ricky84 wrote:Tell me, what do you think of Saint Seiya, One Piece and JoJo's Bizarre Adventure?
Pardon me, I didn't see this till just now in my notifications.
I'm not that big on Saint Seiya one way or the other. Its not offensively terrible by any means, but its not anything that's ever especially grabbed my interest at any point in all these years. Its very much a typical children's action show - albeit one from Japan in the 80s, so it has MUCH more leeway in terms of content and creative direction than anything you'll ever find in the U.S. then or now. I can tolerate it if its on, it has its rare moments on occasion: but that's about the most good I can say for it.
A friend of mine has always described it as "Sailor Moon for boys", and I find that description to be fairly apt overall (one which also applies similarly to Yoroiden Samurai Troopers aka Ronin Warriors). If Dragon Ball were actually the direct Japanese equivalent of the type of "general kids action show" that FUNimation has touted it as in America via their dub (as opposed to Chinese-flavored Wuxia, which is something MUCH more specific in nature: even doubly more specific when its 80s and 90s-styled genre-hopping Wuxia), then it'd basically be Saint Seiya. Which to me is a LOT less interesting.
One Piece I've gone on about at IMMENSE length on here in numerous other threads going back years now. At this point, most regulars here well know my stance on it, so I won't relitigate it in gross detail.
In the briefest summary possible: I think One Piece out and out unwatchable, unreadable, unpalatable, vapid garbage. Its virtues in "world building" and "story planning" are GROSSLY over-valued and over-praised by its fanbase and are wholly undercut by its
overwhelming flaws; namely that is that its so palpably saccharine and emotionally broken and immature that not a single, solitary microsecond of a moment in it rings as anything but hollow, empty, and desperate to ghoulishly claw at the reader/viewer's heartstrings and all but drag the tears from their eye sockets with a hydraulic excavator. And its visually/aesthetically ugly and gaudy as all hell to boot.
One Piece has ALWAYS come across as something written by and for emotionally stunted shut-ins desperate for something to vicariously fill a seemingly bottomless void of loneliness left in them by an abject lack of real life friends and real world relationships, as there isn't a single moment in it that rings for one microsecond as emotionally organic or authentic in terms of how flesh and blood human beings relate to one another on virtually ANY level. Every "touching" moment in OP (which is practically almost all that its made up of) always comes across as an emotionally crippled loner's overwrought, over-idealized, and over-romanticized approximation of what this whole "friendship" thing must feel like for those who have the actual real world experience with it that the author appears to have been desperately lacking in.
(Note: I don't presume to know a damn thing a bout Oda's actual real life experiences. I'm only describing what his artistic work seems to convey.)
JoJo's Bizarre Adventure is far from one of my all time definitive favorites or anything, but I've always liked it quite a bit; if for nothing else its abject, unapologetic, and unhinged weirdness (which, y'know, its not like the title doesn't make explicit
exactly what you're in for here
). Its nothing deep or introspective or life changing or anything, but its "pure, unbridled fun" done
well and done competently/enthusiastically, with a creative, talented, pop-culture overdosed author just going bugfuck crazy with his imagination, having the time of his life, and inviting the audience along for the ride with him.
There's no pretension, there's no unsettlingly creepy personal baggage of the author's to sift through and that gets in the way of or sabotages the work itself, and the sense of surreal strangeness and genuine love for all things rock and roll (VERY 80s rock and roll mind you) is palpably infectious throughout: JoJo is basically a supernaturally-tinged larger than life "rock opera" with a distinctively Japanese filter running through it. Really, where else would anything THIS offbeat and unusual and as fixated on Western pop culture and heavy metal come from BUT Japan?
Put it this way: if the band Queen had a globe-trotting paranormal action/adventure manga/anime epic based around their music and overall spirit and aesthetic, something VERY closely resembling JoJo's Bizarre Adventure would no doubt be the end result. And if you don't love Queen, you're someone who's not worth knowing as far as I'm concerned.
I think its ridiculously fucking random that something THIS unapologetically 80s and THIS unlike and dissimilar to most modern Shonen is suddenly getting its second breath of life among current day fans (god knows most of the current anime fanbase has likely never heard of or listened to half the bands and artists it constantly references): but fuck it, I'll still happily take it. Better something like this than another One Piece or My Hero Academia-esque blubberfest.