Re: State of the industry :)
Posted: Wed Apr 27, 2016 3:05 am
Like with any cultural stuff, it has a lot to do with the people involved and the mediums. I wouldn't say East and West are necessarily Idealistic vs Realistic (I mean we created Looney Toons and Adventure time for our animated features, and some of the most serious and realistic dramas I've ever seen were Korean) or tropes vs nontropes. We each get used to certain ideas more than others and become immune to them, like American action movies are the most ridiculous idea of violence, but we got used to them and they became somewhat normalized.
Nevermind that anime is a subculture and medium within a broader context. It's sort of like comic books. While they are definitely a part of American culture, I'd say a majority of people in America don't read comic books. But some of the more mainstream things are still enjoyed and made into film, while the subculture itself is pretty separate and has it's own idiosyncrasies. Anime is similar in that it's not as big a part of Japanese culture as it seems, and most people I know from there view it much like we view cartoons here.
I guess I'm saying that I prefer English made VNs because dealing with your own country's subculture is hard enough without a language and cultural barrier on top of it. I don't think they are better, but it does make things easier to enjoy, for me.
Nevermind that anime is a subculture and medium within a broader context. It's sort of like comic books. While they are definitely a part of American culture, I'd say a majority of people in America don't read comic books. But some of the more mainstream things are still enjoyed and made into film, while the subculture itself is pretty separate and has it's own idiosyncrasies. Anime is similar in that it's not as big a part of Japanese culture as it seems, and most people I know from there view it much like we view cartoons here.
I guess I'm saying that I prefer English made VNs because dealing with your own country's subculture is hard enough without a language and cultural barrier on top of it. I don't think they are better, but it does make things easier to enjoy, for me.