/ot/ - Off-topic

The net is an incredible time sink for me. When I stay offline, daytime crawls slower than sin, I become really angry and unsatisfied with everything, until I eventually go to bed to sleep the bad feelings away.

I think we definitely perceive it faster in this day and era. Information is more readily available, and each year seems like a bunch of highs and lows marked by an insane number of publicized (non-personal) events. Where as the media portrayal of previous decades pre-00s have been rather consistent, there seems to be no big collective thought about what the 00s and 10s were. You might remember the 00s as the last gasp of media moguls, MTV, Nirvana ripoffs/emo projects, and the popularization of the Internet, but that's by large doing it a disservice, and someone else probably remembers it for something different. Information overload and analysis paralysis has struck every corner, and who knows what other big news might be in the other end of the spectrum. For that matter, we still seem to be stuck on the same time loop. People still call back to the 80s even though people that lived through the 80s as a child/teenager are probably in their 50s-60s now. Retrofuturism and faux-nostalgia is more popular than ever. On the other hand, I've spotted people on the Internet who are already nostalgic about the 10s, and it's fucking weird. Nostalgia usually hits you on stuff that happened some ~15 years ago.
I think we soon may be hitting a big temporal gap or schizophrenia of sorts in the future. Like the Mandela Effect but at large. For one small example, remember YouTube annotations? Remember Flash? I'm already unsure as to what annotations certain videos had. And most Flash content in this day and age is by and large gone outside of survival bias. Nobody is invalidated, and nobody is right.

On the side, a worrying trend I've spotted that's been picking up traction in the mainstream sphere of the Internet are so called "internet historians" who recite shit from KYM/ED, do some two minute search on web archive, and just overall reek of faggotry and do History majors a big disservice. It's the beauty of the internetz, you can lie and get away with it. And maybe in the future we'll recall a lie too.

I'm not sure to what extent it has affected my perception of the real world, but in regards to online acquaintances and events, it feels as if it all simply pauses when I'm not there. I'll talk to some online buddy or group chat, leave for 2 weeks and return as if nothing happened, and then be surprised at them lamenting my absence because it feels like I was just there a moment ago. With running online trends and the like too, I just can't bring myself to give a shit about staying relevant, so when I finally get to it, everything feels like it just happens in huge bursts. I suppose this is why slower image boards like this suit me more.

>>19798
Interesting perspective. I know a person who is seemingly nostalgic for 2016 for whatever reason. Also note that your view of these eras and generations might be a bit americentric and doesn't necessarily apply to the population outside your sphere, even considering how globalized culture has become. The 90s, for example (though you didn't directly mention them), being a golden childhood era is a pretty consistent meme on the internet, but meanwhile my own country was war-torn and fucked during most of this period.

>>19798
I'm nostalgic for the mid to late 2000s, it depends on the person and how their life was at the time.

>>19798
Things that were less than a decade ago feel longer ago now. I blame how quickly things have changed online and the hostile corporate takeover and sanitization of various platforms like youtube.

>>19824
Think most anons use PDFs, makes it easier to look up stuff. Only stuff I would recommend to get physical are exercise books, as copying them out or answering them indirectly on a notebook while looking on screen would probably be too distracting for most.

>>19804

Minna no Nihongo's textbooks are a little bit too rigid and formulaic for my preferences, but they might be what you're looking for.

>>19819
I mostly meant the comments by >>14550 but also some others

> if you want to learn japanese just to enjoy media, you're wasting your time

There's a lot of japanese media that doesn't have translations and is interesting. Even ones with translations can be more engaging without a translation. For example, not having to read subs all the time, you can look away and not miss some important dialogue. There are a tonne of websites in Japanese that either have no English equivalent or offer a different perspective.

>don't even waste your time learning how to write stuff. There are hardly any chances you will ever use written japanese in your life, ever

I can agree with this but, mainly in regards to kanji, writing can be helpful. Learning to write makes looking up kanji easier than using Jisho's (or some other dictionary) feature to build the kanji from radicals. It's just faster to write it. It can also help differentiate similar kanji that may differ by one stroke or something. 石 and 右 for example or 人 and 入. In the beginning, it can be confusing and thanks to misreading some kanji, you may not even understand what's happening anymore and have to reread several times.

>my approach this time will be to post simple sentences and you guys try translating them

Waste of time. You shouldn't practise translating but instead practise understanding, they're different skills. If you want to translate texts as a goal then sure go ahead but in terms of learning, it's a hindrance if you train yourself to go from Japanese to English.

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>>19828
Why, 3 years and the first reply is here, who'd have tell

>There's a lot of japanese media that doesn't have translations and is interesting. Even ones with translations can be more engaging without a translation. For example, not having to read subs all the time, you can look away and not miss some important dialogue. There are a tonne of websites in Japanese that either have no English equivalent or offer a different perspective.

What I meant by this is that if you want to learn japanese just because you want to jerk off to untranslated loli, it's not worth it. Learning asian languages takes a lot of time, effort and patience, and if your interests are shallow then you should invest that time on something more productive.

>石 and 右 for example or 人 and 入. In the beginning, it can be confusing and thanks to misreading some kanji, you may not even understand what's happening anymore and have to reread several times.

You can learn that stuff without ever having written any kanji. Radicals are actually fairly easy to memorize if you really need to look up how to write that kanji that you always forget how to write, but actually practicing; hours of learning how to write a language that you aren't likely at all to ever use for real, is just not worth it.
Don't get me wrong, I actually learned how to write kanji because I like shodo and it's pretty much a must, but if your interests lies on watching anime without subs, reading manga or chatting with japanese people, it takes a lot of time and energy to learn those things that you aren't really going to use, ever.

>Waste of time.
Yes, waste of time because nobody really here studied japanese back then.

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>>19828
>You can master a textbook but natural Japanese often has its own grammar that's not in most textbooks.
I totally agree with you that grinding textbooks alone is not the ultimate way to learn the language in any way. That's true but as I've already said I try approaching different methods as well. It's just I enjoy writing in Japanese by hand so much that I want to have a purpose to do so everyday. Besides, you can't possibly find something interesting to read/person to speak in Japanese every single day to practice (or you just don't have the mood or time to do so/decide what exactly you should do), but exercises are something that you can do everyday regardless of your situation. Because I often feel stuck with thoughts as "I want to practice but I'm not sure what should I do today…" and I feel like textbooks might solve this problem. That's my opinion at least.

>For translating, you have to understand
While that's true, I feel like while reading/speaking non-native language your brain kind of switches to it and you just go with a flow without thinking about how can you translate what you hear to the language you naturally know. Translating something might be a good practice but I understand what anon meant by calling it waste of time. After all understanding =/= translating 'cause while translating you're kind of forced to mostly retell everything with the tools of your native language rather than actually translate what original text meant word by word ('cause everything will sound shitty and unnatural if you do just that). So if you're not into playing with words and diving deeper in your own language than you usually need I understand why you'll consider translating something a waste of time.

>I actually learned how to write kanji because I like shodo and it's pretty much a must
I've also learned how to write kanjis, but mostly because I've found it extremely relaxing thing to do. Like, you turn off your brain and just draw the strokes while imagining short stories about the meaning of kanji.

>>19764
Ironically this entire post is very 4, maybe a 4 fix.

>>19769
Ironically, this post is super gemini with a dash of cancer. You're gonna need to open up your root chakra some more.

>>19770
That's not even…comparable to astrology

>>19764
Don't really care for personality tests as I don't see any value in them but took the test you linked anyway. Like the other anon on this thread I also received 5w6. Apparently I have a type 1 personality and the description somewhat seems to describe the type of person I have been the past few years.

Your ideas to include questions pertaining to how a person treats people of different social ranks is interesting and probably would result in more effective tests.

However, the main issue I see with personality tests are related to the actual method of gaining answers; from the person themselves. If a person is not good at introspection or is highly emotional the day they fill in the test, the results will be inaccurate. Having other people fill in the test for you also seems to have similar issues.

Before we try to find better methods of testing we should ask what value the results of a personality test offer anyone. I struggle to find much value in assigning different personality 'types' to people. (Perhaps it could discover which couple combinations work best or which personality types tend to form friendships with one another).

I don't really believe super strongly in personality tests and don't do them too often. I did a couple different ones once because of the Homestuck Title Test on Tumblr some time ago.

I can't remember the exact results, only that I'm a Mage or Seer of Hope. Make of that what you will.

Everyone knows the admin account is called Seisatsu and the password is ubuu123(USER WAS BANNED FOR THIS POST)

>>19787
Dammit, now I have to change it.

I've been watching Steven Universe since when it first came out. I've lost interest years ago, but I still watch every episode out of some sense of obligation and want of closure. I want it to fucking die already so I can move on with my life. I just watched the 44 minute special. I thought it was only gonna be ten minutes, when I saw the time length, I felt pain. It's hard to keep watching without pausing every twenty seconds and taking a break. I'm also currently watching Jojo and mp100. The contrast is crazy. SU doesn't even have fights. They just roll around and shoot energy beams. It's sooo fucking lame in comparison. I have a whole document full of ideas on how I would improve it. Somewhere down the line, i'd like to make comic based on my ideas and call it space dykes or something…

I've thought about the differences between Japanese and American animation before, specifically 2-d. Japanese animation has far greater overall output, it's average far exceeds the quality of average American animation, and the best Japanese animation is better than the best American animation. Even something like Disney has stylistic choices that don't appeal to me, like making all of the characters move around like they're made of jello. This is both unrealistic and a waste of resources. While Japanese animation makes the best usage of its resources and doesn't compromise on character design for the sake of budget, American animation opts to drag every aspect down rather than be clever about it. From what I could gather, the main root of the issue is the cost of living in America, but i'm not sure how well that explanation actually holds up.

In terms of storytelling, I'd say even something on the shakier side like Chobits is better than Steven Universe. It's knows what it wants to do and executes it like how you would expect from something made by professionals.

>>19776
These are my exact thoughts mostly, even the part about Disney. I didn't think I'd ever be such a weeb but moving on from American animation to see how much better the rest of the world is at it, you really can't come back. You'll never see something like Mob Psycho come out from there. The closest thing I can ever think of that compared to the quality of anime is Avatar: The Last Airbender and it was clearly a fluke that couldn't be replicated ever again.

I never understood the mentality of 'I hate this thing but I have to see it through the end to move on'. If I really can't stand something anymore I'll just drop it. It might be hard at first but it really is worthwhile, you can always find something better to replace it.

>>19776
On the average, most western plots and premises are more unique and creative in comparison to the average anime plot (either moe SoL romcom ecchi light novel/mangoes adaptation with self insert MC and a harem or the shounen boss of the week with power escalation). Western animation is also more trendy while most anime stick to a clear formula. Execution, on the other hand, is another matter. Most Japanese studios (and the people that make them up) have been longstay and have more experience with the medium, while western is as come and go as it can get. Most recent CalArts stuff is rather trash and focuses more on fulfilling social justice quota or appealing to children and viral media. On animation and style, anime still consistently ripoffs Disney while western animation is still dogshit and choppy.

I don't believe both mediums will reach an acceptable consensus (in the eyes of mainstream) due to demographics. Like how almost all anime characters are either lolis, teenagers or young adults because they're pandering to otaku, teenagers and people who can't let high school go. People eat both of these up, so unless the producers and the middle men meddle with something, it's unlikely for both to sell for the better.

>In terms of storytelling, I'd say even something on the shakier side like Chobits is better than Steven Universe.
I didn't like Chobits when it came out, and that was some 17 years ago. It felt like it simply gone nowhere except for the occasional "haha its okay molesting a robot" joke. I don't even know how it got to air on TV in the first place, ratings were much more strict back then. It had a sort of cool concept that could be explored more throughly, but it felt very much wasted by mindless pandering. I'd say the average /co/ shlock would be far more entertaining.

But at least anime with a promising concept have a lesser rate of being Kubo'd and hack written than western animation. Corporate meddling is insane here.
Even when it's written by a hack, at least its more visually stimulating. Inital D turned into DBZ with cars past Project D and it was still dumb, albeit formulaic, fun. JoJo is still retarded, and that's good. If any cartoon gets trolled on the other hand it turns into dogfood because there's nothing there to hold it back up, not even animation. The latest "turnPost too long. Click here to view the full text.

>>19777
>Avatar: The Last Airbender
That definitely was lightning in a bottle. Animation wasn't always the best, but the fight scenes were serviceable and the aesthetic worked. Even Korra pales in comparison because two of the creators lost sight of what made the original good and the third didn't even come back. I do have to give credit where credit it due, Gumball has done some impressive things. It's not fully 2-d though and i'm pretty sure it's produced in Canada, or somewhere else outside of the states. The humor doesn't appeal too much to me and I've only seen clips, but it does impress me with its variety.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cqFJ5tiIJ94
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-4L_-fdxWs
>If I really can't stand something anymore I'll just drop it.
Normally i'd agree with you, but this has been sevenish years of investment and at one point I really did see potential in it. A tiny bit of the fight scene animation in earlier seasons showed some effort. Beginning of this clip shows what I mean. Different angles, shots, panning.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1FOUfsELtMk
For the most part, this is shot reverse shot. It's even lamer than these two characters first fight if you've seen that.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3UkdLY6lgGQ
Mob Psycho 100, beginning of the season, totally insignificant fight for comparison.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZth3IJr8fw
>>19778
>On the average, most western plots and premises are more unique and creative
Nah. I get what you're saying, but when you look at total volume, that's just not true. There's a sea of generic slice or life/harem stuff sure, but the bulk of anime with interesting premises it larger than the total bulk of western animation, especialPost too long. Click here to view the full text.

I wanna condense my point as much as possible.
1.Quantity
Look at what's airing now. Now look at the seasonal anime chart. Do that for every season, of every year, for 30+ years. There you go.
2.Average
I randomly picked Hanamaru Youchien.
For the American one, hmmmmm, how about…. apple and onion.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YO49cDOIxxA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gsnxNdRFYLk
What about their ops?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qnecMaTytT0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1A9YzON11nw
I also looked at some truly bottom of the barrel stuff like Acchi Kocchi, that seemed comparable, but it's not average.
3.The Best
How good does it get? What's the highest quality anybody has reached? I don't really know where to start.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZz2njtQP2Y
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Monster girl quest. Generally i'm not into fantasy, lord of rings type stuff. I don't hate it, but it doesn't appeal to me. Monster girl quest is actually the only exception to this. I guess I like the idea of there being something higher than humans on the food chain, something that's intelligent and good looking to boot. I also like how Christianity type stuff is mixed with shinto and neither one is actually super praise worthy. Everybody is more or less equal despite everything else. Not realistic, but it doesn't have to be. Nostalgia also has to do with it.

I'd be a slimegirl. Live forever, never have to chew food or sleep, never worry about cutting yourself, stronger than average person.

Probably The Wired. Late 90s (physical) cyberspace ideals, not only in media and culture but in manifestos and futurism are incredibly awkward looking back. I was hoping VR would have a browser to present this idea into motion, but commercial VR is a fucking meme.

>>19749
>something I was in the past
oi fuck right off, mate
seriously though, this post comes off as extremely condescending. You're not better than us just because you changed for the better or whatever. Quite projecting.

Stop treating me like a kid!

>>19750

Truly the real projection was the assholes we met along the way

Anime in America: Japan's animated movies have risen from cult status to cultural force in the US. Next up for the moviemakers: winning approval from Mom and Dad- 2003
>An abandoned theme park. Temples, lakes and food fit for gods. It's a cartoon, but a beautiful, stunningly realistic one that leaves the audience hushed at this dinky art house theater in South Florida. Most wait until the last credit leaves the screen. The movie is Spirited Away (Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi in Japanese) and it's the latest anime hit in the US. Anime in America is winning more sales and fans than ever before.
>Hard-core anime fans are not surprised by the film's success. They've grown up on TV shows like Voltron and Power Rangers, so the brilliance of Miyazaki and other anime directors is nothing new.
>Japanese anime, a genre once reserved for the TV dens of Star Trek-types and reclusive teenagers, is now super-hip in the States.
>typical anime fans used to be predominately male, techie types, 70-80 percent college educated and between 25 and 30 years old. Today the US audience is 50:50 teenagers (mostly 14- and 15-year-olds) and adults, according to a recent survey at an SPJA expo in New York.typical anime fans used to be predominately male, techie types, 70-80 percent college educated and between 25 and 30 years old. Today the US audience is 50:50 teenagers (mostly 14- and 15-year-olds) and adults, according to a recent survey at an SPJA expo in New York.
>Like other anime fans, Innes has his own Web site, AbsoluteAnime.com, where anime followers post their own bios and profiles. It's for fans to keep track of which character is which, he says.
Still exists.
>To save paying $100 plus per tape, fans would drive for miles to the paltry number of stores stocking anime. They'd tape it, duplicate it, then send it back. It was Gunbuster's success that triggered a flurry of releases, Tatsugawa says.
>More Americans got excited by anime in 1993, when the Fox Channel Network aired a remake of the Power Rangers, says Innes. Mighty Morphin Power Rangers was an instant hit and created an anime frenzy.
>PORN VERSUS PURITAN
>What might hold all this back is pornography and violence. CoPost too long. Click here to view the full text.

Anime vs aid - 2015
>Japan has typically seen Africa as a basket of problems to be solved with aid. It should see it as a big media market.
>Japanese culture is a very serious matter when it comes to this passionate group of South Africans, and although the idea of manga fanboys and fangirls in Africa may seem a little incongruous at first, it shouldn't be a surprise at all.
>Tokyo's dominant perception of Africa can arguably be summed up in the words of Makoto Ito, Japan's ambassador to the Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD), Japan's central forum for aid to Africa: "Africa faces challenges such as income disparity, overreliance on natural resource trading, infectious diseases, political instability and recurrent conflicts," he said. "International support is essential to tackle these issues."
>But this manic creativity hasn't always sat well with the Japanese government. Throughout most of the 20th century, the Japanese government viewed its pop culture industry as trivial and embarrassing at best. It was only after the end of the bubble economy in the early 1990s that the government grasped its global popularity. Diplomats then had to catch up with foreign fans that knew much more about Japanese works than they did.
>What followed was an uneasy alliance between Japan's creative industries and its government, with the latter trying to use global fandom as a gateway to public diplomacy. This collaboration came to be known as the Cool Japan campaign
>The presence of China in Africa is nothing if not controversial, but both its supporters and critics agree that China is in Africa to do business. Whether that business is ultimately to Africa's benefit is hotly contested.
Can a Nerd Get the Girl?- 2005 Kay Itoi
>Pity the poor otaku. Obsessive-compulsive recluses, they are the diehard fans of Japan's world-famous subculture hobbies–anime (animated films), manga (cartoons) and videogames. More comfortable in a virtual world than the real one, they are notorious for their lack of social skills and even less fashion sense. The general rule is that otaku can't get dates.
>So why, suddenly, are they hot? Chalk it up to the new "Densha Otoko" phenomenon. Last spring a (Post too long. Click here to view the full text.

Facet Analysis of Anime Genres: The Challenges of Defining Genre Information for Popular Cultural Objects.- 2018
>Anime, as a growing form of multimedia, needs a better and more thorough organization for its myriad unique terminologies. Existing studies show patrons' desire to search and get recommendations for anime. However, due to inadequate indexing and often con- fusing or inaccurate usage of terms, searching and acquiring recommendations remain challenging. Our research seeks to close the gap and make discovery and recommendations more viable.
A New Golden Age for Western Manga. - 2018
Something something globalism, diversity, blah. It's polished looking I guess.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1zExgYp0Um2E5AE3S5OyCzZWlW1gz23SP/view?usp=sharing
Black Women in Sequence: Re-inking Comics, Graphic Novels, and Anime.
Text not available, funny title though. The narrow-sightedness of these people never stops being amazing me.
AMAZING ANIME MOVIES
>While many librarians are familiar with Japanese anime adaptations from popular manga series, such as "Naruto," this roundup will focus on stand-alone feature-length films. Whether your library is looking to expand its anime selections or trying to start one from scratch, you'll find the titles below useful.
Half of it is Ghibli. Satoshi Kon only gets Tokyo Godfathers. No mention of Ghost in the Shell and that type. Guess i'm not surprised.
Magic, Shōjo, and Metamorphosis: Magical Girl Anime and the Challenges of Changing Gender Identities in Japanese Society.
>It is argued that the genre developed in close connection to the culture of shōjo (female adolescence) as an antithesis to adulthood, in which women are expected to undertake domestic duties. The paper then incorporates contexts for male-oriented fan culture of shōjo and anime aesthetics that emerged in the 1980s. The recent tendencies for gender bending and genre crossing raise critical questions about the spread of the magical girl trope as cute power. It is concluded that the magical girl genre encompasses contesting values of gender, and thus the genre's empowerment fantasy has developed symbiotically with traditional gender norms in society.

Anime's Brave New World
This one is also good.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/19ntOKKpTbArJ0M8JPnKMG7_DALH811O3/view?usp=sharing
Anime, mon amour.
>The article focuses on "Forget Pokémon," a Japanese animation that explodes with gay, and lesbian themes. The woman who challenged the heroine for the emperor's affection turns out to be a man. A young hero's attempt to impersonate a princess collapses when her female lover climbs into bed with him. In Japan animated features, television shows, and direct-to-video series include every genre and type of character — including gay men, lesbians, and transvestites. Perhaps the oddest use of gay characters in anime is "yaoi" - romances between young gay men that are created by women for female audiences, especially adolescent girls. INSET: Ten DVDs for anime beginners.
The Role Of Visual Novels as a Narrative Medium
https://openaccess.leidenuniv.nl/bitstream/handle/1887/31703/Thesis%20Dennis%20v3.pdf?sequence=1
>New visual novels are released (almost) daily, but often with more than one release per day (with 23 releases on 12-Sep-2014 alone: four in English, nineteen in Japanese). Three out of all 23 were not classified as\ 18+, and reasons for this include sexual content, an area of visual novels I will not be discussing for
several reasons (such as barely any focus on a story at all, but more on that when I briefly discuss ‘eroge’, ‘erotic games’), and other 18+ games include violence and other graphic themes. For example, the first two games discussed this chapter are both rated 16 by PEGI (‘Pan European Game Information’), an official European organisation concerned with games and age rating. Illustrated by the 23 releases on one day: the genre is big, but this includes all visual novels that are made by amateurs or are otherwise poorly developed.
>In a sense, as there are many people who write short stories and upload them to the internet, there are also many people who write visual novels and upload those to the internet. For this reason, I will limit myself to a few examples of visual novels: famous series from large developePost too long. Click here to view the full text.

>>18167
I'm laughing, I went to that site and found my post in the photo timeline.

>>18168
Snoop was == Tsuki for a period of time. Since Snoop had full access to Tsuki's PC via teamviwer(durr smart idea). Tsuki was never investigated by the FBI although many people have sent anonymous tips to authorities over the supposed 3 or so suicides that happened because of SS. As well as the relaxed stance on users committing (or rather trying) suicide. I don't really know what you mean by the boards. Arisuchan (Lainchan) has one, but many see it as a way of draining a dying community for traffic/promoting their website to a "cyberpunk" community. All the other Hyak chans/boards and shit are merely RPing off a dead community.

>>18175
Glad I could make you laugh. <3

>>18197
>Arisuchan
It seems comfy enough. ^_^

>>18496
"Comfy" says nothing.
The people posting come off as really rude/smug or russian, which isn't surprising since the website was created out of spite.
The posting quality isn't much higher than .org, even less possibly

my guess is that the lains will be completely whitewashed with the release of cyberpunk 2077 this july. and there is at least one guy with mod privledge on .org relentlessly forcing his shitty political opinions. it all died a while ago.