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Controversial Pop Culture Opinions.

Controversial opinion:
NFTs are useless crap and all of them--even the geeky ones--need to go away. Immediately, if not sooner.
I agree with this, but I don't think that's controversial. In fact, aside from NFT bros and people making money out of that I have never seen anyone support them...
 
Controversial opinion:
NFTs are useless crap and all of them--even the geeky ones--need to go away. Immediately, if not sooner.
Agreed with everyone else, not a controversial opinion at all.

A controversial opinion would be more like....Chris Rock should've suffered as much if not more punishment for what happened at the Oscars than Will Smith.
 
A partially controversial opinion:
As a Japanese, I...actually don't like J-Pop outside of isolated exceptions. I grew up with mainly American popular music during the 90s, and I like to keep connected with the rest of the world, and J-Pop not only feels very derivative and uninspired (both with the lyrics and the musical styling), but it also makes me feel isolated. I used to not like rap either, but at least the lyrics and the music developmental history behind it is actually challenging, and I have to respect that.

This doesn't include Enka or those with more traditional stylings, though. They actually feel like their own things originating from Japan, and I appreciate that.

There's also that I grew up playing in a concert band and playing/listening to classical and jazz/latin (both Japanese and elsewhere), and learning that there is actually stuff outside of popular music. Like, one of my favorite artists is Tokyo Kosei Wind Orchestra which performs many quality concert band music, and one of my favorite Japanese composer is Toshio Mashima who created quality original compositions and jazz arrangements for said Orchestra.

Also Boston/Cincinnati etc Pops Orchestra arrangements of non-classical music are not as good compared to Tokyo Kosei's. The former dumbs down popular music rhythms and solo parts that aren't saxophones, trumpets or trombones, the arrangements for the latter fully adopts the rhythm, groove, and the ad-libbing of the solos and make all instruments within the wind orchestra play the rhythms, solos in the jazz, rock, pop etc way.

That said, I also think focusing on classical music to the point of ignoring other genres is a bad thing too. And I love Gershwin, Bernstein, and Ellington (He attempted some more classical-styled works. Including a piano concerto! And they're on Youtube.) for that reason.
 
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I have a few game related ones... (Are games pop culture?)

- Turning a turn based rpg into more action-oriented rpg shouldn't be considered an 'upgrade'. Examples: Persona 5, Legends Arceus. I like Pokemon and Persona exactly because I like my battles slower and more strategic. I have health issues that prevent me from enjoying fast paced action combat so when fans whine about how 'boring' pre Legends Arceus pokemon games are and how they 'can't turn back now' it seriously grinds my gears. These are just two different genres! Action isn't superior to turn based just because you are a sporty kid with good reflexes! Let this disabled loner who likes strategy and history have my virtual chessboard thing please! It's your fault that you don't like to think ahead! I do!

- Trails of Cold Steel series doesn't deserve all the praise it gets. Valkyria Chronicles does everything it does 100x better and Trails' plot is sometimes so clichey I want to cry. But guess which game sells like hot pies and which one gets more and more obscure with ever year, with no news of next installment at all?

- (About Pokemon) Pokemon Conquest is actually one of the boldest pokemon installments and the one I love the most. With time, I started realizing that pokemon actually does have a very thinly spread lore/not very believable worlbuilding which could benefit from crossovers with other franchises. Basically: pokemon is a wonderful strategic tool. But not always so good as a story. Fire Emblem Pokemon when?
 
- (About Pokemon) Pokemon Conquest is actually one of the boldest pokemon installments and the one I love the most. With time, I started realizing that pokemon actually does have a very thinly spread lore/not very believable worlbuilding which could benefit from crossovers with other franchises. Basically: pokemon is a wonderful strategic tool. But not always so good as a story. Fire Emblem Pokemon when?
Funny you mention this, because I recall reading that Conquest started as a crossover with FE.

- Turning a turn based rpg into more action-oriented rpg shouldn't be considered an 'upgrade'. Examples: Persona 5, Legends Arceus. I like Pokemon and Persona exactly because I like my battles slower and more strategic. I have health issues that prevent me from enjoying fast paced action combat so when fans whine about how 'boring' pre Legends Arceus pokemon games are and how they 'can't turn back now' it seriously grinds my gears. These are just two different genres! Action isn't superior to turn based just because you are a sporty kid with good reflexes! Let this disabled loner who likes strategy and history have my virtual chessboard thing please! It's your fault that you don't like to think ahead! I do!
This is more or less how I feel. In fact, this (along with open world) is why I'm starting to feel "isolated" in regards of the modern gaming world.

EDIT: "Alienated" might be the term I'm looking for.
 
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Sword Art Online is one of the best pulpy action series to come out of Japan.

You can tell which parts of Elden Ring were Miyazaki's doing and which parts were Martin's.

There is already an easy mode in Soulsborne. It's actually the inevitable conclusion new players that don't quit come to: overleveling and over-upgrading, as well as trying to push damage output to the max whilst damning the consequences. Eventually, eventually, sheer brute force will win the day. Elden Ring seems to have been tailor built to force this play philosophy due to it's open world as well as the insanity of the first actual boss.

Kingdom Heart's story is actually really interesting. The minute to minute writing is mind-numbingly stupid, but the scenario is extremely riveting. Also, they need to bring back the FF characters.

Final Fantasy's aesthetic is awesome and worthy of merit. It has also always been the same: overdetail for the sake of it, very pretty men, sci-fi and modern infusions and an air of high society and culture. Hardware restrictions are responsible for obscuring it. Also, I want to see FF collaborate with Purdey or Holland & Holland.

Warhammer should be unafraid to be just stupid funny more of the time, and with other factions than just orks. There is comedy gold to be mined out of literally everyone else.

Arknights is how you do grimdark right. Matter of fact, clinical, making people think about messed up implications works better than shoving depravity into people's faces.

Witcher is not slavic fantasy. Witcher is the edgiest fractured fairytale cinematic universe. The author is a slav, hence most of the fairytales fractures just happen to be slavic (like with the first).

Speaking Faux Cyrillic should be done more often. It is hilarious.

Emiya Shirou is not a Mary sue. He may be underpowered, but he has a gigantic mental advantage over his haughty, often mentally unstable opponents. He's just sane and determined. Brute force is a valid factor for success.
 
That thing about overdetail in FF... Thank you for giving me a term for Amano's characters, at least costume-wise. People do complain about Nomura, but they forget things like Gogo exist.

My opinion is that Amano was better designing monsters, but when it comes to humans (or at least humanoids) Nomura was better. At least until that weird Final Fantasy I remake(?), where I found Jack to be... extremely plain and boring design-wise.
 
Jack was supposed to be plain. Gear does change appearance in that game after all.
 
One of the biggest unpopular opinions I have that I can think of is that I don't like Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. I love Marvel and Spider-Man in general, and I thought I was going to like this movie after hearing so many good things about it, but it honestly did nothing for me. Not to mention I found the artstyle absolutely insufferable. I've only seen it once but I haven't felt like revisiting it whatsoever nor do I have any interest in the sequels.
 
Another unpopular opinion...
Anime/mangas should stop making so many food jokes. It is the blandest, safest, most pedestrian joke to make and seeing them so widely beloved baffles me. Characters who cook/can't cook/overeat/undereat/have strange food habits...this all has been done to death and also 99,9% doesn't add anything of value to the plot. I especially hate it when anime tries to establish some food as a character's 'staple' when the character in question hasn't even been properly established yet but his tastes and daily habits in general are already detailed and complicated and too specific. 'Oh, this is Suzuki, we don't know anything about him/her, we don't know what their conflict is, what their role in the plot is, what the point of their character is but they are mad about Osaka style okonomiyaki and their blood type is AB! ;)' I don't @#$& care! Give me actual information and a reason to watch your @#$& show! This is storytelling basics for @#$& sake!!!
 
Things I am Unusual for Not Liking:
Live-action shows and movies in general, for similar reasons. It's hard to find something as focused, interesting, and stylish as the average Disney, Disney-Pixar, or Dreamworks film. Spy Kids and Scott Pilgrim vs. the World are rare exceptions.
Marvel movies. I gave it a fair shot: I watched Guardians of the Galaxy, which I logically would have liked. However, it was all spectacle and no substance. Watching a clip of Avengers: Civil War felt like dull, forgettable boilerplate.
Similarly, I do not like The Force Awakens; all spectacle, little substance. I liked Maz Kanata, though.
I really wanted to like Black Panther (the film), and it did have very good costuming and architecture to show the sophisticated, thoroughly-African feel of Wakanda. However, it is still a Marvel film, with attendant flaws, and it quickly takes itself out of its Wakanan setting, which was its most distinctive, interesting aspect. I'm not sure what it is: the music? The cinematography? The lack of focus in shots? The realism over style? I only watched about one third of it, I think, before I gave up.
James Cameron's Avatar is not just Dances with Wolves in space, because it's made in a different era, with a different feel, for a different audience. The movie is still not very good, though, although the graphics and creature design are very good.

Things I am Unusual for Liking:
Spy Kids (especially Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over). It's stylish and creative with strong music and memorable scenes.
 
Since I am on a roll lately in this thread, have another one:
I don't understand how people can get into tv shows/anything multi episode. The idea that I have to watch something for weeks, maybe even years to reach the conclusion of the story is very upsetting to me. My mom likes TV and from what she describes, some things occasionally sound interesting but the moment I see that slooooooooooow pace I begin to lose my patience. To be frank, she is also unhappy with that kind of pace but I don't mix even with the shortest and well paced of tv shows. I also noticed that TV is often anticlimactic for me. I often watch something for an emotional release (yep, like sex in a way...) and TV shows are like 'here's a filler episode for ya, baby'. Sometimes you can see that writers are tired and just wanted to rest on an episode. You can literally see 'the stitches' in TV, much more in cinema and unlike cinema, TV shows often end not with a climax but simply because their ratings fell.
 
Please note: The thread is from 1 year ago.
Please take the age of this thread into consideration in writing your reply. Depending on what exactly you wanted to say, you may want to consider if it would be better to post a new thread instead.
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