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Not sure if you've answered the before. Would you say Oregairu and Catcher in the Rye are similar? Though personally I think 8man is simply disillusioned rather than the more "lost and confused" Caulfield. A LN CitR though. Who would of thought of it. Wonder if Watari read it.

Yep! I actually directly compare the two in my "best shows of 2013" list:
http://wrongeverytime.com/2013/12/29/top-twelve-anime-of-2013/

Why do people buy into the American Dream as a point to success and happiness?

Because it's an assumed cultural truth for many people, and because the alternative is terrible. The same reasons people believe in a lot of things.
There's also the fact that you can't really "sit out" capitalism, regardless of whether you "believe" in the system or not.
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Are you worried that Yuri Kuma Arashi became a detrimental show because symbolism overtook engaging characters? I've heard peeps that's the reason Lulu is far more beloved than the main couple Kureha and Ginko, and the rest of the characters acts mostly as a vehicle for Ikuhara's messages.

It's likely the show's biggest failing, and probably a side effect of the show having to cram so much material into so few episodes. It's a shame - the show's ideas are great and work so well together, so I can't help thinking about how much better the show /could/ have been if it had room to breathe.
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Liked by: Rose Bridges

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I'm about halfway through Samumenco and it's been a wild ride, but Mari's arc is really bothering me. The way the show sets her up as a "b*tch" and then punishes her for it feels uncomfortably close to a narrative MRAs would construct about straw feminists. Am I making a mountain out of a molehill?

I'd say so. Mari's an asshole. Girls are allowed to be assholes in fiction!
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Liked by: Jake Shiraki

Beat the Cleric Demon yet? (On an unrelated note, the next PS4 firmware patch is codenamed Yukimura which I always misread as Yurikuma. I choose to blame you.)

Haven't started the game yet. I generally spend Tuesdays and Wednesdays working straight until I fall asleep.

Would you mind if I shamelessly stole your MAL rating concept? The more shows I watch the more I want to have a clear(er) difference in why a show is rather a 6 than a 7, or an 8 than a 9, and yours is leaning the most towards what I feel is the easiest to use. Especially the 8/9 distinction.

ChazzU
Sure, that's cool. Honestly, the more I watch, the /less/ I want to have that clear difference - my numbers have gotten more meaningless over time for me. But if you find the system useful, have at it!

I couldn't find the original ask, so sorry I'm asking this question, but what did you think of Me! Me! Me? I was under impression that Anno had his hand it it, especially since it contains Eva characters.

See the question a few responses down - "theoretically about self-destructive hobby obsession, but waaaay too self-indulgent to have any critical bite." Not sure where you heard Anno was involved - it's part of the Animator Expo run by his studio, Studio Khara, but that doesn't mean he personally had anything to do with it.
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How can someone like 8man read lots of literature and yet still stick to his cynical frame-of-mind? Wouldn't there be a lot of cognitive dissonance? Or is the real-life experience of being hurt overwhelming any of his readings?

Your personal emotional reality naturally tends to overwhelm any insights you learn from other people. This is why people make mistakes they've already been warned about - there are a lot of lessons you can't learn until you've made your own mistakes and the consequences have become emotionally real for you. Many precocious teenagers have read a great deal but still don't really "know" anything.

Are you ever planning on doing essays (or reviews, or just something to give some thoughts to us) on some of the other animes in your Top 30 List. Example: FLCL, Kids On The Slope, etc.

Probably FLCL, Eva, and Madoka at some point.
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Liked by: Wei-Ning Chen

insert stock "far too indulgent in the attitudes it's criticizing to be taken at face value" response :P

Yep! Feel like I get more questions about that silly short than most anime...

Wait when did you get a PS4?

My housemate has one. He got it a few months ago. Nice thing to have around!

Do you think it's easier to be conservative rather than liberal?

I think the world according to the "default (American) conservative outlook" is a little less complicated than the alternative (the free market is Good, we're held down by Big Government, Merit Creates Success, there are Bad People out there who we need a strong defense to fight, etc), but I'm not sure that makes it "easier."
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Liked by: Rose Bridges

Have you watched the "inimitable Teekyuu"?

I watched halfway through the second season, I think. I kinda stalled because the second season OP wasn't nearly as good as the first one, and the OP is half the show.

With the entirety of Bloodborne before you, will you ever get around to playing Journey?

Nope. Bloodborne is the last game I will ever play.

Not enough characters to provide context. Sorry. I just wanted general guidance from a feminist on these issues, because I had no idea why I was being treated as I was. Its not like I went all GG on Twitter or something. @_@

An important thing to keep in mind here is that basically anyone who brings up feminist/progressive issues online is going to deal with a whole ton of shit. Some of that will take the form of "FUCK YOU GO DIE," some of it will take the form of "I DEMAND YOU DEBATE ME WITH LOGIC," and some of it will take the form of less aggressively worded but no less disingenuous "just asking questions"-style bombardment. And all of this stuff comes in /volume/. People get frustrated, and thinking every questioner is acting in good faith is just not a safe assumption. If people are short with you, it might just be reflective of the larger context of what you're saying, and not because you specifically are being a jerk.
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I mean, I felt like that's what I was doing. But I still get lynched for it. Am I doing something wrong, or is that the over defensiveness you were talking about?

Honestly, it kinda sounds like over-defensiveness. If you're pursuing your own issues in your own space, that's fine. I don't really know what context you're talking about, though.

When will you change your mind and pick up Saekano again, especially since its written by the author of your beloved White Album 2.

Probably never. It seems like only one person on my feed likes it, and images I've seen from later in the series seem to confirm what initially annoyed me about it.

In Death Parade they say the arbiter's don't have emotions, but you've said and we can all see they clearly show some form of emotion. Except for Decim who is supposed to have human emotions. Could the real meaning be that he has empathy? And calling it emotions is just a weird way to go about it...

Yeah, that seems to be what they actually mean.
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Liked by: Wei-Ning Chen

Would you agree that Hachiman is an idealized gary stu written for otaku to fantasize about being? Because he genuinely doesn't envy "normal" people that live fulfilling lives?

Nope. Hachiman says he doesn't envy normal people, but he's lying - it's a defense mechanism. Hachiman isn't an idealized version of the outcast, he just /is/ the outcast - a little more eloquent and savvy than most, but his psychology is the same.
I wrote about Oregairu back when it ended, incidentally:
http://wrongeverytime.com/2013/06/28/yahari-ore-no-seishun-love-comedy-wa-machigatteiru-review/

Neither a strict parity nor a strict duality, but have you found analytic or creative writing more difficult to do?

They're different challenges. Creative writing is more freeing - I can lean much more fully into creating a specific mood, and convey information in my own way. Analysis is always a balance between the flow of the language and being fairly precise in what I convey in each sentence. Essays tend to feel more like I'm trying to solve an existing jigsaw puzzle that requires bending a lot of pieces in a way that makes them more or less fit together, whereas in creative writing I get to decide what the puzzle's picture is, so I have many more options but a different kind of responsibility.

Bobduh, have you written any reviews in the past that you're embarrassed to look at today? I've been wanting to write a few reviews on my blog for a while now but they just seem so... juvenile. But I guess I have to start SOMEWHERE, right?

Yep! I have written tons of stuff that I am not proud of, and I'm sure I'll write plenty more stuff that I'll eventually find embarrassing. But that's progress! You gotta keep writing and keep being embarrassed and keep working to do better next time.
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Liked by: Wei-Ning Chen Rose Bridges Brandon Risberg

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