Editorial
Rationalizing the Retarded
I never thought the time would come when, after watching a totally retarded show, I’d actually wholeheartedly (and proudly) say, “I enjoyed it, and never felt it was a waste of time”, despite how it racked my brains for the absurdity of the thought that I’m actually watching something like this, and how it made me go *facepalm* and go WTF every so often. I blame my no-fun Baka Anikis, who, after being Professionals, could no longer stand watching something illogical, retarded, unintelligent, or what have you. Or they can’t bring themselves to accept they actually enjoyed watching “that kind of stuff”, despite laughing throughout, probably they’re tsuntsun way of saying “I-i-it’s not like I enjoyed it or a-a-anything, I just found it s-silly and s-s-stupid, s’all!” Being surrounded by these NO FUN people would obviously make you similarly no-fun, or prevent you from showing your HONTOU NO JIBUN since you can’t stand being ridiculed by your beloved oniichan~ for watching something they abhor or something. But ahh, enough s-s-silly dorama!
This Sunday… it finally happened… From the moment we started watching Project A-ko, and onto the slippery slope of geeky retarded-dom. And by we, I mean the Filipino Aniblogger gang — ghostlightning the Mastermind, whose house turned into our semi-official hangout venue now or something, with his waifu and friends, biankita the volunteered Leader of the Gang, KaeBoo, hazy, bluemist, Zeroblade, together with Shance and meganeshounen, who I just invited on a whim the other day and happily agreed without hesitation, unlike *cough* other ones who needed weeks to think things over and ended up failing nonetheless *cough*
We watched Project A-ko, no thanks to ghostlightning and mechafetish’s prodding and/or our stupid curiosity, but I’m leaning towards the former. And BY GAWD, that was probably the most painful 90mins of my LIFE EVAR. You hate it for being so freaking retarded that you’d think the writer was drunk when he/she/it made the whole anime and that Old Japan could’ve just spent their MONIES on something more logical and worthy of passing onto the next generations (with appreciating value), but you also love it for that. For being so WTF. Insane as that sounds. It’s fun to watch with a group of people, probably because then you won’t be alone in the whole I WA SHOKKU moments throughout the whole WTF ride, or for the sake of observing people’s reactions at the WTF moments, who could either be less or more traumatized than you are. Well basically, for total epic lulz.
Don’t let its cutesy looks fool you.
But then the whole retarded-dom didn’t end there, as we immersed ourselves into the World of Warcraft and SouthPark (this was totally EPIC), then (oh gawd) Dai Mahou Touge — think Dokuro-chan, mahou shoujo style, with less blood and battering, more wrestling and bone-breaking stunts. I didn’t enjoy Dai Mahou Touge as much as Project A-ko though, since I’m not really a fan of “gore comedy”. I’m just amused by the whole irony of cutesy mahou shoujos going all VIOLENT MODEEE! It was quite a feminist show, now that I think about it, since the VIOLENT GAR PEOPLE in the show are the women! Anyways. I can’t believe I said Project A-ko was better than this, what has the world come to?!
We also watched Tokyo Marble Chocolate after all the lulz, but it got overshadowed by the whole retarded fun we had with the brainless shows lol. And I guess it wasn’t quite right to watch something so sentimental after your brains fell out, or that romance shows like this is better watched alone, with your special someone, or in a cinema-like setting.
And just for some follow-up questions:
(1) Could you still laugh at ‘retarded’ shows, and actually enjoy it?
(2) If yes, do you go about rationalizing the whole experience, especially to other ones who would simply scorn you for watching these kind of stuff? Or do you simply ignore them and have all the fun?
Do share your s-s-silly animu watching experience! Would love to hear some feedback so I could troll my Baka Anikis who accuse me of having “no sense of humor” because their ’sense of humor’ has become oh so elite.
P.S. For the name of yuri LOVE and LULZ, go watch Project A-ko (at least once in your life)! Watch it with a group of people for maximum lulz effect. Just don’t blame me for the brain damage you’ll sustain afterwards =X
P.P.S. Impz would’ve been part of this whole fun lulz experience, had he been available that Sunday, but alas, he was too busy spending quality time with his soon to be in-laws, for his pamamanhikan? We understand~
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filed under: Editorial tags: blogger meetups, Dai Mahou Touge, lulz, Project A-ko, Tokyo Marble Chocolate Discussion
23 comments for “Rationalizing the Retarded”
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It was a fun event. Nice of me to come along. We need to bug megs and bluemist for the pics, though. As for Project A-KO. SUPERIOR TECH!
Too bad we didn’t get to watch the two seasons of Dokuro-chan. Major lol of guro if we did. Haha.
So yeah, I’ll probably get my copy of Project A-KO, then post something about it too.
The fact that there are subsequent episodes of this makes me hurt inside. I don’t plan to watch them, and shoot me if I do.
Glad you had fun too! ^_^
i am not a volunteered leader of the gang! i am the unsuspecting logistics monkey – and a poor one i turned out to be for this outing!!! and lol at
i think once in my life i can take for that show.
i really had fun yesterday! until next time, we can watch the other things the others brought but never found time to watch.
I initially saw Project A-Ko in 1989 while stationed in Japan because my roommate liked anime and I had nothing better to do apparently. The strange thing is that the first movie was actually supposed to be a hentai title but somewhere along the way, the production changed from hentai to what you see now.
Just think, there are five OVA episodes after the initial movie. ^_^
I love Project A-ko, for all the reasons a serious otaku is supposed to disdain it. Somewhere, I’ve got an AMV that put a collage of fights between A-ko and C-ko to “Keep ‘em Separated”.
Random illogical series are awesome when watched in groups, since the group watching experience tends to devolve watching a show to a random illogical (but fun!) mess in the end anyhow, at least in my experience =P (Poor TMC, it really had no place in that lineup, did it?)
If you want another random series, check out Colorful.
I remember my introduction to Project A-ko — I rented the video but there were no subs! This was before the age of digital fansubs so yeah, I never understood a thing.
(1) Could you still laugh at retarded shows, and actually enjoy it?
I was about to post ‘Depends on the retarded show’. Then I look at my completed anime list and the closest thing to ‘retarded’ is Mai Otome Zwei. My dropped list fared better–there’s Kyoshiro to Towa no Sora. Looks like I have low tolerance for retarded shows. =p
(2) If yes, do you go about rationalizing the whole experience, especially to other ones who would simply scorn you for watching these kind of stuff? Or do you simply ignore them and have all the fun?
I simply try not to get caught watching the stuff.
Haha, it was really fun to go “brain dead” with everyone and have a lot of lulz together! I actually appreciated the TMC experience since I finally saw it after always putting off watching it. Like you said, I think it would be nice to watch in the theater too, like TokiKake.
(1) Yes. I can be somewhat simple-minded when watching anime. I’ve somehow learned to “turn off” the analytic part of my mind and just sit back and enjoy. xDD (2) I simply say I watched it for fun. If they don’t believe me, then whatever! At least I had the last laugh (pun intended?) ;P
Your reaction to Project A-Ko makes me feel old. It’s a classic! Has anime comedy become so diluted that A-Ko now seems so extreme and OTT?
Dokoro-chan had one good gag, unfortunately it repeated it far too often. Tsutomu Mizushima is fantastic director, however I don’t think he’s so hot as a screenwriter.
lul, I watch mid-and-bottom of the barrel tv stuff all the time. Thing is, there’s usually at least one good aspect of a work, but not always. Take something that is filled with plot holes and plays out corny sentiment, but overlooked because it has a few enjoyable characters and laughable one-liner quotes…. usually someone sitting down to watch such a title for the first time is going to eye-roll 24/7XBBQ, but ppl still get into such things. Can’t really relate it to anime since I pretty much stick with what I watch, but family members are always watching ridiculous tele programming.
Oh I love these kinds of retarded anime. Perfect for watching whenever you’re feeling particularly stupid. As for rationalization, it’s not exactly very conducive for such things, so I just watch and then store later on, for occasions like these :3
I watch a bit of UFC, and so when I saw Dai Mahou Touge, I was like “this is kinda uniquely awesome!” Of course the novelty does wear off, but we need more of this pointless mix of genres (bloody violent bishoujo moe anime).
Remember Excel Saga? That would be lulz to watch as a group too!
*Dai Mahou Touge has been added to Omisyth’s viewing list*
*Project A-Ko has been added to Omisyth’s viewing list*
No-one has to rationalising an experience with anime unless they feel they need to. If you enjoy it despite, or even because of, its flaws, then to you it’s a good show. Haven’t seen a show like that yet, but I’m sure I will.
@ghostlightning: always a pleasure to hang out with you guys!
@biankita: …and for ‘revenge’, you can always pass the torch and pimp it to hapless victims and see their WTF reaction
@AstroNerdBoy: yeah, heard from ghostlightning about this being originally slated as a hentai title, and we can really see the ‘H influence’ lol.
and five more OAVs WHUT — gawd I’m so staying away from those LOL.
@issa-sa: succumbing to retarded-dom won’t be fun otherwise
and yeah, poor TMC lol. Well despite that, they still thought it was good, and I’m sure a rewatch is on its way for those who watched it 
@Michael Mol: will take note of that anime, for our next retarded-dom get-together
@hayase: I doubt you would’ve understood Project A-ko, even with subs anyway!
watching with a group of people who can poke fun at the retarded show increases your tolerance for it!
@hazy: yes, Rewatch TMC, for justice!!
@Brack: haha, I guess people’s tolerance for comedy changed throughout the years or something!
@bluemist: My copy of Excel Saga has been sitting around my desk for years now, gathering dust lol. Perhaps I’ll finally gain the ‘courage’ to watch that soon
I watched A-Ko once, a long time ago. Not planning to do it again.
As to the questions.
(1) Could you still laugh at retarded shows, and actually enjoy it?
Yeah, I watch them all the time. I find it good to mix in brainless humor when I’m tired or to clear my head to watch heavier fare.
(2) If yes, do you go about rationalizing the whole experience, especially to other ones who would simply scorn you for watching these kind of stuff? Or do you simply ignore them and have all the fun?
Beyond the explanation I put in #1 I don’t really bother rationalizing. I refer to such shows/reads as a ‘guilty pleasure’. It’s a great term for recognizing how heinous a show is while admitting that I still enjoy it.
Wow. You must really the word retarded a lot. You seem to use it so much. Have you ever considered what a terrible word it is? There are so many different options. Why continue to use a word that dehumanizes people with special needs.
@mary: Well sorry if this offended you (though I honestly can’t see any reason why someone like you would get offended, since I’m referring to the show here as retarded, and myself being retarded), but have you even considered that this is nothing else but a tongue in cheek? Why so serious? (that’s a rhetorical question btw)
@mary I’ll have you know I’m autistic, which fifty years ago was called “retarded”.
And I don’t give a damn if someone uses that term for low-brow content. You want to go off about offensive terminology? Teach today’s teenagers not to call people douchebags, or to call circumstances, policies and rules they don’t like “gay”.