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Yozakura-san Chi no Mini Sakusen for your Twitter originals (part 2) Interest Stack ❤

Hey, I saw your signature in the forums! It said "You all need to watch Nami" with a link to it. I was interested, but the link broke! Could it be there was a typo? I can't find it by looking it up here in MAL.

no p

thanks🙏

What's up dude?! Sent you an invite for an ART club, did you get it?! Will you be joining us?!🙏

that's chill

goddamn did you watch every single anime on the site?

Yeah, I think the president thing is funny too, I was just using it as an example of how Baki is illogical.

I agree, "Baki-Dou II" kinda lacks a point by the end. I think the idea was to show a battle between traditional and new methods of fighting, but it didn't really go anywhere.

Considering most people never try to look past the surface with this series, I also appreciate the discussion. Even if we disagree on some things, it's cool to see a different perspective.

Even if you believe some of these moments are justified thematically, comedically, or another way (Some are imo), it doesn't change the fact that it often reads like a pro-Japanese anti-US power fantasy. I'd compare it to when there's excessive fanservice in something. Will a panty shot ruin the story for me? In most cases, no. Will it take me out of the experience and annoy me? Yes, in most cases. Some stories even write plot reasons why sexualization is present (example: Quiet from Metal Gear). Often though, one can tell that those reasons only exist to justify fanservice and sexualization. Even if such moments are benign, they're still annoying. That's how Baki feels with some of its Anti-US moments. Yuichiro's backstory doesn't really hurt the story, but does it actually contribute anything? Not for me personally, so it's hard to see it as anything but another power fantasy where a Japanese guy beats up a bunch of Americans. Some moments have a little more justification, but the reasoning still stands to an extent.

On some level though, it seems we enjoy this series for different reasons. My ability to take the story seriously stopped long ago, and story has never been a main appeal for this series personally. Considering the US had Bush, Obama, Trump, and Biden as president all within like 3 years in-universe, it's not as if Baki has ever been that devoted to details and logic. If the story had to sacrifice a little more logic to actually do something different, I'd be all for it. That's really my biggest problem with both "Baki-Dou" mangas: They're just formulaic and going through the motions. It happens that one of the motions it goes through is Pro-Japan and Anti-US moments (Although I remember much less of this kind of stuff in the Musashi Arc). Despite the fact that what happened with Ali Jr could be considered an America hate moment, I really enjoyed it because it was so unexpected. At this point though, I kinda expect stuff like that to happen. To put it bluntly, I don't see much value in selective logic where things only sometimes make sense. I believe the realistic setting does enhance the manga a bit, as it contrasts the insane characters, but I really wouldn't mind it if Itagaki did something really crazy to keep the story fresh. If you look at the plot in an unironic way, I'd get the sentiment that the anti-US doesn't really hurt the plot, but I'd also say that it suffers from plenty of other issues.

In reference to my "Baki-Dou II" review? Yeah, in isolation you have a point. It's not unusual for Itagaki to give strong characters a beating to set up a new guy, after all. However, considering how often America hate happens in the series, it feels like Oliver getting a rematch was just an exception to the rule. Just look at Muhammed Ali Jr's character, the Prison Arc (Especially the ending), Yuichiro's backstory, Yujiro's whole relationship with the US government, and many other minor examples. You have to admit there's a lot of these kinds of moments in the series.

The fact that Sumo lost 5 to 1 doesn't even really matter in this context because their opponents were also Japanese. Their loss doesn't really change the fact that they were set up by having them beat up Americans in particular. Isn't it a little odd that in a series with mostly Japanese fighters, Itagaki specifically chose to have all of those guys be westerners? Again, this would be pretty inconspicuous in isolation, but it's a pattern at this point. If there was actual commentary behind hating America that could be interesting, but all it usually equates to is a Japanese guy beating up Americans. I honestly thought the anti-America slant was funny for a bit, but the joke gets old when you see it so many times.

I also want to ensure you that I wouldn't have loved "Baki-Dou II" if not for this stuff. Even if the stuff with Oliver isn't America hate, it's still poor writing in my opinion. If Oliver had more page time there could've been an interesting rivalry between him and Sukuna, but the execution of his rematch was very flippant and rushed. Thankfully, "Baki Rahen" has a lot of potential to be the mixup this series has needed for a while, but whether or not it'll entirely work out remains to be seen...

(I just realize my response didn't go through so I'll type it down again. Sorry for late response)

That's true. I mainly watch avant-garde and ovas now since I don't have the time to binge watch anime anymore. With seasonals, I can just watch a few episodes each week.

I wholeheartedly agree, especially with manga. Most of what I like about animanga has to do with its creative liberties. It's a medium where accommodations aren't as prominent since Japan doesn't demonize subject matters as much as other 1st world nations. Even when the series is a mess, there can still be something enjoyable about it.

It also explains why bad anime is more enjoyable than bad cartoons, live-action shows, or film.

I see that you finished reading With the Light and enjoyed it. How was it compared to Asper Kanojo?

I liked your classroom of the elite review a lot :) I wasn’t expecting much cause I thought it would just be another harem series marketed at teenage boys but it was just ok like you said. It was entertaining enough but I think there are better novels to spend time on

sure !! I can tell by our rating scores that we seem to appreciate a lot of the same anime :)

thanks for accepting my fr !!

Hey!

Regarding the Bootlegs/Rip-offs interest stack, I think you should take out Dive!, first it's not even similar to Free besides that its a sports anime with students, but then you could list every other sports anime too. Second, Dive's novel is from 2000, the manga is from 2007 so if its a rip-off, then Free! is the ripoff of Dive because that's an original from 2013, way after Dive's source materials.

Na. Those grannies are gonna have to go over me if they want to kiss eachother. Srry i don't make the rules