Finally I can read this strip again

[zastrow]

Despite being a fan for years I stopped reading oots like 100 strips ago because I just couldn't take the Oriental Adventures setting any more. Rich, you're a talented writer but the internet is already inundated with anime and japanophile material. I've caught up with all the back episodes now but I hope from now on the story never goes back to Azure City.

[FujinAkari]

Ok? I feel I must ask how Azure City had anything even remotely similar in theme to anime :smallconfused:

Nonetheless... welcome back I guess?

[Aldrakan]

Well the people were vaguely Asian, apparently that qualifies as "japanophile".
And I guess they mention honor and suchlike, though that's really more just a paladin thing than anything exclusive or omnipresent to anime.
I guess ninjas came up a couple times, though goblin ninjas showed up at the start anyway.
Oh and the paladins used pokeballs, and there's a Pokemon anime.
...
... katanas?

[FujinAkari]

Well the people were vaguely Asian, apparently that qualifies as "japanophile".
And I guess they mention honor and suchlike, though that's really more just a paladin thing than anything exclusive or omnipresent to anime.
I guess ninjas came up a couple times, though goblin ninjas showed up at the start anyway.
Oh and the paladins used pokeballs, and there's a Pokemon anime.
...
... katanas?

With the exception of pokemon... those are things Japanese... -not- Anime... thats like saying that drawing a catapult in the seige scene reeks of Europeanism

[Katana_Geldar]

Someone has a problem with katanas?

I thought it was an interesting take onpaladins, given that most of the time we see paladins as heraldic knights. Or, at least, I do. I think there is ONE case of such a Paladin we have seen so far in this strip, and we only know him becaue of On the Origin of PCs.

[Conuly]

100 strips ago Celia was being held by a zombie in Greysky. We went back to the ship for about 15 strips, and then it was just Greysky or V for about *all of them* until recently.

[rangermania]

Well it seems you've departed for "All the wrong reasons" but still welcome back...:smallbiggrin:

[Trobby]

Let me counter this argument with a quote from our very favorite "Samurai", Miko Miyazaki!

:miko:: What is this "Japan" you speak of?

Thank you, Miko. ^^

But seriously, the Eastern Setting for the plot took up like, 1/3 of the strip over the past 100 strips. The rest of it was either Haley's adventures with the thieves guild, or Roy's Cloudland adventures. And really, very little of the Sapphire Remnant story arc had anything to do with an "Anime" style setting. Most of it, in fact, could be replaced with a Mideval England style of clashing houses. Sure, there was stuff about honor and plenty of Ninjas, but that's just the background. The last time the focus was on culture was way back before the Battle for Azure City, which admittedly DID have a lot of Eastern references, but if you were able to manage that, then I can't see how the last 100 strips were any worse. Heck, Xykon's Azure City barely has any Eastern qualities to it at all, and a large part of those strips was taken up by V's turn to evil! (Something you really ought to read if you want to understand his/her development in the upcoming comics.)

So yes, there was some Eastern references in the last hundred or so strips, but you really ought to give them a second chance, if you're a true OotS fan. If it helps, you can even skip the parts with Hinjo, Diago and Kasumi. They aren't that important to the plot anyway. (No offense to fans of those characters.)

[Klose_the_Sith]

I'm a pretty serious Japanophile, but it didn't bother me ...

Maybe you just need to express your self with some Final Fantasy related trolling? We've all been there, really.

[Harr]

What's funny about this is that, on reading the Azure City arc, it's pretty obvious that the Giant took pains to portray an asian-like culture in his own original style, which was specifically *not* based on, or referring to "anime" in any way.

It goes to show that people will slap their own personal hang-ups on your work pretty much no matter what you do.

[Katana_Geldar]

He's right, despite the Asian influences with the gods and dress, the castle is very much Western European.

[Flarp]

Azure City was essentially an asian culture from a western perspective, whereas most anime/JRPGs/whatever are western OR asian cultures from an ASIAN perspective.

My guess is you dislike the perspective, not the actual subject. The main reason for this (a reason I agree with) is that many japanese cultural idioms simply don't translate well.

But, that doesn't really apply here. So yeah.

[Maximum Zersk]

Wait a second....

....Japanophile?

Plus, I thought the internet was inundated with porn?

[orrion]

I'm pretty sure you fail, zastrow. For one thing, the interaction between the characters is far more important than WHERE they are interacting. The former provides the majority of the strip's content, the latter provides the background and pokes a bit of fun. My feeling is that you missed out on a year or more of awesomeness for no particular reason.

To each his own, however.

[[TS] Shadow]

Am I the only one who finds the original post slightly racist? Not reading a comic strip because a certain culture is there seems a little extreme.

[Mystic Muse]

not really. he's speaking more about the japanese genre not the race. I for example don't like sci fi movies so I probably wouldn't like OOTS in a Sci fi setting.

[Mando Knight]

not really. he's speaking more about the japanese genre not the race. I for example don't like sci fi movies so I probably wouldn't like OOTS in a Sci fi setting.

Except "Japanese" isn't a genre.

Excluding weird Japanese things (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/WidgetSeries), which this strip has never been.

[Ridureyu]

Wow. "There's too much Asian stuff ont he internet, so I stopped reading this comic until it went back to having no Asians."

What's next? "There's too much Islamophile stuff on the internet, so I'm not reading until this arc is done?"

[Elfin]

Shadow;6921084']Am I the only one who finds the original post slightly racist? Not reading a comic strip because a certain culture is there seems a little extreme.

I have to agree with you here.

[Manicotti]

I agree, i find this topic stupidly racist.

If the only thing that prevented you from enjoying this comic was a couple katanas and some abnormally long mustaches, then you have bigger issues than not liking the direction that Rich takes the comic.

[Spiryt]

Shadow;6921084']Am I the only one who finds the original post slightly racist? Not reading a comic strip because a certain culture is there seems a little extreme.

Uh, so he expresses belivef that some race of humans is worse/weird beacuse of their racial traits? (or something similar?) :smallconfused:

He just points that he cannot even read the strips beacuse he doesn't like "japan like" elements in it.

Even though it's weird, it has nothing to do with racism.

[Manicotti]

Uh, so he expresses belivef that some race of humans is worse/weird beacuse of their racial traits? (or something similar?) :smallconfused:

He just points that he cannot even read the strips beacuse he doesn't like "japan like" elements in it.

Even though it's weird, it has nothing to do with racism.

The problem is the inherent thinking that there's something "worse" about "japan like elements" to them. That's what makes it racist, on top of patently absurd considering that the vast majority of Azure City architecture was still quite Anglo-Saxon.

It would be like saying "I can't stand the choir in my church because there's a couple black people in there." The ethnic flavor has nothing to do with anything, and yet the OP is making an implied claim to superiority over a culture that, in all honesty, he's probably only seen the worst of via deviantART and 4chan.

[Tass]

You not reading the comic isn't going to make it any less awesome for the rest of us

Old quote, still relevant.

[Spiryt]

The problem is the inherent thinking that there's something "worse" about "japan like elements" to them. That's what makes it racist, on top of patently absurd considering that the vast majority of Azure City architecture was still quite Anglo-Saxon.


Perhaps he find chopsticks, helmets, kimonos and stuff appaling, and can't enjoy the comic.

It's weird, but (s)he has right, as I have right to don't like, say, Greek vases, anime, or Swiss folk music.

And if anything it's some kind or chauvinism (or rather Xenophobia even if there's no actual "phobia"), racism doesn't have anything to do with it.

Really, one should check definition of racism, before he accuses someone of posting something racist IMHO.

[Manicotti]

Perhaps he find chopsticks, helmets, kimonos and stuff appaling, and can't enjoy the comic.

It's weird, but (s)he has right, as I have right to don't like, say, Greek vases, anime, or Swiss folk music.

And if anything it's some kind or chauvinism, racism doesn't have anything to do with it.

Really, one should check definition of racism, before he accuses someone of posting something racist IMHO.

He finds it appalling or disgusting on the simple basis that there's "too much" already on the internet. This is a completely arbitrary measurement.

He's also implying that using vaguely Asian background material is equivalent to having over-the-top, unthinking adoration for Japanese culture. Hence his use of the strong but still nonexistent term "japanophile" - it's used with essentially the same contempt that one would use the term "fundamentalist" to any Christian today. And you can't say he DIDN'T mean it with the same contempt, or he wouldn't have 1) stopped reading the comic just on this basis, or 2) made a post bragging about how much he hated it.

The word you're looking for to describe his feelings for the pseudo-Asian context is "disgust." Let's see what the dictionary says about it:

"to offend the good taste, moral sense, etc., of"

Put that next to one of the definitions of "racism:"

"a belief or doctrine that inherent differences among the various human races determine cultural or individual achievement, usually involving the idea that one's own race is superior."

Since he can't legitimately make any kind of moral judgment on Japanese culture as a whole, OTHER than his own arbitrary distaste of it, he is treating anything even reminiscent of Japan as inherently inferior to (anything else) as a form of art or expression. Sounds pretty racist to me.

[Spiryt]

"a belief or doctrine that inherent differences among the various human races determine cultural or individual achievement, usually involving the idea that one's own race is superior."

Since he can't legitimately make any kind of moral judgment on Japanese culture as a whole, OTHER than his own arbitrary distaste of it, he is treating anything even reminiscent of Japan as inherently inferior to (anything else) as a form of art or expression. Sounds pretty racist to me.

Still it doesn't have anything to do with racism. As you can even see from your quote, racism is belief that some races are "better" than others and have some greater right to life and to dominate the others.

I have no idea what can be read as race hate/race superiority belief in OP post, as there is nothing about race, or even any people (Asian or not) in his post.

He just states that he cannot read OotS anymore, beacuse he is tired of setting, beacuse there are too much Japan/Japanlike things in web. His reasons may be stupid to you (and they may seem rather silly :smallconfused:), but you have no indication that they are hateful/racist/discriminating.

[Manicotti]

His disgust over japanese themes is what's implying its inferiority.

The implication is that he's in a position to judge its quality, and he's saying "this style is inferior and unbecoming for a webcomic" just because he doesn't like it. As we agree on, this assertion is bullsh!t.

The part that makes it racist is that the style in question is referring to an entire ethnic section of art. He didn't have a problem with any other section of the comic, apparently, except for the part that dared to hint at an ethnic style that wasn't Western or at the very least neutral. But he does here - why?

The secondary claim he made is that this webcomic would be infinitely better if Azure City didn't cater to his crackpot perceptions of "ZOMG JAPANESE CULTURE" already being everywhere else. What else can that assertion be, other than racist?

[Elfin]

I think we all have better things to do than argue whether the OP's post is racist.

[Mr. Scaly]

Elvenblade, agreed.



The last hundred posts or so have been a bit trying for me too. Beloved characters have made some dramatic shifts in personality or alignment, or maybe just revealed some parts of their personality I didn't see before, and I find that unsettling at best.

[Ridureyu]

I think we all have better things to do than argue whether the OP's post is racist.


We could argue if the OP's post contributes to the heterosoecial hegemony.

[Random832]

I agree, i find this topic stupidly racist.

If the only thing that prevented you from enjoying this comic was a couple katanas and some abnormally long mustaches, then you have bigger issues than not liking the direction that Rich takes the comic.

I think you meant to say "if the only thing that prevented you from enjoying this comic was a couple masterwork bastard swords..." :smallcool:

But in all seriousness, what the hell? Even buying 100% into the premise, there have been hardly any Japanese (-ish) cultural references since - well, since forever. The New Years celebration, probably.

[Klose_the_Sith]

It's not a question of racism at all you fools, it's a question of taste. Just because he doesn't want to partake in any Japanese culturalism doesn't mean he necessarily considers it to be 'worse' then other cultures, it just means that he personally finds it distasteful. Honestly, if I don't like Columbian coffee then does that make me racist towards Columbians? Possibly, but if you jump to that conclusion then you violate Occam's Razor.

Although this thread is quite daft ...

[Trobby]

We could argue if the OP's post contributes to the heterosoecial hegemony.

...Wait...

*looks up both those words*

...What in blazes are you talking about?

[Roland St. Jude]

Sheriff of Moddingham: Thread locked for whatever reason for locking it pops into your head first.