02-14-2014, 11:08 PM
Let's discuss our thoughts and feelings over the word obscure. This discussion came to me when I saw a video from a guy titled "Obscure Anime: Welcome to the NHK" and some of the comments were criticizing the fact that it's a pretty popular/well known series in the anime community, so it would be inappropriate to say it's obscure.
The uploader's defense was that the meaning of the word obscure is relative to the person or group, so most of his fans/subscribers are new to the world of anime and are only familiar with the shows that are shown on TV, shows like Bleach, Naruto, Dragonball Z, so to people he's targeting, Welcome to the NHK would be considered an obscure show.
While I definitely see the uploader's point, I do feel that there is a certain point to where it does kind of seem inappropriate to consider something obscure. Since we at MTB are music nerds, we're familiar with bands like Radiohead, Tool, Protest the Hero, etc., but people who only listen to the radio, or listen to primarily pop, rap or RnB, those bands would be obscure to them. So while those bands would be obscure to those people, I do feel that it does seem inappropriate to consider something that has a certain level of commercial success or critical success to be labeled as obscure just because you're not part of a hobby or subculture.
So what do you guys think? Do you agree with the uploader's usage of the word obscure, or do you feel that there's a certain point where it's inappropriate to call something obscure?
The uploader's defense was that the meaning of the word obscure is relative to the person or group, so most of his fans/subscribers are new to the world of anime and are only familiar with the shows that are shown on TV, shows like Bleach, Naruto, Dragonball Z, so to people he's targeting, Welcome to the NHK would be considered an obscure show.
While I definitely see the uploader's point, I do feel that there is a certain point to where it does kind of seem inappropriate to consider something obscure. Since we at MTB are music nerds, we're familiar with bands like Radiohead, Tool, Protest the Hero, etc., but people who only listen to the radio, or listen to primarily pop, rap or RnB, those bands would be obscure to them. So while those bands would be obscure to those people, I do feel that it does seem inappropriate to consider something that has a certain level of commercial success or critical success to be labeled as obscure just because you're not part of a hobby or subculture.
So what do you guys think? Do you agree with the uploader's usage of the word obscure, or do you feel that there's a certain point where it's inappropriate to call something obscure?