To help you understand what I am saying I will 
point out what I mean. It seems that you have a 
chip on your shoulder. Well, tonight I will 
oblige you.

1.) I did not say that you were flippant. It is 
not about you.

2.)I have not relegated anyones post to being 
anything. My statements were my opinions. The 
very things that you seem to be championing. I 
shouldn't justify them, because to use your line 
of reasoning, there is no need to do so. Just, I 
have an opinion and that should suffice, right? 
(Now, I'm being flippant).

3.) To suggest that having either "uninformed and 
informed" opinions about a subject matter are not 
different is to say that the very words are the 
same. It is an idiotic thing to say. To try to 
use what you call philosphy as a "deduction" to 
your line of reasoning is to tell me that you do 
not understand philosophy at all. 

4.) I am not offended in the least by someones 
dislike of some anime, or otherwise. 

5.) You are right about one thing you do not need 
to be a PHD in anything to have an opinion. You 
do not need to have anyone telling you what you 
should like or not. But my question to that is 
exactly when did I do that?

5.) I did not write off anybody.I think that 
there was a lot of negativity directed at some 
anime due to the fact that some of it was based 
on personal opinion (which is fine). I said that 
perhaps, not in any patronizing or condesending 
manner as you have wished to paint my opinions, 
that if a person had more cultural insight, that 
it might change their minds. What is wrong with 
that?

6.)You said,

"While some hold Akira in high regard for 
its groundbreaking storytelling and stunning 
visual imagery, it is now stale by comparison to 
many of the anime out there today."

This is exactly what I meant about informed 
opinions. It may be stale by today's standards, 
and I personally disliked it myself. But it is 
good anime for the very reasons that you 
mentioned. I thought that it was gross and 
sicknening, however it was still a great anime 
acheivement. Other anime was built off of this 
anime. Art leads to other art. Nothinge exists in 
a vacuum.One step in technology leads to another. 
To judge yesterday by today is to disregard how 
it all got started. And to say that the past is 
irrelevent, because we have much better standards 
today is short sighted, don't you agree?
 Like I said, art appreciation is valid. To learn 
something that gives you more insight is valid. 
At least, that is my opinion.

E