| Though the main discussion was decided a little bit over three years ago, I’ve decided to quote some of the comments since I believe that they touch some rather important and relevant issues. BlackMagic said: In the thread where we talked about what makes an anime dark, some of the common themes were: 1) Character dislikes aspects of self 2) Character has negative or nihilistic world perspective 3) Character has self destructive behavior (any means to achieve ends mentality) 4) Tragic events 5) Violence, Brutality, Death 6) Dark environment (through background colors or through depiction of disturbing, bloody, violent environment) I can’t help but think that this criteria is a tad superficial. Using this list one could easily qualify something such as Dirty Harry as being particularly dark when its underlying philosophy is still similar to that of a super hero cartoon or Dukem Nukem: that all social problems can be dealt with through the appliance of gratuitous force from a single man. Likewise, as it has been mentioned, violence can only darken a specific piece within a particular context. Otherwise something such as James Bond, in which the protagonist kills dozens of nameless henchman without any real threat to his own life, could be regarded as dark. droesk said: Dark, gloomy, murky is not equal to dramatic, you're confusing those two genres. Again, the context in which the drama is layered determines whether a piece is dark or not. If the drama emanates from something central to the human condition, such as death, genocide, and the inability for karma to provide a framework of justice to the overall world (Full Metal Alchemist), then I would qualify a piece as dark. If the drama focuses, instead, upon a high school romance and how two characters are unable to admit their feelings, such as in Inuyasha, then I would not qualify that piece as being dark. droesk said: IMHO what makes anime a dark one is overall atmosphere: gloomy mood, music, dark palette, and story with no comedy. It gives you this specific thrill, and feelings when you watch it at night. The dark theme can be easily felt in the atmosphere. The story alone doesn't create dark mood. That criteria seems to be far to subjective. I agree with BlackMagic on this issue. We need a set of criteria that at least attempts to be objective if we’re going to sort hundreds upon hundreds of different anime. droesk said: I agree that FMA had some dark moments, like when Ed was in the slaughterhouse, or the story about Nina, but it fails completly in all other moments. I reall don’t see that as causing the story to be particularly dark. The occurance of a grave yard or psychopath’s slaughterhouse cannot cause a piece to be dark, otherwise several light hearted children’s’ pieces would qualify. The underlying themes of the work is what causes a particular piece to be dark or not. droesk said: If that line were so thin, there would be noo need for a new genre "metal", we would just call it rock. Did you listen to black metal? and still say the line is thin ? But this talk goes a bit too far. What I mean is you can't say that metal is rock because it has many things in common, as well as you can't call FMA dark because it has some similiar aspects with dark anime like death note. Metal is a subgenre of rock, along with Punk, Rock & Roll, and dozens of other subgenres (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_rock_genres). Saying that metal isn’t a form of rock is similar to saying that Karate isn’t a form of martial arts. droesk said: that's what i think too. b sides it has too much comedy to b considered a pure dark anime Some of the darkest artistic pieces are comedic social satires. Dr. Strangelove is a post-war comedic piece that’s focuses upon a nuclear holocaust being caused by two bickering super powers, a possibility that seemed eminent at the time. It’s also among the darkest films ever created, in its own way. Saying that humor automatically disqualifies a piece from being dark is also flawed since some forms of comedy such as Dark Humor or Gallows Humor are inherently dark. Dark Humor focuses on making light of situations that would be regarded as dark by most people, such as death, rape, and human genocide. Gallows Humor is a subgenre of Dark Humor that focuses around these situations when applied to one’s own life. For instance, this was a common joke that was told by the Germans when their defeat in World War II was eminent: Eins: I was thinking, after the war ends I will go for a walk around the perimeter of the Greater German Empire. Zwei: Oh? And what are you planning to do in the afternoon? The presence of comedy in Full Metal Alchemist by no means disqualifies it as being dark. |
| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Change, change the form of man. Free the might from fleshy mire. Boil the blood in heart of fire. Gone, gone the form of man. Rise the demon, Etrigan! |
JLS said: Overall, its definately -not- a dark series. It has far too many lighthearted moments to be considered dark. I'd definately call it dramatic, albeit overdramatic sometimes. Ditto. |
 watching, waiting, commiserating |
| 124 to 124, seriously? O_O |
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