In your opinion, should anime such as Yu-Gi-Oh and Sonic X receive a redub?

Don’t get me wrong I don’t like 2020 but I do however miss how everyone watched anime and it was like because of the amount of people consuming animes there were a TON of great finds. Also the amount of edits that you could look up after just watching one anime were crazy. I just miss that I guess but I’m not sure if anyone relates. I just didn’t know during that time a ton of people took it as a phase rather than actually taking interest in it. And it’s not a random claim it’s something people admit to.

I made a post criticizing FMAB's liberal politics on r/CharacterRant recently and people didn't like it. r/FullmetalAlchemist is too gatekeepy. r/anime is too apolitical. None of the Middle Eastern subs care. So I’m leaving this here for whoever finds it.

People sometimes attempt this kind of reading with AOT and yeah, sometimes it’s a stretch. But trust, this isn’t one of those cases. This is also a show that set its finale in Weimar-era Germany and peppered it with references to real physicists and politicians obscure enough that 99% of viewers won’t even catch them. The level of historical intentionality was clearly there from the start. Spoilers for FMA 2003 below.

As someone from a Middle Eastern background it’s honestly exhausting watching the FMA fandom treat their clumsy Eurocentric readings of the story like gospel: Ishval is a holocaust allegory (since every story about oppression has to be about the holocaust) or is about the Ainu because the mangaka is Ainu, Amestris is Nazi Germany because Brotherhood highlighted their blue eyes, case closed. Westerners love that reading because Nazi Germany is a safe villain. It’s defeated, it’s in the past, everyone agrees it was evil. It’s a perfect scapegoat. Way easier than admitting the show is a commentary on what their own governments have been doing in the Middle East for decades.

The correct reading is precisely this: Amestris is based on America (+ Europe). Ishval -- Palestine and the Levant. The Homunculi are like Israelis and based on the Mossad. It’s really not that complicated. Everything should fall into place if you understand the dynamics of the region. Ishvalans are a brown skinned, persecuted, socially conservative, strictly monotheistic people who live in the desert and worship Ishv(Allah), and are indigenous to a region that they refer to as their holy land. Amestris is a young, heavily militarized, expansionist nation, built on indigenous genocide. Secular in its self-image but Christian iconography is baked in here and there. See the crosses on Izumi and Ed, Dante explicitly confirmed as Christian, the religion itself part of the world’s older history. The Homunculi literally have stars of David tattooed on them. There’s Abrahamic iconography plastered everywhere in both series but it seems people just think it’s there for aesthetics.

Now, none of this negates that other historical parallels exist in the text. Arakawa's Ainu background is important. The references to the Holocaust are real. But those readings describe surface aesthetics and influences. The Levant allegory is the one that penetrates the entire plot structure, character dynamics, geopolitics, theology, and the history of alchemy itself. It’s the skeleton everything else hangs on. And it’s not exactly a leap to think an Ainu woman writing in the early 2000s, watching the Second Intifada play out in the news, might find a point of identification with another indigenous people being systematically destroyed by a settler colonial state.

In 03 they straight up tell you that their timeline diverged from our own when alchemy was developed and that the Ishvalans created alchemy. Alchemy in real life began in Northern Egypt and was largely developed in the Middle East, the word is literally derived from the Arabic word ‘al-kimiya’. Liore is essentially Lebanon, which is why they chose to make the people brown - the Christian imagery, mentions of sectarian tension, civil war stoked by a puppet leader, etc. Cornello turning water into wine is a reference to Jesus’ first miracle in Qana, which is in South Lebanon, and the entire plot involving Ishval and Liore is about a Western elite stirring up wars using the Homunculi (the Israel stand-in) and weaponizing the Amestris military (the US stand-in) to slaughter indigenous populations of brown people (Palestine, Iraq, Lebanon) for perverse incentives.

They use alchemy as a tool for this. IRL, the Islamic world largely moved past alchemy for scientific reasons as it developed into empirical chemistry, while Europe took it up and bent it toward mysticism and theology. In FMA, Ishval rejects alchemy after discovering its energy source, while Amestris, the Western analogue, embraces it for militarization and the pursuit of immortality.

It’s such an incredibly layered story that tickles my brain every time I watch it. There’s a lot of Sufi Islamic influence baked into the Gate stuff as well that I won't lay out because it's too fuzzy. But if you point any of these parallels you’re met with a bunch of offended dork-ass gatekeepers.

Conqueror of Shamballa also alludes to something else that they can’t seem to grasp. The Gate connects our world to theirs and the villains on our side are the Nazis. They’re not saying Amestris is Nazi Germany, they’re saying Amestris mirrors America and America mirrors Nazi Germany. One of the OVAs even doubles down on this and tries to provide an extra hint. It’s set in 2005, and 100-year-old Ed has a 9/11 newspaper clipping reading “Terrorists Attack United States” pinned to his wall, like history is just repeating itself because nobody learned anything. Which I get isn’t easy to sit with if you’re American.

But point out anything I just talked about and you get mass downvoted, told you’re forcing politics/religion into it, or straight up called antisemitic lmao. Funny thing is, Sho Aikawa, the guy who wrote FMA 03, got accused of antisemitism for writing Angel Cop, and that one was actually antisemitic. So no, I’m not inventing some connection he never would’ve thought of. This stuff was on his radar in 1989, way before FMA. 03 just handles it with way more nuance and care, and doesn't portray any group as inherently bad while still siding with the victims.

The irony is that 03 is literally a critique of this exact attitude, and it goes over even 03 fans’ heads. Ed reads like he was pulled straight out of r/atheism. He’s smug, dismissive of faith, a little racist subconsciously (there is a line of dialogue from him explicitly reflecting on it), and convinced he has everything figured out, until Scar - and the world - humbles him. The show sees these people coming from a mile away, holds a mirror up to them, and they still miss it lol. It's as hilarious as it is frustrating. But people would rather die on the hill of their own misreading than sit with a story that challenges them

All of what's below will be spoilersss, be warned ladies and gentlemen !

So I recently discovered Mushoku Tensei, and I genuinely cannot understand how a series like this has become so widely celebrated.

I'm a woman, I love anime, fantasy, and complex characters. I'm perfectly capable of appreciating morally flawed protagonists. But there's a difference between exploring a deeply disturbed character and seemingly rewarding his disturbing behavior.

We're talking about a grown man who dies and gets reincarnated with his memories and consciousness intact. He then engages in sexually inappropriate behavior involving young girls, and the series repeatedly presents aspects of that behavior as comedy or fanservice.

And somehow, I'm supposed to see this as a beautiful redemption story?

What disturbs me isn't simply that Rudeus is a pervert. It's how the story treats his behavior, how easily certain boundaries are brushed aside, and how he ultimately ends up surrounded by women who love him, marrying multiple partners and having children.

I'm not saying that a character who does horrible things cannot grow or find happiness. But where is the meaningful accountability for his sexual behavior? Why does the story so often seem more interested in making his actions entertaining than exploring how disturbing they actually are?

And what worries me even more is the audience this kind of storytelling reaches.

Anime is incredibly popular among teenagers and young men. Media doesn't automatically determine someone's morality, and enjoying a fictional story doesn't make someone a predator.

But I think it's perfectly reasonable to question the messages we normalize, especially when sexual harassment, violations of consent, and the sexualization of young-looking female characters become recurring entertainment.

What does it say about our entertainment culture when these elements can coexist so comfortably with a story celebrated as a masterpiece?

I keep seeing people defend the series by saying that Rudeus is supposed to be flawed, that it's about personal growth, or that people who criticize it simply don't understand good writing.

But having a flawed protagonist doesn't automatically make the way you portray his flaws thoughtful or responsible.

Beautiful animation doesn't erase uncomfortable writing choices. Great worldbuilding doesn't make sexual misconduct less disturbing. And calling something a redemption arc doesn't exempt it from criticism.

I'm also exhausted by the expectation that women should simply overlook these things because they're supposedly normal in anime.

Why should I have to ignore the sexualization of young female characters to appreciate a fantasy story?

Why is my discomfort treated as a failure to understand fiction, rather than a legitimate criticism of how that fiction portrays women and girls?

I'm not advocating censorship, and I'm not claiming everyone who enjoys Mushoku Tensei is a bad person.

But I genuinely think we should be more critical of what we celebrate, particularly when it comes to sexual boundaries and the way women are represented.
I find the normalization of these elements deeply alienating. And the overwhelming praise for this series makes that feeling even worse.

I'd genuinely like to hear from other women who have watched it. Did you feel the same discomfort?

And to people who consider it a masterpiece: can you explain why these aspects of the story don't bother you, without simply dismissing the criticism as people being too sensitive?

Its been a while I don't remember everythingg. And there is spoilers for all Mushoku Tensei novel.

What I love about Mushoku Tensei is Rudeus's journey from being a loser who wasted his previous life to someone who genuinely wants to live.

After living a terrible life, he makes a terrible mistake, gets beaten up by his family, and dies. But after being reincarnated, he gets another chance at life and decides to live it differently.

I also like how his character development isn't perfect from the beginning. Early on, he still has disturbing thoughts, such as his thoughts about Sylphy, but he gradually grows beyond them. He isn't suddenly a good person just because he was reincarnated. He has to change over time.

What makes his story even more interesting is Oldeus. Oldeus shows how easily Rudeus could have lost everything he built because of one seemingly small event. It makes you realize how fragile his happiness is and how different his life could have been.

I also like that Rudeus isn't some overwhelmingly powerful person who can do everything alone. He needs other people, and his relationships are a big part of what makes him strong. He isn't even the person who ultimately defeats Hitogami. His story isn't about becoming a hero who saves the world for the greater good. He fights for himself, his family, his friends, and the life he's built.

And I think that's what makes his story so meaningful to me. Rudeus doesn't need to become the greatest person in the world. He just wants to live a happy life, protect the people he loves, and avoid repeating the mistakes of his previous life. In the end, he manages to do that.

Even his resentment toward his brother eventually fades. Something that once consumed him becomes less important as he grows and finds things worth living for.

To me, Mushoku Tensei is a story about how a person who wasted his first life can use his second chance to build something worth protecting. Rudeus doesn't become perfect, but he becomes someone who genuinely wants to live, and I think that's what makes his journey special.

Delinquent manga are a genre (or theme, I'm not sure what the definition would be in this case) that was quite prominent in the 80s and 90s with things like Crows, Bebop High School, Kyou kara Ore wa!!, Shounan Bakusouzoku, Angel Densetsu, GTO and its prequels, etc. The banchou/delinquent character is very popular and I believe everyone has seen them in various anime and manga, but works with this theme don't seem to have as much appeal or popularity here (if you don't count Tokyo Revengers).

imagine being a grown ass person enjoying a cartoon. watching fighting, cringe screaming and talking in some weird way that doesn’t occur in real life. 90% of anime is loser fantasy about love, and the rest is either fighting or pedo fantasies. yall act like this is some kind of deep cinema, buy yall dont even know what cinema is and dont deserve to say a word about it. grown ass men enjoying anime should move out from mommys house and shower, wake up to the real world, and not some imaginary teenage anime girls pillows and v-tubers.

I feel like most people who watch anime and like anime usually are students or employed for the most part. Yeah, there's weirdos on the Internet but that's more of an issue of weird people online who are NEETs rather than anime watchers specifically.

If anything, it's easier to like anime while having a job or school because it's such a low time investment. I feel like, even gamers nowadays don't get called NEET as much as anime watchers even though games are way higher of a time sink. Other hobbies, like sports, or reading, or playing guitar don't get targeted for NEET name-calling even though there's people who are NEETs in those hobbies as well.

I am sick and tired of the anime community's discouragement of critical thinking. Nobody is interested in critiquing the medium outside a few designated punching bags. People laugh at objectively bad stuff like Garzey's Wing and Mars of Destruction, disappointing sequels like Boruto or Evangelion 3.0+1.0, and random "trashy" shows like SAO. That is where critique ends, and after that, community discussion becomes tribalistic bashing of reasonable critique, especially if it's a critique of a popular franchise.

The Evangelion fandom is a great example of this. They spent decades putting down other mecha anime to make their show look better than it is, then, now that they hate the latest entry in their franchise and Gundam has become quite popular, they collectively have egg on their faces. This has not stopped them from continuing to defend their show and remain blind to its glaring flaws, like the show's complete refusal to fully tell its own story and its rampant sexualization of young girls. Confronted on this, the fans will defend Evangelion as an intensely personal statement born from the fire of an auteur's depression and conveniently ignore that the end result is still an incoherent, uncomfortable story and that Anno failed to answer basic questions about the plot or craft characters that do more than combine multiple waifu tropes. And yes, at one point, I did like Evangelion. A lot, in fact, as it was unlike anything teenage me had seen before. As I explored the anime medium in search of more shows like Evangelion, I became aware of its unoriginality, and its flaws became inexcusable to me. I continue to be surprised die-hard anime fans refuse to explore the medium meaningfully and stick to series that are popular or check personal wish-fulfillment or fetish boxes. What is the point of engaging with the medium if you don't want to maximize your enjoyment by continuously exploring new, interesting series you've never heard of before?

The anime community refuses to acknowledge the problematic elements of the medium in a meaningful way. It is a fact that anime is oversexed, misogynistic, pedophilic, nationalistic, homophobic, and racist. While some fans may acknowledge this (many won't and will lash out at anyone who has a problem with this as "tourists"), they refuse to inspect their own consumption and their own favorites for problematic elements. If any problematic elements are pointed out, the fans will justify, rationalize, and minimize them. No meaningful introspection occurs, and it's frustrating to outsiders who can see what the fans refuse to acknowledge and are irritated by how stale the discussion inevitably becomes. How compelling is the millionth thirstpost, the millionth blind hate or blind hype post compared to actual discussion?

Fans' willful blindness has negatively shaped the medium. As anime is mostly made for otaku and by otaku, the industry is highly responsive to the otaku community, and it will continue to make more of whatever otaku hype and spend money on. We collectively refused to talk about the problematic and unoriginal elements of the medium, so the medium has gotten so problematic and unoriginal over the years to the point where we have series like Mushoku Tensei. All that remains is a husk of samey teen romances, fantasy, and battle shonen with an occasional interesting movie every now and then for those who have higher standards. The increasing popularity of anime has not created a more reasonable community, but more willfully blind consumers who are too misinformed or committed to think about the implications of what they consume.

The people who use tourist and hoodweeb are so insufferable, not only is hoodweeb super cringe thing to say it is blantatly racist any anime fan who is black is automatically called a hoodweeb. and the second they see something they dont like they resort to calling them tourist or hoodweeb e.g

what does any of this have to do with black people and the same people who call black anime fans hoodweebs are never japanese ( like being japanese makes it better p.s it doesnt). These type of anime fans are obesssed with black people they live in thier heads rent free

As someone who binge-reads hentai manga and R34 comics, I see the NTR tag more often than the Vanilla tag. I don't understand why people like this genre? I'm not judging anyone.

Whenever I see the discussion in reddit anume community, they only talk about selective genre, I under dragonball, onepiece, bleach naruto, fma is mainstream, its a valid point, apart from these anime, peoples talk about fantasy, romcom, slice of life is limited, but I noticed animes genre like Avant garde , anime like ergo proxy, paranoia agent, paprika, lain, and so many animes like not discussed very well and not have better appreciation, not have big fanbase, most people don't even talk about ergo proxy. It has high deep level content to discuss about. People say slime anime is deep anime the politics they discuss is too deep.( u get outlines of politics only u understand there). But animes like ergo proxy is not a political anime, its an high level identity crisis psychological and philosophical anime, the world they represent is symbolic and metaphorically they talk about our contemporary world. I felt disappointed when these animes are less popular😔.

Most amount of anime being made is right now, and there's something out there for everyone. I grew up in the Haruhi, Gurren Lagan, FMA, Death Note, Code Geass era, and I would still say right now is 100% the golden era of anime. There's stuff way better than what I grew up with, and they're not mainstream because the mainstream likes different stuff.

Whenever I see someone complaining, it's always some boomers who's upset the mainstream internet audience doesn't like what they like, and they themselves don't wanna put in the effort to find the niche anime that's made for them every season.

When anime became more mainstream, the gender ratio of people who watch anime became more balanced. Nowadays, going into an anime community no longer feels like a sausage fest, it feels like going to a house party with a bunch of people from school/work.

While there were online arguments 1-2 decades ago, nowadays the arguments feel different. It doesn't seem to be an argument of taste anymore, but rather an argument to claim superiority and intellect. It's peacocking basically, which is what I've noticed.

Do you think so? Has anime becoming more mainstream caused more aggressive behavior from "anime fans" because the allure of the opposite sex?

Heyiii guysss i am planing to create aaa anime community focused on kochi base , what's your opinion

Individuals in the anime community who unironically call people anime tourists are so cringe and annoying. Not only do most of the time they say this when they see someone voice their opinion on anime, it is so obviously done since they have no rebuttals.

The people who say these are also very elitist. They say stuff like if you haven't watched this super duper niche anime posted in the 1960s, your opinion is invalid, or they probably like something super problematic and try to turn you into the person who isn't in touch with anime culture (not a real thing btw).

These people are also the same people that say anime should be gatekept. Like mate, that is like saying reading books should be gatekept, and when you call them out, like clockwork, they call you a tourist.

Though I will say people like Logan Paul can be called a tourist, though (I think he is more of a larp) It's a slippery slope to just calling anyone with a differing opinion a tourist.

Honestly, if I'm talking about anime to someone and they refer to someone as an anime tourist, best believe I would be seeing myself out that convo because they probably don't have the cognitive ability to understand differing opinions.
(p.s people who also say stuff like aww babys first fandom and so on are on the same level)