The language-post was an interesting read, although I have very little to comment on it, as I haven't spent much time thinking about those matters.
About whether or not Finns still hate Russians, I can't say for sure, as I tend to avoid all racially-prejudiced people, but I believe they are generally no more hated than gypsies, somalies, or other not-so-much-like-us ethnic groups. There's very little politics or real historical background in prejudices, as far as I know. Some old people might still remember the wars and thus hate Russians, but the same is probably true in many other countries as well (France/Germany, for example).
But about the "prevalence" of Russian language/culture in Finland: there hasn't been one in my lifetime. I would say less than 1% of Finnish people can speak decent Russian (and I for sure am not one of them) and culturally they are probably as far as (or even father than) Germans from us. Only few government officials working near the eastern border or some businessmen know anything about Russian language or culture, and their numbers have been diminishing since the fall of the Soviet Union. Finns have simply never had much interest in the Russians, apart from the times when we were forced to "co-operate" with them.
Inflames626 said:
I like anime because it brings American themes like Die Hard, etc., to life on a much lower budget than real film and much more believeably. Hentai stuff will always ruin its credibility though, and it's really just the theme choice that bothers me. If they chose more Western themes, and drew things in a less-stylized fashion, I'd like it more. I think the tendency of a lot of anime to be either bizarre and hard to understand to the Western mind (like a lot of Michelle Yeoh action movies from the early 80's and 90's) or just a bit juvenile.
You really should watch Berserk. It takes an European medieval-setting with a hint of dark-fantasy elements and loads of bloodshed. It is based on a very long and still on-going manga (rumored to be excellent, haven't yet got my hands on it) made by one single man for something like two decades already. The anime-series covers less than half of the storyarc of the manga, but hopefully there's more coming in the future. The first episode of the series is the weakest one (IMHO) as it starts in the middle of the story and explains nothing of the background. The second episode takes a big time-jump backwards, when the main character was still a young boy and from there on the series advances chronologically over several years up to the time right before the first episode (a friend of mine, who has read the manga, says there are still some things happening between the last and first episodes that sadly weren't included in the anime-series - hopefully they are made into anime once more).
The story is (as the title implies) very brutal and dark, with none of the characters being truly "good" or "heroic" - more like a bunch of coldblooded murderers with ideals that are made to suit themselves first and foremost. It is drawn in a rough, yet most detailed way and the animation is simple, yet effective. The backgrounds are occasionally extremely eye-catching in all their beauty, even when there are most gruesome details in the forefront - overall this series makes Conan the Barbarian look like a children's picnic. The massive amount of red colour used in the battle-scenes is a bit unnerving at first, but once you get accustomed with the constant blood-shed, you can concentrate on the finer aspects of the series, cleverly hidden behind all the brutality. Berserk is the number 1 favorite series of a friend of mine, and weren't I so much in love with Evangelion, I might agree with him.
Also, as far as I know, Berserk has been a huge success in the USA (at least when the number of sold DVD's are counted), which is a great thing for a series with such a small target-audience (we are not talking about Pokemon or Sailor Moon here). That should speak volumes about the "western theme" issue, admittedly so common a problem (not for me though, I have liked Asian movies for over a decade now) with many other anime-series.
And I must admit I'm not too familiar with American animation (other than Disney, who put out some quality works now and then among the rest of their crap) and I have no idea what is FAKK2. Also, I wasn't so thrilled when I saw Heavy Metal - perhaps I should have watched it when I was a teen or something... The Monsters Inc. (if that's what it was called) was great though - even the normally horrible Finnish-dub was okay (we don't dub any programs other than those meant for children here in Finland, all are just subtitled, which is great for both learning new languages and experiencing the content of the movie / series at hand).
Btw, I must ask you: Did you watch Princess Mononoke dubbed in English? If yes, I can understand your dislike of the film, for the dub is poor (not even near the worst, though). Go watch it in the original language and you will hear the difference.
-Villain
the chorus :hihihi:
