Sword Art Online: The Beauty, The Ugly, The Uneeded Hate
Sept 14, 2015 17:35:18 GMT -6
Jmb a.k.a. The Boss, SilverAbsolutionII, and 2 more like this
Post by erockstar5 on Sept 14, 2015 17:35:18 GMT -6
Opinion Piece:
Well as I'm sure you all have seen, the last two or three weeks of Toonami's broadcast has been different compared to most since Toonami's revival. The interaction of the faithfuls goes from amazing fun tweeting about the shows and the broadcast among each other. But when one thirty comes around, the interaction turns into to raging, insulting, hate between each other when mainly Sword Art Online II begins to run. The controversy this week was the fact that we found out that the character Yuuki was dying in the real world. But what caused a roar was the reason why she was dying. It was revealed that Yuuki was dying from Aids and she had about three months if recall to live. Now to be honest when the out rage starting roaring I personally didn't witness attacks onto anybody, I only heard about it and or saw the ending results from the controversy. Basically to sum up what I saw in these tweets, were rants about lazy writing shock value or tweets saying "we're done." Now I would show some of those tweets that I'm referencing, but I don't have permission to show those tweets, so I apologize for that. But basically what I'm focusing on with this piece are the people who are saying "I'm done." I'm assuming the reason that faithfuls are saying this on twitter is because Sword Art defenders were getting attacked by Sword Art haters for defending Sword Art. Now I'm not going to say here that as a result from all of this, we all have to refrain from putting our opinions out there out of fear of upsetting, offending etc others. I'm not going to say here who's right and who's wrong. This is opinions of a plot line in a story that we're talking about here and I can't possibly speak for everyone. I can only go by how I felt as I witnessed it play out.
So, me personally, I didn't find the reveal insulting or offending in the least. In fact I appreciated it because Yukki's situation reminded me of similar stories that I've read in the game industry in real life. The people involved in these stories aren't necessarily suffering from Aids per say, but these people are suffering in a hospital bed for most of their lives. What helped these people through their tough times have been video games. I may not have tweets, but I'll admit the ending of the latest episode of Sword Art reminded me of this video.
This is a video about game developer Hideo Kojima reminiscing on his popular game series "Metal Gear Solid." If you get a chance please check this out in it's entirety but I want to draw attention to the part of the video that starts at 6:30 into the video. Kojima went out to meet a family of one of his fans named Sean. The reason why is because of an email Kojima received from from Sean explaining his reasons for emailing Kojima. The family then reveals to the camera crew and for the audience that will eventually be watching this video. They revealed that Sean had to endure a lot of chemotherapy and ultimately succumbed to what he was suffering from. The thing is though what helped him through those days according to the mother was video games. She said that video games allowed Sean to be able to run, climb, jump, etc. Physical feats that he himself wasn't capable of doing in real life. Bringing it back to Yukki, now sure Sean didn't have aids, but what's similar is that both Yukki and Sean were suffering physically in real life but video games allowed them to be able to do the things they couldn't. Whether it's allowing someone to do things they are not capable of doing or just simply being remembered for something in your short life time this is what I got out of the whole dying from aids scene with Yukki. I felt their was much more going on besides the shock value and it's relatable to a portion of the gaming community whether it's people with aids or not. That final scene with Yukki and Asuna was extremely well done in a emotional sense having all things considered if you ask me. If a scene elicits an emotional response like that I think job well done. In other words I liked it, I liked it a lot and I appreciated it. What ruined it though in my opinion was the way they ended the episode with a I guess can be called a cliff hanger of Asuna trying to get Yukki to go to school again in her last days. The way they executed that to me felt forced and unnecessary. Also I don't know for sure, but earlier in the episode they showed Kirito futzing around with this camera thing and complaining about the auto focus, gee I wonder why that was so focused on in that scene. Hmmmm. Now just so it's clear, Me personally I'm not a fan of Sword Art. I tried watching Sword Art the original when it was on toonami, got bored. I tried re watching it again in my spare time, got into about ten episodes until bored again. I watched the trailer for Sword Art two and thought this looked pretty good to say the least. I've tried to keep up with it but in my opinion still, boredom distracts me until the occasional episode like the latest one that hits me.
Now basically as I said before, it's ok to put your opinion out there. It's your twitter account at the end of the day and it's your right to post whatever. We can have debates regarding plot lines, ways things are written, animation etc and try to find out who's right and wrong about how to execute the material. All of that is fine, however it crosses a line though when you start attacking someone else just because of the fact that they're opinion is different from yours. None of us have the right to enforce our views or ways onto other people. Debating it out is fine, if you ask me, society doesn't do it enough now a days cause I believe we're afraid to for this very reason. Getting blind sided by the internet, or in home town among people you know. Attacks, threats, swatting, offending, and so on. I'm telling you, regarding to Toonami and it's shows, it's ok to defend what you like, it's ok to defend what you dislike. It's ok not coming to common grounds among each other and moving on. If your not able to convince someone else it comes to a point where you stop trying and move on. If they continue to instigate then blocking actions must be made if you ask me but never because they disagree with your opinion. I'm also saying here to all of you, it's ok not to watch Sword Art if you don't like watching it. It's also ok not to help trend Sword Art if you don't like. I noticed someone on twitter ask the question why are people watching and tweeting about a show they don't even like watching. Well maybe it's because our dedication has gotten a little out of hand, where we are forcing people to watch and trend shows they wouldn't necessarily watch or want to talk about. So like I said, Sword Art haters that don't like watching and or tweeting about it. That's ok, that's simply ok. After all, the shows that come to Toonami are based on ratings at the end of the day. You vote with your eyeballs as Jason said. It's the reason Wulin Warriors lasted two episodes after all. Remember that? Yeah I don't ether, but back on point please stop attacking each other out there. Let your negativity be heard through the ratings. I'm encouraging you, you don't have to watch sword art when it comes on. You don't have to tweet about sword art when it comes on. Also this is not exclusive for just Sword Art, this applies for any show on the block now and any show to come to the broadcast in the future. I'll admit it, I usually check out the latest One Piece episode during Attack On Titan cause I've seen it so many times already. I don't really tweet during that time ether cause again I've seen it. I'm just waiting for season two to be made already.
Well this is everything I got as a result from the recent controversy. I felt that this had to be said cause this is honestly seriously worrying me. The reason it worries me is because well, people still say to this day that Naruto killed Toonami back in the day. In my opinion what the network did with their terrible decisions making regarding the block is what killed it. Now with the constant bullying, trolling whatever you want to call it Jason gets. The bullying and trolling whatever that the writers directors and actors that worked on the shows receive as a result and that of the community is starting to experience on top of that. I'm worried that it's not going to be Naruto. It's not going to be Sword Art. It's not even going to be the business suits upstairs. It's maybe going to be Us, the ToonamiFaithful that digs Toonami's grave with these ridiculous attacks on everyone because of a different opinions, or getting offensive. Me personally, I owe Toonami my life and many others I've heard say the same thing. This little block that has impacted and encouraged a generation, if you ask me is a program that needs to be on television. Not just so we can enjoy the best action cartoons ever, but to continue to help people that need it most. Having said that I think about it this way. Those trolls, by attacking those people because they disagree with your opinion. The result may have you maybe changing those people's feelings towards Toonami from, Toonami saved my life to, Toonami ruined my life! I'll be honest, I don't know if I would be typing this very piece right now if it wasn't for Toonami helping me get through the toughest moments of my childhood. I grew up with Toonami just like many of you I'm sure. I want to have the opportunity to enjoy Toonami with my eventual family and shrivel up till the end of my adulthood. I'm not saying that this in fact going to be what maybe kills Toonami again. What I'm saying, it's very very early stages and I want to at least try to prevent or flat out stop future controversies like these before things get out of hand. If things get out of hand well then, the possibility becomes more and more of a reality. If it continues to spiral, I'm not sure about everyone else but I'll admit personally, I wouldn't know how to take it. Knowing in a way, it was us the faithfuls that does Toonami in again.