Shiroe

2 hours ago, Ryan Dave Jimenez said:

That is crazy.... This is my first time hearing of such a thing. If you don't mind me asking, how is day to day life? How is it different to that of a normal person.

From what I know, it's not different from a normal person. The vast majority of people with aphantasia just live their lives normally. I've been trying to open my "mind's eye", and it's made me realize why I have trouble understanding certain concepts and reading certain books. I'm pretty good at math, but English has typically been my worst subject.

2 hours ago, Ryan Dave Jimenez said:

And back to visual novels, yeah I really want to like them. I think they're something special and as you said they are their own unique medium.

I do find it weird how JRPG also means visual novel. In Japan I think. 

Where we see JRPG as games like Final Fantasy.

I guess you do play a role in a visual novel. So role-play. But every game lets you play a role. Hmmm.....

Hmmm, well I don't think JRPGs are necessarily the same thing as visual novels. Visual novels are games where the players takes a role, (for the most part) but I wouldn't categorize Final Fantasy as a visual novel. On the other hand, I would consider Ace Attorney and Dangan Ronpa to be visual novels, even though they do have some gameplay aspect to them.

11 hours ago, Wedgy said:

I've been hearing about this so often in recent years and it still just blows my mind. Like... how do you just... not? It's crazy and ironically I can't imagine what that would be like.

Most of the time, I think in concepts. I hear for other people with aphantasia, they can only think in concepts, but after talking about it with an expert, it seems like I have spacial awareness. I still can't visualize anything, but I have an understanding of what things are and how they look like. For the past few weeks, I've been trying mental exercises to help my "mind's eye", but it doesn't seem like it's going anywhere just yet.

Ah... Yes, visual novels are boring, but they're also the source of some of the most legendary anime we've seen.

Steins;Gate uses the visual novel medium in a way to diverge timelines and let the audience pick when (or when not) to act. Fate/stay night uses the routes in a way to explore the nature of its main character. Clannad also came from a visual novel, but I haven't gotten around to reading that one yet.

On 5/12/2020 at 11:11 PM, Wedgy said:

I like reading and visualising the details for myself. A VN leaves very little to the imagination.

Argh, I'm so jealous. I can't read traditional books and light novels for this very reason: I have aphantasia. I can't visualize anything in my head, so imagery in books are usually lost on me. I prefer the visual novel medium because the text does not focus on these things.

But don't get me wrong; like I said, I agree that visual novels are boring. However, I do believe that they have a place as a medium. 

Oh! That explains some things with your character. I think you're doing great so far. My suggestion would be to put Sofia's thoughts into italics to demonstrate that it's not dialogue.

For instance:

I do feel a little guilty for not contributing as much, so let me know if you think I should do something or the story should go in a certain direction.

Seshi has a blog? How exciting!

"dere" is usually associated with romance, which I guess isn't seen as manly/masculine. From these examples, my preference is definitely Kuudere. I like characters like Kizumonogatari's Araragi Koyomi and OreGairu's Hikigaya Hachiman.  Naofumi wasn't bad either.  Characters that are emotional, but show them in an awkward way like these three are sadly relatable, yet fun to watch for me. 

What about you, Seshi? Seems to me like you'd like the Deredere-types, but I could be wrong. 

1 minute ago, Wedgy said:

Ah, yes a man of culture I see. 

@Wedgy

48 minutes ago, Seshi said:

So.. maybe I’m under a rock or something but I’ve never heard of KonoSuba til just now.. sounds interesting- so love that I didn’t get spoiled by the hype... once that happens it’s almost certain that I won’t watch the anime

Really? On pretty much every anime site I've used, (Instagram, YouTube, reddit, 4chan, etc.) KonoSuba has been loved. I think you might like it because of the video game and humor elements, though.

6 minutes ago, Ohiotaku said:

Even though I enjoy Konosuba, I get what you’re saying about it being overhyped. Whenever I’ve tried to analyze why I like it as much as I do, I’m unable to come up with a satisfying answer (the only thing that really stands out about the series is how the main characters are jerks to each other most of the time  )

Yeah, I think the cast being jerks to each other but still being friends at the end of the day is hilarious and sweet. It really sells you the characters in a way that gets you attached and interested, like in The Office.

7 minutes ago, Ohiotaku said:

Also agree that Overlord is the most refreshing reimagined as a parody/comedy considering how dark and down right disturbing the main series can get at times.

Definitely agree here, but it's sad to see that the anime has downplayed how dark the novels are.

8 minutes ago, Ohiotaku said:

I haven’t seen Tanya the Evil or Rezero but still seem to get the gist of the jokes and definitely want to watch them now.

I don't know if I'd recommend either, to be honest. If you find Subaru annoying in Isekai Quartet, I would definitely not recommend Re:Zero. Re:Zero is almost entirely focused on Subaru and his character. As for Tanya the Evil, the Youjo Senki anime is, well...

It's kinda boring, honestly. It has the best action sequences and animation out of all four of these anime, but I just can't avoid this complaint. It is boring. Even though people are dying and it's an anime about the World Wars, religion, etc., it's just so boring sometimes. I never felt bored in Re:Zero or KonoSuba, and I only felt bored in Overlord when the focus was taken away from Ainz.

If you do decide to watch them, I hope you have fun with them! I'm open to all thoughts and discussion.

I think this is a neat idea. A lot of people are gateway'd into anime through shows like My Hero Academia and Attack on Titan, so finding anime similar to what they enjoyed can slowly lead them into more anime. I'd imagine someone picking up Black Clover after My Hero Academia or Fairy Tail wouldn't be disappointed at all. (aside from Asta's screaming, of course)

One thing that might need to be considered is that some themes are just not connectable. For instance, mecha is a very broad genre, and recommending Neon Genesis Evangelion or Code Geass after watching Darling in the Franxx just doesn't make sense to me. Also, anime like Clannad and School Days have a scary amount of similar tags. This could be remedied with a user vote option that shows how accurate a recommendation would be. (Something like "56% of users agree with this suggestion.")

Another approach could be indicating why a show is being suggested. For instance, I would not say Katanagatari and the Monogatari Series are similar in aesthetics, themes, or even pacing. However, I could still recommend Katanagatari after someone has enjoyed the Monogatari Series because the source material for both of them are written by Nisio Isin. So, next to the suggestion would be something such as, "Written by the same author." 

Overall, I still think anime suggestions are a good idea, but automated systems without transparency can be an issue.

35 minutes ago, Wedgy said:

Reddit is an interesting beast. It’s hard to call it a community platform so much as its own brand of social media. I’d say it’s a little of both, and I think it depends largely on how populated the sub is. A lot of the points you made still apply. I participate in several small and private subs which do feel like an actual community because you do see a lot of the same names more than once. Discussions only seem to go so far, however. Due to the voting system, some threads may or may not see the light of day or get the proper discussion they deserve. Even in the comment section, the earliest comments often snowball to the top simply because it’s the first one somebody sees, and not everyone takes the time to venture to the bottom where the new comments are, or even sort by new. I’ve seen much better results in subs which the mods have enabled randomising post order and hidden scores- but these subs are few and far between, and it may even be possible a lot of them don’t even know they can do that.

 

When a sub breaches a certain popularity threshold and starts appearing on r/all is the point at which I have personally decided it’s a lurk-only sub at best. At this point, it is subject to not only the general ‘reddit hivemind’ (as many have come to call it,) but it becomes flooded with r/all tourists and their social media behaviour. Scroll, upvote, scroll, downvote. Very little actual discussion outside of a witty comment which gets thousands of upvotes and maybe a gild. As a reddit user for a number of years, it actually makes me laugh whenever I see the common argument about how reddit somehow isn’t social media. It is. It’s basically Twitter with anonymity. It’s gotten to be a massive presence on the internet over the years, but has it ever changed? No. It’s always been a time-sucking social media. And I can only agree with you when you say it really is not a healthy platform for meaningful discussion, especially so long as the voting system can essentially bury unpopular opinions and therefore create the very same echo chamber reddit claims to hate so much.

 

As for discord, I hear a lot of the same problems being repeated that people don’t like about it, and I think I have it worked out why that is; people who jump into discord expecting a community are going to have a bad time. I believe I’ve said this a few times here before, but discord is not a community. It isn’t made for thought-provoking or lengthy discussion. It is a chat/messenger platform, plain and simple. Can you make friends in it? Absolutely! But asking discord to serve the same function as a web forum is the same as expecting someone to read your blog post on AIM. People don’t fire up discord for that. I open discord to say good morning to my august bumpers group, or to share a meme with some friends from FFXIV. 

 

The reason web forums still exist (admittedly, they aren’t as booming as they were 15 years ago,) is because they serve a specific purpose which still cannot be replaced. As much as people try to argue social media is adequate for what a web forum can do, I find it is simply not true. They are without a doubt the best way to form what you could call a community on the internet. I wouldn’t even bother looking elsewhere to fill that need.

I completely agree with all of your points. Reddit has been feeling more and more like a piece of social media than a forum, and discord does seem more like an messenger device now that you mention it. I just wish there were more alternatives to having intelligent discussion. Youtube videos have a balance between entertaining and educational, but it's also got its share of problems.

Thanks for the read and reply, I wish you a great day.

5 hours ago, Wedgy said:

I'm not disagreeing with you but I don't know if Harry Potter is the best comparison unless you're strictly basing it on structure. You would have to look at the dynamics to see where they differ. Deku for example is driven and knows what he wants to be, and is always working toward that goal. He wasn't born special like his classmates, but offered the opportunity he embraces it fully and both appreciates what it is to have such power and understands how much work actually goes into mastering it. 

Compare that to Harry- a kid who was basically neglected and used from the start, had no vision of who he actually wanted to be and just went along with wherever the wind was blowing. You could make an argument here that, given the circumstances of his fate being thrusted upon him, it wouldn't have mattered much if he did have a clear goal in mind (beyond besting Voldemort, obviously.)

That all said, what we are looking at here is a story about 'following dreams, proactively working toward a goal and bettering yourself along the way, ' versus a story more in the direction of 'surviving with the hand you are dealt and making pragmatic choices.' At least in my perspective, that's pretty different. 

Despite the above I think I understand where you were going with it. People love stories in that format and they sell, and that's why it has potential to be long running and widely popularised among a ranged audience. 

You make a good point! I would also like to mention that if we're relating this back to One Punch Man and My Hero Academia, there's definitely something to look at regarding that theme.

My Hero Academia's Deku wants to become the number one hero, and by doing that, he aims to become stronger. On the other hand, One Punch Man's Saitama strove to be a hero, but now he feels empty about it.

Since I personally find One Punch Man's take on that more interesting, I also should have mentioned that in the post. Again, not saying one is necessarily "better" than the other, but I find it important to share why we like the things we do in order for us to fully appreciate them.

5 hours ago, Seshi said:

Well said. I’m definitely going to have to give OPM another look. I appreciate the time you took to write all this up. I like character interaction and depth I love that you recognized the comparison to Japanese working conditions in the anime. That’s intriguing all on its own but it seems there are even more reasons to love OPM. Thanks again for the write up.

Im going to have to think a bit more about my fav characters in MHA and give you some feedback there though. I feel like there’s got to be something I see in these characters relationships that is worthy of being considered.

Thanks for the read and reply. Of course, I can't force someone to like a show, but it's definitely fun to talk about why we enjoy certain things. I'm looking forward to reading your MHA feedback. 

48 minutes ago, Ryan Dave Jimenez said:

As an older anime fan I also like One Punch Man more as I feel My Hero Academia's target audience are kids. 

And I don't know if a lot of people know this, but MHA is Harry Potter. At least for me. All Might is Dumbledore and he will eventually die. (I haven't read the manga so I can't confirm). Which will leave the burden of defeating evil to Harry who is Deku. Dumbledore was the strongest wizard and the only one who can beat Voldemort. All Might is the strongest hero and the only character the villains fear.  And they are in Hogwarts, a school for heroes. And his Ron and Hermione are his classmates. And this is why MHA will have 4 or more seasons. Because Deku will mature and get stronger and graduate. Just like Harry. And so on. 

But I do like both shows. I just lean to One Punch Man a bit more.

Huh, that's definitely an interesting analogy. You could also make the argument that Draco Malfoy is Bakugou, too. I really hadn't considered this since most of the time, MHA is compared to Naruto. Thanks for the reply!

Yeah, MAL has its share of problems. I've swapped over to anilist, which seems to be fine for me, but I have no idea if it'll be any good for your website.

Good luck, friend! Not everything is easy, but with your determination, I'm sure it'll all be worth it.