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As a somewhat old greybeard at this point, let me apologize for all of the other greybeards who never shut up about this movie. I don't blame you if you watch

As a somewhat old greybeard at this point, let me apologize for all of the other greybeards who never shut up about this movie. I don't blame you if you watch this movie and are left wondering what all the fuss is about. It's sort of like the LOTR novels, the original Star Wars movies, or maybe even the original Alien movie. Or listening to the Beatles or Nirvana. They were the progenitors of absolutely zillions of derivative works, to the point where Blade Runner's "neon noir cyberscape" aesthetic and LOTR's "humans n' orcs n' elves n' wizards" dynamic have utterly saturated and permeated our cultural landscape. So if you experience these things in reverse chronological order, once you get back to the "originals" it's understandable if you wonder what the fuss is all about. For those who did experience things in roughly chronological order, there's a real thrill and nostalgia attached to these utterly game-changing works. And obviously there are lots of other folks who enjoy that kind of uh, cultural spelunking or whatever we want to call it. There's a lot of fun to be had if you enjoy exploring art that way. On the other hand... there's no reason to do it that way either. Don't listen to any stupid old nerd who tells you that you have to love Blade Runner or some other retro-ass thing. If everybody just worshipped the past we'd never come up with anything new.

filoleg 3y ago
Great explanation. Another example in a very similar vein - Akira. Watched it for the first time ever around 7 years ago, and while I loved it, it was very clear that it was pretty much the origin of a massive number of modern tropes and cliches in anime.
- JohnBooty 3y ago
  Haha nice. Did you like it? That story is a little bit nonsensical. It's an extremely truncated version of the manga, which actually makes narrative sense. I love the anime regardless. Just insane animation and yeah, the "vibe."
  - filoleg 3y ago
    I liked it, it was quite a wild ride. Though I feel a bit sad, as it definitely would have had way more of a mindblowing effect if I watched it during a time period when all the tropes it introduced weren’t that commonplace and beaten to death by now. The whole thing felt disturbing and shocking in just the right way, and i totally believe that this “vibe” is still the same today.
    - JohnBooty 3y ago
      Yeah! How wild would it have been to see it in 1988 when it was released? I can't even imagine. I saw it in 1993 when it made its way to American VHS. Really the main mindblowing thing to me was the level of execution w.r.t. the designs and the animation itself. When you look at the credits for Akira, it is not an exaggeration to say that nearly every animation studio in Japan contributed to it, at more-or-less the crest of the Japanese "bubble economy" when the country was flowing with loads of capital. I remember pausing a bunch of scenes and just gawking at them frame by frame. It was wild to see all of that, in a 2hr animated movie, aimed at adults. It was infuriating as well, because the American animation industry was turning out almost exclusively kids' garbage in the decades leading up to 1993. I felt like our country was really wasting the medium. Although, happily, I think we really turned it around. Pixar lead the way IMO.

filoleg 3y ago

Great explanation. Another example in a very similar vein - Akira. Watched it for the first time ever around 7 years ago, and while I loved it, it was very clear that it was pretty much the origin of a massive number of modern tropes and cliches in anime.

JohnBooty 3y ago
Haha nice. Did you like it? That story is a little bit nonsensical. It's an extremely truncated version of the manga, which actually makes narrative sense. I love the anime regardless. Just insane animation and yeah, the "vibe."
- filoleg 3y ago
  I liked it, it was quite a wild ride. Though I feel a bit sad, as it definitely would have had way more of a mindblowing effect if I watched it during a time period when all the tropes it introduced weren’t that commonplace and beaten to death by now. The whole thing felt disturbing and shocking in just the right way, and i totally believe that this “vibe” is still the same today.
  - JohnBooty 3y ago
    Yeah! How wild would it have been to see it in 1988 when it was released? I can't even imagine. I saw it in 1993 when it made its way to American VHS. Really the main mindblowing thing to me was the level of execution w.r.t. the designs and the animation itself. When you look at the credits for Akira, it is not an exaggeration to say that nearly every animation studio in Japan contributed to it, at more-or-less the crest of the Japanese "bubble economy" when the country was flowing with loads of capital. I remember pausing a bunch of scenes and just gawking at them frame by frame. It was wild to see all of that, in a 2hr animated movie, aimed at adults. It was infuriating as well, because the American animation industry was turning out almost exclusively kids' garbage in the decades leading up to 1993. I felt like our country was really wasting the medium. Although, happily, I think we really turned it around. Pixar lead the way IMO.