Misaimed Fandom/Anime and Manga: Difference between revisions

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* Multiple subsections of ''[[Neon Genesis Evangelion|Evangelion]]'' fandom fulfill this trope in different ways. Rei was intended to be a [[Nightmare Fuel Station Attendant]] but was instead prominently perceived as a Fetish Fuel Station Attendant, while Shinji, the butt of a thousand [[Emo Teen|Emo]] jokes (and an example of a main character that is also [[The Scrappy]] to some for not being a typical [[Super Robot]] hero), was at times a synthesis of creator Hideaki Anno's own personal struggles and intended to be sympathetic. In the case of Rei as [[Fetish Fuel]], [[Misaimed Marketing|official merchandise]] [[Pandering to the Base|panders]] to this initially misaimed interpretation.

** Likewise in the same series, the enigmatic single-episode character Kaworu became popular, to the surprise of writers who admitted they were writing him to be unsettling to other characters. The manga (made after the anime) greatly compensates for this; for example the anvilicious scene where he puts a starving kitten out of its misery without blinking an eye, just to make his character creepier. (This has not, however, affected his much sooner planned appearance in the future remake of the show, or his existance as Shinji's friend in some of the Alternate Universe manga out there.)

*** On some level, though, it's rather hard to understand precisely why Anno and the other writers/directors thought that audience reactions would be any different from what they were. In Rei you have a girl with pale skin (keeping in mind that very pale skin has been seen as attractive in both Japan and the West for ''centuries''), somewhat exotic features without being too alien, a figure (at 14!) that most supermodels would commit felonies for, manages to be one of the few principal characters that ''isn't'' a huge Jerkass to the main character at least occasionally, and an absolutely woobirific backstory for sympathy, and she's being preyed upon by the actual series Big Bad, provoking the obvious response in the audience. With Kaworu, you have a similarly exotic appearance (except for the other team), he's the '''''only''''' character in the entire series who is unconditionally nice to the main character, he makes a very interesting entrance and is neat to watch, and speaking of the Estrogen Brigade let's not forget some of those other scenes for a certain part of the base. And then of course his betrayal is magnificent and full of impact and spectacle. So on the one hand you have an exotically beautiful woobie that the audience can easily feel defensive about and who never really does anything wrong, and on the other hand you have a exotically handsome love-interest villain... ''precisely how did the staff involved '''think''' people would react to these two characters?!''

* The ending of the ''[[Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch]]'' manga was supposed to insinuate that love wasn't as important as personal fulfillment: Hanon and Rina know they will eventually have to choose to rule their kingdoms instead of staying on the surface. (This is analogous to the original ''[[The Little Mermaid]]'' story, [[Broken Aesop|except Lucia gets to keep Kaito]].) Fans generally ignore this and give them future children with Nagisa and Hamasaki (Masahiro).

* ''[[Kujibiki Unbalance]]'' was a [[Show Within a Show]] in the anime ''[[Genshiken]]'' made to parody nearly every romance anime by following all of the tropes. ''[[Kujibiki Unbalance]]'' was ''too'' spot on; it became a highly successful [[Spin-Off]], while ''Genshiken'' itself almost didn't get a second season. (It was delayed almost a year.)

* ''[[Axis Powers Hetalia]]'' was intended to parody [[National Stereotypes]]. With this in mind, the amount of [[Misplaced Nationalism]] in the fandom (especially in regards to characters like America and Poland) looks ridiculous.