Nikaku order
Karl N. Zaryski
Drew Hamilton <dr...@drew-hamilton.net> wrote:
>I have no problems with (most of) the supporters of Ctrl-A, just the
>club in general and what it does. Namely shows huge gobs of beat-em-
>up-and-kill-em sci-fi anime which not only do I have no interest in,
>but also gives anime its bad name in the popular media.
Drew, you're normally a fairly rational human being, but this statement
simply doesn't make any sense. CTRL-A shows a wide variety of anime,
and tries to show an accurate reflection of what anime titles are
popular in Japan. We do not show "huge gobs of beat-em-up-and-kill-em
sci-fi anime" as you put it.
Let's consider the movie "Star Wars" as a reference point. Star Wars
has battles, and characters who are killed. Despite this, I don't think
too many people consider it to be a "beat-em-up-and-kill-em sci-fi
movie".
Of the titles at our most recent show, most titles do not even remotely
resemble your description. From this show...
-Ruin Explorers (comedy fantasy)
-Golden Boy (comedy)
-Twin Signal (comedy SF)
-Nadia of the Mysterious Seas (adventure)
... are much less "beat-em-up-and-kill-em" than Star Wars...
-Gundam 0080 (SF drama)
-Bastard!! (comedy fantasy)
-Vision of Escaflowne (fantasy)
-Legend of the Galactic Heroes (space opera)
-Shamanic Princess (fantasy)
-Rurouni Kenshin Movie: Requiem for Patriots (historical drama)
... are about equal to Star Wars, and only...
-Darkstalkers (action horror)
-Berserk (action fantasy)
are, as you put it, "beat-em-up-and-kill-em" anime. "Anime Kagaku
Theatre presents Battle Arena Toshinden" is in a category of its own;
the creator used the "beat-em-up-and-kill-em" anime Battle Arena
Toshinden and made a parody of it, just because it was a really bad
anime.
So, out of 13 titles, taking up some 14 hours of show time, only two
titles, representing about an hour and a half, are "beat-em-up-and-kill-
em" anime. Three titles, comprising a bit over three hours, are what
would be considered "sci-fi" titles (although "Twin Signal" hardly
qualifies for this category). At the same time, we have four titles
under the heading of "comedy" and five titles under the "fantasy"
description.
We think that we've done a pretty decent job of showing a good balance
of anime titles. The only major genres of anime without representation
are magical girls (due to that category's poor rating on our survey, see
http://www.ctrl-a.uwaterloo.ca/docs/survey-s98.html for survey results)
and x-rated anime (for reasons which should be obvious).
So, Drew, the following are reasonable, sensible, logical reasons not to
go to CTRL-A:
-"I don't like the titles that are showing"
-"I've seen everything there already"
-"I can't fit it into my schedule"
-"I don't like the people there"
-"I've got a hot date Friday night, and she doesn't like anime"
-"I can't afford to pay eight bucks, my budget it too tight"
-"Ross doesn't go to CTRL-A, and it's pretty clear that he is an
omniscient arbiter of what is and is not cool, so I won't go either"
But... that we show "huge gobs of beat-em-up-and-kill-em sci-fi anime"
is not a reasonable, sensible, logical reason not to go to CTRL-A shows.
Your statement is based on either an incorrect assumption or faulty
information. It is, I assure you, wrong.
CTRL-A does show an occasional "beat-em-up-and-kill-em sci-fi" title, but
this is hardly a majority of what we show. We show a complete range of
comedy, drama, science fiction, fantasy, and romance. Heck, we even
show animes featuring those girls with wings that you appreciate so much
(From this past show, Shamanic Princess and Vision of Escaflowne).
If you really believe that CTRL-A shows an overabundance of
"beat-em-up-and-kill-em sci-fi," then it is possible that you have a
greater sensitivity to such things than most people. (If my benchmark
of "Star Wars", used earlier, is a "beat-em-up-and-kill-em sci-fi"
movie in your estimation, than of course most of our chosen titles will
match this description, and you are likely quite right to stay away.)
If, on the other hand, you are basing your avoidance on an inaccurate or
obsolete opinion regarding our show titles, I recommend that you give us
another try. If you come to our next show and still consider our
selected anime titles to have an overabundance of
"beat-em-up-and-kill-em sci-fi", then I cannot fault you. If, however,
you wish to blindly continue your current belief that that is all we
show without actually checking for yourself, all I can do is pity your
closed-mindedness.