First off, FW, I want to thank you for being forward about your concerns, and for being willing to talk things over in a professional matter with us in mumble. It’s a great testimonial to our forum that we can have these discussions and debate with mutual respect. I’ll try and briefly re-iterate my points from our discussion for the benefit of everyone who wasn’t in with us at the time.
I have a question! Has anyone considered… that maybe… the story… is about whatever Kajishima wants it to be about? The whole show is rooted in and grown out of his fantasy. You know, the one he writes in all those books and doushin?
Yes, the story is what he wants it to be, but that doesn’t mean anyone is obliged to enjoy it, nor does it mean anyone should withhold their honest criticisms of it. The audience does not exist for the benefit of the product. Not a soul in the world will dispute Kajishima’s right to create the way he sees fit, but when a creator puts his work up for public consumption, it is the right (many would even say the responsibility) of the public to judge its merits for themselves. Now, whether or not people’s criticisms are correct is something each individual fan must determine for themselves, but the right to voice valid criticism cannot ever be negated by the mere fact that the product is the way the creator indented it to be.
I heard complaining in that episode about all the new characters in OVA3 and (note, this is just how the commentator’s words came across to me) how the forum-goers on the podcast felt that they had too many new characters shoved into their fandom.
From Mumble, halfway through discussing the above post:
Bah. I guess I just don’t understand how they can possibly get so upset when it’s someone else’s creation. On the podcast, the general thought seemed to be that “it would have been better if…” The peoblem with that is that saying such a thing is like trying to claim authorship – the person is proclaiming their opinion as “better” than that of the author’s – to whom the story truly belongs.
It wasn’t clear to me, originally, what lay at the heart of you overall concerns, but after our conversation I believe I understand now (and please do correct me if I am mistaken). It seems that you are less concerned with the actual complaints of certain people, and more so with what you see as them trying to present their criticisms as absolute facts about how the show should have been made. This is indeed a valid concern. Certainly no one (on any side) should ever have the gall to present their own opinions as objective truth in matters that clearly exist in the realm of personal preference. However, it should be pretty obvious that this is not what the people in the podcast were doing. By all accounts they were merely stating what their opinions were on the matter. Clearly they believe what they are saying is true, and they’d like to convince others of that as well, hence why they put forward arguments to back up their statements, but nowhere is there any explicit or implicit implication that what they say MUST be agreed with. Everyone is free, and in fact encouraged, to voice their opinions and dissents, and in my short two years here I have witnessed several (often heated) debates about this very topic and not once has any OVA3 fan’s argument or feelings been rejected out of hand.
Again, thank you for talking with us and taking our responses to heart. I have high hopes that this discussion can rebuild some of the bridges that have been burnt around this topic over the years. It’s always going to be an emotional and controversial subject, but I believe that we’re more than capable of building understanding and rekindling the common embers of our once bright fandom.
