V: I am watching this anime version of X-Men. It's really cliche. It just doesn't fit, X-Men is too American.
HAHAHA. Like, every Japanese show that's set in some other country suddenly and inexplicably returns to Japan. In this case, every one of the X-Men has been recalled by Professor X to investigate the disappearance of a mutant... who just happens to be from Japan.
And Professor X is talking about how she's from some city in some tiny prefecture, and no one has any question about, like: what's that? where is that?
It's like if the Japanese remade the Beverly Hillbillies, they'd go out to eat ramen in the second episode and argue about whether to eat it with fukujinzuke or not.
They don't know how to look at themselves from an outsider's perspective. I mean, it totally makes sense for a bunch of American and Canadian mutants who have never been to Japan to have intimate, detailed knowledge of Japanese geography and history, right?
I just think that the producers and consumers of this media are unable to dissassociate themselves from their own cultural context. Which is not terribly uncommon, but it does show a lot of their cultural arrogance. Smaller countries may be similarly unable to disassociate themselves, but they won't then suddenly put themselves at the centre of every story. It also suggests that the Japanese could never make an Avatar: The Last Airbender.
The voice acting is also in the cliche dramatic mode. Lots of elliptical phrases, single word answers, and lots of grunting/sighing... The grunting is what really gets me, though. Just too much. And it's just not an acceptable substitute for dialogue. I cannot be sure, but I suspect the dialogue itself is nothing special.
These characters have no personality at all. Well, there's gruff and not-gruff, that's about it.
Oh, gruff, not gruff, and woman.
Gruff, not gruff, woman, and villain
Those are the character types.
I guess this must be a children's show.
