What Makes a Parody?

[Megiddo]

I've noticed an increasing usage of the word parody to describe an anime or manga title, hell MAL now has an entire genre dedicated to parody, and I just can't understand why. What I understand of parody is that it's a spoof of an already existing work, event, person, etc. An anime example I'd use for a parody is the OVA .hack//GIFT which takes all the .hack//SIGN characters and puts them together with the .hack game characters and has them all act absolutely nuts and has the most crude animation possible. So, for instance from the MAL list, I'm not sure what existing work One Punch Man is supposed to be parodying for instance. Is it a parody of Superman? Batman? Obviously there are parodies within One Punch Man, such as Mumen Rider, but I can't understand why it would be considered a parody as a whole. I've seen Konosuba be referred to as a parody (just check ANN and there's a review on the front page where the hook states "As a parody of the swords-and-sorcery fantasy genre, Konosuba is worth checking out if you need a laugh") but all I saw when I watched Konosuba were cute girls surrounding a rather plain guy with some tongue-and-cheek fantasy comedy.  I can't think of any work that I could say that Konosuba parodies. 

 

Here's a list of some top rated anime on MAL under the parody tag. I'll put yes if I agree it's a parody, no if I disagree, and a ? if I'm not familiar enough with the material.

All of Gintama - ?

One Punch Man - No

Osomatsu-san - ?

FLCL - No

Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya - No

Seto no Hanayome - No

Sayonara Zetsubou-sensei - No

Carnival Phantasm - Yes

All of Hetalia - Yes

Irresponsible Captain Tylor - No

Astro Fighter Sunred - ?

Hayate no Gotoku - No

Lucky Star - No

Binbougami ga - No

Genshiken - No

 

Looking at this list of anime, it seems that the parody tag gets applied to anime that take a somewhat normal premise and twist it a bit (such as Tylor), shows that reference otaku culture (such as Lucky Star and Hayate), or otherwise shows that are zany and/or off-kilter (such as FLCL and Seto no Hanayome). Does that seem about right?

[Chapinator_X]

Parody, much like deconstruction, is used ad nauseam to describe things that do just enough to subvert the tropes of their genre to be slapped with the tag. One Punch Man uses Saitama's overpowered ability to tell a superhero story where the hero is just a bored slacker who's only obstacle is being taken seriously by significantly weaker, but more established heroes. It's not a parody of any particular character, but it cuts any tension that a battle shounen or Marvel/DC hero comic would build up for months on end by comically having the hero splatter super powered villains with a punch drawn on a single panel. I guess they say he was inspired by Anpanman but most of the people that say it's a parody of Anpanman hadn't seen an episode of Anpanman to make any connections genre-wise aside from the name and his outfit.

 

But I feel like the closest to accurate parody in recent anime has been directly poking fun at other properties like when Osomatsu-San made fun of Mad Max with a skit in the apocalypse where water is constantly hijacked or a race where a character is strapped to the bloodbag device from Fury Road, or the otome idol game parody with the brothers as androgynous pop idols that can solve world problems with bs magic, or even itself as they make fun of how the 60's and 80's versions of Osomatsu Kun were much more innocent times for the brothers and Iyami as they descend into debauchery and obscurity.

 

Or more direct parodies like Carnival Phantasm spoofing elements of Type Moon properties, or Gintama having characters dress up or act like other anime characters to make fun of their quirks in some situations.

 

Aside from obvious parodies, I feel like it's an overused term. Keijo is now a parody of sports manga by just having the sport be about fighting with women's assets, or Re:Zero is now a parody of light novels because the protagonist can be irredeemable at times. There's probably some garbage anime that people are saying is parody because it's incapable of doing anything right. Anything remotely different is now considered either satire, parody, or deconstruction even though it just does minor deviations that still ultimately play into the genre's cliches without having much fun ripping into any of the conventions people claim they mock.

[Megiddo]

Hah, that's rather amusing. It was exactly a post about how Keijo is a parody on the ANN forum that finally got me to react.

 

I can certainly understand that Saitama subverts the ordinary superhero routine, but to me that just means it's creative.  So many times now I've seen shows which follow most of the cliches/tropes that critics don't like, yet somehow because this work is a parody it's somehow good.  I'm just trying to wrap my head around it, cause, boy oh boy, did I really, really dislike Konosuba.

[Chapinator_X]

I'd agree that it's more of a creative twist on the superhero genre than a parody. The main thing about parodies is the emulation of a particular style, but One Punch Man is more into making fun of superheroes and battle shounen as a whole than parodying any specific type of hero or hero's journey that's the cornerstone of many origin stories. Saitama's not a brooding badass or conflicted on how to balance their ordinary life with the superhero business. It's also not a deconstruction on the futility of being a hero. It's just a comedy about a superhero too overpowered to get any enjoyment that other heroes feel from it.

 

Yeah, critics will give anything a slap on the wrist if there's one aspect they can cling onto that can make it a parody if you stretch the meaning. Like critics who don't take Keijo seriously saying its parody even though the show still takes itself seriously as a sports show with many sports anime conventions, but with a goofier paint job. I guess genre parody still exists, but it's still a stretch in many instances.

 

The most painful word for me is deconstruction. Everything is a deconstruction now. Free is a deconstruction because there's guys in the pool instead of girls. Inou Battle was painfully boring, but that's a deconstruction because of that one time a girl goes on a rant about how vapid she is as a girl in a chuunibyou story. Anything that's either dark and edgy, is a different concept, or has one moment of self awareness is considered a deconstruction nowadays.

[Hidden]

your definition is correct, and i agree with your opinion on the shows you listed.

 

the word seems to be thrown around a bit when it comes to anime...thats all i have to add, really.

 

on another note, i missed threads like these in OA.

[scope]

Keijo is a deconstruction of my boner.

[Hidden]

Keijo is a deconstruction of my boner.

 

i thought you said destruction.

 

i like destruction too.

[scope]

i thought you said destruction.

 

i like destruction too.

 

Gail the Snail is a destruction of my boner.

 

[HardcoreHunter]

There are two things that often get confused for one another being parody and satire. Satire is a deconstruction of a genre and characters, while parody inserts original ideas into a pre-existing media. Most of what we see in anime is actually Satire such as one punch man and Kill la Kill. 

 

A parody tends to use more of a direct influence but changes some key factors. For example if we look at the book Dracula, but change Dracula into a teen tsundere that is dealing with her doki doki feeling of Renfield showing up, only complicated by a kuudere teen girl Hellsing showing up that is trying to save Renfield and kill Dracula. That would be a parody because it follows the basic story format, but is original enough to be it's own story. 

 

Satire, for example I'll use kill la kill; takes popular tropes in anime and overly exaggerates them, or turns them around. The later a good example would be male characters having blinding light coming from their nipples. It's funny or sad on my part how many people seemed to have missed that this is a joke about how female characters are censored with blinding light on the TV release (buy the blu ray!). Other things such as the overly powerful student council and after school clubs, acting like field day is a real battle of life and death, etc. Those are all satire of the genre.

[matrixman124]

There are two things that often get confused for one another being parody and satire. Satire is a deconstruction of a genre and characters, while parody inserts original ideas into a pre-existing media. Most of what we see in anime is actually Satire such as one punch man and Kill la Kill. 

 

A parody tends to use more of a direct influence but changes some key factors. For example if we look at the book Dracula, but change Dracula into a teen tsundere that is dealing with her doki doki feeling of Renfield showing up, only complicated by a kuudere teen girl Hellsing showing up that is trying to save Renfield and kill Dracula. That would be a parody because it follows the basic story format, but is original enough to be it's own story. 

 

Satire, for example I'll use kill la kill; takes popular tropes in anime and overly exaggerates them, or turns them around. The later a good example would be male characters having blinding light coming from their nipples. It's funny or sad on my part how many people seemed to have missed that this is a joke about how female characters are censored with blinding light on the TV release (buy the blu ray!). Other things such as the overly powerful student council and after school clubs, acting like field day is a real battle of life and death, etc. Those are all satire of the genre.

 

Very much agreed. Once you acknowledge satire and parody as two different entities, then you can start separating series that fall into either category.

 

For example, Panty and Stocking is a satire (deconstruction/subversion) of  Mahou Shoujo. It also had a few individual episodes that were parodies of Transformers, Saving Private Ryan, and zombie movies, but that didn't mean the whole thing was a parody. The whole is a satire with parodies peppered in.

[HardcoreHunter]

Most true anime parodies are what many of us consider a spinoff. While they are a spinoff it is a parody of the main series. For example Haruhi has the spinoff Suzumiya Haruhi-chan no Yuuutsu, as well Haiyore! Nyaruko-san is a parody of the Lovecraft universe, and Carnival Phantasm being a parody of the fate/stay series.

 

 

[Jman]

Satire covers concepts (Superhero fiction, sci-if) while parody is of specific titles (AOT Junior High being a parody of well, Attack on Titan).

[BUU8800]

Satire covers concepts (Superhero fiction, sci-if) while parody is of specific titles (AOT Junior High being a parody of well, Attack on Titan).

 

This, but the line between parody and reference is kinda blurry. Binbogami Ga definitely references several series for comedic effect, DBZ and Fist of the North Star come to mind, so is it parody or just comedic reference?

[Jman]

References tend to be quick and fleeting.  A full parody dominates the work.