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EVERY thread is a sword nerds thread!
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You mean the Arab's Damascus steel blades using imported Indian ingots and refining the technology across many centuries?
That they got their hands on as soon as they took over parts of india?
I don't think india was accidentally turning out lumps of damascus steel and the arabs suddenly realized "hey these things are great!" I think india had been producing those chunks for a long while on purpose and the arabs copied them... just like "arabic" numerals.
I look at them the same way I look at anyone completely absorbed by some silly trend: go on with your bad self, but go WAY over there to do it.
See also: Juggalos, Vampire worshippers, or any other fanboys that basically have one schtick.
Pretty much this is my response as well. I've only run into a few of these types, both times on college campuses, and they were not as annoying as the sorts that run me out of game stores regularly.
Really interested in another culture or anime is fine. So loud that my ears ache for an hour afterwards while you babble about your character and whatever other interesting thing you thought about that people on Mars need to hear about, not so much.
It this a curb your enthusiasm message?
Never meet a Japanophile that shrill yet.
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Well, the roleplaying stuff is only a facet of it. Generally speaking people apply the label "weaboo" to any non-native fan of Japanese culture and ESPECIALLY media and entertainment.
Extremism on the part of the fan may or may not be present. I've seen the term used to shut down discussions and dismiss a fan's opinions immediately in the vein of "Shut up, I don't watch weaboo crap," or "3.5's Book of Nine Swords is WEABOO FIGHTAN MAGICKE!"
Generally, when someone says it, it seems in my mind to carry a subtle racism to it, implying that the media in question is inherently bad because it's Japanese in origin, or at the very least enjoying it is not something "normal" geeks (i.e. straight, white, cisgendered American men between the ages of 13 and older) should be doing.
If I can offer a defense, I think this cuts both ways.
I enjoy anime, and I do get irritated by a lot of the stereotypes of what it is. I know a lot of people who won't give it a chance because they believe every stereotype they've heard about it. (Perverted, childish, inscrutable - take your pick.) That's sad and offensive, and they're missing out on some really great things. I would even go so far as to say that a childhood devoid of Miyazaki is as incomplete as one devoid of Pixar.
But there's the racism of "Anything non-European is innately inferior", and there's the racism of "Anything (whatever culture) is automatically the best!", especially when it's not really that culture but some bowdlerized version that has more in common with Western misinformation than the actual society. The version that misuses casual Japanese terms in every day conversation - sometimes in offensive or culturally inappropriate ways, regards major parts of Japanese history as their most stereotypical and "most honourable" stereotype (see: Samurai), at the extreme end one who has an obsession with Japanese women, in particular getting a Japanese girlfriend as a prop for his hobby. (Yes, I've met this guy, and yes, he's exactly as greasy as you are picturing him right now.)
It's like the white people who dress up in (what they think is) traditional Native American garb and co-opt it for ridiculous 'ceremonies'. So basically this but with Japan.
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I would even go so far as to say that a childhood devoid of Miyazaki is as incomplete as one devoid of Pixar.
I only ever watched one Miyazaki movie. I was 9 years old and the movie just came out so I went to see it with a friend.
I had nightmares for weeks after that. Those parents turning into pigs, that always hungry monster that I simply couldn't understand, and the grotesque oversized baby revolted and disgusted me. I couldn't understand the story (what the hell was that monster?), everything seemed ugly and weird...
Of one thing I am sure - if I'll have kids, they will see a LOT of Pixar movies, and not a single Miyazaki movie.
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The alleged depth of japanese cinemas: as no one can seem to explain the things, I'm going to vote for random insanity pretending to have a point (like lost)
Mind you I have similar problems with post modernist paintings, literary criticism, and wine connoisseurs.
It this a curb your enthusiasm message?
Never meet a Japanophile that shrill yet.
Sorry, was this directed to my post? If so, no, the people in question were just LOUD and were roughly 2 feet away from each other just screaming about their game, characters, some TV shows and so on. I just stopped shopping at that particular local game store; maybe I am getting old, but I cannot stand that level of noise.
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The alleged depth of japanese cinemas: as no one can seem to explain the things, I'm going to vote for random insanity pretending to have a point (like lost)
This is a stereotype. I've understood most of the Japanese movies I've watched in the past. Paprika may have a lot of odd imagery and stuff, for example, but it's a movie about dreams and narrative, and the film does make sense. There's just some parts of it that are more subtle.
This is another case where a particularly infamous example (Gainax's Evangelion) has been blown out of proportion and held up as an example of EVERYTHING.
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The alleged depth of japanese cinemas: as no one can seem to explain the things, I'm going to vote for random insanity pretending to have a point (like lost)
This is a stereotype. I've understood most of the Japanese movies I've watched in the past. Paprika may have a lot of odd imagery and stuff, for example, but it's a movie about dreams and narrative, and the film does make sense. There's just some parts of it that are more subtle.
This is another case where a particularly infamous example (Gainax's Evangelion) has been blown out of proportion and held up as an example of EVERYTHING.
The stereotype does hold for every animated Japanese movie I've seen which, I admit, is not a lot (there's a correlation there).
Paprika I've watched several months ago, and I tried to approach it with an open mind and shrug off my preconceptions. While I can certainly agree that it has a coherent narrative, many of the individual scenes are still far beyond my ability to comprehend. For sure some of it is just a cultural gap - I don't know the symbolism that Japanese use so if the movie is subtle for them, it's completely opaque to me. The bottom line is that while I managed a rudimentary understanding of the underlying plot, I still couldn't figure out what the hell is going on on the screen at many of the movie's parts.
A friend of mine has an interesting model for how this works. She used a distinction she studied in a course on ancient greek philosophy between the "logos" and the "mythos".
"Logos" is the kind of thinking we are used to in the western world. We think of the world as a place ruled by logic, where things happen for a reason and virtually everything has an explanation.
"Mythos" is the kind of world she claims that animated Japanese movies exist in (she claims that their entire society thinks in mythos but it's kind of hard to tell without being there). There doesn't have to be a reason that something happens, it just does. You don't have to understand why exactly something looks or acts the way it does - just accept it. The world, according to mythos, is beyond our comprehension so why even try.
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"Logos" is the kind of thinking we are used to in the western world. We think of the world as a place ruled by logic, where things happen for a reason and virtually everything has an explanation.
The Japanese use it as much as we do, though -- otherwise they'd have no nuclear power plants, and would be relying on invocations to the "energy spirits" instead. Also, anyone who's met my sister-in-law, for example, will be well aware that a lot of Western people do stuff "just because," and not for any reasons.
To respond to the original poster -
This can be asked of any play style that tends to come from a certain subculture. Everyone has different opinions and play styles. Some groups love to be humorous and non-cohesive (where PC versus PC is actually what they thrive on), to serious acting (where dice are never rolled, and plots tend to be more social intrigue than combat), etc.
The question of Weeaboos can also be asked of furries, really.
What is a Weeaboo? In simple terms, a non-Asian that is fascinated with Japanese pop culture. Not normally a bad thing, I have lots of non-Asian friends interested in aspects of Asian pop culture. Few are as devout as say, attendees of an anime convention.
Take the negative aspects of anime convention fans, and you begin to get a clear picture of why some do not like "weeaboos" at the gaming table. Typically ranging in age from 13-25 (it's like Logan's Run at anime conventions. Those over 25 stick out like a sore thumb if they aren't staff). They tend to have short attention spans, are overly excitable, and may have a different idea of how a Fantasy RPG should work. Something on the level of Fantasy supers where swords can eventually slice through entire buildings. So it's not the anime fans, it is the hyperactive super fans that may irk some. This is not to say that everyone finds such super fans disagreeable, yet some do.
I am very curious if such an RPG equivalent exists in Japan - of Japanese gamers fascinated by European culture actually irk their own fellow gamers?
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"Logos" is the kind of thinking we are used to in the western world. We think of the world as a place ruled by logic, where things happen for a reason and virtually everything has an explanation.The Japanese use it as much as we do, though -- otherwise they'd have no nuclear power plants, and would be relying on invocations to the "energy spirits" instead. Also, anyone who's met my sister-in-law, for example, will be well aware that a lot of Western people do stuff "just because," and not for any reasons.
I agree, but I also think they could lean more towards mythos when it comes to storytelling.
I agree, but I also think they could lean more towards mythos when it comes to storytelling.
Ah, okay, I get where you're coming from. Could well be.
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I admit, I don't find them any more or less weird than people that dress in the colors of their favorite sports team all season and even have beds with team logo sheets and pillows when they're grown adults and not 12-year-olds. Obsessed fans come in all forms.
I wouldn't describe me as any sort of hardcore anime enthusiast, but quite a bit that I have seen has a pretty straight forward storyline, at least as straightforward as what is presented in US made fiction.
There are some cultural differences obviously that crop up in Japanese media, but it's way overblown.
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I am very curious if such an RPG equivalent exists in Japan - of Japanese gamers fascinated by European culture actually irk their own fellow gamers?
1. It's not really an RPG thing.
2. "Weeaboos", as I have usually seen the term used, goes beyond being interested in aspects of Japanese pop culture. The term is usually used for people who go well above and beyond healthy level of interest. It's where the most important thing in their life is their interest in Japanese culture. It's people who fervently insist that every aspect of Japense culture is vastly superior to it's equivalents in ANY other culture. It's guys who are not only convinced that the katana is the greatest sword ever created, but the single greatest weapon ever created...and possibly the greatest THING ever created.
The alleged depth of japanese cinemas: as no one can seem to explain the things, I'm going to vote for random insanity pretending to have a point (like lost)
This is a stereotype. I've understood most of the Japanese movies I've watched in the past. Paprika may have a lot of odd imagery and stuff, for example, but it's a movie about dreams and narrative, and the film does make sense. There's just some parts of it that are more subtle.
This is another case where a particularly infamous example (Gainax's Evangelion) has been blown out of proportion and held up as an example of EVERYTHING.
Evangelion, Big O, Gecko state, rain (that show with the wolves),
Ren and Stempy, Beavis and Butthead, King of the Hill, American Dad, Cow and Chicken, Cat Dog, Rocko's Modern Life, Spongebob Squarepants...etc
Ren and Stempy, Beavis and Butthead, King of the Hill, American Dad, Cow and Chicken, Cat Dog, Rocko's Modern Life, Spongebob Squarepants...etc
Which are short and meaningless and don't claim to be anything but. The ones I mentioned are for older people than most of your list and allegedly have a story arc and a deeper meaning.
I don't know about you but there is no way I'd let my future children watch most of those shows...so I'm not sure what you mean by "for older people".
I should point out I don't see any alleged depth to most shows if it was fun to watch I enjoy it. Though judging by the "real" sci-fi books discussion from before that seems to place me in the minority.
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Frankly this sounds more like you not wanting to pay attention to a 'cartoon' than anything wrong with the shows in question.
Its not. And this attitude annoys me greatly. "You don't see this there's something wrong with you"
Either that or you're listening to too many nuts who insist that ambiguous or slow to evolve plots and themes equal deeper meaning.
Ambiguity to the point of meaninglessness being given deeper meaning is the problem.
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Big O is very straight forward until the end and while the it's end is ambiguous it's no more meaningless then Memento or the end of St Elsewhere.
Everyone lost their memmories 50 years ago but roger doesn't look a day over 30.
You are a tomato means....?
It's ambiguous.
That's beyond ambiguous and into epileptic tree/ you're making stuff up territory. Any of a dozen different theories would fit as well or better than what you've listed there.
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For the record, I, too, hate the humanities.
Die, pinkskins, die!!!
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In the hands of a trained professional, a katana can slice through a tank. It's true. I saw it on an episode of G.I. Joe.
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Tell you what BNW, go watch the final episodes and come back. Those are the most straightforward interpretations. I get you're deeply invested in a hatred of philosophy the humanities, but this really isn't that complicated a series or ending. The details are ambiguous, but the themes of memory, the sense of self, and reality versus simulacra are pretty darn clear and easy to follow.
The analysis I gave is the one reached by the vast majority of viewers and strongly hined att by the creators in interviews.
Watched it sober
Watched it on drugs.
My only conclussion is that its not fair that you have better ones than I do.
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Deep meaning doesn't trump good story.
Like how Powder ends by running out into a field...and exploding.
Ruined the entire film for me.
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Disdain of haiku
Iambic in native tongue
Random in english
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Refrigerator.
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Amiri's oversize sword that requires two hands for her brawny strength to heft, is like a dagger compared to the blade wielded by Cloud... WITH ONE HAND. Why do so many think Asian as synomynous with Anime?You know very well what I mean. Final Fantasy includes some truly ridiculous concepts such as one handing bladed weapons with the surface area and weight of a barn door. And it's idiotic obsessions with oversize guns.Asking to play a literal Final Fantasy character sort of deal is what's over the line to me.So what, asking to play a literal Fighter or Thief is over the line to you? What does fit in your setting?You mean like Amiri? :)
OTOH, just the mention of oversized guns is giving me flashbacks to 90s comics.
Because of Small Reference Pools. Anime and manga have the most cultural exposure in the US and so people assume that all Asian entertainment is like that. The reality, as always, is much more complex and interesting.
Moby Dick isn't about a whale?
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Story time! We had a Japanese guest sit in on some of our games a few months ago and, after one game, were trying to explain Pathfinder through the language barrier.
She's a giant Lord of the Rings fan and has a European History degree, which both help.
When we got to classes, that clicked pretty quickly. Then her host was trying to explain that you get a race and a class.
"So you can be a elf wizard or elf ranger."
"Mm-hmm. Makes sense."
"Or, you know, a dwarf ninja."
"Dwarf... ninja?"
"Yup! Or elf ninja or human ninja or ratfolk ninja or whatever."
"Dwarf... okay. Ninja, no. Why? Why ninja?"
We tried to explain cultural appropriation, which actually wasn't the problem at all. She was just trying to figure out why anyone would want ninjas in their Tolkien, exemplifying decades of conversations like this one.
Cheers!
Landon
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Deep meaning doesn't trump good story.
Like how Powder ends by running out into a field...and exploding.
Ruined the entire film for me.
It kind of ruined it for me when I learned the movie is meant to be an allegory for the ostracism Victor Salva felt after being convicted of child molestation in the 1980's.