Thursday, June 29, 2006

American Superheroes vs. Japanese Superheroes
Yesterday, er today... um... *both, I was happy to see Superman the Movie. It was spectacular looking and I don't regret having seen it - like that Soul Plane movie (shudders). Although the conflict was somewhat predictable... there were some conflicts with continuity I noticed and my friend decided to elaborate on. I won't spoil the movie for anyone, but he has a theory that involves shotgun force propulsion and assumes Superman has an inhuman personal moral code (He stands for justice... I stand around), while I assume that movies that involve Superman are going to appeal to chicks as far as the storyline is involved. It probably does (I couldn't know for sure), and that is why his theory was not included in the movie. I, personally, enjoyed the movie much more than my friend because I am not an American-comic fan. American comics just have continuity problems WAY more often than manga. I also have problems with superheroes that wear tight clothing (that aren't female). Superheroes should not fight crime in outfits that look so uncomfortable. Most often, I would admit "I'd never wear that, even if it was what gave me the superpowers." Unless the superpowers involved some kind of x-ray vision (I have problems with seeing through things). Animated Japanese Superheroes - Define superhero again? Speed Racer? NO (why did I type Speed Racer?) Witch Hunter Robin? Maybe... (definitely not tight clothing) Goku? Well, He definitely has that "saving the world all the time" thing. Yes. Kenshin? If he could just do something I couldn't... :P I say no. Others that I either can't decide on or just don't know enough about to decide: Dirty Pair, uh, Tsukasa(.HACK), (my brain hurts), and I can't think of anymore without research. Animated American Superheroes - (so easy to list) Spiderman, Batman, Superman, Aquaman, Flash Gordon, The Flash (they aren't the same, right?), Green Lantern, Green Arrow, Hawkman, Hawkgirl, Wonder Woman, All of the X-men, Captain Kirk, Captain America, (controversy), The Shield, The Fantastic Four, The Hulk, The [insert adjective here], The Martian Manhunter, The (old) Teen Titans (now it's "anime"), Spawn, The Masters of the Universe, GI Joe, and The A-Team. The vast majority of these American heroes have been drawn with or have worn tight clothing regularly during their superhero careers (mostly when in costume). Not only that but as a child who grew up with GI Joe and those cartoons that had that same comic-book feel, many of them lacked plot depth that could be appreciated by young people. Good plots don't solve all the problems at the end of the episode unless they are pure comedy - like Family Guy or South Park. When it comes down to who would win in a fight, the American Superheroes win in numbers. In comparison, the attributes lean more toward Japanese Superheroes. While I ascribe to the theory that Ranma is the most powerful character ever (nobody in that show ever dies), I'll put my bets on Goku and the Z Forces of Toriyama's Earth. My reasons: American superheroes can't shoot blasts of energy powerful enough to destroy the planet. American Superheroes can't be brought back to life by unexplained and yet reasonable methods American Superheroes (other than Batman) don't spend any time training American Superheroes have to hide who they are more often than not. American Superheroes have set limitations to make them more "human" Japanese Superheroes don't even have to look human. Japanese Superheroes can die in the middle of a storyline, while American Superheroes die to end a storyline. Japanese Superheroes don't have to be idolized or envied or even recognized by other characters in the story. The most important reason why I like Japanese Superheroes over American Superheroes is the lack of continuity problems the Japanese Superheroes have. If there were fewer people trying to continue the brainchild superhero of someone else, the original writers would have their own ending and that would be it. The scientific and mostly unrealistic explanations of their resurrections would be gone, and we would all be rid of cliche'd saviors.
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