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Culture War Roundup for the week of August 3, 2026

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Dragon Ball Z and YuYu Hakusho are standard battle shonen shows (men beating the tar out of each other, training to become stronger, tournament arcs, etc.). If you liked them, you will probably enjoy similar titles like Naruto and My Hero Academia. MHA in particular has two notable advantages over older works; modern animation techniques (the fight scenes are gorgeous) and a seasonal episode structure (meaning less filler), so I'd start with that one.

Death Note is a very unique show; there is nothing else quite like it. Still, if you enjoy watching characters solve their problems by thinking, I'd recommend The Promised Neverland. Season 1 only; the second season is legendary for how bad it was, and the first season stops at a nice spot and gives enough closure. I wrote a longer review on /r/rational.

You don't have to worry about looking for specifically conservative anime, because anime as a whole is inherently conservative, especially compared with woke Hollywood; there is a reason why men fall in love with anime girls and Demon Slayer can outsell the entire American comic book industry. As AntiDem put it:

The appeal of anime is simple: It depicts a world with intact families, high trust, feminine women, politeness and good manners, public order, low crime, and a sense of mutual obligation between neighbors in a community - a world not slathered in gratuitous degeneracy and consumerism, peopled by unmarriageable women and increasingly angry men, which is in the process of careening toward disaster because a corrupt, ineffectual government is helpless in containing an uprising by violent lunatics hopped up on a fanatical ideology.

In the 20th century, people longed for a galaxy full of advanced technology which would take us to unknown worlds beyond the stars, and were inspired by television which showed it to us. In the 21st century, people long only for home and family, for peace and stability, for connection and friendship. To hell with the stars - just give us back the hearth and the dinner table. That is all we dream of now.

I encountered anime in the first year of my adulthood. It taught me that there was another path available - that people could behave differently than they had in my shattered family and the cold, brutal place where I grew up. That there were other ways to go through life than being selfish and angry all the time. That not every love between a man and a woman was doomed to end in bitterness and hatred. That people could be your friend for reasons other than wanting something out of you. That behaving honorably and sacrificing for the good of people around you isn’t just a thing that suckers do for ingrates. That not everybody breaks promises whenever they become inconvenient. That there are other approaches to the world than cynicism and irony. That not everything is a scam, and not everybody is out to hustle you.

Nothing in my life up to then had taught me any of that.

Still, if you are looking for something pastoral, try Princess Mononoke or Frieren: Beyond Journey's End.

anime as a whole is inherently conservative, especially compared with woke Hollywood

That link is anti-Jew and anti-black, and justifies itself using Hitler positively.

Also, black people actually like anime a lot.

Woke Hollywood is very jewish and black, and hates on Hitler.

Perhaps the emergence of anime as an alternate mainstream media is helping pacify the 20th century hostile proclivities of the urban blacks. It wouldn't be surprising if depicting your media antagonists as space monsters or goblins got better results on impressionable, young minds than literally the pillars of your society. As an added bonus literally any story is better than "there is nothing you can do, society is controlled by hostile forces that cannot be overwhelmed, all of these successful people you could look up to are actually oppressed and your only acceptable role in life is to forever complain".

And uh do you know who was allied with Hitler in WW2?

Hugely appreciate your contribution. Thank you.

The appeal of anime is simple: It depicts a world with intact families, high trust, feminine women, politeness and good manners, public order, low crime, and a sense of mutual obligation between neighbors in a community

This reminds me of how—to the extent Japan is Wakanda for white people—it’s because Japan is generally free of people who look like Wakandans.

It taught me that there was another path available

Taught, or gave hope for?

That behaving honorably and sacrificing for the good of people around you isn’t just a thing that suckers do for ingrates.

If only he knew how bad things really were/are.

If you’re a white male or an East Asian male in a non-Asian country (sometimes South Asian male too, depending on country), there’s a staunch contingent of people who insist that you should not only sacrifice yourself for ingrates around you, but also ingrates far away from you. A semblance of both of these is reflected non-consensually through taxes and transfers.

This reminds me of how—to the extent Japan is Wakanda for white people—it’s because Japan is generally free of people who look like Wakandans.

Japan is generally free of white people too.

Whites aren’t the ones whose increasing numbers make a place quickly unWakanda like with regard to “politeness and good manners, public order, low crime,” or at least not nearly at the same rate.