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bluefirebrand a day ago

I was putting a lot of thought into this just yesterday, talking with some friends about the "Thing: Japan" phenomenon

It's important to recognize that any discussion about Japanese media outside of Japan is more or less only receiving the media that Japan is exporting to the world. Yes there are exceptions to this, people going out of their way to fan sub shows and such, but for the majority of Western people who are experiencing Japanese media it is very mainstream popular stuff like Studio Ghibli films and the most popular anime

With that said, I think the approach Japan has towards making media is very different than Western studios, especially when it comes to depictions of real world Japan

American TV and writing is very cynical about America. Consider the common depictions of rural America in most American media (rednecks, racist, boring, dirty) to the common depictions of rural Japan in Japanese media (idyllic, colorful, spiritual, friendly)

Even compare how a fictional Japanese city is depicted in the Yakuza game series (where you play a criminal doing crimes) and how a fictional American city is depicted in the Grand Theft Auto series (where you play a criminal doing crimes)

I really think Japanese creators like Japan more than American creators like America, and it shows through their work by smoothing over a lot of the rough edges of Japanese society

ffsm8 a day ago | parent [-]

> Yes there are exceptions to this, people going out of their way to fan sub shows and such,

I agree that the well known works are usually the better productions, but that detail is wrong. Crunchyroll puts out almost everything that's currently being released, including complete nonsense like reincarnated as a vending machine

And while I'd agree that most Japanese authors seem to have gigantic pride for their culture, it does get old because it's become such a trope to introduce Japanese culture/food as the best thing ever created...

I mean I'm more likely to watch an anime then the woke garbage the west is currently producing, but I think the main reason is because our own productions have so massively dropped in quality.

There just hasn't been another series such as Dexter, Breaking Bad etc in over 10 yrs now... If there were, I think anime would be a lot less relevant right now.

bluefirebrand a day ago | parent [-]

> I agree that the well known works are usually the better productions, but that detail is wrong. Crunchyroll puts out almost everything that's currently being released

Japan produces a lot more media than just anime, the west does not see most of it. When was the last time you saw a live action Japanese procedural crime show localized to English? Or really any live action Japanese shows that aren't something like Kamen Rider or Godzilla?

Also, arguably the only reason Crunchyroll even exists today is because of dedicated fan subs making Japanese media available for decades

ffsm8 a day ago | parent | next [-]

That's true, my mind just instantly jumped to anime because of the word fansub.

I think most people would also agree that anime, manga (and games as a distant third) are the main cultural exports of Japan, while life action movies/series are often centered around American productions

bluefirebrand a day ago | parent [-]

Yeah, which is why in my original post I wrote:

"It's important to recognize that any discussion about Japanese media outside of Japan is more or less only receiving the media that Japan is exporting to the world"

Which is a really just a long winded way of saying "The majority Japanese media we are exposed to is anime, manga and games"

plorkyeran a day ago | parent | prev [-]

Arguably? Crunchyroll started as a pirate streaming site that hosted fansubs before they went legit.