The Old School Otaku Lounge

OK, let's discuss this. It looks like Skullgrin has already seen this, since he commented on it.
Anime nostalgia documentary
This guy is 18, and obviously has no respect for modern anime. I can't say I blame him, since the majority of stuff since 2000 or so just does not target the same type of person that the stuff that roped me into anime 20+ years ago did.

He sent me this video on YouTube because he found me somehow. I normally don't bother with people who send me stuff unsolicited, but I gave this guy's video a shot. I like where he is going, but I think his criticism on modern anime's focus on eroticism falls flat when he makes a point to show nudity from '80s anime. I told him that he really needs to stop the voice alteration. He said that he thinks his Euopean accent is too distracting, but I told him that his voice alteration is way more distracting, in a "I can't take this guy seriously" sort of way.

He made the mistake of promoting this video on 4chan. 4chan is nothing but anime fans who pretend not to be anime fans, and closet pedophiles who pretend not to be closet pedophiles. Of course those idiots love the moeblob stuff more than the classics. To make it worse, they are nothing but complete trolls.

So it's an interesting video, but in my opinion, the overall tone to the video is wrong. Instead of "You modern anime fans are stupid because the older stuff is better, so here's why," he should probably go for a "Hey, modern anime fans don't seem to really know about or appreciate the classics. I'd like to introduce some of these classics to you and here's why you should check them out."

What are your opinions?

greg wrote: So it's an interesting video, but in my opinion, the overall tone to the video is wrong. Instead of "You modern anime fans are stupid because the older stuff is better, so here's why," he should probably go for a "Hey, modern anime fans don't seem to really know about or appreciate the classics. I'd like to introduce some of these classics to you and here's why you should check them out."

Agreed. I haven't watched the whole thing, but he seems to have done a good job in choosing video sequences that make the case for how exciting and vibrant older anime can be. His lecturing attitude and somewhat unrealistic absolutes ("It's a FACT that things were better then...", "All anime in the '80's had great character development", "Money was never an issue") completely undercuts his goals. Anyone who needs convincing is going to blow him off as a jerk, and folks like me who might enjoy the video for the nostalgia factor aren't going to enjoy getting lectured at either.

I haven't seen the video - probably won't, I find YouTube videos to be a really poor medium for any sort of meaningful presentation of ideas - but this strikes me as the work of someone who cares WAY too much about the opinions of a bunch of strangers.

I like classic anime, I like writing about my favorite films and TV shows, but the idea that I have to posit some sort of logical argument and debate people into liking what I like? That's crazy. I mean literally not sane. Taste is subjective, and at the end of the day people like what they like for their own reasons, you can't rationalize or argue them out of liking something. Or INTO liking something, for that matter.

There may be a case made for promoting the classic stuff as entertaining or enlightening, but I'm willing to bet this video ain't it.

This is a fairly pointless exercise on his part, because there's always someone somewhere else ranting about the same things as you are, and even the most well thought out rants are ignored 95% of the time.

While I'm not anti-modern when it comes to my tastes in anime, I do share some older fans' frustration with the dismissal of older anime by modern fans. There's nothing more galling than seeing someone say, "I won't watch this, because it's old."

On the other hand, you can't really change their minds either, so there's no use wasting your breath yelling at them. The best you can do is try to plant a seed in their heads so that they might remember it when they hit a phase where they'll finally have an open mind about it. Like if you describe Legend of the Galactic Heroes as a great and sweeping space opera with complex politics, it might not resonate with them immediately ("Yeah, but it's old, so nah."), but later on down the line they might remember you said that and get around to trying it if they have a craving for that type of narrative.