/leftyweebpol/ - Leftist Weeaboo Politics

>>72

They are excluded from society and got picked up by a weird cult.

Happens all the time.

>>72

small but loud minority like /pol/

>>93

I dunno. I think a lot of weebs are too autistic to get the social message that exists in many animes.

>>103

We can cherrypick examples from both sides.

There are also lot of anime that take an anti-reactionary turn, like One Piece, TTGL, KLK, Gatchaman Crowds, the whole Gundam series, GitS SAC (especially 2nd), Outbreak Company, Code Geass, Sora no Woto, most stuff by Ghibli and Bones, hell even kiddy shit like Precure or Conan (there's a whole discussion about it here http://fox.2ch.net/test/read.cgi/poverty/1444656879/ ).

There are also works that get interpreted as reactionary while the author is actually trying to criticize it by overexposing it. For example Jin-Roh is often cited by /pol/ as a pro-nazi anime but the creator, Oshii Mamoru, literally participated in radical leftist protests in the 60-70s. There's no way he's idolizing nazis. Same as Asobi ni Iku yo; it was mentioned due to this scene with cat nazi aliens but the author (Okina Kamino) is a traditional leftist (he seems to be strongly anti-imperialist, being from Okinawa).

Of course there's a relatively high amount of reactionary works written by genuinely reactionary authors like GATE, Joshiraku, Mahouka or Kamichu, but as I see it they're mostly isolated, although they seem to be increasing lately.

My point is, that the amount of them doesn't seem high enough to explain alone the pressingly high amount of reactionary otaku.

>>103

The mere presence of these elements don't make the series reactionary. The portrayal of them does.

For example,

>A large amount of mechas/sci-fi has an "Empire of Japan" or and they where likely the first ones to obtain whatever super science the series run on.

This setting alone isn't enough to interpret the series as reactionary. You can put an Empire of Japan and portray them as assholes. Or you can put an Empire of America and portray the Japanese as victims.

Or look at Psycho-Pass. The show's setting had the Psycho-Pass automatic judging system; the mere presence of it doesn't mean it supports it. It was portrayed in a bad light, even; and the villain who wanted to overthrow it was portrayed in a way you could sympathize with him. His mistake was his heartless way of attempting it.

Your example of Strike Witches is a good one, though.

>>109

>>106

True, I tend to forget a lot of the big name shows and focus on current mayflys.

Still, I think it's also very dependent on the genre - it seems uncreative series (which dominates mecha/magic harem) produces people with uncreative political opinions.

Where would you figure that Satoshi Kon lies on the political spectrum? I really have trouble telling sometimes. His distaste for a lot of popular media could just as easily be interpreted in leftist and reactionary terms.

Most times, his view of the despondency or apathy of the disposessed swaps violently between it being the result of an unjust society to it being simply the result of a shitty personality. Shows like Paranoia Agent are basically taking from DeBord's notion of Spectacle one second, yet boiling a character's problems down to individual responsibilty in another. Tokyo Godfathers has a sympathetic view of the trans character, that's someplace he's been consistent, but at the homelessness of the protagonists is treated as something based on their own willingness to work by the doctor who has a passing resemblance to Kon himself.

That, and the neo-liberal conceit that there is one singular "common sense" that everyone is ignoring.

>>113

He was one of the founders of the Janica, a labor union for animators. He's probably center-left.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_Animation_Creators_Association

>>111

Mecha has some political exposition like Gubdam or Valvrave. Fantasy harems are complete garbage, though.

>>116

>was

;_;

>>109

>>103

I remember someone saying basically that a lot of anime with the tropes of a strong UN military who kick ass and whatnot are basically done as a way to get around Japanese demilitarization laws. So you have U.N. characters who are all Japanese and whatnot.

>>115

What about Elfen Lied? It does have a collective/communal message similar to 'it's a wonderful life'

>>119

I dunno about in Japan, but I suspect in North/South America and Europe (incl. Russia) more anime fans are *female* than male.

The weebs on the *chans slant toward being males, in some cases the chans are a male space. But there's plenty of places online where theres more females (i.e. tumblr deviantart, etc) and ditto for IRL meetups and cons

>>95

There arent many anime fascists at RL cons, the closest thing to that might be wehraboos and/or pro-japanese empire people. Which is different than being a fascist.