So, Anime You Like Lately

Whipstitch · Post by **Whipstitch** » Mon Feb 09, 2015 5:30 am

Koumei wrote:Like Nichijou, which is slice of life which happens to have a robot.

Also, deer getting hit with a sick German for the 3 count.

Koumei · Post by **Koumei** » Mon Feb 09, 2015 8:15 am

That really is fair. In the name of labels making sense such that you can make an informed choice, Nichijou and Full Metal Panic Fumoffu really should not be in the same category as K-On. But many of the genres are pretty fuzzy.

icyshadowlord · Post by **icyshadowlord** » Mon Feb 09, 2015 1:38 pm

Bleh, I've yet to find anything recent that could catch my interest.

So instead I watched Outlaw Star from start to finish, and plan to watch some Ghost in the Shell when I find the time to do so.

Kaelik · Post by **Kaelik** » Mon Feb 09, 2015 11:32 pm

icyshadowlord wrote:Bleh, I've yet to find anything recent that could catch my interest.

So instead I watched Outlaw Star from start to finish, and plan to watch some Ghost in the Shell when I find the time to do so.

Good choice, I am rewatching Ghost in a Shell, because this seasons sucks.

AndreiChekov · Post by **AndreiChekov** » Fri Feb 13, 2015 9:51 pm

K-On! should be in every genre that includes the word awesome.

Ancient History · Post by **Ancient History** » Sat Feb 14, 2015 4:23 pm

Not technically anime, but I don't care: https://vimeo.com/30798517

Koumei · Post by **Koumei** » Sat Feb 14, 2015 4:39 pm

It's close enough for all intents and purposes, and yeah, that's a bizarre one.

OgreBattle · Post by **OgreBattle** » Mon Feb 16, 2015 2:31 am

Gundam Unicorn is lovely

Prak · Post by **Prak** » Mon Feb 16, 2015 5:09 am

So, a friend suggested I look at Knights of Sidonia on Netflix a couple days ago.

I now must conclude that said friend does not know me very well, and that whoever created this universe... well, ok, they may be great with mechanical engineering. They are absolute shit-brained idiots when it comes to bio-engineering, transhumanism and sociology.

Let's start with the "third gender."
*sigh*

Ok, first of all, humanity doesn't have just two genders today. Clearly they meant "third sex." Maybe the Japanese is better about this, I've been watching the English dub, but I kind of doubt that Japanese is more progressive when it comes to gender politics.

But more than that, the "third sex" isn't a third sex, because TV Tropes' idiocy aside, they are not hermaphrodites. They are neutrally-sexed (I'd say neuters, but it just feels weird to apply that term to humans who are genetically without sex). They completely lack a sex until their body changes to compliment their partner's.

No, seriously. Does homosexuality not exist on Sidonia? I mean, 3Ses are implied to be omnisexual, but what about non-3Ses? Presumably the 3S' conversion has to do with pheromones/hormones--the 3S' body responds to the pheromones of their chosen partner, and releases hormones which compliment those. There is no implication that the 3S has any control over this change. So there is the very real possibility that a 3S falls in love with a gay binary and becomes the "wrong" sex. This all says absolutely nothing of the fact that the sort of spontaneous sex transition that is implied in Sidonia is biologically... goddamned near unfeasible, if not outright im-fucking-possible. If you're going to create a third human sex, it makes much more sense to just create hermaphrodites.

There is also the fact that 3Ses, or at least, the single 3S shown by episode 6, very, very clearly is treated as and identifies as female, rather than non-gendered, and there's the fact that there seriously seems to be all of a single 3S on Sidonia.

And while we're on the subject of weird future people and their genitals-
Bio-catheters.

I have no problems with the concept of the bio-catheters, but unless I missed something, the locker-room full of female cadets should be used to them. There was literally no reason to show them all squirming as their urethras were invaded other than an oddly specific fetish on the part of the creators.

Photosynthesis and the nudity taboo
First, clearly they don't actually photosynthesize--they're not green. Secondly, photosynthesis kind of sucks for animals.

But more importantly, they were given photosynthesis in perhaps the laziest fucking way possible. Ok, so their "photosynthesis" basically allows them to extract more nutrients from their food than unmodified humans. It's unclear what the fuck the sun has to do with this, since cows do it just fine, and they don't photosynthesize at all.

But, ok, let's say you're genetically engineering people to photosynthesize. The first thing you do is figure out how they collect sunlight. Perhaps they collect a small amount of sunlight just through their hair, and your entire race has green hair. This is sensible, but pointless due to scale. Maybe they collect sunlight through their entire skin. This is reasonable, if you can find a way to improve the power they absorb enough to make it worthwhile.

However, you're engineering a race here. You are in no way restricted to structures already present on the base species. What you could do is give them a retractable sail, the cells of which are specialized for photosynthesis, and which can easily be oriented in the direction of the sun. This of course means that photosynthesis takes a good amount of space, but it allows it to be more worthwhile.

The average human has a surface area of 1.75m2. A reclining human would be able to expose only roughly half of this to the sun, unless they're suspended in a reflective room, which is certainly doable, so the average Sidonian has 1.75m2 of surface area with which to absorb sunlight.

A human that absorbs sunlight through retractable sail-like structures could approximate this with two sails less than a meter on a side which fold out to either side of their back. If the sails were 1.5m squares each, and the space on their back between them was also sun-absorbing, sail-people could easily double the energy absorbed by Sidonians, and the sails would not be large enough to interfere with walking through dragging on the ground. There's the question of what to do with these sails when not in use, but basically it just means the people have wings that don't allow them to fly. If the sails were engineered to serve as gliding and maneuvering aids in zero-g, the larger size would allow them to absorb even more sunlight.

The other benefit of the sails is purely psychological-- use of the sails does not require nudity.

Sidonians exist more than 800 years in our future. In that time, we've mastered genetic engineering, created a third sex and made photosynthesis a hereditary trait of our species. Photosynthesis is such an innate trait of Sidonian Humans that emergency rations take it into account.

Given that Sidonian humans essentially "eat" by stripping and absorbing sunlight, being nude for large portions of the day is perfectly normal to them. Logically, they are often around others for this process, given that they have locker-room-like areas for it, and cadets apparently live in windowless cells.

There is no reason at all for Homo Sidonia to have a nudity taboo. None at all. They spend large portions of the day nude with other people, and in fact must do so to remain in good health. Stripping nude to "eat" while in a stranded mecha waiting for rescue should be perfectly normal. I didn't specifically call it out in the bio-catheter thing, but the human psyche can become accustomed to anything, whether biotech catheters, being shoved in a cybernetic bear body, or growing up spending long periods of each day stripped nude around others.

"I've never heard of an entire squad breaking military protocol before"
....really? Because I'm sure it's happened before.

DSMatticus · Post by **DSMatticus** » Mon Feb 16, 2015 6:46 am

Prak wrote:Ok, first of all, humanity doesn't have just two genders today. Clearly they meant "third sex."

Disclaimer: outside of your post, I know nothing about Knights of Sidonia, but I do not really think this is fair. You could not describe the civilization in which you live to aliens without talking about the gender binary. Yes, gender roles are arbitrary. Yes, there are people who do not fit perfectly into either gender role. But when you are at a restaurant and need to take a piss, there are two bathrooms to choose from and only one of the stick figures labelling them is wearing a skirt. When your hypothetical alien friend asks what's up with that, the thing you are going to explain to them is the gender binary. And if you were describing a hypothetical Sidonian society (which is basically the gender binary plus a third category of some biologically late bloomers) to the viewers, presenting it as a gender trinary makes perfect sense if that is how the society views itself (i.e., people with penises are expected to be "men," people with vaginas are expected to be "women," and people with undifferentiated crotchmeat are expected to be "???").

You aren't complaining about terminology or sensitivity, you're yelling at them for acknowledging the existence of gender roles, and using them in their fictional setting.

Prak · Post by **Prak** » Mon Feb 16, 2015 7:04 am

Actually, I would explain the gender spectrum and how older generations were dumb and propped up the idea of a binary. But in general you are right. At the same time, however, the average "not-educated-about-the-gender-spectrum" person treats gender and sex as interchangeable, and so they still should have said "third sex." Or they could have said "we created a neutral sex."

Edit: actually actually, I would explain to the alien the sexes and cultural mores of dressing based on sex.

erik · Post by **erik** » Mon Feb 16, 2015 1:26 pm

Just a note, to conduct photosynthesis a leaf does not have to be green.

Not to take away from the larger point that photosynthesis won't account for much energy intake for a human-sized animal; I'm just sayin.

As for not having reasons for taboos, many taboos don't come from a place of reason or objectivity. This sounds like a weird rant yelling at people for wearing pants in public because they take them down to shit. I don't know anything about this anime, but your rant sounds bizarre.

hyzmarca · Post by **hyzmarca** » Mon Feb 16, 2015 3:03 pm

Lily Bear Storm is, um, weird.

Basic plot: A meteor shower causes all the bears in the world to gain human level intelligence and a craving for human flesh. Surviving humans build walls to keep them out, but they gain the ability to shape-shift and infiltrate an all-girls private school.

And then a bunch of girls get eaten, which I think is a metaphor for something.

And then there's lily flowers growing out a girl's chest for no reason which the bears lick, which I know is a metaphor for something.

angelfromanotherpin · Post by **angelfromanotherpin** » Mon Feb 16, 2015 3:18 pm

I am shocked, shocked to discover that a giant robot anime displays less than convincing science (social or otherwise).

icyshadowlord · Post by **icyshadowlord** » Mon Feb 16, 2015 3:20 pm

hyzmarca wrote:Lily Bear Storm is, um, weird.

Basic plot: A meteor shower causes all the bears in the world to gain human level intelligence and a craving for human flesh. Surviving humans build walls to keep them out, but they gain the ability to shape-shift and infiltrate an all-girls private school.

And then a bunch of girls get eaten, which I think is a metaphor for something.

And then there's lily flowers growing out a girl's chest for no reason which the bears like, which I know is a metaphor for something.

With a name like that, what the hell would you have been expecting?

Lago PARANOIA · Post by **Lago PARANOIA** » Mon Feb 16, 2015 3:28 pm

With that kind of name, I was expecting something more like a grim-n'-gritty edgemaster post-apunkalypic game where the protagonists had scary sex with various weirdos and the plot was mostly about them reacting to the Diabolus ex Machina of the week. But with more lilies.

schpeelah · Post by **schpeelah** » Mon Feb 16, 2015 4:54 pm

That's Lesbian Bear Storm, not lily.

name_here · Post by **name_here** » Mon Feb 16, 2015 6:05 pm

Yuri technically means lily, which symbolizes lesbianism.

Koumei · Post by **Koumei** » Mon Feb 16, 2015 6:30 pm

Hence the girls licking nectar off lilies that happen to be located on good places on other girls.

I already have the warururururu ring tone, and kumashock as an alarm on my phone. I have no regrets.

Josh_Kablack · Post by **Josh_Kablack** » Mon Feb 16, 2015 6:41 pm

Lago PARANOIA wrote:With that kind of name, I was expecting something more like a grim-n'-gritty edgemaster post-apunkalypic game where the protagonists had scary sex with various weirdos and the plot was mostly about them reacting to the Diabolus ex Machina of the week. But with more lilies.

That would be Lily Bear WORLD, not lily bear Storm.

Hadanelith · Post by **Hadanelith** » Mon Feb 16, 2015 8:16 pm

@AH: What the hell did I just watch?

@Prak: Yeah, Knights of Sidonia had a couple of interesting ideas about future development of humankind to live in space, but the implementation was...lacking. Lacking in sense.

Prak · Post by **Prak** » Mon Feb 16, 2015 9:29 pm

erik wrote:Just a note, to conduct photosynthesis a leaf does not have to be green.

Not to take away from the larger point that photosynthesis won't account for much energy intake for a human-sized animal; I'm just sayin.

As for not having reasons for taboos, many taboos don't come from a place of reason or objectivity. This sounds like a weird rant yelling at people for wearing pants in public because they take them down to shit. I don't know anything about this anime, but your rant sounds bizarre.

That's.... actually a really good comparison. I figured people would get used to nude sunbathing since they're essentially eating, but I suppose the most I can put towards that is that the series takes place after 800 years of living on a space station with locker-room type set ups for sunbathing. That of course doesn't much support the idea of nudity taboos around the opposite sex atrophying.

schpeelah · Post by **schpeelah** » Mon Feb 16, 2015 10:10 pm

Prak wrote:
erik wrote:Just a note, to conduct photosynthesis a leaf does not have to be green.

Not to take away from the larger point that photosynthesis won't account for much energy intake for a human-sized animal; I'm just sayin.

As for not having reasons for taboos, many taboos don't come from a place of reason or objectivity. This sounds like a weird rant yelling at people for wearing pants in public because they take them down to shit. I don't know anything about this anime, but your rant sounds bizarre.
That's.... actually a really good comparison. I figured people would get used to nude sunbathing since they're essentially eating, but I suppose the most I can put towards that is that the series takes place after 800 years of living on a space station with locker-room type set ups for sunbathing. That of course doesn't much support the idea of nudity taboos around the opposite sex atrophying.

Notice however that shitting is inherently gross for biological reasons, and people will use shaming to avoid being subjected to watching it. The association between pulling pants down and shitting is an argument against the lack of pants being socially acceptable.

What are the associations of conducting photosynthesis? Does photosynthesizing imply being personally poor and not having enough regular food (and therefore full nudity is shameful but not taboo)? Is it a matter of conserving resources on a space station, in which case it would be encouraged and eventually more accepted? Is it a biological necessity or optional?

Prak · Post by **Prak** » Mon Feb 16, 2015 10:13 pm

It's more the latter, conserving resources on a space station. I still think the nudity taboo would disappear on that time scale, but Erik makes a decent point.

erik · Post by **erik** » Mon Feb 16, 2015 11:20 pm

schpeelah wrote:Notice however that shitting is inherently gross for biological reasons, and people will use shaming to avoid being subjected to watching it.

Wut? Inherently gross? I don't even. Do you know what inherent means? Do you understand that gross (as in vulgar) is a human-created concept only?

Guess what, the ideas you have about what is gross, it's something you learned, not something inherent in animal kingdom, or even humanity.

I suppose you didn't have kids. You have to teach them that there's something gross or wrong about pooping in public. I remember when my kids would want me to stay in the bathroom with them while they sat on the can and they sure didn't mind barging in on others.

No, it isn't inherent, it is a social taboo that is taught.

Also...