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Welcome to our quaint bakery. I know we’re out of the way, so you had to come looking for us. Yes, I guess the big sign with our name on it over the forest and the daily airdrop of fliers does help. So, here is our list of products. We would give out samples, but there’s the whole too many powers and possible explosion issue. Enjoy.
- Rye– Increases your tolerance for alcohol. You need to eat the bread within an hour of drinking. The more you eat, the less chance of getting drunk. Does not prevent hangovers.
- White– Grants ability to glow and fire low level light beams. Does not protect you against your own shininess.
- Whole Wheat– Can grow tiny seeds in mouth and fire them like bullets. 50% chance of them just getting stuck in your teeth.
- Bagels– Once ingested, you can expand your body like a balloon and float. You will have a hole in your center, which means organs will shift. Non-lethal, but gas is inevitable upon return to normal.
- Pumpernickel– Can blend into shadows. No control over this power, so it is dangerous to use when walking at night.
- Challah– Body can be twisted and bent like a pipe-cleaner. You will be highly susceptible to guilt trips and have a great urge to kvetch.
- Ciabatta– Can squeeze through any hole. Clothes will not go with you.
- Matzah– Sadness. Just sadness.
- Pita– Grants ability to create pockets on your body. If ability wears off while objects are inside, they will be painlessly rejected through mouth. It doesn’t matter how big they are.
- Potato– Grants all of the powers of a mole. This includes long claws for digging, poor eyesight, and whiskers.
- Brioche– Eater will turn into a white ooze that smells like a dairy-based pudding. You can move like this, but people may try to eat you.
- Cornbread– Enhanced sense of hearing. The baker behind this has a bad sense of humor.
- Focaccia– Grants the ability to heat any liquid that you dip a finger into. The more of you in the liquid, the hotter it gets. Not recommended for public pools.
- Sourdough– Until fully digested, you can secrete a mild acid from your pores. It will have a sour smell.
- Roti– Enhanced strength in the arms due to fists becoming stone blocks. You will not have fingers for duration of powers.
- Soda Bread– Burp out bubbles that can be used in a variety of ways. The bubbles are sturdy and will only pop on command. Sinus pain will occur after extended use.
Legends of Windemere 
This was laugh-out-loud funny. I’m just grateful I hadn’t picked up my coffee cup when I read the description for challah, pita, and brioche! 😊😊😊
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Brioche is downright dangerous.
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Very clever!
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Thanks.
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This is a hilarious post! It’s one way to recontextualize bread into humor. Now I want to go watch Yakitate!! Japan again after reading this.
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I never realized places had National breads.
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Yup! That’s actually a thing. Were you looking up things regarding that anime I mentioned? It’s interesting that countries could have so many topics to have national varieties such as bread, birds, instruments, etc.
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I looked up the anime and caught the line. I kind of understand the national animals. Didn’t expect bread to be a big thing.
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Yup. It’s an interesting motif they brought up even though this anime is intentionally wacky. The Japan wordplay is good since “pan” can also be bread in Japanese (it’s a loan word from Latin, Spanish, etc.) and since the main character’s goal is for his home country to have a national bread that is clearly identifiable and influential, he wanted to call it Japan. It this were literally in Japanese it would be Nihon no Pan (Japanese bread). It was something I watched a bit in my teens when I took Japanese classes and my anime fandom was at an all time high.
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Back when I got into anime, we didn’t have easy access to the whacky ones. Think the weirdest one at the time for us was Excel Saga.
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That’s fine. It has been ages since I’ve seen Excel Saga. Yakitate!! Japan is a bit similar since both series parody various anime and use some Japanese wordplay for some of the jokes, but it’s not as raunchy as that other anime. Comedy anime can be hit-or-miss with me, and I’m not too familiar with most newer series. Most of the anime I watch is in the seinen or artsier realm, but I don’t mind some comedy like Shinesman (Best Power Rangers parody and top 3 best English dubs ever!), for example.
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I tend to stick to the action and fantasy stuff with the occasional sci-fi. The majority of series that I watch is with my son too, so they have to be geared towards his interests. There’s been some parody series that I didn’t realize were parodies too. ‘Kill La Kill’ is supposed to make fun of something, but I couldn’t understand what. ‘Gurren Lagan’ made fun of the large robot genre, but I have to watch it again since I didn’t know that the first time.
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That’s fine. I do like some fantasy and sci-fi stuff. Some of my all time favorites are in that field like Texhnolyze, Haibane Renmei, Gankutsuou, and The Place Promised In Our Early Days to name a few. I heard Kill La Kill was an homage to Cutey Honey and parodies magical girl tropes in addition to the “absurdly powerful student council” trope. Gurren Lagann was a reconstruction of super robot tropes while being an affectionate parody of super robot anime. Keep in mind, that is from the same studio who made Gunbuster and Gainax, so they most likely did some self-aware humor at points since they’ve used those tropes in those two anime projects.
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**Evangelion. Gainax animated EVA, Gunbuster, and Gurren Lagann. Sorry.
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Never knew the studio of Gurren Lagan. Makes sense though. Now that you mention Cutie Honey, I can see the parody.
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Yeah, that was a Gainax work. Most of the people who did Gainax productions involving FLCL and TTGL would eventually leave and make Studio Trigger who would create Kill La Kill, Promare, Darling in the Franxx, and other series and I can tell there’s a continuity with the art style and aesthetics from their works.
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I never got into FLCL. Tried watching it several times. It was interesting, but I never got the massive hype it received.
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That’s fine. I haven’t seen the original in ages, and I haevn’t seen the sequels that came out a few years ago. There were some funny moments, but some parts got too weird for me at times. I never realized how it got so popular, but I think the Adult Swim syndication might have helped which still surprised me a bit since it used to be licensed by a tiny anime company back then.
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Adult Swim definitely boosted it to high levels. A friend of mine loves it and talks about the symbolism. I think it really appealed to certain people.
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Absolutely and they reran the whole 6 episode OVA for years after it debuted here. I’ve heard similar sentiments for FLCL and some other Gainax works. That company has a habit of having fans think that way even if it’s something I liked, but not to MCU fandom levels.
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Adult Swim was really good at reruns. Helped me catch up on things when adulting got in the way.
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Sorry for the delay again. This week has been incredibly busy for me. I wasn’t trying to ignore that comment. I didn’t watch Adult Swim that much, but I certainly watched shows that aired on there. Part of it was because I didn’t always have cable, so I didn’t watch it directly on Cartoon Network unless I was at a friend or relative’s house when I was younger. There were some good anime series including a few that surprised me in hindsight like Paranoia Agent given Satoshi Kon’s typical stuff. It did help get anime some more exposure, but it was frustrating seeing some people who think anime is nothing but DBZ, Pokemon, Yu-Gi-Oh, etc.
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Adult Swim kicked off in 2001, which was when I was in college. So, I was at the perfect age to stay up late to check it out. The reason so many people think anime is primarily DBZ, Pokemon, and Yugioh is because those were on during the day. Those had a bigger child audience. So, you had kids growing up with those as their standards and parents who only knew about those things. Cardcaptor Sakura was another one that slipped in there. I think Sailor Moon too.
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Understood. I definitely remember those shows on and being popular at that time. Same with CCS and Sailor Moon (more so the latter). I have a little sister, so I did watch those with her during my childhood. When I was really getting into anime during my teens, I was exposed to more seinen stuff and some of the artsier movies or series. That’s when I saw how many things were represented in anime and a few series that I legitimately liked I wanted to use as counterarguments to those naysayers to show that not all anime was like that or how there’s more of a breadth of stories compared to Western animation. Haibane Renmei, Yugo the Negotiator, Gankutsuou, and even a Shonen Jump series like Hikaru no Go could shatter expecactions in different ways.
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Back in high school, Sailor Moon was all I had in the morning. Wasn’t even any Adult Swim. So, we learned to appreciate what we could find. College was the more popular stuff with random under the radar things. Then again, this is when Evangelion, Fushigi Yugi, and others were just sneaking over here. The real boom hadn’t started. The reason you have the naysayers is due to culture differences. Americans, especially back then, were raised on cartoons that were almost exclusively comedic. Flintstones, Jetsons, Looney Tunes, and the like were what people knew. Anime differs in that it’s really a story medium more than a genre. Westerners call it a genre because that’s our culture, but I think that just causes more confusion for people who aren’t into it.
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Don’t feel bad about that. There wasn’t much on basic TV back then and most of it was based on syndication instead of being on the main programming blocks. Sure, Pokemon and Digimon were exceptions back then since they were on free superstations. I don’t know if this was the case for you back in the 90s, but UPN had DBZ first before Cartoon Network did and they also had Teknoman (or Tekkaman Blade which is it’s original Japanese name) way back when which was the first anime I saw even though I didn’t know what the term was at the time. Even during my high school and college years, it wasn’t on a boom that it has been the past few years. Not going to lie, I’m a bit jealous of some of these younger fans having clubs readily available at their school when I didn’t when I was in my teens and 20s. That could be a case which I won’t argue with that observation, but I also think it’s ignorance or (at the time) thinking anything animated is “kid’s stuff” which is stupid. If anime like Monster, Yugo the Negotiator, or even Texhnolyze were live action shows, they’d be on HBO or AMC and win all the Emmys. If Satoshi Kon’s movies were live action, they’d win Oscars and Golden Globes. Of course, there would literally be no Black Swan or Reqiuem for a Dream without Perfect Blue since Aronovsky bought the rights to Kon’s film just to recreate the “girl screaming in a bathtub scene” and replace J-pop stars with ballerinas. Double standard, much? It also annoys me when people talk about anime like it’s a genre and not animation that happens to be from another country. Yes, there are worse things to complain about in the world, but I take it you agree that it is frustrating when you hear people talking like that, right? I just wanted to be sure I got that correct.
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Didn’t even have DBZ back on my day. I’m talking early 90’s, so at least my area didn’t have it. Looks like it was only 96-98 that UPN had it very early morning. It moved to CN in 98 since they were connected to the same parent company. The big boom that I remember was in the mid-2000s where you saw it more in stores. Chinatown in NYC had tons of bootlegs of things we couldn’t get on tv. We didn’t care much about anything other than finding new shows. First one I ever bought was Saber Marionette J.
I don’t get frustrated with people calling anime a genre. I see why they think that. All I can do is explain the difference and hope they listen. I used to get really annoyed when a person said anime was for kids. Now, I shrug and ask if they’re willing to watch a scene on YouTube. Hard to say a cartoon is for kids when the scene is about a father merging his daughter with his dog to keep his government license.
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Oh, wow! I guess different TV stations in different states could have affected that. It sounds about right when it debuted in America on UPN. Where I lived, it was on there and then they played a lot of the Frieza Saga after Fox Kids aired on Saturdays when they would play random shows unaffiliated with that block like WMAC Masters and I think the American Mega Man cartoon, if memory serves me correctly. Then it was on CN after the fact. I’ve seen a bit of Saber Marionette J, and I’ve heard the whole series is good. Also, Megumi Hayashibara is a talented voice actress and singer.
If this was me in my teens and early 20s, I would argue with those people. I might do it if anyone is being legitimately stupid, but I’m a lot calmer and would respectfully show them why it’s not all like that with different scenes or other stuff. Thankfully, modern internet technology can allow anyone to watch things instantly more or less. Very good point with that example. Haha! It can also be annoying when people assume negative things even though I have many other interests like international cinema, learning languages, history, Caribbean cricket, or me being a geography nerd in general. You can thank Carmen Sandiego for that when I was knee-high to a globe.
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I did watch WMAC Masters and Mega Man. I don’t remember DBZ being anywhere around at that time. Although, I was doing fencing Saturday mornings and was bigger into the WB and Fox superhero cartoons. Could have sworn Masters was on WB here. Also a Sonic cartoon being before or after Mega Man.
Honestly, I rarely ran into people who bashed anime. The biggest one was my ex-wife’s younger sister. She was the only one I had trouble keeping my cool with because she really went into the ‘cartoons are for kids’. No longer my concern.
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Sometiems I feel like I’m one of the few people who remembers WMAC Masters. Haha! I even had two of the action figures when I was a kid (Tsunami was one of my favorites on that show). That must have been cool doing fencing. I’ve never tried that before. There’s a short documentary about the quadruple amputee fencer Beatrice Vio you can find on Vimeo which was very fascinating. I watched a lot of the Fox stuff like X-Men, Spider-Man, Batman: TAS, and early Power Rangers if you count Sentai/Tokusatsu to be in that field. It’s strange how syndicated shows can be on one channel in one state or even another metro area since Masters was on Fox where I lived despite not being a part of Fox Kids block. Funny enough, I had to explain what the concept of syndicated programming was to a UK blogger since their TV system is a lot different than American TV. That must be different because I don’t remember any Sonic cartoon playing on the same channel as Mega Man where I was from. Maybe that was the situation for the NYC metro area stations then.
Good on you even though that hasn’t happened to me for years. Yikes! Sorry to hear that some ex-in-laws got into your business with the “cartoons are for kids” fallacy when it comes to anime. I hope she has that same energy for Disney adult fans, and I’ll leave it at that. I don’t blame you for feeling heated in a conversation like that with her.
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Masters only went for two seasons. Felt longer, but I guess that’s why most don’t remember it. Barely remember the details myself. Fencing was fun, but I haven’t done it 20 years. Just lost the time and places to do it. Got me through high school and college though. To be fair with syndication stuff, I jumped around channels and taped stuff all the time. It’s entirely possible that I also made my own cartoon scheduling to cover blocks where I wasn’t interested in stuff.
Treading into dangerous water, but we both know why Disney gets a cultural pass. Animated movies in western culture have always been exempt from the accusations. It isn’t even just Disney. Land Before Time, American Tail, All Dogs Go to Heaven, and the rest had dark themes. They were aimed at children too, but people acknowledged that they had stuff for adults. I think this is because kids needed adults to see these in theaters (their primary target medium) while tv shows didn’t require that assistance.
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Yeah, I heard it didn’t last long and they never finished that cliffhanger of the heels taking the championship away. Wow, it’s still weird I remember that and I also used the wrestling definition of “heels” since it was a pre-scripted fight even if the people were real-life martial artists. That’s cool how you enjoyed fencing. I didn’t know any fencing classes around me then and I never thought about trying it. Yeah, I taped stuff back then, too. I did that at home or if I was at my grandparents’ place since they had cable then when I didn’t.
It is annoying how American animated movies get a pass for so many things. Sure you might have a few complaints, but not on the level of ignorance to these people who crap on international animation. Anime gets the most of it given it’s visibility. I get what your saying with the demographics and “family-friendly” marketing which I won’t deny. What do you mean by dangerous waters? Are you insinuating that I would be offended by so many things and get angry? I’m not upset even if I roll my eyes at the double standards between this case of animation.
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I have a feeling the second season being a big shift in tone led to the cancellation. The first one had Bruce Lee’s daughter as the host and there was some sense of reality there. It still had fantasy elements, but I remember season 2 being a lot more fantastical. That probably took away from the martial arts aspect in the eyes of those who were into the show for that reason.
I think we’re entering the usual topic when it comes to animated stuff. That’s what I mean by dangerous waters and why I never continued our previous conversation. Whether you’re angry or not, you come off as that here. At the very least, annoyed and frustrated over this topic. I already explained why American animated movies don’t get the same criticism as anime. It has everything to do with culture and target audience. The majority of American animations are geared towards children, so they aren’t going to be analyzed the same way as anime. It’s nothing to be annoyed about because that makes perfect sense. It isn’t even like anime fans are any better too. I see them going in on American animations all the time. They crap on stuff for being childish, simple, potty humor, and crude as if anime is a higher level of art. That comes from the same type of ignorance as well. Both groups wear their ignorance as shields because god forbid they let people enjoy what they want. I wouldn’t even say there’s a double standard because both groups do this. It’s only a double standard if one doesn’t see that it happens. Being someone who has enjoyed American and international animation, I’ve seen that the crapping on tends to be people wanting to make it sound like their choices are superior.
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I can see that happening a bit. I didn’t even know that was Bruce Lee’s daughter until I did research recently when I looked up information about that show. The 2nd season did have more supernatural stuff which did get weird at times. Granted, I was only a child when that show was on, so I wasn’t too familiar with how staged it was at the time, but I never associated it with being like a Y7-rated stage combat show since I wasn’t allowed to watch pro wrestling at that age.
Charles, if I am angry about something or someone, I’ll be upfront about it. That’s why I said I was annoyed, but it was about those people and not you. To be brutally honest, there were a couple of times where you came off as condescending or questioning things about my own experiences in previous conversations even if you did apologize at times with the latter. I’m not someone who thinks all anime is awesome because I’ve been very critical with multiple movies and series in both offline and online discussions. One thing I forgot to mention is that adult-oriented animation is typically comedic like South Park, Family Guy, Rick and Morty, etc. Most of the artsier Western animation that is aimed at older audiences have been made in Europe. The thing is the people who only know Western animation don’t get questioned for their ignorance about anime when it doesn’t happen the other way around. Some examples of Western animation that I like include Wrinkles, Fantastic Planet, and even some of Cartoon Saloon’s movies. There are worse things to be legitimately angry over here which we can all agree on and I have vented on my main blog about some things happening whether they involve me or not. It’s why I didn’t want to have a huge rant about animated stuff when I made that comment in passing a few comments ago because I have enough awareness not to do that given our previous exchanges.
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I was a teenager when Masters came out and already went through a WWF phase. That show being taken off basic TV left a void. I think Masters also rode the wave of Mortal Kombat, which came out 3 years earlier. People saw it as a non-bloody version of that at times.
I try not to come off as condescending, but I will question people if something isn’t clear. My reason for thinking you were getting angry is that you started talking about double standards and one group being crapped on as if the other one doesn’t. Sorry if I misinterpreted that, but that always makes me think the other person is releasing some anger. Now, with people who only know Western animation not getting questioned for ignorance about anime, that does make sense though. At least in this country because it’s their native animation and it’s more likely that they would be introduced to that. Higher chance of finding an American who has watched The Simpsons than Naruto. The opposite would be found in Japan, which makes me wonder if you get the reverse criticism there. I know I’ve seen Europeans go in on Americans for enjoying Family Guy and Simpsons. This seems to be a predominantly American/European thing too. Reading up on it, Japanese call American cartoons anime as well. Our stuff isn’t as popular there though because of a cultural issue. South Park, Family Guy, Simpsons, and Rick & Morty depend a lot on our culture, which doesn’t always translate to others. They have to make alterations to the dialogue for many of the jokes to work . . . Wait a second.
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I see. It’s interesting seeing some of those parallels. I didn’t even think about riding the Mortal Kombat bandwagon despite being much tamer. That explains the ninjas and some of the aesthetics of the fighting stages. Even the production kind of felt like a live-action fighting game. I did some research and Red Dragon actually played Scorpion in the first MK movie. A bunch of the fighters did stunt work or played random characters in action movies. I didn’t even know that Wizard would become the Blue Lightspeed Ranger, but it oddly makes sense in hindsight since Masters and Power Rangers had some mutual fans or at least had similar demographics.
Thank you for clearing that up. In general, I hate double standards and hypocrisy whether it’s real life or even in fiction as silly as it sounds (you should’ve seen my reaction when I found out what protagonist-centered morality meant years ago). It reminds me of the several times where I’m treated like the devil for any shortcomings, genuine mistakes, or get falsely accused of things while others don’t get the same treatment for the same things or worse. When I do call that stuff out when I noticed the hypocrisy, I got gaslighted when I was younger when I didn’t realize it or I’m somehow “talking back” which is stupid. Any reactions of annoyance or anger is a byproduct of that for seeing rampant hypocrisy at different levels and being bullied to the point of silence in my life. Okay, I need to stop there and not talk like I’m using you as a shoulder to cry on. Gettign back to the subject at hand, I do appreciate you seeing my point about people who only know Western animation getting carte blanche for their ignorance. I don’t know if it’s the same situation in Japan, so I’ll have to talk to my Japanese teacher or someone I know from work who’s from that country. They would be more knowledgable about these things. I’ve noticed some of that attitude from Europeans like how some of them legitimately freaked out about the running gag of Homer strangling Bart as one example. Yes, I’m definitely aware of anime referring to American cartoons as well since I was told that in my Japanese classes during my latter high school years at a community college. With Japan, they’ve been more in-house with their animated works for decades since you have several studios happening over there. That certainly does sound like the opposite of anime shipped over to America with that observation.
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I think I remember a friend who loved MK tell me about Scorpion. I definitely picked up on the ninja thing. Wasn’t one of the guys Lui Kang or something too? I’ll need to look that up.
Protagonist-centered morality is a tough thing to avoid at times. I’ve seen it used really well when the POV is correct. If you’re seeing it through the eyes of the hero or a biased fan of the hero then such a thing makes sense. Many authors will do it specifically to make the reader pick up on the hypocrisy and have them question if they’re rooting for the right side. As far as getting accused of it reality, I’ve found that much of it depends on the crowd. Among friend circles, a person is able to get away with more because there is some kind of understanding. Once you step out of that circle, you’re more likely to be called out on things, which gets messy if you do the same and the person is backed by friends. This happens a lot when an authority figure is called out too, which is why many people learn to choose their battles or simply stay silent. I’ve always looked back at the way I was treated and made it a point to avoid turning into those types of people. I felt that subjecting others to what I hated was corrupting myself and possibly making someone feel the same way that I did. This came to a head when I found myself in a group of people with similar backgrounds of being bullied, which I thought would mean we would understand each other. Instead, those who wanted to ‘give what they received’ ended up becoming bullies themselves through gatekeeping, judging people who showed emotions, and gave any opening for them to lead a group against them. I think this is a common danger for people who have been bullied and treated poorly. Not saying this is you, but I’m just trying to explain where I’m coming from. Honestly, I don’t mind being a shoulder to cry on. I have a big interest in psychology, empathy, and general therapy due to my own history. So, I end up diving into conversations that delve into psyches. Sorry about that.
I went looking through forums and things to see what Japanese people were saying about Western animation. That’s where I found the few bits of info that I had shared. With the changing of cultural, I found that the Simpsons didn’t get popular in Japan due to the animation. They apparently clashed with their cultural interest in cute and appealing characters. Family Guy has an even bigger problem due to its dependence on American references, so most Japanese simply don’t understand unless things are changed. South Park apparently has the same issue. This is rather interesting because it means American shows rarely carry over to Japan while the opposite happens. It seems either we’re able to get the cultural side or the stories don’t depend on as much topical knowledge. I guess another thing is that American shows tend to be shock comedies, which require that not much explanation be used for the references. In Japan, the references have room for explanation without losing the humor or drama. For example, ‘Fruits Basket’ explains the Chinese Zodiac throughout the show and ‘Kenshin’ will explain its historical references through dialog or narration.
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Gotcha. I looked up a few things and it was Superstar who did mocap work in the first 2 MK games. He even was a stunt double for Raphael in the original live-action TMNT movies which was unexpected, but I found out a bunch of the fighters did a lot of stunt double work for various movies.
I get what you’re trying to say about PCM. If it’s done to show how flawed the protagonist is or to show what they’re doing bad things that no one should replicate, then that’s okay. For me, it’s when heroes do the same thing or worse as the villains and get a free pass, do some very hypocritical things, and no one calls them out or things backfire on them, that’s when I have a problem and think it’s bad writing. You run into moral mypopia and clear double standards. I could name several examples, but I don’t want to make too big of a text block. These cases could be examples like heroes and villains literally doing the same actions, but it’s bad when it’s the latter, doing legitimately heinous criminal things, or having this attitude that they can do whatever they want because they are the good guys. Going to the real-life situations I’ve dealt with, these other people had some kinds of “protection” of some sorts when no one would have my back. When I stand up for myself, I get demonized even though I’m not doing anything wrong. There were cases of favoritism, excuses, and at times racism, but I’m not going to go into detail. When I pointed out this hypocrisy, I’m somehow not allowed to be angry or question anything. It’s one reason why I’ve kept quiet, but I’m very vocal about various injustices on my blogs or comments to other posts. Not long after this comment, I saw a vlog about gaslighting which hit hard and I put it on my main blog to show people. I don’t understand why people who’ve been legitimately bullied would end up being bullis, but I guess it’s a case of “hurt people hurt people”. Thankfully, I’ve never gatekeeper anything with my fandoms or acted elitist. I’m angered by people doing some horrible and unprofessional things and are treated with kid’s gloves yet I get blasted just for speaking my mind and not hurting anyone. Some of that lingering resentment has showed up in different things like I’m saying “Oh, if you’re allowed to say this, then I’m allowed to say that because screw your double standards.” It gets more apparent when I catch hypocrisy on sight and I call others out or bring up situations of what something would look like if the shoe was on the other foot or ask if that same situation would happen to someone else. Don’t even get me started on people downplaying my experiences or questioning facts that I bring up. Good on you for being interested in empathy though.
That’s somewhat not surprising about Japanese responses to American cartoons. Even though anime can be shipped over to this side of the Pacific, you’re lucky if those shows get played on American mainstream attention. Sure, MHA, Demon Slayer, or JoJo are big names, but they aren’t getting Family Guy or South Park numbers of viewership in the USA. Fruits Basket and Kenshin are good examples of using these references. Sometimes you might have (unintentionally) educational moments with some anime.
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Another factor with protagonist centered morality is POV. If you’re reading the story from the hero’s POV or even a third-person POV that is biased against the hero, you’re not going to see them get judged that often. Most authors don’t have heroes be as heinous as villains without repercussions though. At least those worth reading. Even in comics, I’ve rarely seen a hero get away with stuff that villains do. Maybe in the much older times, but even in the 80’s it was rare to see that kind of thing.
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Not being there, I can’t say why you would get jumped on for pointing out hypocrisy. From personal experience, it’s usually because people don’t like being called out on things. At least, they don’t in public, especially if it’s done with anger or in a way that makes them think they’re being attacked. Once you trigger a person’s defense mechanisms, it’s pretty much over and they can start garnering sympathy. Learned that lesson the hard way far too many times. You’re probably right on the ‘hurt people hurt’ thing. I’m not entirely certain if those people who became bullies realized what they were doing either. Sometimes, it felt like they were creating a hierarchy out of habit.
Something I stumbled onto this week was that ‘King of the Hill’ is very popular in Japan. I couldn’t figure out why though. Supposedly, Japanese fans have similar arguments over that show that we have over anime.
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I get what you’re trying to say when it comes to authors using it intentionally as a POV or critique of the heroes. What can be concerning is when authors don’t understand the subtext or worse…actually did this intentionally since fiction can be wish fulfillment. Wow, I’m so judgmental given how much I’ve been judged for everything in my life. Okay, getting back on topic, it’s not limited to superheroes or action stories. I think comedies do a lot of that. You might have heard of that Zack Morris Is Trash series even if it is a comedic critique of that Saved By the Bell character as one example. It gets frustrating when you see heroes literally do the same things, but they get a pass because they’re good guys and don’t have excuses like self-defense to have an alibi.
People don’t like being called out on things, but when someone calls someone out, then they are lauded for speaking their minds and “telling it like it is”. When I do that whether I’m angry or not, then I’m told to be quiet even if when someone is legitimately doing or saying something wrong. Don’t even get me started about people telling me how life’s not fair. LIKE I DON’T FREAKING KNOW THAT?! That is beyond condescending and it gets even more so depending on who says it to me. Those same people will complain how it’s not fair when they are mildly inconvenienced or in the rare cases they are chastised for their behavior. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t tempted to say to people what’s been said to me as a defense mechanism. It’s no wonder why I have a guilt complex since I’ve been told I was wrong or useless by various people in my life. However, I have motivated myself to get good at a few things and trying to learn new skills where people can actually say I’m talented. Learning other languages certainly has it’s benefits already for example.
King of the Hill is popular in Japan? That is crazy to me because of that story arc of Hank having a Japanese half-brother who looks like an Asian version of him or how Cotton was very open about his WWII time where he did get involved in fighting Japanese soldiers. To a lesser-extent, you could make a case of Connie’s family’s portrayal even though they’re Laotian and not Japanese. Yes, I’m aware of some questionable perceptions of some people in that part of the continent in how they think of South East Asia, but that is a completely different conversation for another day.
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I’m staring at your comment, but my brain is fried. Just tested positive for Covid, so it’s hard to focus. I’ll do my best on responding.
Can’t think of any authors who do the ‘hero being evil and getting away with it’ as wish fulfillment. Nothing that was professionally done or popular at least. I think I remember one indie author who did it. Terrible story that never got anywhere. Authors who tend to not comment on it are usually trying to get readers to make their own decisions. There’s a strange fear of pushing readers too much, so they go in the opposite direction. I’ve heard of the Zach Morris thing, but never looked into it. Sitcoms tend to be unique in that every episode needs to go back to status quo unless it’s a milestone one.
I’ve only seen the ‘telling it like it is’ when a person calls someone out and they’re with friends. The target tends to be alone. So, I see that whole thing more as a pack mentality issue. Everybody is sensitive to how things are unfair towards them. Says the guy who misses out on a week of work and a big event for his son because he stumbled into Covid. I think there’s always a bit of truth to it as well. A person witnessing unfairness depends on how often they get away with things. If they are used to getting away with stuff, every denial will be ‘life is unfair’. Someone who never gets away with things will be the opposite. I can’t be sure if I’m making sense here.
Think I’m going to call it. Thoughts are coming through very well.
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Oh no! I’m sorry to hear that you got COVID. I hope you have a speedy recovery. The Rona got me last summer for the first time and that was terrible.
I wouldn’t say those authors that would think that, but more along the lines of “it’s not evil when it’s a hero who does these things” as a gigantic plot convenience and flimsy justification of heroes doing things villains would never get away with. Thankfully, there are people who call out protagonists who seem to have carte blanche for doing some questionable, despicable, or downright atrocious actions and calling some characters designated heroes. It even gets interesting when you have fan theories that surprisingly make sense when it involves PCM. I do question when fans say that authors meant for heroes to do these bad actions when that clearly wasn’t the case. The Zack Morris thing involved examples like conning people, lying about getting a terminal illness, fat shaming, cultural appropriation by wearing a Native American headdress, and not caring about one of the girls passed out in a bed after a massive crash with caffeine pills for example. Even his actor hates the Zack character now and cringed at multiple episodes.
That makes sense, because no one has ever said that about me ever in my offline life. Even online, the only time someone was close to saying anything like that was when another blogger commented on a post I made around the time of the George Floyd protests where I talked about how I felt as a melanated film/anime critic. That person said that she liked how I didn’t dance around talking about controversial issues and learned various things from some posts I wrote. That meant more to me than she ever thought. Some people have delusions of victimhood and don’t know how it really works. I get what you are trying to say. It’s no wonder why I have a lot of frustrations when I see people get away with things they clearly shouldn’t or how I am treated like the bad guy like I’m somehow wrong about noticing the hypocrisy even when I know I’m right when I catch it on-site.
I was a bit confused about your last couple of sentences.
Anyway, I hope you get well soon!
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This is actually my second time with Covid. Caught it last summer and it left some lasting damage. This time feels worse in terms of fatigue though. I’m hoping to be better by the end of the week, but we’ll see what happens.
I guess it also depends on the world the author uses too. Fantasy tends to have a lot of points where heroes are allowed to kill. Nobody really thinks much of it since they’re typically killing bad guys in self defense. With fans saying an author meant for a hero to be bad, I think that happens when the author leaves things open for interpretation. You run the risk of a person going that route. For some reason, it reminds me of the the show ‘The Boys’. Lots of people thought Homelander was the good guy even though he was doing horrible things. It was during Season 3 that it was made clear he was the villain and these fans got upset. Don’t remember the girl passing out episode of ‘Saved by the Bell’. Then again, I remember shows like that trying to approach heavy topics, but not going all the way. Many times, they’d make things seem worse by pushing to show the message and not how to really help someone in trouble.
Brain is going sideways again. Trying to figure out how to reply to that last paragraph, but I’ve got nothing. The delusions of victimhood thing . . . I know far too many people like that. They always seem to be narcissists too. Sorry about the last couple of sentences. If it helps, I can’t figure out what I was saying either.
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Yikes! I hope you’ve been better since I last responded.
I get what you’re saying about fantasy with the self-defense issue, but some characters can go overboard with killing others and kill them in ways that villains wouldn’t try in those types of stories. I don’t think I see too many people saying that certain heroes were intentionally bad. Mostly I see the opposite of them having all the justifications in the world or how they meant to have them do what they do. It’s even worse when I’ve called out bad behavior of certain protagonists and people freaked out at me. Interesting point about The Boys. I have heard of some of the things in the show and the original comics. Homelander is even worse in the comics with what he does from what I’ve researched. Here’s one of many links that deconstruct how much Zack was a designated protagonist who got away with things he really shouldn’t. https://www.cbr.com/saved-by-the-bell-zack-morris-was-jerk
No disagreement about narcissists having delusions of victimhood. I wish I would’ve realized that when I was a lot younger, so I could have called them out and find out not to be manipulated. I hope your brain is getting better and not sideways, too.
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I’m on the mend. Had to take an extra day off of work, which I’m not happy about. Got started on the antivirals after a second visit, which will make sure I’m not contagious by next week.
I’m curious about the protagonists you called out. My mind went to anti-heroes like Venom, Punisher, Judge Dredd, etc. Those are supposed to be heroes who act like villains. Either they are not supported by the law-abiding heroes or they exist in a world where such things are allowed. Those types tend to work off brutal justice, revenge, and other darker motivations. An appealing part of these characters is that they embody taking matters into ones own hands instead of depending on broken systems or the generosity of others. So, people will support their violent actions to some extent because the character embodies a darker version of a freedom desire. I can’t really say much because the book I’m finishing this week has a demonic assassin as one of the protagonists and he’s had some flashy kills so far. The crazy antiheroes of my ‘Bedlam’ series were infamous for this too.
Sadly, I didn’t realize the narcissists having delusions of victimhood until one did massive amounts of damage. I’ve found that there’s no point in calling them out too. A person like this doesn’t realize they’re this bad and manipulative. Calling them out actually gives them what they want, which is a chance to play victim. The worst thing you can do to a narcissist is ignore them, which is difficult and painful.
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Alright. Sorry to hear about everything going on with your 2nd experience with COVID. I hope you get well soon.
There are various examples, and I’m not going to repeat myself for one of them. I’ve been upset enough over the past couple of days, especially for a news story that’s irrelevant to what I don’t want to be discussed on your blog in this comment thread because it made me so furious of a criminal who quite literally got away for something unspeakable. Interestingly enough, I wasn’t thinking about those anti-heroes you brought up since Venom and Punisher started out as villains and the Judge Dredd comics were meant to be a satire on America’s militarization of the police and the Sylvester Stallone movie played everything straight (I haven’t seen the remake) to disastrous results. Hollywood either didn’t get that they were being made fun of or didn’t care. I was thinking about characters who literally do the same actions and are praised for them while a villain does it, then they’re monsters. Oddly enough, this involves stories that are aimed in a PG or lower paradigm. Another example could be female characters who cheat on men, abuse someone, or do sexual assault where men wouldn’t get away with that. There are too may characters who fall in that umbrella. I hope I wasn’t critiquing anything from your Bedlam series because it wasn’t about anything you wrote.
Yikes! I’m sorry that you had to deal with any narcissistic attacks from people. It is so tempting to call these people out and mention every bad thing they’ve done or said to me. Sometimes I wonder if ignoring them would have any effect.
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I’m on the mend and will be back to work on Monday. Probably the worst I’ll have to deal with is residual brain fog and low stamina.
I remember the Stallone movie being more of a comedy. Once I looked into the comics, I realized how bad it was. The one with Karl Urban was more like the comics and original idea. I really enjoyed it and wished it got more recognition. Most importantly, Dredd kept the helmet on and there wasn’t much in the way of comedy beyond a dark joke or two. I think Hollywood just got their hands on a popular property, got a big star in it, and then got it directed by . . . The guy beyond all of the CSI shows? Not sure if that makes sense or doesn’t considering how dark some of those episodes got. I’m with you on the trend of female characters getting away with stuff that male characters are properly crucified for. As far as Bedlam goes, I wrote it to be over-the-top mayhem and violence in an America that has been isolated from the rest of the world and collapsed into anarchy. I was just mentioning that I wrote those characters as ones who do horrible things to survive, but the world they live in makes it understandable.
I’m trying the ignoring thing with a few narcissists. Working with some who I no longer have to deal with because I don’t feed their antics. Unfortunately, I can’t fully disengage from all of them. One in particular is going to be a constant headache. Hope you have a good weekend and that news story doesn’t ruin the whole two days. Sadly, it isn’t uncommon for people to get away with horrible things, especially if they’re helped by those in power.
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Understood. I hope the brain fog and low stamina vanishes soon so you can focus.
Yeah, it was so bizarre since I was aware of the Stallone movie before checking out the comics and Dredd lore. It was night and day. I heard the remake was better even though it didn’t get much attention. That version doesn’t strike me as people not saying the word “law” normally if I were to reference that meme associated with the original film. The guy behind CSI directed the original? I would’ve never guessed that! That’s from one dystopian police action movie that missed the point of it’s source material to a supposedly realistic crime drama. Thanks for noticing that when it comes to female-based PCM in regards to those topics. That makes sense about Bedlam. Thanks for clarifying.
Okay. It does sound difficult and I appreciate you saying that it’s not an easy thing to do. Sorry you have those close by at work or wherever. Thanks. I did feel a tiny bit better after a Swahili lesson and taking care of other things. However, it is still disturbing especially with who this person is and what she did decades ago, and I’ll leave it at that.
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I was just getting into comic collecting a year before that movie. So, I was at conventions looking for back issues all the time. There were Dredd comics and statues all over some tables. Never really bothered with them because I was all spider-man and X-titles. Saw the movie come out and even I knew something was off. The video game that came out later stuck to the lore better than the movie. Loved that game. I think the Urban version got hurt by the Stallone one too. The old version suddenly appeared on tv before the new one arrived, which reminded people of the mistake.
Oh! Now I know exactly what you’re talking about. I saw the headline and didn’t go further for the sake of my blood pressure.
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I see. To be fair, I read a lot of X-titles and Spider-Man stuff in my childhood when it came to superhero works I addition to the Sonic comics then. It wasn’t until I became an adult when I realized how off the original Dredd movie was and realized the satirical intent of the 2000 AD comics. Ouch! That would hurt if they played the Stallone movie on some random movie block or whatever potboiler timeslot is on some TV station.
Yeah. I hav some very strong thoughts and ranted about it on my blog, so I won’t reiterate what I posted in this comment section.
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Sorry, the brief bit of frustration with the sentence in all caps was about people who have said that to me and not you.
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And here I thought the fanciest bread is what you use to make soup bowls.
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I never trusted bread soup bowls. Always felt they’d fall apart before I finished.
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Hysterical, Charles.
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Thanks.
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You don’t sell naan and chappatis I notice.
The others are very interesting, buy some of the side effects are less than good! I think I’ll pass on this one, today, Charles.
I love your shops. Most inventive.
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Couldn’t think of anything good for those two.
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I only wanted a pretzel, but maybe I’m glad I didn’t find them.
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Never know. Powers could be useful.
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Incredibly clever and funny, Charles. I do like the bagel (literally and figuratively!)
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Thanks. 😊
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