Yu Gi Oh: Anti U.S ?

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MP-44

New member
Was just sitting in the living room while my son was watching the Yu Gi Oh cartoon( Japanese produced?). I noticed the"bad guy" was wearing American flag hat. Was there a hidden message there? Or am I being overly sensitive?

Ooops, should have posted in the Politacal forum. Wouldn't let me delete
 
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Joe Demko

New member
Cut the Japanese a break. It isn't that they are anti-US as much as they are culturally anti-everyone-who-isn't-Japanese.
 
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PaladinX13

New member
Actually, I think the character is supposed to be one of those recurring "cool badguys" that- on some level- you want to win but not really because they're actually bad (not just an anti-hero). That aside, picking on Yugioh is silly when practically every villain in your average American action movie/show/book is foreign (or at least a hint of it). Nationalism aside, it's just a useful plot device to distinguish between characters (although I don't think it's ever spelled out that Bandit Keith is American or that Yugi is Japanese... AFAIK, otherwise they'd have to deal with the language barrier I assume).

To sum up, you're being overly sensitive, but you're forgiven.
 
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PaladinVC

New member
Ain't that the truth. I remember one of my Japan-studying friends at school telling me that until recently, the Japanese language didn't include names for people from other countries. There was only "Japanese" and "Not-Japanese". I have a profound respect for much of their culture, but some aspects boggle the mind. Maybe I'm the ugly American.
 
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gryphon

New member
It's a Japanese cartoon and not a very good one in my opinion. Much better anime out there.

It plays on the cartoon network. I think thye brought it here to try and capitalize on the Pokemon/digimon craze.

But, it is a Japanese cartoon, developed and originating in that country. I'm sure there might be some anti-American stuff in there. Pretty much the whole world hates us, so why would the Japanese be any diffrent?
 
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Azrael256

New member
If you see it on cartoon network it has a 90-95% chance of sucking. Anime fans know what I mean. For an AMAZINGLY balanced view from the Japanese (watch it, you'll be astonished), try renting "Grave Of The Fireflies". If you read Japanese, you'll see that the title has a dual meaning, but even if you don't you'll still be impressed. I don't think that they hate us like the rest of the world seems to. They are absolutely fascinated with MANY aspects of American culture, as we are with theirs. They can be very perplexing, but they're a lot nicer than a lot of people give them credit for.
 
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bobs1066

New member
"...but they're a lot nicer than a lot of people give them credit for."

Many of their neighbors whose memories go back to the first half of the 20th Century would disagree with that statement.

Read "Rape of Nanking" for information on how the sons of Nippon behaved in China.

Yes, I'm crass and non-PC for letting ancient history get in the way of being able to enjoy some limited-animation cartoons.
 
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