Qiao ChengHua

It is rather unfortunate that people find something good and take it to the extreme for their own purposes. I’m sure some of the creators saw Madoka and loved it so much they wanted to do their own spin and struggled to find a way to make it unique. Shows like ‘Yuuki Yuna is a Hero’ and ‘Selector Infected WIXOSS’ became how they are somewhere along the development process, and I’m sure there were many reasons.

I think the biggest issue isn’t that people try to imitate something good that works, it’s that the viewers expect it. I’m definitely guilty of this as well. I’ll use ‘Avatar: The Last Airbender’ as an example. I loved that show, and when they announced ‘The Legend of Korra’ I was beyond excited. When it got down to it, though, Korra didn’t have the character development, individual plot, and overarching plot characteristics that Avatar did. I am not saying Korra was bad, it definitely wasn’t, but it *was* it’s own show, with it’s own pace, story, and development, but I didn’t want it to be. I wanted more Avatar.

This mentality is why producers try to make something similar, yet unique, and often times fail. When something is good it is marketable and marketable is good but often leads to misleading phrases like “The Next Twilight Fan Addiction” or “Harry Potter Fans Will Love This”! At the end of the day, imitation isn’t what sells. I firmly believe that there is nothing new under the sun, so it then becomes the artist’s job to find a different perspective and a different spin for something everyone already knows.

It definitely isn’t just magical girl anime. Generation Y does seem quite infatuated with horror, and this is just one of the many affected genres.

There’s nothing wrong with that. The magical girl anime genre is targeted toward a young audience. However, I would not let a child watch Madoka Magica or Magical Girl Apocolypse. As a rough estimate, those are targeted more toward teens (14-18) and young adults (18+). If you haven’t watched Madoka Magica, I would give it a shot. If it’s not for you, it’s not for you.

I don’t think that’s being twisted. Real life is hard, and that’s something Madoka captures in a way a lot of anime don’t.

I can definitely see how that would be distracting. I’m not sure if you’ve seen Madoka Magica, but the viewers are not constantly worried about main characters dying. There are deaths and the deaths can be unexpected, but it doesn’t keep an atmosphere of “everyone is going to die.” If you’ve not seen it, I’d recommend giving it a chance.

When I first started reading the article I kind of expected to read a bit more on the psychological reasons. Things like which experiences as a child or teenager can cause a person to become obsessive and what stalking seems to fulfill in the stalker. This was definitely an interesting article though. Well put together.

I’ve been trying to convince one of my friends to stop talking about her story and to just write it. I hope this article will help her. I’ve never really struggled with writer’s block because I learned at a young age that you can’t just stare at the page, you have to actually try forming sentences even if you don’t like those sentences. It’s not about how good it sounds originally, it’s about getting the words down on paper. If you don’t like it you can always change it later. Thank you so much for writing this!

One of the hardest things about watching foreign television is that it’s about as real as any television: far from the truth. Just looking at American television, life here is rarely anything like that. Certain social constructs and ideas that are commonplace will find their way in, but it isn’t always the norm. In the case of cosmetic surgery in South Korea, yes, it is commonplace, though I’m sure there is a portion of the population that is still not comfortable with viewing cosmetic surgery as a good thing.

The thing is, if we don’t live in South Korea, if we do not live in the culture, abide by the culture, and understand the culture, we cannot pass judgement on their culture. Compare it to any social hot topic in your country. What does the majority of the populace think? Other countries may disagree with that point of view and while other countries might agree that it’s. It is the same with cosmetic surgery in South Korea. Just because it is different from our culture doesn’t mean it’s incorrect.