Ah yes, famously conservative media like One Piece, Ghost in the Shell, Gundam, Princess Mononoke, JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, and Cowboy Bebop
conservative values like "reject the emperor's orders in order to save nature" and "care for the sick, have equality for women AND respect and find balance with nature"
It's accurate in a way. The only high quality conservative media is leftist media that conservatives don't understand.
It's really not about media literacy. The right doesn't care about truth or consistency, their interpretation of things is purely Id based, if they like a thing they just force a interpretation that aligns with their value, they likely know it's bullshit but whatever, makes their pee pee feel good. If a Nazi liked fucking Battleship Potemkin they'd mental gymnastics an interpretation that aligned with their beliefs. It doesn't matter how blatantly left you make the message in a piece of media, CHUDs will find a justification for liking it.
Conservatives stand for nothing, except vague nostalgia about the "good times" so it makes sense their "conservative core" anime would just be a bunch of stuff they watched as a kid and as a teen. No analysis, just "this was really cool when I was a kid, and I didn't have to pay rent or anything back then, so I associate these two unrelated concepts because my brain is smoother than a billiard ball."
Black Lagoon
Japanese pencil pusher gets hijacked by pirates
realizes his company doesn’t give a shit about his safety
defects to the pirates’ side
commits international crimes with a female Chinese mobster (and her big boobed catholic nun friend), a black soldier, and a Jewish hacker
conservative media
You can’t make Black Lagoon today because FVW (family value warriors) snowflakes would call it woke, pandering, and forced diversity.
BL is conservative because it has a boat in it: sorry, I don’t make the rules
There's a whole sequence where the characters get gender swapped dream sequence...WOKE!
I like Jojo, but in the rare instances where it really offers political messaging it's basically libertarian bullshit (see the end of Stone Ocean episode 27, where Araki takes a strong stand against motorcycle helmet laws on existential grounds for some reason)
The main thing I like about Jojo is its derangement, so this doesn't bother me too much
literal nazi cyborg
Thankfully the red army got his ass at stalingrad
Was Lucy Q underage or do you mean the name of the African American kid?
probably teaming JoJo up with literal Nazi Germany to fight the pillar men.
Suzi Q is described as a young woman and is employed by Lisa Lisa as a personal assistant, and Smokey Brown is a blend named after musicians Smokey Robinson and James Brown so I don't really see that as being too out of pocket.
Let's be fair, there's a reason it's "Smokey Brown" and not "James Robinson", not to put too fine a point on it.
But yeah, fair point about the Nazi thing, I was just thinking in the libertarian direction.
Pretty much all of Steel Ball Run is a criticism of American imperialism, and Jojolands has a very gender non-conforming character and presents punching cops as a good thing. The politics of Jojo improved massively as the series went on
I mean, it's still wildly misogynist and likes its eroticized SV (which puts a real damper on the GNC character's introduction, to put it lightly), plus with the libertarian thing it's unclear to me if it's really a "punch cops" message from the left or because Big Government Bad.
every popular anime ever created since 1980 is conservative
This can't be anything more than bait to drive engagement.
Japan is very conservative. I can see a case being made that the conservative themes shine though if that is all you are looking for.
I can't even understand how anyone could even misinterpret Princess Mononoke as conservative. It's not fucking subtle.
Literally made by a guy who identify as communistAfter double checking I realised that I took an analysis of his works I saw some time ago at face value, he didn't openly self-drscribe as anything but there's matter to discussDoes he? I don't think I've ever heard that before. I've heard him describe himself as an environmentalist and a humanist, but never a communist. Though if he has read Marx, it would explain his "anime was a mistake" misquote quite a bit, as he was talking about how "anime" being a thing is very limiting and how the market is just making things that are "anime" basically commodifying the concept of animation itself.
Pretty sure he stopped calling himself a communist after the Soviet Union fell
Kinda understandable, I probably would take it pretty hard too if I were around at the time
Hey, all of my favorite ani- oh
Not gonna blame them for princess mononononoke though; she's simply a forestcore wolfgrind sigma tradwife who's been greenpilled and is actively rejecting the woke metalist agenda and their soy anti-tree narrative.
It was about how a woman was wrong I guess. Plus it is pro gun so that works for them.
What the fuck is conservative about a show about an elf who outlives her friends and kinda has a midlife crisis about that before going on an adventure to get to know them and other people better
There's an episode where she attacks a demon on sight under the assumption that all members of the demon race are evil, and instead of it being a learning moment it's all like: "yeah, demons are all evil." And she's vindicated in her desire to kill all demons.
I get that some people ascribe fascist undertones to this show, but imo it can just as easily be read as "the demons are the fascists".
For instance it's established early on that one of their goals is to genocide the elves.
For instance it's established early on that one of their goals is to genocide the elves.
Yeah except this is what Nazis think black people want to do to them. I’ve never heard of this show but that checks out if it has a Nazi framework
I mean the demons in this show make it clear that they're literally incapable of co-existing with anyone else and will kill other races whenever given the opportunity. It's not a matter of what anyone "thinks", they're willingly admitting to it. You know, kinda like fascists.
You’re talking about the diegetic reality of the show, I’m talking about the interpretations people would have as someone outside of that diegetic reality, and also how similar that diegetic reality is to delusional fascist perceptions of reality
I'm unconvinced that the average fascist wouldn't root for the demons though. The way they are written as arrogant, devoid of empathy, obsessed with hierarchy and so on, would at the very least appeal to the chan-brained fash contingent.
For all we know that could be exactly why this guy included it in his weird-ass list.
Look at Goblin Slayer for a similar seeming situation. Sure, the goblins in that story have far more in common with fascists IRL than they do with any real minority, but it’s a fascist story the entire way through- It just looks like it isn’t because that’s how delusional fascists are. The fact it’s a biologically essentialist thing in both cases is the tip off to me. The difference between us and Nazis, besides the obvious communism stuff, I mean, is the fact that we despise people for what they believe and do, while fascists despise people for what they are and what they’re born as, all of the evil goblins do in Goblin Slayer or all the made up stories about evil things minorities do are just cope to justify their unhinged hatred of someone’s inherent self. I’ve never seen that show, so it could be more in line with an ideological thing than a biological one with the demons, but it sure sounds essentialist just with what people said here.
I suck at media crit and am just generally not very good with words, but I'm gonna take one last stab at this.
The point I'm trying to make is that reading fascist intent into things like people are doing with Frieren could be just massively overthinking things.
Look at it this way: While it's true that, say, stories about zombies and alien invasions were originally based on a reactionary fear of "the other", I sincerely doubt that the vast majority of people who write these sort of stories in our current time sit down and make a conscious decision of using them as allegories for immigration or anti-colonialism or whatever. They just grew up with these tropes and want to build an interesting world around them that has nothing at all to do with what connotations they may have had like a century or more ago. The phrase "sometimes a cigar is just a cigar" comes to mind.
So fascists and socialists could both be wrong in reading these stories as supporting fascism.
Does that make sense?
Best case scenario it’s just a menacing fantasy antagonist species for an exciting and fun adventure, and that’s ok. But if they do mean anything more real with it, it’s probably that fascism is good, just going off the track record of anime/manga writers.
Ah yes, lets just assume that every japanese creator is a fascist.
I'm sure that's gonna go great, oh 5 day old account you.
I know there’s plenty of good manga/anime writers politically, it’s just also kind of a conservative country (and don’t get me wrong, I don’t think it’s especially conservative compared to any Western country, American writers have a bad track record too, we just block it out). I was trying to make a semi-joking point about how common nostalgia for Imperial Japan or stuff like what happened with Attack on Titan is.
Oh yeah i had a big dumb moment and didn’t notice this part,
The phrase "sometimes a cigar is just a cigar" comes to mind.
From a political perspective, there is no such thing. Yes, the chance of the writer being an actual Nazi is low, but when someone makes something “non-political” it is really just their baseline assumptions about what is or isn’t political.
Yeah, but fascists aren't born that way. Its an ideology. The demons as presented are inherently evil, it's not because of their social conditions.
Ok, and? If in this world demons are inherently evil, then so what?
Because they look and talk like humans? You don't see anything problematic about a group humanoid people being inherently evil? This isn't some new critique of fanatasy. Having inherently evil races is race science 101.
Ok I think I mostly get it, this person used exactly 5 criteria to make his picks:
#1 "I judge a book by its cover", this includes almost certainly not watching even a single episode.
Spy x Family, GnP, JoJo, Sailor Moon, Black lagoon, Tanya, Legend of the Galactic Heroes, Gundam
#2 "I watched exactly 1 episode to be sure and yep this ain't woke"
Jormungand, Cowboy Bebop, Kill la Kill.
#3 "My 4chan friends like this thefore its probably ok I guess"
Bochi , Lucky Star, Azumanga, Konosuba, Princess Mononoke, One Piece, CSM, Ghost in the Shell
Also he probably heard those weebs refer to "Fate", FATE, FAAATTTEEEE so much that so he googled exactly the first result which is the original game art, good job lazy ass mfer.
#4 "This sounds anti-woke enough right? Sounds good to me" literaly same as cover but mfer read the title literally
Hellsing, Spy x Family, Angel Cop, Gunsmith Cat
#5 "My cousin was watching this 15 years ago, guess it ain't woke then it ain't woke now"
Bleach, DBZ, Monster, K-on, Eva,
Monster is comically anticommunist, at least. Like, I think there might be one episode where they "both sides" things a little, and obviously it's also anti-Nazi, but the main plot hinges on completely absurd anticommunist brainworms about Soviets torturing children to, uh, make another Hitler or something? It's really hard to keep track of what anything means because the mangaka has the worst Mystery Box proclivity that I've seen in literally any medium.
Meanwhile I think Chainsaw man is at least mildly progressive, way to OOP's left, considering the allegory about nukes that implicates the Japanese and US governments in absolutely heinous crimes. idk, I guess you're right that Denji being porn-brained means channers would like it, but is that really why it's on here?
I don’t think the Soviets were involved, at least not up to the episodes I’ve seen. Rather, it’s Neo Nazis being prevalent in east Germany and other Warsaw pact countries doing experiments on children. It would’ve been a great plot point had the author been a little more woke and made the story part of a larger CIA/GLADIO type operation.
Fuck man. It could’ve been so great. Historically, there have been psychological and authority figures in the serial killer and systemic child abuse world that overlap with intelligence operations (not talking about satanic panic either). Not to mention the Brabant massacres were literally the CIA and NATO cultivating neo nazi serial killers. This was the once chance GLADIO could’ve been portrayed in an anime, and it will likely never happen again.
I'd highly suggest reading Banana Fish (manga); without spoiling too much, the main antagonist is the head of the Corsican mafia, and the author doesn't shy away from explicitly namedropping the CIA and its anticommunist operations in South America and Vietnam (among others), or the systemic abuse of children from marginalized backgrounds by the US government. The anime is good too, but it's set in the 2010s rather than the 1980s so some of the changes don't make sense (e.g. replacing the Vietnam War with the Iraq War).
Angel Cop is explicitly anti communist. Like the protagonist is basically a vigilante serial killer who goes around killing communists lol. Lots of gore. Probably the only thing that makes sense on this list in addition to Halo.
AOT had so much potential to to good and then they take a blatantly fascist turn and justify genocide.
I didn't have a good grasp of fascism undertones when started watching it in highschool, lol
Halo, conservative? The entire overreaching narrative in the game's campaign is a critique on post 9/11 USA.
I’ve seen this exact format for “conservative core” stuff but it was somehow worse because they used Metal Gear Rising as an example, of ALL games. Complete
moment
They literally and unironically quote liberty prime from fallout and think he's a cool tough American badass.
Here's a couple lines that didn't trip their trigger that maybe what theybwere consuming wasn't earnest.
"Democracy is non negotiable"
"American casualties: unacceptable. Overkill protocols authorized."
"Death is a preferable alternative to communism."
nah i'll give them halo, it glamorizes the child-kidnapping lady-goebbels that created the spartans (Dr. Halsey is perhaps internally conflicted but constantly proven to have made the 'necessary tough choices' to save the universe/humanity/etc., and i cannot stress enough how much the books and other media like halsey's journal in halo reach glamorizes being a child soldier to children), the covenant are basically a racist republican's idea of what Islam is, a fraudulent religious totalitarianism (the prophets know for a fact that the humans are the real Chosen Special Race, but lie to their people and say the Covenant is the Real Chosen Special Race) complete with suicide bombing slaves (grunts), and the Real Ancient Threat, the Flood, is an obvious allegory for Communism that the Christians (humans) and Muslims (aliens) have to come together to destroy - after, of course, the Muslims/Covenant overthrow their corrupt rulers (with the help of the human personification of the American Navy, Master Chief) to join the Christians/Humans.