How to see value in trash, or why I think Raw Hero is actually a pretty good manga

[genujuan]

Man as soon as I try to put something into words all the organized thoughts disappear. That's why this is almost pointless but whatever.

So Raw Hero is about a boy named Chiaki who lives with his two younger brothers and is unemployed. His parents died so he has to take care of the family. However, this intentionally saccharine backstory exists to create a stereotypical good protagonist. In Raw Hero there are people who develop special powers some use them for good and others evil. Chiaki is hired to infiltrate the evil group and due to his family situation he joins. He soon finds out that the supposedly evil people are actually not really that evil and the good guys aren't exactly clean either. However, the point of the story isn't to subvert that archetype but to make fun of the typical superhero narrative. Due to miscommunication Chiaki's first superhero outfit was a schoolgirl outfit accompanied with a backstory that his employer wrote down for his sex roleplaying with his girlfriend. Also, the author of this story also wrote Prison School so obviously this is a really trashy story with sexual innuendos all over the place.

The thing is it's because of this sort of backdrop that the best comedic or engaging moments are possible. And while manga that's innundated with panty shots is pretty annoying, because the panty shots are of a guy dressed as a girl and you can clearly see the bulge it just makes it funnier. There is a scene where one of the bad guys who falls in love with the main character realizes they are peeing next to each other in the men's bathroom and see's his dick and freaks out. But because he is so in love he forces himself to overcome the shock and starts quoting Rocky on how to overcome his fear, and the next scene you see him trying to practice giving a blowjob on a banana.

I'm not saying any of this has class or value as a piece of literature. I'm just saying.. whatever. I find it annoying when people just judge one aspect of a thing whether it's a story, movie, or anything. The flaws of a product are what give it uniqueness and people gravitate to things even if they could objectively be viewed as trash. For example, badly made games:
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yMN3EA54kW4


Or you have the equivalent in western movies as well with things like Pink Flamingo (https://www.baltimoresun.com/obitua...0200619-tgunh2dcazbl5pvymnvho2ecvy-story.html). There will always be people who don't understand and try to make everything only cater to their tastes, "One person who was not amused by it was the self-righteous Mary M. Avara, who as head of the Maryland State Board of Censors was the supreme arbiter of on-screen sexual mores and controlled what Marylanders saw on the screen."

But I don't know, does any of this really matter?

 

[Shi_dawg]

I didn't read this whole post because I'm a lazy motherfucker but I've thought about this topic a lot. I like to watch shitty sitcoms and I talk about that with people sometimes. most of the time its met with, "ew, you watch that? that shits [bad]" or something along those lines. all I can say is "yeah i know but I like it" and it usually just ends up confusing people.

you don't have to think something is good to like it. you can find joy in a lot of dogshit things. it can go the other way too, I think Shakespeare's writing is good but you got me fucked up if you think I'm going to read through any of his plays.

 

[Shrug]

You're right. Things don't always need to be conventionally "good" to be enjoyable. If something is able to entertain you, even if by just being trash, I think it has value. I think it's kinda like junk food, sure it's cheap garbage but damn, it's delicious.

 

[genujuan]

I think the mistake I make when trying to argue something like this with people who don't like the same sort of media or are strongly opposed to it is that we aren't arguing the same thing.

For one thing, I'm terrible at critical analysis type of writing which is different from just analyzing something in that you also need to have a good understanding of your reader or listener and need to be able to convey your thoughts in a coherent and convincing manner.

The other issue I keep forgetting is that often times the other party sometimes isn't even trying to logically argue their position. It's kind of like in the lead up to WW2 where Chamberlain kept trying to use an appeasement based approach with Hitler and giving in to his demands on Czechoslovakia when the whole time Hitler was just trying to find a reason to start a war due to his megalomania and past bad history with the Czech's when he was a youth. It seemed odd to me at first and I even wondered if the British were just in on it regarding Hitler's goals but I understood later or could empathize how easy it is to be so focused on a certain mind set of thinking that you forget that the other person can be presenting their arguments in one way but their actual goal is something else. That probably doesn't make sense either but something along those lines. Also not trying to make any parallel connections or anything it's just one example that comes to mind from things I've read recently.

 

[14-27]

Man as soon as I try to put something into words all the organized thoughts disappear. That's why this is almost pointless but whatever.

So Raw Hero is about a boy named Chiaki who lives with his two younger brothers and is unemployed. His parents died so he has to take care of the family. However, this intentionally saccharine backstory exists to create a stereotypical good protagonist. In Raw Hero there are people who develop special powers some use them for good and others evil. Chiaki is hired to infiltrate the evil group and due to his family situation he joins. He soon finds out that the supposedly evil people are actually not really that evil and the good guys aren't exactly clean either. However, the point of the story isn't to subvert that archetype but to make fun of the typical superhero narrative. Due to miscommunication Chiaki's first superhero outfit was a schoolgirl outfit accompanied with a backstory that his employer wrote down for his sex roleplaying with his girlfriend. Also, the author of this story also wrote Prison School so obviously this is a really trashy story with sexual innuendos all over the place.

The thing is it's because of this sort of backdrop that the best comedic or engaging moments are possible. And while manga that's innundated with panty shots is pretty annoying, because the panty shots are of a guy dressed as a girl and you can clearly see the bulge it just makes it funnier. There is a scene where one of the bad guys who falls in love with the main character realizes they are peeing next to each other in the men's bathroom and see's his dick and freaks out. But because he is so in love he forces himself to overcome the shock and starts quoting Rocky on how to overcome his fear, and the next scene you see him trying to practice giving a blowjob on a banana.

I'm not saying any of this has class or value as a piece of literature. I'm just saying.. whatever. I find it annoying when people just judge one aspect of a thing whether it's a story, movie, or anything. The flaws of a product are what give it uniqueness and people gravitate to things even if they could objectively be viewed as trash. For example, badly made games:
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yMN3EA54kW4


Or you have the equivalent in western movies as well with things like Pink Flamingo (https://www.baltimoresun.com/obitua...0200619-tgunh2dcazbl5pvymnvho2ecvy-story.html). There will always be people who don't understand and try to make everything only cater to their tastes, "One person who was not amused by it was the self-righteous Mary M. Avara, who as head of the Maryland State Board of Censors was the supreme arbiter of on-screen sexual mores and controlled what Marylanders saw on the screen."

But I don't know, does any of this really matter?

I am pretty sure the pilot and first few episodes of Monkee are pure spiritual gold. And, they are by all normal aesthetic standards "terrible". They are also genuinely funny. Not because they are bad, but artfully funny. I say this because up until recently I had become quite snobby about watching, "imperfect material". Now I look for it sometimes.

And, I am trying to give new genres a decent try when I encounter them, because not having liked it doesn't mean I won't now.
Case in point, Vaporwave.

 

[Jessica3cho雪血⊜青意]

People who judge other people by "how good" or "how intelligent" their tastes are have way too much free time. I would know.
As a kid I thought high test scores and all the free time in the world meant I could righteously exclaim the stupidity of other's for liking "the trashy garbage" they watch.

Now, as I get older, I find myself enjoying it more. Not because I'm getting dumber, though 4 concussions could do that to you, but because I need breaks. I work 60 hour weeks (sometimes more) managing teams of 2 - 5 people working on multi-story buildings. Its stressful as fuck knowing that if I don't do my job and the guys fuck something up, I could have a million dollar catastrophe on my hands.

When I get home, do I want to read the musings on history written by Tacitus or the great last words of Aristotle? Well, sometimes I do. Other times, though, I want to grab a beer, chillout on the floor, and watch trashy, vapid, generic anime bullshit. Or maybe I just feel like watching John Wick shoot a bunch of people with dope guns and cool effects.

Something has value if you find value in it, not if others do. If you find value in something, enjoy it. In the end, you'll be a lot happier than the people "dunking" on you for "liking trash".

 

[Pangolin]

Things that are bad in one area can have redeeming qualities in others.

If you like something, you like it. All the people who dislike you for liking that item can suck a lemon.