I forget where I saw this, I think it was a random YT comment or something, but I definitely recall seeing someone say "Every good parodies eventually just becomes a satisfying version of what it's parodying".
In the context of Anime I feel this is particularly demonstrated by Mahou Shoujo Pretty Sammy, in particular it's 96-97 TV Anime also sometimes titled Magical Project S. It's early episodes are very concise parodies of Magical Girl Tropes, sometimes I feel like they have Sailor Moon S in particular in mind, but never mean spirited. But indeed by it's final stretch of episodes it's just doing a legit sincere Magical Girl story that is simply also makes more jokes then usual.
Mel Brooks has said he made Blazing Saddles as an Affectionate Parody of Westerns. What killed the old school Western during this era wasn't this parody but a general shift in how Americans thought about that era of how history reflected in the more serious Deconstructions made at the time.
Even very goofball parodies like Airplane or the 90s Waynes Brothers' films are still telling a story that on some level works independent of just being a string of Jokes at others movies expense.
I remember a similar thought to this when Trixie The Golden Witch and Best Guy Ever talked about the Rick and Morty Episode that parodies Heist Movies. For all the jokes at the expense of the formula, it also in it's own provides a satisfying Heist narrative twist at the end.
The truly Cynical parodies like the ones that stretched the truth about being made by the same people who wrote Scary Movie were never liked and only remained profitable because they were so cheap to make.
In Patrick Willems most recent video on Music Biopics he talks about Walk Hard and how dismayed he is that it didn't kill the Music Biopic Genre. But that's the thing, I haven't seen that movie but if it truly is as mean spirited as Willems describes it, a movie made by and for only the people who hate the Genre it's parodying then that's why it flopped, that's why the only people who actually found it funny were weirdos with a bizarre grudge against an entire genre.
This extends to the more Internet based styles of Parody as well. I know that the people at Something Witty Entertainment are fans of Sword Art Online and that their SAO Abridged is an Affectionate Parody and that they are annoyed every time an AniTuber makes a Video Essay citing their parody as vindication of their SAO Hate.
SWE do not seem to be fans of In Another World With My Smartphone in the same way which is why their one shot parody of that Anime fell flat with me, it's not nearly as funny as their SAO stuff. Another more obscure YouTube channel called Yusho Productions has done a good Affectionate IWA Abridged that I find hilarious.
The difficult question is, can this paradoxically apply to a Parody of something that never even existed?
I already made a post on how I feel the Otome Villainess sub is based on a type of Otome Game that has never existed. And I've since learned I'm not the only one whose noticed that.
But I've enjoyed some of these shows regardless, because for being based on a seemingly insulting misrepresentation they still are not basing every Joke on "boy isn't it messed up Otome Games are like this" but just doing what good Shoujo Anime always does within that framing.
The show Trapped In A Dating Sim: The World of Otome Games is Tough for Mobs commonly shortened to MobuSeka has gotten particular ire from those who are mad about this genre's mistaken premise. Because at least this is the one sub type of modern Isekai were the leads are usually Girls. So using this premise to make another typical male power fantasy Harem feels particularly egregious to them.
But this happens to be one of the Otome Villainess based show I've enjoyed the most, so why?
What would be the appeal of this kind of story if it unironically existed? The appeal would be Romances that defy class barriers. The protagonist in ModuSeka as he starts felling in love with the two main girls feels like his unworthy of them, like they are the lead characters and he is just a background character. As a Romance it is in fact doing exactly what you'd expect the non existent genre to do only gender inverted and with a meta twist.
I also find it interesting to think about in the context of my thesis about how much 21st century Otaku media has it root sin Boys in the 90s enjoying Shoujo Media and taking influence from it.
I also really like Luxion, of every Anime character you could jokingly compare to Jarvis, he might be the best.
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