UTMC

Here's one for all you soy fuckers out there... you cruel, heartless, vegetarian motherfuckers, how could you?!?

<object width="640" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/1gD8nV8RlPU&re ... ram><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/1gD8nV8RlPU&re ... edded&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowScriptAccess="always" width="640" height="385"></embed></object>


--Jaeger

I'm glad I eat critters. That was spooky.

Truly, I shall never disrespect a potato again!

The Japanese Are Very Odd

Yeah, no shit.

Ahahahaha you found Dai Mahou Touge! Have you seen Bokusatsu Tenshi? Same people did both series. Dokuro-chan is awesome.

<object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/9ELRZ08hNaU&hl ... ram><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/9ELRZ08hNaU&hl=en_US&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>

<object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/Z5zg4ENQfro&hl ... ram><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/Z5zg4ENQfro&hl=en_US&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>

Hyperbole bushido/mindless self sacrifice/confucian patriarchy ego bullshit as portrayed in this cute cartoon is one of my major dislikes about Japan. It seems pretty harmless when its vegetables sacrificing themselves physically or pushing each other in (while apologizing), for the good of the greater curry pot. This dynamic is present in most Japanese media whether it is cutesy anime or "non-fiction" dramas.

As a foreigner, it ruined a lot of otherwise interesting things for me and made it hard to engage fully with a lot of people.

This sort of societal obligation stuff is present everywhere, be it the stereotypical salaryman putting in ridiculous amounts of overtime while bowing and scraping the whole way, the full time housewife/mother/daughter expected to unquestioningly accommodate everyone else, school children forced to commit to being institutionally pegged to a sport, lofty academic goal, etc. from an early age. From a distance all of these quirky Japanese societal things seem quaint but in reality, the figurative example of skinning yourself because it is an unexplained expectation of you insidiously awaits most Japanese in many very literal ways.

Fortunately, this isn't the norm for many people but more often than not these people are portrayed as low class, unsophisticated, uneducated or otherwise uncultured. Maybe as a consequent of their substandard ethics, these people usually seem the most happy and laid-back I ran into. These were certainly the people I had the best time with and count as my friends in Japan.

I could go on but it is probably best to save the rest of this rant for another time.

I know Jonny has his own take on this topic....

Americans are very odd too...


<object width="512" height="288"><param name="movie" value="http://www.hulu.com/embed/VQ0c0eRxMWGVl ... ram><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed src="http://www.hulu.com/embed/VQ0c0eRxMWGVl6K9HBT-AQ" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="512" height="288" allowFullScreen="true"></embed></object>


See also... <a href=http://news.yahoo.com/video/sanantoniok ... 59>This</a> or <a href=http://www.glennbeck.com/>This</a>

I'm just sayin'

UndertheGun wrote:Hyperbole bushido/mindless self sacrifice/confucian patriarchy ego bullshit as portrayed in this cute cartoon is one of my major dislikes about Japan. It seems pretty harmless when its vegetables sacrificing themselves physically or pushing each other in (while apologizing), for the good of the greater curry pot. This dynamic is present in most Japanese media whether it is cutesy anime or "non-fiction" dramas.

Could this cartoon be satire, aimed at just that? Is there any room for social criticism in Japanese art, or should this be taken at face value?

Toonce wrote:

UndertheGun wrote:Hyperbole bushido/mindless self sacrifice/confucian patriarchy ego bullshit as portrayed in this cute cartoon is one of my major dislikes about Japan. It seems pretty harmless when its vegetables sacrificing themselves physically or pushing each other in (while apologizing), for the good of the greater curry pot. This dynamic is present in most Japanese media whether it is cutesy anime or "non-fiction" dramas.

Could this cartoon be satire, aimed at just that? Is there any room for social criticism in Japanese art, or should this be taken at face value?

If it is satire it doesn't contain much in the way of critique. I imagine the creators of this cartoon meant this protrayal to be humorous but beyond that do you get much else?
There certainly is amazing Japanese art and literature that is extremely critical of such fucked up societal norms but I haven't noticed it in anything as mainstream/commercial as this.