So what actually happened to Cthulhu?

Benoist · June 02, 2010, 11:18:13 AM

There is something terribly wrong about Tentacle Porn/Rape.
It's part of this "acting up the weirdest fantasies we can possibly come up with" behavior that really makes me wonder about the sanity of the Japanese people at times.

RPGPundit · June 03, 2010, 09:02:41 AM

Island cultures, you know... but seriously, if tentacle porn is the thing that makes you wonder about the Japanese, clearly you don't know them all that well. These are the guys who invented Maid.

RPGPundit

Silverlion · June 03, 2010, 10:26:21 AM

Cthulhu was still asleep and dreaming. This was just him sleep walking (still half dream of terror himself.)

Aos · June 03, 2010, 10:51:10 AM

Copernicus removed the earth from the center of the universe, and by extension from the center of god's attention. This kicked off a trend that seems to me to have culminated with Darwin. It seems to me that this is the point of HPL's fiction, but whatever.

Benoist · June 03, 2010, 11:24:19 AM

Quote from: RPGPundit;385594Island cultures, you know... but seriously, if tentacle porn is the thing that makes you wonder about the Japanese, clearly you don't know them all that well. These are the guys who invented Maid.

RPGPundit

Let me put it this way: there is a part of Japanese culture I absolutely love - it's the history, the culture, the philosophy, the Samurais and Geisha, in the historical, non-geek sense of the terms, the "Classic" stuff if you will.

Then, you've got "modern" garbage: Japanese TV, anime, acting up on various taboos and fixations the Japanese people have (like for the "Cute", for instance)... all that stuff is crap, and I absolutely despise it.

So I'm conflicted, as far as Japan is concerned.

crkrueger · June 04, 2010, 05:46:00 AM

Quote from: Benoist;385631Let me put it this way: there is a part of Japanese culture I absolutely love - it's the history, the culture, the philosophy, the Samurais and Geisha, in the historical, non-geek sense of the terms, the "Classic" stuff if you will.

Then, you've got "modern" garbage: Japanese TV, anime, acting up on various taboos and fixations the Japanese people have (like for the "Cute", for instance)... all that stuff is crap, and I absolutely despise it.

So I'm conflicted, as far as Japan is concerned.

Yeah I don't know what the hell happened. Something tells me the Japanese Psyche really wasn't meant to be westernized. Or maybe this is what happens when you modernize a shame culture without turning it into a guilt culture via christian conversion first. I don't know.

Maybe it's just the Japanese need for perfection.
We make transistors, they made the best solid transistors.
We have money shots, they have Bukkake.
We have BDSM, they have that crazyass white-rope tying art.
We have loud obnoxious kids cartoons, they have Pokemon and Dragonball-Z.

Someone needs to bring back the Shogunate, get the kids to drop the Wii and pick up a fucking Katana.

Nicephorus · June 04, 2010, 06:36:33 AM

The traditional culture was also brutal and restricting - some of the weirdness is working out how to keep parts of tradition without being as fucked up as in the past. There was also the turmoil of going from medieval to 20th century tech in a couple of decades, which produced the militant culture that created the Pacific part of WWII. Then they got their ass kicked and nuked, which caused them to reassess their culture.

Benoist · June 04, 2010, 10:46:58 AM

Quote from: CRKrueger;385765Someone needs to bring back the Shogunate, get the kids to drop the Wii and pick up a fucking Katana.

Damn right!

Quote from: Nicephorus;385766The traditional culture was also brutal and restricting - some of the weirdness is working out how to keep parts of tradition without being as fucked up as in the past. There was also the turmoil of going from medieval to 20th century tech in a couple of decades, which produced the militant culture that created the Pacific part of WWII. Then they got their ass kicked and nuked, which caused them to reassess their culture.

That sure participated to it. Now, my wife's an absolute fan of Japanese culture, and VERY knowledgeable about it (and Egyptian too). When I talk about this with her, her explanation basically comes down to this oppressive aspect of Japan's traditional culture. In other words, the societal pressure is such that at some point, the individual has to let out some steam, one way or another, and finds outlets such as the entertainment business, various weirdo fixations and the like.

Aos · June 04, 2010, 10:52:49 AM

You're all wrong. Proximity to nuclear explosions alters your genetic material and introduces mutations which turn your offspring into nerdy perverts.
I know this because I live in New Mexico.
Anyone want to see my octopus fleshlight?

RPGPundit · June 05, 2010, 09:25:27 AM

The Japanese have always been a copycat culture, they just switched from China being the inspiration to "the west", to specifically America after WWII (a case of worshiping the conquerors, as it were).

But they put their own innovative spins into everything they acquire, its never done in quite the same way as it was originally; they add both a touch of genius and a heavy dose of Weird Island Culture Neurosis.

RPGpundit