Ask John: Does Kiss x Sis Deserve the Kiss of Death?
Question:
Anime News Network’s comments on the “Kissxsis” anime have been extremely negative. “For use only as a visual emetic.” “This is so deplorable that I wish we lived in a world where this filth had no reason to exist. The fact that it has enough of an audience to be produced and aired rather than sliming its way to DVD in OVA form (although I understand there are OVAs) gives new and upsetting insight to the low opinion the Japanese have of otaku.” “Who is this garbage for?! …Is this utterly tasteless, completely unsettling and, like, undeniably, absolutely stupefyingly creepy, skeevy garbage seriously what the hardcore otaku audience wants?” “Kissxsis is trash.”
You don’t have to generalize and vilify the Japanese anime industry and its audience to express a personal dislike for a certain anime’s subject matter. It takes a certain kind of “anime fan” to choose to do that; to essentially argue the prosecution’s case against Chris Handley for his sick perverted interest in cartoon trash. I don’t see how the ANN comments above help our hobby much, no matter how bad any particular anime might be.
Answer:
Of the 35 new anime series that have so far premiered during the 2010 spring Japanese TV season, I’ve sampled 31 of them, including the Kiss x Sis TV series. I’ve also watched the three previous Kiss x Sis OADs. I have neither reason nor desire to launch personal attacks at ANN reviewers, so I’ll try to be civil while still expressing my own perspective. I understand objections to the Kiss x Sis anime, and I don’t believe that sharing negative impressions is innately harmful, inappropriate, or unuseful. However, I do think that the vehemence of objection to this particular series may be somewhat inappropriate and excessive.
I’m not going to soundly defend the Kiss x Sis anime. It’s exploitive and crude, but objectively speaking, its production values meet industry average. Its characterizations are a bit bland, and, so far, its story development very limited. However, I find the show difficult to vilify as the repulsive, unredeeming, corrosive filth that it’s described as being. Sexually provocative and tasteless humor has been steadily growing more bold within anime for decades, from 1980’s productions like Junk Boy and Pants no Ana, to 90s titles including 1+2=Paradise, Golden Boy, Yoiko, and Inachu Ping-Pong Club, to contemporary shows like Kanokon and Fight Ippatsu! Jyuden-chan. Kiss x Sis has made an effort to push the envelope, which will inevitably cause controversy. It’s always been mainstream shows like Cutey Honey, St. Seiya, Evangelion, and even Ikkitousen, rather than the esoteric, artistic, and little seen titles that contribute most to the evolution of anime. I respect the individual perception that Kiss x Sis is an offensive program, but I call hypocrisy against the insistence that anime push the envelope of “respectable” artistic and intelligent content while not doing the same for lowbrow content.
The creative vibrancy of anime is attributable to is diversity and eagerness to challenge convention. The very reason anime is so popular worldwide is because it’s so different from what international viewers expect. If anime wasn’t provocative, the entire anime industry and its creative output wouldn’t be nearly as intriguing as it is. Personally, I think that it’s a bit narrow minded and self-centered to insist that anime continue to evolve and become more daring, creative, and expressive, but only in ways and only in genres that foreigners approve of. Whether positive or negative, reviews of anime not widely, legally accessible to American viewers are informative and useful. However, I think it’s imperialistic for foreigners to assert that they know what’s better for Japanese viewers and Japan’s anime industry than Japanese themselves. Kiss x Sis is, after all, only one of 37 new anime TV series premiering this season. So before it’s blamed with the corruption of the previously cultivated, artistic, enlightened purity of anime, its actual impact and context ought to be fairly positioned.
Considering the anime produced so far, Kiss x Sis isn’t brilliant, artistic, or intelligent, nor does it appear to have such aspirations. It’s a pandering, tasteless work of exploitation from a country whose film industry has been steadily producing sexually gratuitous exploitation films for fourty years. It’s a new anime production in a field that consciously tries to create provocative animated programs. It’s a gratuitous wish fulfillment fantasy targeted at adult viewers who are rational enough to understand and appreciate that it’s intentionally indelicate and bawdy. The show is not for everyone. That’s why there are 36 other new television anime series available this month. I’m not going to continue watching the Kiss x Sis TV series, but I don’t begrudge its existence. On the contrary, I’m glad that shows like this, which defy convention and indeed push the boundary of good taste, exist. It’s shows like this that remind me that anime is a bold and daring art form willing to extend itself in directions apart from just the anticipated and respectable avenues of sophistication and aesthetic.
The venomous criticism of Kiss x Sis, no doubt, is partially motivated by genuine moral objection. But I suspect that it’s also motivated by unconscious resentment and embarrassment. It’s easier to criticize and attack a production like Kiss x Sis than defend it. And admitting to liking it is tantamount to admitting an absence of good taste, at best, and deviant proclivities at worst. It’s a bit embarrassing when an Insane Clown Posse album slips into a collection of Mozart and Bach. Even if there by accident, the mere proximity of the former casts doubt on the solidarity of the later. It takes a strong man to admit that he watches ballet. It takes a very objective critic to accept the bad with the good. Or, in my case, it just takes an especially receptive and liberal critic to be able to praise both Kiss x Sis and shows like Sarai Goyou and Yojouhan Shinwa Taikei. Objections to Kiss x Sis are certainly partially motivated by genuine moral outrage. Objections are also motivated by considerate anxiety. No one that loves anime wants to see it driven into extinction because of poor decisions and poor productions. Sounding the warning alert clearly and early is an act of consideration. The only question which I won’t attempt to answer is whether that warning alert is actually justified and necessary at this point in time.
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“so I’ll try to be civil while still expressing my own perspective”
Good thing you are, John, because I won’t be.
I’ve learned to take the reviews at ANN to be a complete and utter joke, just like the moral high ground their editors constantly take on issues. The sheer condescendence that these people have towards anime they do not like is utterly disgusting. It is one thing to insult an anime; it’s another to insult the people who watch it (which they do often). I do realize they’re opinions, but breaking the wall between associating the viewer and show is downright offensive.
In fact, many of their “reviews” always tend to take a harsh tone like this. I’m not sure what kind of utopian masterpiece they’re waiting for, but they’re sure as heck not going to get it from watching most TV series.
I will go down on record stating that I love KissXSis. It’s the same kind of love I would give Tango & Cash, or Mega Shark Vs Giant Octopus: It’s cheesy, it’s corny, I love it! It’s also not breaking any kind of law, so I will go down fighting for it’s right to air, despite what these false prophets of morality at ANN may think of me.
I’ll say it once, I’ll say it a million times: That site is a complete joke, save the database and anything Justin Sevakis writes.
I think that among other things that could *also* be at play in the original reviews may be:
a) A desire to rile up a portion of the fanbase that the authors consider less mature, less respect-worthy, and/or easily-agitated
b) An over-zealous desire among certain writers/critics to preserve their “respectability” and get “props” from a certain audience (by railing against easy targets that aren’t easy for so-called “respectable” people to defend)
c) Pent-up frustration over a perceived negative turn in the quality of anime content, and “taking out” that frustration on this one example that they choose to see as the embodiment of “Everything That’s Wrong With Anime Today”.
d) Genuine confusion over the humour found in this sort of push-the-limits overly-sexualized content (i.e. it *is* a comedy show — humour is always very personal, beyond also being partly cultural)
e) A simple way to get attention and bring in the hits. You don’t generally get attention on the Internet by being mild-mannered, tentative, considerate, and restrained. (Note that here we are compounding the problem.)
In general terms, I think there is a certain audience who believes that the presence of this sort of bawdy tawdry anime shows (and the fans who enjoy theme) interfere directly with attempts — real or perceived — of making anime more “respectable” to Americans. And so we see these continued attempts for one part of the fanbase to visibly and almost violently distance themselves from another part of (arguably) the same fanbase through all measures of insults and character attacks, and (I’ll say it since you were being too kind) that’s well above and beyond what a super-niche late-night specialty-TV sex-comedy show, or even the audience being criticized by extension, warrants. In many circles we would basically call this: trolling.
Honestly, did Please Twins cause such an uproar?
Or Magikano, Girls Bravo, G-On Riders, Hand Maid May, etc etc etc?
I watched the first episode and, while it was a bit creepy until the big reveal at the end of episode one, I didn’t find it disastrous to the human mind. It’s an ecchi fan service comedy. They have been around since before this “anime reviewer” on this “anime news source” were born.
What’s so wrong about saying the true as it: ANN reviewers are a bunch of spoiled close-minded brats.
I’m just glad ANN leaves Egan Loo, their news writer, in his own bubble and not take an editorial stance on news items as well. The database still kicks ass but the editorial department’s state of mind is disgracefully anti-fan. If I had to pick the lesser evil, I’d actually prefer the conformist and advertising nature of Japanese anime publications.
How can you consider ANN reviewers to be closed-minded when they watch a higher variety of anime than the average anime fan does.
That’s why some of you are up-in-arms about ANN reviews in the first place: because they review anime outside of their comfort zone
I might hate if people poo-poo my favorite anime genre, but i’d rather have that than for someone to beat around the bush or try to make nice with me, saying “you know, it’s not for everybody!”
What do you guys want, a fluff piece? What I’m reading is that when it comes to your favorite genre, you want it to be treated with kid gloves.
I like ecchi and taboo stuff, but I don’t defend it that hard. Some of this stuff is pandering fanservice bait with little substance. I’ve seen KissXSis, and it’s softcore porn with sprinklings of plot.
Back to anime fans feeling insulted by reviewers. So the fans are the innocent, pure victims in this? I think that the fans are horrendous when it comes to objectivity and seeing someone’s point.
If I had to side with anyone’s point of view, it would be a reviewer because they have to take a step back, rather than go with pure emotion.
“How can you consider ANN reviewers to be closed-minded when they watch a higher variety of anime than the average anime fan does.”
Normally this is a good point and I would agree with you, but having read a lot of those “reviews” for years now: Judging from the context of what I read, a lot of those people reviewing walk into a series with the attitude that they are going to dislike it. Most of the time, when you sport that kind of thought process, you usually end up disliking it anyways.
They should really take that Zac guy off of reviews. Most of the garbage he types is incredibly childish and unprofessional (Well, at least for someone reviewing anime on a website). The other person who reviewed KissXSis didn’t think it was the cat’s meow either, but didn’t resort to childish fits and accusations.
“That’s why some of you are up-in-arms about ANN reviews in the first place: because they review anime outside of their comfort zone”
There’s a difference between reviewing something from an outsider’s perspective, and completely lambasting a series and the alleged audience that goes along with it.
What is better from a journalistic/website standpoint to build a fanbase: have someone review a thing he generally has an interest in or have someone who seems to be forced against his will to review something he abhors and isn’t even funny in his hatred for?
If you answered second, you write for ANN.
There are websites all over the internet that review “offensive” anime/hentai in a comical fashion and have a following for it. However, just screaming about how no one could ever like this because you didn’t and attacking the reader for even wanting to read his/her thoughts on it? Not the way to get readers back.
Thanks to their recent reviews, I know where ANN stands: they don’t want me reading their crappy website because I don’t like the exact anime they do.
Zac has been around for a while. I don’t think he’ll be thrown off reviews at this point. I didn’t know he wrote reviews on the site. I just read the reviews and don’t consider who writes them. I usually read the feature columns.
Zac is on the ANN podcast and he is quite open about his stance on moe, loli, etc. Yep. he really doesn’t like them, or the fans of such things.
I will always say it: I’d rather have my enemy identify himself than to have an enemy in my midst who pretends to be buddy-buddy whilst stabbing me in the back.
It seems to me that people want to be coddled by reviewers, but as I see it critics are supposed to be critical.
I feel that people feel like their fandom is fragile and if a reviewer or fellow fan of anime hates their corner of fandom, then it’s in danger.
I know it hurts to be attacked, but not everyone’s going to be into your thing. Whether they say “oh, this isn’t for me” or “this sucks and these fans are weirdos” both these people don’t like what you like. Move on.
BTW, if you read opinion pieces JUST to have people agree with you, then you’ve missed the point.
I generally think YotaruVegeta is trolling, but as you’ve mentioned ANNcast, that’s exactly where Zac has proven himself that he doesn’t like anime anymore. He’s repeatedly stated that anime is just his job and treats the sphere like it. He doesn’t like his job if he hates most of the stuff that comes out, which isn’t only loli etc. Folks at Anime World Order, like Daryl Surat, are open about their dislikes as well, they even joke about pedophiles watching this stuff and so forth, but they always let you know it’s a joke. They genuinely love this stuff called anime and aren’t afraid of expressing their opinion. Zac doesn’t love this stuff anymore, he doesn’t get excited over anything he watches anymore. To him, anime is mildly entertaining at best, but generally just thinks about it in terms of movie theory. Well, where the fuck is his passion for watching this stuff? he doesn’t have any anymore. John, AWO, even Colony Drop and other more bitter voices have been watching this stuff for years, and they still find ways to get excited over anime titles. That’s the difference between an honest fan and Zac Bertschy.
I don’t want to be coddled by reviewers. I want them to provide an actual opinion in an entertaining or enlightening way.
What Zach posted was akin to a US congressman seeing hentai for the first time and publicly saying “We didn’t nuke Japan enough” on his facebook page. It provides no insight into the anime, just blind impotent rage for the sake of rage.
But he’s now got more people talking about his crappy crappy reviews than ever, so I guess he has something to live for now that he only forces himself anime as a job.
@Crilix
No, Yotaru’s definitely not trolling, as he is definitely right in some aspects. There are lots of certain fan circles that love to be coddled (If you don’t believe me, try criticizing K-ON in a forum. It’s like walking into a lion’s den), and people have to walk on eggshells around these fans to avoid infuriating them.
However, when we look at the three reviews for KissXSis up on ANN, you can clearly see who actually took the time to do analysis.
The Theran Martin one is actually pretty legit, stating why the series sucks; and the Tim Maughn review (although a bit overkill with the 0 rating and the disclaimer) made his peace as well.
However, when we read Zac’s review (and any other of his sarcasm-heavy reviews of anime he doesn’t like. Seriously, does this man ever smile?), I am treated to being called an “otaku slime” because of my enjoyment of a campy, so-bad-it’s-good show.
That’s NOT a review, that’s plain out insulting the reader.
But whatever though, I’m still going to jokingly champion it as the “Show of the Century”, despite what anyone says!
If by “trolling” you mean stating my opinion, then yes, I’m trolling.
Also, why is it that a critic only has to be just so? Why does a critic have to be excited about what he’s reviewing, to be enthused about it, or give a damn about it. All they have to do is to state a case for or against the material in an intelligent, well formulated way.
I feel like people want fairness in subjective writing, and that’s not going to happen. People would like if Zac or anyone else with strong negative opinions to write in such a way to cover up their hate of something, but even if they treated anime like kiss X sis with kid gloves, it still stands that they hate what you like and they hate what you stand for.
@YotaruVegeta, I didn’t talk about being excited over titles in review, I’m talking about the subject matter, it being anime shows. As someone else has said before me, if you review stuff expecting to hate on it, then you more than likely will find enough things to produce a negative review. Zac said on ANNCast that he actually liked some titles that came out this season, but I didn’t buy it. I believed Justin Sevakis’ hype around Summer Wars, a title I haven’t seen and would most likely write it off as pretentious fodder for anime film buffs without ever watching it. His review and the way he talked about it on the podcast made me believe in its quality, and that’s why I decided to watch it. The last time Zac Bertschy produced a review like that was with the Spring preview for The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. That was a long time ago. So forgive me for hating the man’s attitude towards anime. Obviously I’m crazy to have been following his work for years and haven’t noticed anything positive about it in the last 4 or so of them. Clearly us passionate fans don’t have the capacity of stepping back from our cartoonish fantasies to see just where we took the wrong turn.
By the way, I watched the first KissXSis OAD and decided I hated the franchise.
I think my ultimate point I’m trying to make is: why even review Kiss x Sis if it apparently angered you so much, especially if the site you are working for already reviewed it negatively.
Kiss x Sis is inconsequential. It’s chances of being licensed for American release are slim to none unless Media Blasters really really takes a chance. And even then it’s just another fan service anime with a brother-sister relationship gimmick. Please Twins and countless others have existed before this one, to various degrees of quality.
I’m just bothered that someone who seems to hate what he writes about couldn’t even review the product, instead throwing out the kind of childish insults you usually hear when people first see anime. Just like we shouldn’t have to justify our hobby to those people, I shouldn’t have to justify my passing interest (and it was indeed passing) in a show to some sad, pathetic manchild with an anime review site who hates everything anime at this point.
So my conclusion is that the answer is within us: don’t log in ANN forums, don’t click in their banners and even better: don’t come to the site at all; specially if they insist in having “zac†as a reviewer, pod caster or forum moderator.
Currently ANN is against most of the fandom: they mock cosplayers, hate lolicon & moe, despise fanart, loathe fansubs, and they don’t even show any respect to some anime landmarks (I remember that the “answer guy†in ANN once said something like he prefers to buy new videogames that own a DVD copy of Hotaru no Haka, for example).
Anidb is a better anime encyclopedia; the John blog provides better anime criticism, Sankakucomplex has a better sense of humor (and tits) so, for me that’s it with ANN.
“Currently ANN is against most of the fandom:”
So are anime fans.
“they mock cosplayers”
So do anime fans.
“hate lolicon & moe”
So do anime fans.
“despise fanart”
So do anime fans.
“loathe fansubs”
So do anime fans.
Though I should point out the idiocy of this remark given the Spring Reviews were done through fansubbing given most series aren’t available legally.
“And they don’t even show any respect to some anime landmarks.”
Neither do anime fans.
Here’s where I insert the plot twist to show that ANN doesn’t appear to be any different than a typical anime fan.
What really sucks about ANN is the fact that their review staff is packed with snobby western-educated film students who look down on anime fans and honestly believe their degrees make them better judges of a niche animation genre that only about one Univeristy in the whole US really has programs on of any credible depth. (Thinking of the UMN Schoolgirls & Mobilesuits seminar here.)
They do such a good job of holding anime to mainstream film critic standards that they’ve managed to build a community of people who judge anime by Academy Award standards and think that horrifying graphic violence ala SAW makes for powerful artwork while any sexual form of sexual content more taboo than gay sex ala Kissxsis is an offensive depravity. No joke! The 2010 Spring Preview they just finished gave orgasmic praise to Night Raid and Rainbow with their recycled character molds and super powered facism and child torture; while one of the three reviewers who finished Kissxsis didn’t even finish it because the incest aspect of the premise offended him sooo much. You gotta think the mentality underlying these review trends have to be the same wounded pride that make the YuGiOh people talk about how dark and mature the first series was and used to try to convince people all the time that anime is so very mature and edgy and cool. (As if being stereotyped as snuff is any better than being stereotyped as porno.)
It makes me want to vomit when I find myself lured into reading especially Zac Bertschy & Carl Kimlinger’s ivory-tower nonsense, because that’s not what anime is supposed to be about. Anime’s most precious charm is that it’s foreign and daring and unrepentant. The medium’s garnered extreme stereotypes over the years from outsiders for good reason, and reasons that I totally respect after 10 years of being drawn into the fandom from a mainstream entertainment lifestyle. The very idea that these people use their reputations to toxify other social networking spaces like Twitter with hateful and shamefully closed-minded statements about how bad moe/incest/sexual/controversial is because it offends them and encouraging people to mock anyone who dares to profess a love for controversial shows is so mindblowingly disappointing to me. John and the Animenation community as a whole, thankfully, have always had more of an appreciation of where anime comes from and what sets it apart from mainstream entertainment. I appreciate that more and more everyday. Thanks and keep up the good work, John!
None of the regular reviewers at ANN are past or present film students. One’s a teacher, another’s an engineer, for instance. Groundless accusations only make your arguments look like ranting. (And I would *never* give the “Saw” films any credit for artistic merit, BTW.) ANN does, by policy, make an effort to give a serious critical look at the stuff it reviews, and that is the niche in the Web that it has chosen to occupy. If you want more casual reviews, or ones that ignore how bad a title is in favor of pandering to fans of that particular title or genre, then there are plenty of other sites around for that purpose.
And there are many people who find Zac’s trashing of shows quite funny. It’s not like he trashes everything, either; he gave an incongruously high rating to Kaichou wa Maid-sama, for instance.
“Groundless accusations?” Um, excuse me, can I ask you to step back about two goalpost-shifting sentences and say that again? That phrase is yours not mine, and while I may not know the specifics of ANN Inc’s seniority structure, at least I’m not standing up strawmen for myself to knock down here.
If you’d like to stick your neck out and say that ANN’s review style is not influenced by film school conventions, go right ahead. If you want to say that ANN’s reviews are not based on ethnocentric constructs of creativity vs perversity, go right ahead. If you want to say ANN doesn’t “trash” what it trashes out of closed-mindedness, then say so. Don’t put words in other people’s mouths and pretend the other person doesn’t have ground under their feet.
FWIW I consider you, Theron, to be one of the few moderating voices at ANN with a perceptive eye and noteworthy reviewing skills. You actually watch stuff and write about it with a mind to the fact that some anime fans out there might actually want to hear what you say. Unfortunately I’ve read very little of your work for the past several years because the majority of your coworkers at this point just want to namecall and be haters and make a public display of their insecurities instead of talking about anime. There are people who consider that entertaining (see also Glen Beck) but good luck staying relevant if that’s all you got going for you. (See also “Ask John: Does Kiss x Sis Deserve the Kiss of Death?”)
It boggles my mind that some of you have made up in your mind that criticism should be fair or nice or coddle you. The only thing that should set you off about a review is when a critic does not get a fact straight. Other than that, critics can be your enemy or your best buddy.
It is about diversity; some of you have painted ANN as basically the Fox news of the American anime scene, but I have read reviews on there which aren’t scathing. Some are fair and some read as flat, with little voice to them.
I think that you need negative opinion, nasty opinions and people to hate what you love. It’s balance. I do not want reviews that lap at the feet of every anime or say “…but someone may like this”
Zac Bertschy comes off as jaded and unimpressed, but you act as if his opinion has no merit. Funny, because I think that he says the same about people who like things like Kiss X Sis.
You guys can ignore him, but to be an ostrich when it comes to negative opinion is preposterous, even if bile is being spewed in your direction.
One thing I learned in college is that you cannot depend on one source. You need to get it from all angles.
Glen Beck at least has heart for what he does…