The way people talk about this movie is fucking surreal.
I've not cared for it for a long time because it's an adaptation of an Ishinomori manga and instead of being Ishinomori-style it has the least appealing Otomo designs ever but I recently looked at user reviews and people talk about it like it's fucking Musasho Gundoh or something even though it obviously has good production values.
Also people's criticisms for its writing being "worst ever" material apply just as well to Cyborg 009, which people forgive because "yeah sure it's considered offensive today but that's just how the times were, whatever, it's still good".
Basically what I'm saying is every single "silly fun" old movie or OVA is considered the worst ever by ANN tier people and you should not listen to those opinions and try that stuff yourself.
People say similar things about MD Geist, which we all know is actually the pinnacle of anime.
Gavin Lewis
Also, I looked at Japanese opinions and it's not as beloved as it was in the 80s (this movie was in Gainax's Daicon IV video) but it's still considered a fun movie. But once again westerners act as if it's some legendarily bad abomination.
And yeah this movie is where the Kanada fire dragon comes from. Fucking no one mentions the scene when they act as if this is 80s Musashi Gundoh. youtube.com/watch?v=zIA6ix0HpYU
I know, I was just joking. MD Geist is no MD Geist II: Death Force, that's for sure.
Julian Cooper
Also MD Geist has a fanbase outside of Japan that says it's underrated silly fun and this doesn't which is why I'm making a thread about it saying "this is pretty alright"
Tyler Mitchell
I honestly can't tell if you were being 100% ironic and agree with the claim that Geist is an abomination or if you find it honestly fun and think people exaggerate their hatred.
I don't think Geist is particularly bad at all. I'm not a fan but I understand why someone would like it and it's not really particularly awful.
Jordan Carter
MD Geist's reception (in the west) seems kind of weird. He became the mascot of a distribution company because they liked him so much, but some time later people (in articles published online) seemed to regard it as forgotten and "the worst ever" for a while. At least that's how it looks.
Gavin Watson
It's just the same fucking clique and their shit-eating fans, these days Justin Sevakis from ANN is at the core of it all and he's an utter moron.
Once again I'm not a fan of Geist because I'm not really into campy 80s action enough and generally only like it if it's really well executed and Geist was kinda eh, but people's reactions to it are still fucking stupid.
But Genma Taisen is actually historically important, has some moments of really good visuals and the "WORST STORY EVER" stuff is just that it's fairly cheesy as far as "love and peace" stuff goes; but it's based on a fucking 60s manga when Ishinomori and Tezuka were huge hippies. As for the racial caricature the manga is far worse than it in that regard, yet at the same time no worse than 008 from Cyborg 009 who was a pretty cool character anyway.
Cooper Diaz
Here is the disclaimer from the Cyborg 009 manga to explain not changing the racial caricatures. It's... very, very different from the ones in Tezuka manga, to say the least.
"In depicting his heroes, Ishinomori chose to exploit various and even erroneous archetypes - the african is rendered in a minstrel style and the Native american is a strong, silent type with a mohawk and facepaint. On the surface, these may look like Ishinomori succumbed to the inherent racism of his time. But the characters he invents are extraordinary, caring people who rise to the challenge of saving the world together, as a group working in concert. These characters shatter their stereotypes and emerge as individuals, firm of conviction and pure of heart. Whereas its outward veneer may seem racist, its content is not.
Today we are frightened to death of racist stereotypes. Political Correctness has done its job of expunging racism from our vernacular. But if we completely expunge the ugliness that came before, we forget why we embarked on that past to begin with. Ishinomori uses the mythos and appearance of that ugliness to combat it.
As you enjoy the story, please keep in mind how incredible it was for a Japanese man working in the 60s to have such a clear understanding of a world that didn't even understand itself."
Brody Carter
At first I thought this was silly but honestly, after checking out a bunch of their work I think that Ishinomori and Tezuka were probably well aware that this stuff was considered offensive outside of Japan but just drew it anyway. They seem generally to have been too politically aware to just not have realized.
008 was blackface as hell in his design but he was also a honest to god black nationalist and this was portrayed as a positive. The way Tezuka & Ishinomori had very liberal attitudes while at the same time not caring about being politically correct of making controversial statements (Tezuka's Adolf ends by criticizing both sides of the Israel/Palestine conflict) is refreshing as hell.
They were also not shitting on the rest of the world from a safe distance; Both Ishinomori and Tezuka acknowledged Japanese racism (and yes that includes towards white people) along with their countless war crimes.
Dylan Gray
Basically for all his racial caricatures Ishinomori had a more intelligent world view than the SJW faggots at ANN whining about how terrifying and triggering Harmagedon is.
Jonathan Foster
harmageddon is just plain bad tho. it's not even so bad it's good.
like don't compare it to fucking ishinomori.
don't even try bro
Isaiah Bailey
It's based on an Ishinomori manga.
Lucas Sanders
If you don't think the cheesy yet completely honest "ALL THE RACES COME TOGETHER AND FIGHT EVIL WITH THE POWER OF LOVE" stuff is Ishinomori as fuck I dunno if you actually read his scanlated works.
You sound like an utter tool brah.
Daniel Miller
MD Geist got a second OVA for the American fanbase. For some reason, Central Park Media fell in love with Geist and he was the official logo of U.S. Manga Corps.
Matthew Garcia
I suspect most viewers had fun with it then but they just outgrew "anime fandom". The ones who didn't became ANN writers.
Xavier Williams
>Ishinomori manga was never cheesy and surreal
Ayden Gutierrez
The utter craziness of this stuff is whaty makes it good.
Ryan Hughes
This definitely sold me on the Genma Taisen series
>guy draws anthropomorific animals that behave like humans >people get offended by his portrayal of races Retards at their best.
Noah Scott
>cheesy I didn't read it but that's called tragic.
Jayden Taylor
This ie the only good english article on this not written by a tool Absolutely all of people's listed reasons for why Genma Taisen is an abomination are there in Cyborg 009
And those who say the visuals are particularly bad should be lynched
Christian Cruz
*is god dammit
The initial western reaction to Harmagedon was so fucking retarded people thought it was a ripoff of Akira even though it's based on a 60s manga that inspired Akira. And it's still the default opinon kept alive by fags from MAL and ANN.
The ANN guy whines about how it feels like "hippie bullshit" (but is also triggering because stereotypes) but doesn't acknowledge that the manga was literally written when the hippie movement was huge
