AniManga Controversies With Muse!

While I write a lot about current series, I haven’t written that much on the common controversies in anime and manga fandom. So, when I saw this post meme making the rounds a few months back, I filed it away for future use. I apologize for being late to the bandwagon, but I still want to answer these questions! Let’s get started!

1. Anime vs. Manga
This one depends on the series. While I’ve seen far more anime titles than I have completed manga series, both obsessions started around the same time in my life so I don’t feel like an anime-only fan. Often, I’ll watch a series and then end up picking up the manga to see where the story goes from there. It’s pretty interesting to see the adaptation choices made for the anime and the differences in characterization and plot focus between the anime and the manga versions. A lot of the time I’ll find myself loving the manga series more even though the anime introduced me to it. That happened to me most recently with Tokyo Ghoul; I love certain episodes of the anime, but I feel like the manga has a clearer story and heats the emotional beats of the plot better than the anime did. However, I may have never looked at the manga if it weren’t for the anime. Because of this, I can’t pick only anime or only manga; in my mind, both are telling a different take on the same story.

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2. Dubs vs. Subs Since I follow seasonal anime, the majority of what I watch is subbed, but I’ve never understood the extreme hatred towards dubs shown by some parts of the fan community. A bad dub does not eliminate the existence of a subtitled version, and sometimes subtitle-only releases are the only way a title can have an overseas release. I also have some nostalgia for certain dubs—I refuse to watch Yu-Gi-Oh or the original season of Pokemon in anything but their original dubs, as silly and dated as they are. Those dubs are what drew me into this hobby in the first place, and I wouldn’t have them any other way. But to answer the question, I don’t really mind if my anime is subbed or dubbed. If I’m able to enjoy the anime for what it is, then the sub/dub team has done their job.

Just don’t talk to me about Funimation’s Free! dub trailer.

3. Vintage vs. Modern/Cel vs. Digital
As an animation expert who learned everything there is to know about animation from Shirobako (please read that with heavy sarcasm), I’m going to say that I don’t have a preference here either. This is one of those things that fans can debate about as long as they want, but at the end of the day only professionals can weigh in on the pros and cons of each medium. From my perspective, good things look good and bad things look bad, regardless of whether it was done using a tablet and a computer or with a pencil and a piece of paper.

4. Moe vs. Realistic
Again, this one depends on the series for me. I started following seasonal anime right when the whole “Moe Army/Moe is Destroying Anime” factions dominated all anime discussion, and while I’m glad that the arguing has died down since then, this still seems to divide a lot of people and I’m not sure why. I enjoy a lot of “moe” series—I have a K-ON poster on my wall, Lucky Star is one of my favorite shows, I regularly watch “cute girls doing nothing” style series, etc.—but that style isn’t something that I demand from my anime viewing. I always get a thrill when a bit of animation manages to make something look like it could be happening in live action, and it’s interesting to see character designs that still look “anime” without giving characters huge eyes and multicolored hair. Overall, if a certain style doesn’t look appealing to me, I just don’t watch it. Plain and simple.

5. Light vs. Dark
I’m not sure what this one is referring to, so for the sake of answering the question I’m going to assume that “light and dark” are referring to the overall feeling of a story. At the risk of repeating myself, this time I’m going to say that I prefer dark series with a bit of light. That may sound weird, so let me explain. My favorite kinds of series are the ones where towards the end it looks like all has been lost, and that the main characters can’t possibly win. And then, by the power of their wills, their friendship, SHOUNEN POWER, or whatever other kind of cheesy cliche you want to put here, they manage to overcome their fears/the world/the final boss/etc., and then boom, happy ending! That kind of feeling never gets old to me.

Sailor Moon monsters of the week are the best monsters of the week

6. Continuous Plot vs. Episodic I prefer a continuous plot, for sure. I don’t mind series that are episodic (see above about watching “cute girls do nothing” shows), but I prefer the ones that have some kind of overarching story, even if it only shows up for a few episodes at a time. I am a very character-driven conflict kind of person, so if the only conflict in a show that a character needs to resolve is a random monster ruining their day and nothing else is going on (not even character development!), then I get bored pretty quickly. With very few exceptions, for the most part I need to have some kind of plotline in order to get invested!

 

7. Series vs. Movies vs. Specials/OVAs
Series, for sure. I don’t seek out anime movies unless they are from a series or a director that I already enjoy, and the same goes for specials and OVAs. The only exception to this is when someone recommends something to me, but otherwise I mainly watch series.

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8. Spoilers I used to hate spoilers. I would use extensive blacklists and mute systems in order to avoid them. I would not log on to Twitter for days at a time because I knew anitwitter would be talking about the new episode, and I couldn’t look at my feed until I watched it. However, my extreme avoidance of spoilers ended not with an anime title, but with a popular show—Game of Thrones. I started watching it and hated Geoffrey with every fiber of my being. I needed to know if karma was coming for him, otherwise I didn’t want to watch the show at all. I ended up doing something I’ve never done, and looked up spoilers from the book. What I found out was that even though I knew what was going to happen, now I was interested in how the story would get to that point.

I still feel that some spoilers should stay a surprise (for instance, the twist in Frozen was ruined for me, and now I wonder if I would’ve liked the movie better if I hadn’t known about it going in) but I don’t avoid them the way I used to. Instead of “ruining the experience,” which was my fear, it makes me more excited to see how it will play out. I recently looked up spoilers for Rokka, and now I feel like I’m noticing a different side of the show that only a few people notice. So spoil away, but only as long as I ask for them!

9. Weekly Watch vs. Marathon
This one depends on how much free time I have. I do prefer weekly watching, since I can schedule out how many episodes I can watch on a given day from up to several different shows, which means that I can follow a decent number of series in a given season. But when my life got crazy over the past two years, I learned the joys of marathoning. It’s nice to sit down and go through an entire show in the space of a few hours. There’s an odd sense of accomplishment that goes with it, even though it’s just completing a series. I also love that feeling when I hit on a cliffhanger for a show I’m marathoning. “It must’ve sucked to have to wait a whole week,” I think as the computer autoplays the next episode. So overall, I’m a fan of both! Which one I pick comes down to what my schedule looks like for an upcoming season.

10. Watching Alone vs. Group Watching
I spend most of my time watching anime alone. While it’s fun to share shows with someone, I always feel a weird sense of apprehension that something weird is going to happen and then the person I’m watching the show with will judge me forever. The only exception to this is when I go to screenings at conventions. Everyone in the room is a fan, so it’s easy to just let loose and enjoy. Otherwise, I’m happy with just sharing my thoughts on what I’m watching on Twitter.

11. Paper vs. Digital (Manga)
I’m at a weird in-between spot on this one. I’m the person who has a bookcase full to bursting but also reads books on her phone. I’ll tell anyone that digital is the way to go and then turn around and buy someone a paperback as a present. In short, I like both. I really appreciate the way that digital has grown for manga in the last few years, since now I’m able to read older titles that I either wasn’t able to get to before the manga market crashed or just do not have access to in my area. At the same time, I like collecting physical releases of my favorite series. I’m not sure if one will win out over the other in the future, but for now I’m evenly split.

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12. Reviews vs. Editorials If you’ve been following this blog for a while, then you might remember the time I tried to go with editorial-only content and fell right on my face. I’m bad at coming up with editorials for this blog, and it’s much easier for me to write up an episodic post or a review on something I just watched. I think that might have to do with the reason why I created this blog—to share my thoughts on current anime with other people! So while editorials are fun, I’m a reviewer at heart.

What are your answers to these common fandom controversies? Tell me about them in the comments!

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Images from Crunchyroll.com and Hulu.com unless otherwise credited.