Now if you're going to teabag, this is how you do it
tags:
Stumble ThisThe Japanese can teach the American teabaggers a thing or two. EDIT: I had to replace the embed today (Sept. 8, 2009) because the original was yanked from YouTube. This is a longer version, so you have to go exactly to the 5:00 mark for the tanuki testicle battle. It's also dubbed in French, but it's not important for this scene.
It really bothers me that my country doesn't produce this kind of entertainment.
I'd say wow, but I'm afraid of opening my mouth now.
It really bothers me that my country doesn't produce this kind of entertainment.
I hope you're kidding. After watching this I'm upset that we only dropped 2 nukes.
PS: Anyone who appreciates dark comedy should ask LordOderus about his "2 big chunks of land" story from high school.
This is undoubtedly more WTF, but I remember another scene where one uses his scrote-sack as a blanket and they all have a picnic off it.
http://www.videosift.com/video/Huge-Breasts-and-Testicles-on-Anthropamorphic-Animals
Kaze mo nai no ni,
Bura bura
>> ^grinter:
Could someone please explain to me what is going on with the Japanese and huge raccoon testicles?
http://www.videosift.com/video/Huge-Breasts-and-Testicles-on-Anthropamorphic-Animals
Tanuki, which is the animal in both this clip and the one you linked, are known for having large testicles.
>> ^grinter:
Could someone please explain to me what is going on with the Japanese and huge raccoon testicles?
http://www.videosift.com/video/Huge-Breasts-and-Testicles-on-Anthropamorphic-Animals
That picture on the wikipedia page... OMG... O_O
Tanuki, which is the animal in both this clip and the one you linked, are known for having large testicles.
Also, they can temporarily turn into a statue that is impervious to damage.
I hope you're kidding. After watching this I'm upset that we only dropped 2 nukes.
Too soon?
This gets a WTF from me in the sense of 'Really, people older than about 12 years old find this sort of stuff entertaining?'
Really, Anime fricken leaves me so cold. People wax on and on and on and on about how it's so damn superior to western animation, but really, so much of it is lazy (a LOT has an awful lot of static image in the frame with barely a mouth moving), outlets for the repression of the Japanese culture. The amount of violence and sexual abuse that is in these things is truly horrible. I found the violence funny when I was a kid, but after that, it just bores the pants off me.
"I hope you're kidding. After watching this I'm upset that we only dropped 2 nukes.
Too soon?"
No, just in time.
>> ^xxovercastxx:
I hope you're kidding. After watching this I'm upset that we only dropped 2 nukes.
Too soon?
Too white
Really, Anime fricken leaves me so cold. People wax on and on and on and on about how it's so damn superior to western animation, but really, so much of it is lazy (a LOT has an awful lot of static image in the frame with barely a mouth moving), outlets for the repression of the Japanese culture.
Really you made that entire conclusion from watching a short segment of the entire film and what you saw on Nickelodeon?
The entire film is centered around animals fighting mans encroaching development on their forest, packaged in this cute way that sometimes borders on the ridiculous for western viewers but is actually highly relevant to Japanese folklore and mythology.
How you watched anime films like Grave of the Fireflies? Perfect Blue? Millennium Actress?
I don't think you explored enough in the genre to make such a statement, its like saying all Hollywood films suck because they are all centered around violence and sex.
This doesn't get a WTF from me in the sense of 'Holy cow, are they really doing that?'
This gets a WTF from me in the sense of 'Really, people older than about 12 years old find this sort of stuff entertaining?'
Really, Anime fricken leaves me so cold. People wax on and on and on and on about how it's so damn superior to western animation, but really, so much of it is lazy (a LOT has an awful lot of static image in the frame with barely a mouth moving), outlets for the repression of the Japanese culture. The amount of violence and sexual abuse that is in these things is truly horrible. I found the violence funny when I was a kid, but after that, it just bores the pants off me.
This is like dissing American music because of shitty radio artists or awful rappers. As if only them define the whole medium.
I have no idea what you have watched, and even if it is the worst of eastern animation (as it seems based on what you wrote), it does not follow you can then generalize about such a huge form of media. AS WITH ANY form of media that big, there are gems and there is crap. The gems are harder to find, and the crap stands out. Farhad gave you three excellent ones. Try them.
Ghost in the Shell: Reasonably entertaining back when I watched it many moons ago
Princess Mononoke: It was so hyped by a co-worker a number of years back... watched it, was very bored by it
Ninja Scroll: Pretty sure I watched this one way back, was ok I think... nothing amazing
An Episode of Cowboy Bebop: Yup...
And a host of other ones I have seen portions of, or started to watch and couldn't make it very far through. And also all the ones I used to watch as a kid (Astro boy, Star Blazers etc.), and I enjoyed them when I was pre teen, but they were very poorly animated.
You'll probably write me off as some mainstream, big budget loving waste of space who wouldn't watch a foreign language film if he was paid to... but you'd discover that was patently false (not to say I don't enjoy big budget films too).
I just don't like Anime. Fine if you do, but if you try to justify a movie with animals using their ballsacks as parachutes and landing devices as something that's relevant to folklore and mythology, sorry, you lose me.
This doesn't get a WTF from me in the sense of 'Holy cow, are they really doing that?'
This gets a WTF from me in the sense of 'Really, people older than about 12 years old find this sort of stuff entertaining?'
Really, Anime fricken leaves me so cold. People wax on and on and on and on about how it's so damn superior to western animation, but really, so much of it is lazy (a LOT has an awful lot of static image in the frame with barely a mouth moving), outlets for the repression of the Japanese culture. The amount of violence and sexual abuse that is in these things is truly horrible. I found the violence funny when I was a kid, but after that, it just bores the pants off me.
How do you know this anime was made for people above the age of 12? Studio Ghibli films are usually for kids, I thought.
As for the rest of your post, I certainly spend more time enjoying animation that's "Made in Japan" than animation that's "Made in America", but I don't see why I should care either way. I'm an American. If I draw a shitty cartoon in my basement, am I automatically an example of shitty American animation? At what point is my failure my own and not my country's? Factor in multi-national corporations/ownership and the whole issue becomes even more muddled. Dreamworks and Pixar, to my knowledge, are the sole two animation companies in "The West" that are admired, and Dreamworks is owned by an Indian company based in Mumbai. Elsewhere, multiple anime titles have been and are being produced by Japanese studios specifically to appeal to "Western" audiences (read: white middle class youth), or at the very least significantly factor in their interests.
Anyway, the giant budget 3D animated movies cost dozens of millions of dollars to produce, and only offer up perhaps 90 minutes of entertainment after years of production time (The Incredibles cost $92 million, Wall-E: a whopping $180 million). Because of the massive budgets these movies require, the scripts of these films rarely take any risks. Everything's rated G and has a story that is very "lowest common denominator" in my eyes. I'm getting far too old to enjoy these films beyond their technical merits, since their target audience is primarily below the age of 14.
Meanwhile, partially due to smaller budget requirements in anime production, I can choose all sorts of anime that tries to cater to a slightly older crowd. Very little anime attempts to appeal to anyone above the age of 30, but even in the "age 13-18" type shows, there's interesting themes to chew on. One of my fav animes, Gundam, is basically Star Trek with robots. Its creators have described the show as a humanist show, and the shows take on imperialism, racism, and war really line up with what I saw in the humanist Star Trek shows (I loved TNG/DS9). Since Star Trek has been dead for a while, it's nice to have a place to go to (btw: the upcoming movie will abandon much of what the shows were about in favor of violence and sex). Most Gundam shows are about a teenage boy who hops into a war robot, gets traumatized by war, manipulated by corrupt politicians into fighting questionable wars, and deals with issues of imperialism. Not the most intellectually challenging stuff in the world, I know, but it sure beats what I've seen in stuff like 24 or Heroes and a lot of other dramas on the major networks. And those are aimed at considerably older demographics. I think the much smaller budget requirements of anime helps studios create things for niche demographics (such as sci-fi loving humanists) and that's good for me. Are they technically superior to something like Wall-E? Not by a long shot. But a 1,000 minute Gundam series didn't cost $180 million every 90 minutes either, and yet still left me more entertained.
>> ^spoco2:
How you watched anime films like Grave of the Fireflies?
Everyone: you owe it to yourself to see Grave of the Fireflies. Sure, you may be stuck in the worst depression of your life for a few weeks after watching it, but trust me, it'll be worth it.
"Some critics (most notably Roger Ebert) consider it to be one of the most powerful anti-war movies ever made. Animation historian Ernest Rister compares the film to Steven Spielberg's Schindler's List and says, "it is the most profoundly human animated film I've ever seen.""
Really, Anime fricken leaves me so cold. People wax on and on and on and on about how it's so damn superior to western animation, but really, so much of it is lazy...
Well, I generally think that orchestral music is better than "hip hop", but that doesn't mean that all orchestral music is good or that all hip hop is bad.
As far as japanese anime, there is some crap out there, but there is some amazing stuff too. Princess Mononoke is wonderful, as is Cowboy Bebop (NOT the english version, holy crap it sucks).
There is also some very good american anime (I count Pixar in that), but I think the japanese really were the main ones pushing animation as an art form rather than saturday morning children's entertainment.
Anime films I've watched include:
Ghost in the Shell: Reasonably entertaining back when I watched it many moons ago
Princess Mononoke: It was so hyped by a co-worker a number of years back... watched it, was very bored by it
Ninja Scroll: Pretty sure I watched this one way back, was ok I think... nothing amazing
An Episode of Cowboy Bebop: Yup...
The Ghost in the Shell series is way better than the movie. Ninja Scroll is neat... I could watch it again, but it isn't high only "best of" list. Cowboy Bebop is great, though one episode in the middle of a continuous storyline won't give you a good idea of its merits.
Also, if you're watching these in english (with the possible exceptions of Mononoke or FLCL) then I can definitely see why you think japanese anime sucks.