anything Lynzee says and unwanted and unnecessary movie talk before passive aggressively talking about anime and how shitty it and its fanbase is, but not Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken since it keeps making Zac's micropenis hard and justifies it is all about art and how "pure" it is.

 

[xyz741]

Honestly, I know why and have been there in the 1990s, to know why the decade was so special.

There's nothing special about the 90s. There was some awesome anime in the 80s and there's been lots of great anime since the 90s. The only thing that keeps people like Zac wallowing in nostalgia is they were all a bunch of emo teens/college kids when Eva came out and that BS "spoke to them on a spiritual level". Yeah, you're so alone but still special and important and the world revolves around you and your inability to communicate with other people like a mature or even mentally stable human being. Or, Lupin III has been around since the 60s and Cowboy Bebop was basically just "Lupin in space", but all the hipster nerds love Yoko Kanno's jazz medley and so hold that shit up as the greatest anime ever made, but when you ask why the answer is always "it has amazing music". Just buy a f'ing CD of your obscure hipster trash. And of course, let's not forget that LGBTQ anime par excellence Utena came out in the 90s too, and all the hipster bullshit weebs jumped on that shit to show how "avant garde" they were.

Maybe it was because social media wasn't huge then, but back in the 90s we didn't bash your faux-intellectual navel-gazing bullshit. We just said "you do you" and happily watched Tenchi Muyo or Outlaw Star or whatever other semi-cliched, fun crap we had. But god forbid you like that shit now when grand arbiters of quality like Zac are here to point out how you should be into modern back facing narcissism like Flowers of Evil, and if you can't jump on board his "reliving my adolescent bullshit jack-off party" then you're just an incel, angry about not having your waifu.

 

[I Love Beef]

There's nothing special about the 90s. There was some awesome anime in the 80s and there's been lots of great anime since the 90s. The only thing that keeps people like Zac wallowing in nostalgia is they were all a bunch of emo teens/college kids when Eva came out and that BS "spoke to them on a spiritual level".

I honestly love what you have to say; if there's one correction to make, it would have to be Zac and friends are Gundam diehards who shit on Evangelion for being "too deep" and "dared to overthrow our favorite series." Considering that Zac has immense abuse issues by his dad, sounds to me like a case of projection and trauma to where he's too much of a fucking wuss to dare unfuck himself out of. Never knew Gendo was such a reminder of his shit childhood. I'd say he needs a shrink and sedation, but that's too little for a cuckoo clock like him.

Unpopular opinions coming in this paragraph by the way; Personally, mecha anime is rather niche for me- The use of siege weapons that can devastate and wipe out cities are made less impressive when they barely show the correct levels of mass destruction. Power downscaled series that don't focus on what's more powerful merely on mass destruction potential like Zoids or do show outright unrestrained destruction without restraint like Evangelion are great to me at least. The overt interjection of politics on its thematic scale however, that's pretty laughable regarding Gundam's earlier series and its purpose to admittedly sell cool model kits. This coming from the guy whose only favorite Gundam series are Wing and G by the way for not being drawn out unrealistic setting based dramas about a world with a world government or two and don't wag their finger about "war is bad". TL;DR pre G Gundam series are some overrated shit to me.

Back to the point, a lot of them were heavy mainstream clinging assholes not unlike today's pop nerd culture hipster manlets and soyboys. When they weren't shitting on OAVs and other niche stuff that didn't make them look cool, they were busy playing suck up and cool kid's club pretending they weren't into "degenerate shit". I wouldn't mind the criticisms of floundered OAVs should I had not smelled the bullshit miles away and called foul on their fathead "elite" asses. When a niche has a pecking order shitting on the most niche, that's when you know who's only in it to make up for wedgies and being rejected getting into someone's pants.

We just said "you do you" and happily watched Tenchi Muyo or Outlaw Star or whatever other semi-cliched, fun crap we had. But god forbid you like that shit now when grand arbiters of quality like Zac are here to point out how you should be into modern back facing narcissism like Flowers of Evil, and if you can't jump on board his "reliving my adolescent bullshit jack-off party" then you're just an incel, angry about not having your waifu.

I love how a decade ago they were nostalgia wallowing shitheads who shit on moe as male pedophile bait and prided themselves on liking older shit. Nowadays if you like older stuff and Moe series, you're a "member of the Nazi worshipping honorary white support agenda oppressive male dominated cis patriarchy" and have replaced their interests for what they can feel relevant and important with like a bunch of lonely sex deprived tools. What a wonderful life it is in clownworld.

 

[Scarlett Johansson]

Seems like Hope no longer works for CrunchyRoll and will be crawling back to ANN soon going off recent Tweets

View attachment 1170867

View attachment 1170868

Oh my god I hope she dies


Also hmmm I'm surprised Sevakis didn't pull the gay defense in response to the allegations

 

[BrandedWolf69]

I honestly love what you have to say; if there's one correction to make, it would have to be Zac and friends are Gundam diehards who shit on Evangelion for being "too deep" and "dared to overthrow our favorite series." Considering that Zac has immense abuse issues by his dad, sounds to me like a case of projection and trauma to where he's too much of a fucking wuss to dare unfuck himself out of. Never knew Gendo was such a reminder of his shit childhood. I'd say he needs a shrink and sedation, but that's too little for a cuckoo clock like him.

Unpopular opinions coming in this paragraph by the way; Personally, mecha anime is rather niche for me- The use of siege weapons that can devastate and wipe out cities are made less impressive when they barely show the correct levels of mass destruction. Power downscaled series that don't focus on what's more powerful merely on mass destruction potential like Zoids or do show outright unrestrained destruction without restraint like Evangelion are great to me at least. The overt interjection of politics on its thematic scale however, that's pretty laughable regarding Gundam's earlier series and its purpose to admittedly sell cool model kits. This coming from the guy whose only favorite Gundam series are Wing and G by the way for not being drawn out unrealistic setting based dramas about a world with a world government or two and don't wag their finger about "war is bad". TL;DR pre G Gundam series are some overrated shit to me.

Back to the point, a lot of them were heavy mainstream clinging assholes not unlike today's pop nerd culture hipster manlets and soyboys. When they weren't shitting on OAVs and other niche stuff that didn't make them look cool, they were busy playing suck up and cool kid's club pretending they weren't into "degenerate shit". I wouldn't mind the criticisms of floundered OAVs should I had not smelled the bullshit miles away and called foul on their fathead "elite" asses. When a niche has a pecking order shitting on the most niche, that's when you know who's only in it to make up for wedgies and being rejected getting into someone's pants.


I love how a decade ago they were nostalgia wallowing shitheads who shit on moe as male pedophile bait and prided themselves on liking older shit. Nowadays if you like older stuff and Moe series, you're a "member of the Nazi worshipping honorary white support agenda oppressive male dominated cis patriarchy" and have replaced their interests for what they can feel relevant and important with like a bunch of lonely sex deprived tools. What a wonderful life it is in clownworld.

that's retarded for the singular reason that evagelion is not at all deep unless your a 13-year old edgelord who just discovered moby dick and shakespeare.

I won't devolve into a full blown rant about how it sucks, but i'll just say it did not impress me one bit with its philosophy like other anime would later do, and that's after watching it twice. Like, I'll even say Sword Art Online was deeper in its philosophy.

 

[Kari Kamiya]

To me (note: not an oldtaku, I just try to watch all kinds of anime across decades), anime peaked with End of Evangelion in terms of "Holy shit what the fuck"ery and animation of the time that anime's always been famous for, and that was most likely made as a giant middle finger to the otaku culture, and it's also possible Shinji was always meant to be a mirror for the audience to self-reflect on and make a change. There's still a lot of good anime that has come afterwards, and a lot of my favorites actually are post-Evangelion, but nothing's been able to top that movie in its visuals and influence (especially culturally) except Akira, but that came a decade prior.

I think the '90s was an interesting time in terms of technology and animation, but the 2000s wouldn't have been as great a decade as it was without its predecessors. Even the 2010s had some merit going for it (especially since I think CGI is a natural progression of technology that Japan's still trying to get a hold of), but I get the frustration of believing the "magic" or "soul" of anime was lost with the rise of light novel adaptations and digital animation. I think mecha anime not being able to have a strong foothold in the 2010s is part of the reason why anime feels kinda soulless, but societal norms changing in Japan the last decade I don't think helped matters. That's why the 2020s I feel is going to be a make it-or-break it decade for the industry, especially with the rise of reboots, and hopefully ANN won't live to see the newest changes and trends come to a head. Their screeching can only be tolerated for so long, and it's long stay past its welcome.

 

[Random Internet Person]

In honesty, they fell out years 15 years ago too late. Zac's been a part of ANN since 1998 when they were once known as Protoculture Addicts, and Chris MacDonald as well.

Honestly, I know why and have been there in the 1990s, to know why the decade was so special. It was when anime significantly made its arrival overseas and the magic was real. Badass anime shows with action and serious insight on combat, martial arts, and adaptive tactical expertise; deep series with romantic plots and strings upon strings of relations and driving motives coming to butt heads to create drama. An art style that captures the beauty of the human form with the use of caricatures and the emphasis on anatomy that communicates with us the most. Fantastical story concepts taken seriously to its sometimes realistic and ultimate logical conclusions, or to bask in its essence and show us its pride of what it's made of. Something that blew not only them but us out of the water in that yeah, animation can do this.

But you can't just run on sensation forever. It's what you did with that time and spirit that truly defines the era. They know too well that they were sitting on their laurels and insipid self satisfaction of just merely being fans and hoping that life would just give them something out of merely being a fan for liking "serious animation". This was the 1990s after all; the era that brought us smug cynical spectator deconstruction criticism like Beavis and Butthead and Mystery Science Theater 3000, and when high school garbage was exacerbated with shit like the Spurs Posse and the unchecked ass end of 1980s youth culture.

And without surprise, they were absolute shit in the era coming, when anime finally reached the mainstream and outright flooded the public presence in the early 2000s. They acted too proud to help steer other new zany and spergy fans from not being complete autists and to help lead the overseas fandom to not make dipshits of themselves. Anything that aired, they merely scoffed and waved their hands dismissingly so assured that "what we watch is greatest". They were so high off of their vindictive hipster faggotry, they practically were some of the first assholes to help define hipster faggotry in the first place. The fact that Zac and Chris come from "left wing progressive" areas does not help either, and I say this as a person who doesn't give an absolute fuck about political allegiances if they aren't going to help people in the first place.

So if anything, this was a mess they created themselves and have continued to dig a hole to dig themselves deeper with. Like they think what they have watched and aired gives them "taste"? Ask any motherfucker off of the street the same thing and you'll get infinitely different responses. Their "opinions" are really worth as much as the piece of trash you can find out in the parking lot, because opinions in taste, everyone fucking has one. This is why I preach on and on about creating shit and establishing trends and standards with work and effort: because evidence talks, bullshit walks. You can't define that with yapping your mouth and running your fingers through a keyboard while doing nothing but watching shit to "build up a lexicon of good works". The only artist on their side is Zac's sister Robin, and it's laughable at how she's a fickle undedicated webcomic entry level artist. They've tried to make manga of their own, and that was when Zac was married with Hope when she decided to gain a penis. How long did that last? Barely even half a year. Yeah, "taste". If anything they appear to like stale weather worn animal feces that occasionally pops up on the pavement and on lawns apparently. Thanks to them, the States will never be able to get what it wants out of anime without looking like a bunch of whiny entitled faggot inbred hicks and soyboys like the people down at ANN and their shit associates, or even better yet, a bunch of laughable talentless gallless coward nerds who will never amount to more than anything but blind autistic consumers. They had a chance to set a standard for fans and the States, now they get to enjoy what they made of that time.

The point is that this is how twisted and fucked holding a facade of interest while keeping an ever growing abyss of a black hole of entitlement will get you. They've held on to ANN like some last bastion of hope for their warped sense of interests that now they've gone deserted island levels of insane and have started turning to buttfucking and making dicks out of their own thigh meat out of how alone and pathetic they are. What's even more laughable is that they think this gives them the right to drag the world down with them. Like they think they have a point to prove out of art that they're merely spectators of? That's cute. Hopefully they'll let us know when they're done having some 1990s weeaboo inferiority complex about how Japan can only make anime and proudly sponsoring drag queens to make people look the other way when they're blaming lolicon and diddling actual kids.

This makes perfect sense in regards to the cronyism in ANN and especially the podcast. Zac and Lynzee can't go 5 minutes without swearing, have shitty film references as intros to the podcast, Zac's incessant condescending towards anything Lynzee says and unwanted and unnecessary movie talk before passive aggressively talking about anime and how shitty it and its fanbase is, but not Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken since it keeps making Zac's micropenis hard and justifies it is all about art and how "pure" it is.

There's nothing special about the 90s. There was some awesome anime in the 80s and there's been lots of great anime since the 90s. The only thing that keeps people like Zac wallowing in nostalgia is they were all a bunch of emo teens/college kids when Eva came out and that BS "spoke to them on a spiritual level". Yeah, you're so alone but still special and important and the world revolves around you and your inability to communicate with other people like a mature or even mentally stable human being. Or, Lupin III has been around since the 60s and Cowboy Bebop was basically just "Lupin in space", but all the hipster nerds love Yoko Kanno's jazz medley and so hold that shit up as the greatest anime ever made, but when you ask why the answer is always "it has amazing music". Just buy a f'ing CD of your obscure hipster trash. And of course, let's not forget that LGBTQ anime par excellence Utena came out in the 90s too, and all the hipster bullshit weebs jumped on that shit to show how "avant garde" they were.

Maybe it was because social media wasn't huge then, but back in the 90s we didn't bash your faux-intellectual navel-gazing bullshit. We just said "you do you" and happily watched Tenchi Muyo or Outlaw Star or whatever other semi-cliched, fun crap we had. But god forbid you like that shit now when grand arbiters of quality like Zac are here to point out how you should be into modern back facing narcissism like Flowers of Evil, and if you can't jump on board his "reliving my adolescent bullshit jack-off party" then you're just an incel, angry about not having your waifu.

To me (note: not an oldtaku, I just try to watch all kinds of anime across decades), anime peaked with End of Evangelion in terms of "Holy shit what the fuck"ery and animation of the time that anime's always been famous for, and that was most likely made as a giant middle finger to the otaku culture, and it's also possible Shinji was always meant to be a mirror for the audience to self-reflect on and make a change. There's still a lot of good anime that has come afterwards, and a lot of my favorites actually are post-Evangelion, but nothing's been able to top that movie in its visuals and influence (especially culturally) except Akira, but that came a decade prior.

I think the '90s was an interesting time in terms of technology and animation, but the 2000s wouldn't have been as great a decade as it was without its predecessors. Even the 2010s had some merit going for it (especially since I think CGI is a natural progression of technology that Japan's still trying to get a hold of), but I get the frustration of believing the "magic" or "soul" of anime was lost with the rise of light novel adaptations and digital animation. I think mecha anime not being able to have a strong foothold in the 2010s is part of the reason why anime feels kinda soulless, but societal norms changing in Japan the last decade I don't think helped matters. That's why the 2020s I feel is going to be a make it-or-break it decade for the industry, especially with the rise of reboots, and hopefully ANN won't live to see the newest changes and trends come to a head. Their screeching can only be tolerated for so long, and it's long stay past its welcome.

Sounds to me like a lot of ANN’s problems is rooted in all the hipster points they accumulated. I know 4Kids didn’t do anime in America any favors, since thanks to them, One Piece is nowhere near as popular here as it is in Japan.

 

[GenericReviewerDraco]

Sounds to me like a lot of ANN’s problems is rooted in all the hipster points they accumulated. I know 4Kids didn’t do anime in America any favors, since thanks to them, One Piece is nowhere near as popular here as it is in Japan.

The only time bad localization stopped the popularity of a series was Saint Seiya's dub, and that's because that dub was so bad didn't even have ironic merit like 4kids One Piece (most bad dubs of normie shonen shows have ironic merit). DBZ, Sailor Moon, and YGO were dumpster fire tier localizations and made bank and are relevant in cultural osmosis; hell Digimon, despite its wonky dub was relevant.

One Piece's anime pacing is more likely to kill its popularity than shit localizing.

 

[Kari Kamiya]

Sounds to me like a lot of ANN’s problems is rooted in all the hipster points they accumulated. I know 4Kids didn’t do anime in America any favors, since thanks to them, One Piece is nowhere near as popular here as it is in Japan.

A lot of people are turned off by the cartoony style like it did for me when 4KIDS had it. Some people actually got into One Piece thanks to 4KIDS (Tekking101 is one such example, and so were my brothers), although they recognize now it was not a good dub (except for Zolo's voice actor).

Also pirates aren't as popular in America as much anymore. I'm thinking 4KIDS only got it because Pirates of the Caribbean had gotten stupid popular and thought they could make bank on that, only to find out two episodes in it was a nightmare to deal with what with the FCC breathing down their necks.

 

[Random Internet Person]

The only time bad localization stopped the popularity of a series was Saint Seiya's dub, and that's because that dub was so bad didn't even have ironic merit like 4kids One Piece (most bad dubs of normie shonen shows have ironic merit). DBZ, Sailor Moon, and YGO were dumpster fire tier localizations and made bank and are relevant in cultural osmosis; hell Digimon, despite its wonky dub was relevant.

One Piece's anime pacing is more likely to kill its popularity than shit localizing.

The pacing is probably my biggest beef with One Piece. Oda constantly raises question after question after question and never bothers to answer them or just pushes it back to ask MORE questions. It’s like he’s in the worldbuilding phase that you do before you start and the only things he’s completed are “figure out what your characters are” and “solidify rules of the powers” .

 

[xyz741]

Also pirates aren't as popular in America as much anymore. I'm thinking 4KIDS only got it because Pirates of the Caribbean had gotten stupid popular and thought they could make bank on that, only to find out two episodes in it was a nightmare to deal with what with the FCC breathing down their necks.

I think a lot of people are turned off by the artistic style of One Piece, but it's bigger issue as a series is that you NEED to stick with it to really get into it. In the early episodes the stakes are non-existent and the plot is cartoonishly goofy. This is what Dragonball vs. Dragonball Z has, the problem is that One Piece doesn't have a clean break between "early" (Dragonball) and "later" (DBZ), and worse, even if you jump to say the timeskip, there's a TON of backstory that's important. With DBZ, you can summarize the Dragonball info needed really fast, but you can't do that with OP. In this sense it's more like Naruto which (like One Piece) also has a large supporting cast, but unlike OP, Naruto comes out of the gate strong and grabs the viewer with the early stories while they're still introducing characters. IF you can get into it, One Piece has an amazing world and some incredible characters, but it's incredibly daunting to look at it from deep in the run and can easily be off-putting at the start. Japan has a lot more people that truly "grew up with" One Piece.

The pacing is probably my biggest beef with One Piece. Oda constantly raises question after question after question and never bothers to answer them or just pushes it back to ask MORE questions. It’s like he’s in the worldbuilding phase that you do before you start and the only things he’s completed are “figure out what your characters are” and “solidify rules of the powers” .

I think everything post time skip (if I look back) makes me think Oda just REALLY likes introducing characters. The fact that he drilled down into SO many random characters in Dressrosa got exhausting, and Wano has turned into a slog for the same reason. The flashback that the manga has been in for what seems like forever is pretty insane. I mean, the story is still interesting, but the main plot before it was setting up a big battle and then he's just like, OK now lemme give you an infodump of backstory on characters you didn't know before for a year.

 

[5t3n0g0ph3r]

The irony of this tweet:

Christophe Macdonald on Twitter

“I've been waiting for this. Decentralized websites built on blockchain and/or peer-to-peer tech has been an obvious next step in the battle against censorship for years now. Now to see if it works... https://t.co/jw2T3YVthP”

twitter.com

Christophe Macdonald on Twitter: "I've been waiting for this. Decentr…

archived 11 Mar 2020 20:28:31 UTC

archive.vn

Also, Macdonald's passport woes:

Christophe Macdonald on Twitter

“I have no clue how much time I've spent in Japan now. 2, maybe 3 years ?? Pity one of my passports was confiscated by @PassportCan when I reported it lost, but then found it again.”

twitter.com

Christophe Macdonald on Twitter: "I have no clue how much time I've s…

archived 11 Mar 2020 20:29:31 UTC

archive.vn

Christophe Macdonald on Twitter

“Fun story: I couldn't find my passport while in the USA once, so I called @PassportCan to let them know. Found it the next day, safe in my hotel room, and called them back. Traveled on it for the next 3 years, in & out of Canada with no problem.”

twitter.com

Christophe Macdonald on Twitter: "Fun story: I couldn't find my passp…

archived 11 Mar 2020 20:31:18 UTC

archive.vn

Christophe Macdonald on Twitter

“@PassportCan @PassportCan If I need a information from a passport that you've confiscated, do you actually keep that, or would it have been destroyed years ago ?”

twitter.com

Christophe Macdonald on Twitter: "@PassportCan If I need a informatio…

archived 11 Mar 2020 20:31:08 UTC

archive.vn

I thought you liked your website being called the "New York Times of Anime," Chris?

Christophe Macdonald on Twitter

“I love @NAR , but I just can't bring myself to pay for online access to all the great newspapers out there that I enjoy reading one or two articles a week on. I'd be spending hundreds a month. I currently subscribe to @NYT, @WIRED and @TheEconomist”

twitter.com

Christophe Macdonald on Twitter: "I love @NAR , but I just can't brin…

archived 11 Mar 2020 20:30:50 UTC

archive.vn

 

[Random Internet Person]

I think a lot of people are turned off by the artistic style of One Piece, but it's bigger issue as a series is that you NEED to stick with it to really get into it. In the early episodes the stakes are non-existent and the plot is cartoonishly goofy. This is what Dragonball vs. Dragonball Z has, the problem is that One Piece doesn't have a clean break between "early" (Dragonball) and "later" (DBZ), and worse, even if you jump to say the timeskip, there's a TON of backstory that's important. With DBZ, you can summarize the Dragonball info needed really fast, but you can't do that with OP. In this sense it's more like Naruto which (like One Piece) also has a large supporting cast, but unlike OP, Naruto comes out of the gate strong and grabs the viewer with the early stories while they're still introducing characters. IF you can get into it, One Piece has an amazing world and some incredible characters, but it's incredibly daunting to look at it from deep in the run and can easily be off-putting at the start. Japan has a lot more people that truly "grew up with" One Piece.


I think everything post time skip (if I look back) makes me think Oda just REALLY likes introducing characters. The fact that he drilled down into SO many random characters in Dressrosa got exhausting, and Wano has turned into a slog for the same reason. The flashback that the manga has been in for what seems like forever is pretty insane. I mean, the story is still interesting, but the main plot before it was setting up a big battle and then he's just like, OK now lemme give you an infodump of backstory on characters you didn't know before for a year.

I think that’s because Oda has a lot of moving part with every character, place, backstory, and he has the editorial freedom to connect every last one of those pieces in a nice little bow, however long that takes. The only thing keeping Oda in good graces is that the story and characters are done so well that nobody minds Oda dragging his feet.

 

[5t3n0g0ph3r]

The Rising of the Shield Hero Stage Play Reveals More Character Visuals

Play runs in Osaka from March 27-29, Tokyo from April 2-12

www.animenewsnetwork.com

http://archive.vn/y8g0Z

I love how these pearl-clutching shits have to report on Rising of the Shield Hero, despite hating it.
I also love that they make no references to the "controversies" surrounding it.
It's almost as if they made a mountain out of a molehill.

 

[TheClappening]

The Rising of the Shield Hero Stage Play Reveals More Character Visuals

Play runs in Osaka from March 27-29, Tokyo from April 2-12

www.animenewsnetwork.com

http://archive.vn/y8g0Z

I love how these pearl-clutching shits have to report on Rising of the Shield Hero, despite hating it.
I also love that they make no references to the "controversies" surrounding it.
It's almost as if they made a mountain out of a molehill.

Speaking of that, the fuck is up with his left index finger

 

[Pedro Sanchez]

I honestly love what you have to say; if there's one correction to make, it would have to be Zac and friends are Gundam diehards who shit on Evangelion for being "too deep" and "dared to overthrow our favorite series." Considering that Zac has immense abuse issues by his dad, sounds to me like a case of projection and trauma to where he's too much of a fucking wuss to dare unfuck himself out of. Never knew Gendo was such a reminder of his shit childhood. I'd say he needs a shrink and sedation, but that's too little for a cuckoo clock like him.

That might have been true in the past, but Zac adores Eva now and worships it. Although it has nothing to do with the writing or story and all because he came out of the closet as bisexual after Hope came out and treats Shinji as an "iconic bi disaster" and projects himself onto him. Of course, he fails to realize all the Shinji x Kaworu stuff is framed and pandered for horny teen girls, not middle aged dudes to see themselves in