The beginning of Ryo's versus series pitting Heroic Age against Fafner got me thinking just now.
The whole point of My Week in Anime, for me, is to stimulate discussion about anime. It has done OK on that front, but not as well as I would like. I have been thinking for a while now about ways to make it better, but nothing has really clicked for me until Ryo's post.
What if we had a World completely dedicated toward that type of discussion? It would obviously be more general than "this show vs. that show," but I believe it is something worth exploring. The basic idea is that you take two (or more) anime fans, give them a series and let them talk about it, with whatever topics spring up during the course of normal conversation. Whatever they come up with is the post, and that would be the springboard for more talk in the comments.
Just as an example: Say Ryo and Nehs wanted to talk about Baccano! They could start with some general thoughts about the series, what they like and dislike about it, and as they get more into it, maybe the conversation would shift to something more specific. The nature of the violence in the show. What works and does not work about the various twists. Whether the series would work as well if it were in strict chronological order. And so on and so forth.
These conversations would not even have to be specifically about certain series. Maybe you want to use a show or two as a gateway to a more general topic. Higurashi and violence in entertainment, for instance. I want these posts to be as flexible as possible; the conversations are limited only by the imaginations of the participants and by what they want to talk about. If TC wants to talk with me just about the merits of Gundam 00 as a series, that is fine. But if he wants to get into an in-depth discussion about the politics, or the science, or whatever else, that is also fine. That is the great thing about this -- there are so many directions to go in with most series.
I am not particular about the medium in which people choose to have these conversations. You can talk it out through PM, or have a more immediate conversation in MSN/AIM/YIM/theO chat/whatever. (Although if you go that route, I must ask that conversations be edited so that they read more like a blog post than a chat transcript. I would be more than willing to help out with that, too.) Hell, if people want to record a conversation on Skype and toss it up on Rapidshare, Megaupload, YouTube, or wherever else, I also highly encourage that.
I really believe this could be something worthwhile. There are plenty of intelligent, opinionated anime fans here, and there are no shortage of shows to discuss. How many people out there are interested in this? Have any questions? Suggestions?
Last thing for now: The tentative name is "theOtaku Roundtable," but that is probably way too plain. Anyone have a better idea?
