“Duh, Love Hina sucks SO MUCH.”
How many times have you heard that particular line (or something similar)? A lot, I would expect. That’s “conventional wisdom” for you. Get enough adherents of a niche subculture together in the same place, and you’ll eventually find most everyone agreeing on most everything. Or pretending to, at least.
The anime fan community is not immune to this, unfortunately. Once the community has settled on a general opinion of a show, character, or studio, that opinion is enshrined as “fact”, never to be challenged, lest ye be looking for a fight. Of course, anime fans do enjoy a good fight, so there’s always room and opportunity for disagreement. But, come the end of the day, the conventional wisdom always prevails. Ten years from now, some poor soul will wander into an online anime discussion forum to profess his undying for Love Hina, and it’ll be the same ol’ story…
“Duh, Love Hina sucks SO MUCH.”
If you ask me, though, there’s no place in anime fandom for conventional wisdom. It’s antithetical to the individuality and creativity that makes the medium so special. But, more importantly, when it comes to anime, conventional wisdom is often wrong.
Consider Amaenaideyo!!, an oft maligned and forgotten show from not long ago. And when I say “not long ago”, I mean “not long ago”: the second season (yes, there was a second season) wrapped up only a month or so back. Now, all things considered, Amaenaideyo!! has all the elements of a successful anime series: cute girls, lots of fanservice, um… lots of fanservice. OK, it’s not Evangelion, but neither was Tenchi. Still, conventional wisdom suggests Amaenaideyo!! should have been well received.
But, in reality, Amaenaideyo!! was anything but well received - at least among American fans.
Why? Not enough boobies? Not enough cute girls? Not enough exclamation marks in the title? Too many boobies? Too many cute girls? Too many exclamation marks? Hell if I know. All I do know is that, within an hour of the first episode airing, the show was on the anime community’s collective shitlist, and has remained there ever since. Conventional wisdom strikes again!
It’s a shame, too, because Amaenaideyo!! is actually quite good. And, no doubt, the show has its fans: those who ignored the conventional wisdom and gave it a try.
All five of them.
So, allow me to use my position as anime blog elder to proselytize on behalf of the church of Amaenaideyo!! Do you like cute girls? Do you like boobies? Do you wish to attain enlightenment? If you answered yes, you should really give Amaenaideyo!! a try.
It’s better than Love Hina, at least.